From Nicolette:
As Canadians we like to think of ourselves as hardy folk defined by our winters. We need look no further than the Canadian Olympic Committee’s “We are winter” PR campaign leading up to Sochi. If that is the case, I am afraid I fail miserably. This winter, which seems to be already 3 months long, has made it clear to me that I HATE winter. I hate shovelling, I hate being cold, I hate the raw wind…I HATE it!!
These past two weeks have been bitterly cold and cruelly challenging to the spirit. Daily I trudge out to the chicken enclosure to feed the hens and “water” Dora, our little duck. While the hens huddle in the corner of their heated coop, directly under the heat lamp (actually it is creepily surreal, since KFC chicken sits under a heat lamp too!), Dora patiently waits for her daily bath to be drawn.
Daily I chuck out the solid ice from a rubber tub, fill it with cold water and watch in amazement how Dora begins her daily morning ritual…her morning bath. There is a cadence to her moves…it is like witnessing a geisha’s dance. And oh, how she frolics…no thought given to the -18°C temperature! Now if only I could find the love in snowshoeing, shushing down a hill or simply embracing the season like Dora does.