Yes, I choose to live in Canada. Canada has winters. Those winters can sometimes be harsh and this has been a particularly rough one. I’ve done the research and Ecuador has my ideal climate. It also has spiders the size of dinner plates and scorpions as big as water bottles so I’ll stay here and bitch and moan, if you don’t mind. 
Radar shows the joy of winter living in London, Ontario. Goderich, Parkhill and Strathroy get it before we do but once the lake-effect flurries become a heavy streamer, they can sit over us for an entire day. If the wind shifts slightly, the sun will reappear and someone a few blocks away will experience a blizzard. Highway 402 from London to Strathroy was shut down for several days and dozens of stranded drivers were holed up with hot pizza and coffee in that town’s arena. Skiers and other outdoorsy types rejoice, except for the -20 degree temperatures, of course.
The view from our front window shows the partial truth. Derek’s truck had been cleaned off the day before. The brick wall hadn’t. It looks awfully pretty as I watch Derek bundle up and go outside to snow-blow the driveway. My job is to make soup.
This is a back door view.
I had a polite, e-mailed word with my neighbour about his snow-clearing guy’s habit of pushing snow across the street to our curb and over our sidewalk. His man with the blade denied ever doing it. (We saw him, several times.) But as he cleared the driveway on Saturday, he found an alternate way of disposing of the snow. Funny, that.
At the height of the flurries, car after car got stuck on our street while good Samaritan passers-by stopped to push them out. I saw it all from the warmth of my home, wearing comfy jam-jams, baking and laundering and doing a bunch of little things that didn’t require a toque or even a breath of cold air. Dr. Mitch Shulman, a regular guest on our radio show, told us last week that extreme cold weather is deadlier than extreme heat. I took his advice to heart on the weekend and stayed inside my own Ecuador, with two purring cats instead of giant insects.
I have a down-filled car-length coat I refer to as my Winnipeg coat since I bought it when I spent a year in the ‘Peg at university. Here in Toronto, I have rarely worn it since it’s too warm. It’s gotten more use this year than in the past ten when I’ve gone out for walks and I’m toasty and warm in it with my ski goggles and gloves, toque and insulated rubber boots.
Your blogs warm me. Thank you, friend.