There’s Snow Place Like Home.

As anyone in Toronto knows, it snowed for most of the day on Saturday, and some of the day on Sunday. It wasn’t a surprise, but it was a surprise, as we always hold out hope that the protective Toronto Umbrella will shield us from experiencing any weather.

One thing I was especially looking forward to doing this weekend was to go to Cedar Row Farm Sanctuary for the Hope for the Holiday’s event , but unfortunately, the weather made that impossible. Our rental car sat in the driveway, unused, accumulating snow, while we watched the highway traffic reports get worse and worse about an hour or two before we planned to leave. (it didn’t help that the rental car was not equipped with snow tires.)

That said, in a strange way, while it’s occasionally inconvenient, I still feel cheerful when snow and winter appears. If you had asked me what I thought of winter five years ago, I probably wouldn’t have been so positive, but the snow feels like home (I am from Edmonton after all.) The moment the weather got below 5C here, I felt invigorated, in the some kind of reverse hibernation state. Time to get things done. Time to eat fruit and vegetables. Time to run.

We opted to do something with our day, and challenge the fairly normal, natural inclination to hide out. We both dusted off our snow boots, and put on mittens and jackets. I briefly considered putting on the winter coat I had last worn in -40 degree weather in Saskatoon, but opted instead to wear the slightly less hearty Vaute Couture coat I won last year at the Fur Bearer Defenders fundraising event.

Along with seven or eight dogs and their humans we trudged through a snow covered High Park. Trees all lightly dusted with a twinkling grey and white. The wind seemed to be blowing at an angle, and I started breathing through my teeth to avoid inhaling ice crystals. Occasionally one of us would fail at this technique, and cough involuntarily once the ice hit our lungs. But it was still so fantastic to be outside in the thick of it.

We walked over to Amani Earls Coffee as one of our first Indie Coffee Passport stops, had a big hot bowl of vegan pho from Pho Huong, and paid a visit to Bunner’s on their Three Year Anniversary for cake and treats. I’m so happy that Bunner’s has not only stayed open, but that they’ve thrived in the past three years.

It’s just another one of those weekends, where nothing went as planned, but everything was as great as possible anyway.