You gotta love winter (right?)
If so, the only solution is to summon the can-do fervour of a good Canadian and … embrace it.
Snow on Halloween is certainly not unprecedented, but when it came this year before small ghouls and goblins were barely snuggled back in bed with their candy-fuelled dreams, well, memories of last year’s long, deep (and power-challenged) winter were still too fresh not to send a shiver of dread through the hills that was far more chilling than anything the spooks of All Saints’ Eve could serve up.
It will be gone by noon, I thought the next morning as I surveyed the snow-capped pumpkins. It wasn’t. And the ground is white again as I write this – covering the sodden mess of my still-unraked leaves.
It all suggests that predictions of another rough winter may be all too accurate. If so, the only solution is to summon the can-do fervour of a good Canadian and … embrace it. We hope our winter issue will help you do just that.
The story of the Alton Millpond Hockey Classic, our cover story by Tony Reynolds with fabulous photos by Joanne Crease, is surely as pure a celebration of the joys of a Canadian winter as there possibly could be. This community festival of snow, ice, family, friendly competition and hot chocolate is a reminder of why we continue to love our iconic game, not as it is on television screens, but as it plays on the nostalgic reels of our collective imagination.
In her Good Sport column, Nicola Ross also introduces us to a new way of enjoying winter outdoors – winter cycling, astride the relatively new fat-tired bikes that allow enthusiasts to get out on the trails all year round.
Shopping and cooking are hardly winter-exclusive activities, but with the holiday season upon us, they certainly amp up. So this issue offers plenty of inspiration for both gift giving and menu planning – from new books and CDs by local authors and musicians, to a tantalizing recipe for Christmas rum cake, to easy, locavore-style holiday entertaining in Made In The Hills, a new column by Tralee Pearce.
As always, we hope this issue will also provide you with all kinds of other good fireside reads to warm a frosty eve, including our annual salute to local heroes, the amazing people who make our community such a special place to live; a meaty interview with John Riley, author of the award-winning ecological history The Once and Future Great Lakes Country; and amid the long shadows of winter, a reflection on our relationship with the spirit world by Monica Duncan.
Okay, then, let it snow!