Massiah’s Message ~ It’s winter!

Yeah, it’s winter! (Let’s cheer. I’ve found that’s what I’ve got to do to get through one of the spit-freezing cold days we’ve had here in Maple Creek.)

Today I plugged in the car for about 30 minutes. I don’t plug it in overnight anymore, because I find that’s a big waste of money and I think it eventually ruins your battery. By now you must know that unless it’s on family, sports or clothing, I’m a big cheapskate who will nickel and dime to death.

So I threw on my snow pants and jacket over my jammies and hopped outside for five seconds, plugged in and escaped back to the house.

I’ve been praying for real snow all year and it’s here. It’s just that I didn’t count on it also being -40 C outside. This month I’m trying a couple old Canadian winter experiences from my youth. I think it’s been over 10 years since I’ve last cross-country skied, so let’s just say that the feeling of balance on skis was kind of lost to me.

I drove out to Cypress Park for Chinese New Year where they were holding snowshoe and ski lessons. After the ski club information meeting and the two-hour class, I’m pretty surprised that I wasn’t really too sore the next day. (I fell three times.) My legs were a little tense a day later, but most of my muscle pain came from one arm. And as much as I’ve tried to build up my arm muscles, I think they’ll always be noodle arms.

Right before cross-country skiing I was going through old photo albums at my parents house in Calgary and I found an old photo of a cross-country skiing class at Lake Louise. It’s funny how your memory from childhood works, because I’ve gone there countless times, but my fondest memory is not skiing, but skating and playing in the ice sculptures on the frozen lake.

I kind of stared last week when I watched the news in Calgary and learned Canada Olympic Park was temporarily closed due to the extreme wind chills. COP is the ski hill in the middle of the city of Calgary.

I have fond memories of learning to downhill ski and snowboard there, and all of the ice on the hill at mid-day. (The tow rope and I have a love-hate relationship and I recall snowboarding there once and slicing my palm open too.) Later this month I’ll be updating my blog with photos of snowboarding as we’re heading out to the mountains to help celebrate that time of year again. Each February I’m reminded of my birth and that yes, I am no longer 21.  I am happy to report that in defiance of my age, this month I jumped on the bed like an unruly child.

Wow, I don’t really like watching American football other than the Dallas Cowboys, Peyton and Eli Manning and watching Super Bowl Sunday halftime shows.

I really enjoyed watching snippets of this year’s spectacle. I call it a spectacle, because of all of the money that’s spent on just lighting the field. You remember last year right, when the lights went out for part of the game? That didn’t happen this time, but unfortunately Peyton Manning’s team, the Broncos, lost real bad to the Seahawks. So bad I won’t mention the score, but I was totally cheered up by the stellar performance of Bruno Mars. I actually love every single song he’s made. You can’t really say that about a lot of artists that are spit out into the music world right now.

I saw in our newspaper that there’s also a bus to take locals to Calgary so they can watch the Flames play the Senators on March 5. It sounds like a great idea. The Flames are playing really well lately. I’ll be cheering for the Flaming ‘C’. Normally I would cheer for the Sens too, but unfortunately at home I’ve got to stay loyal and true. Go Flames go!

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