Man and Dog on Car, originally uploaded by kpwerker.

From the quiet sanctuary of a location plagued only by the looming Big One (earthquake) that might or might not happen between tomorrow and a couple hundred years from now, I love me some dramatic weather.

However unpleasant Vancouver winters might be, what with all the dark and rain and greyness, we don’t often get foul weather—by which I mean weather that’s the stuff of newscasts, emergency plans, canned food, drama.

Granted, in the last couple of years we’ve had ourselves some doozies of a storm. Stanley Park’s seawall just opened again after last year’s decimating windstorm, only to be closed again this weekend from a mudslide. There was the turbidity thing last year that had us boiling water for a couple of weeks because the rain caused runoff into the reservoirs (and we might have another warning coming). We got a foot of snow in a storm last year; it was impressive even by my long-defunct upstate New York standards.

This past weekend Vancouver got itself some good snow, from what I hear. We were up at Whistler for our first ski day of the season*. We knew some snow was expected on Sunday, but whatever. Dude. That “expected snow” ended up being well over half a metre. We left to come back to the city on Sunday only to turn around an hour (and 25km) later, deciding it wasn’t worth the torture. Ten minutes later the road was closed, anyway. It’s fun to be snowed in! We made it home yesterday.

This storm is ongoing, only with dramatically raised temperatures. And that means rain. Lots of rain. Like, the city went and put “don’t park here from 7am-5pm for street cleaning” signs on our street at 8 o’clock this morning, and the street cleaner has been up or down our street a handful of times. Lazy planners? I actually suspect they’re on a storm-related kick to clear the streets ASAP to avoid sewer problems from all the rain. Good, city.

And now I’ve gotten talk of the weather out of my system.

*I’ve been battling over what I think of skiing. I think that after seven years of getting to know it and getting pretty okay at it, I’m sort of bored by it. It might be that I haven’t found the perfect skiing buddy (one I’m not holding back speed-wise, and who’s easy-going and in it for the fun). It might be that Whistler and Blackcomb are too big to navigate when I’m not wearing my glasses. Regardless, I’ve decided to be a fair-weather skier, and to enjoy snow in other ways, maybe simply by watching it fall. Oh, well.

8 responses to “Wintry”

  1. maryse Avatar

    i haven’t skied in years and even when i did, i’m lousy at it. and my favorite skiing partner is no one. if i’m going to ski, i prefer to do it by myself. i’ll meet you all at the lodge. know what i mean?

  2. maryse Avatar

    i haven’t skied in years and even when i did, i’m lousy at it. and my favorite skiing partner is no one. if i’m going to ski, i prefer to do it by myself. i’ll meet you all at the lodge. know what i mean?

  3. Kim Werker Avatar

    Yeah, I’ve toyed with just skiing by myself. I think that’s where skiing sans glasses screws me up at Whistler. The mountains are just too big; the runs don’t just go from top to bottom; you have to navigate them (which I can’t do well without being able to read the signs from afar). I might just (*gasp*) bring my skies back to the city and try out the smaller local mountains. If only they’d get some snow…

  4. Kim Werker Avatar

    Yeah, I’ve toyed with just skiing by myself. I think that’s where skiing sans glasses screws me up at Whistler. The mountains are just too big; the runs don’t just go from top to bottom; you have to navigate them (which I can’t do well without being able to read the signs from afar). I might just (*gasp*) bring my skies back to the city and try out the smaller local mountains. If only they’d get some snow…

  5. Felicia Avatar

    Wow, that weather is intense up there! Can’t believe that picture.

  6. Felicia Avatar

    Wow, that weather is intense up there! Can’t believe that picture.

  7. mmt Avatar
    mmt

    Even in my younger pre-old fogey days, I thought the best use of a ski lodge was to sit by the fire and knit, enjoying that everyone else was having fun on sticks in the snow, and I was toasty and getting “one more row” done. The snow areas are happy here in Maine this week, but my previous home in Syracuse has consistently more snow. Colder here (my toy poodle’s feet will stick to the ground on the occasional 3 AM pee when SHE WON’T HURRY UP). When we lived on the edge of the Tug Hill plateau, it really did go from bare ground to the second story in a day and a half of straight snow. I think I prefer the cold.

  8. mmt Avatar
    mmt

    Even in my younger pre-old fogey days, I thought the best use of a ski lodge was to sit by the fire and knit, enjoying that everyone else was having fun on sticks in the snow, and I was toasty and getting “one more row” done. The snow areas are happy here in Maine this week, but my previous home in Syracuse has consistently more snow. Colder here (my toy poodle’s feet will stick to the ground on the occasional 3 AM pee when SHE WON’T HURRY UP). When we lived on the edge of the Tug Hill plateau, it really did go from bare ground to the second story in a day and a half of straight snow. I think I prefer the cold.

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