No raindancers required

One of the most depressing things that confronts residents of the Lower Mainland in BC is the rain.  It is not the ocassional shower; the odd drizzle or the torrential downpour, those are easy to deal with.  It is the persistent precipitation that lasts for days at a time.  From November through to March and because of the closeness of the mountains, it pisses down more often than not.  Respite comes in the form of snow and just once in a blue moon the sun does put his hat on.  Vitamin D is part of the daily intake just to stave off Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Our house is about 500' above the City of Mission and the Fraser River so it is not unusual for rain down there to fall as snow up here.  The snow particularly when enough of it falls and settles, draws out the inner child. Unfortunately the agility and muscle condition of an 'inner middle aged person' is less flexible than that of an 'inner child' so there is a price to pay for sledding recklessly down the slope in the back yard.  Champ, our gargoyle-worthy boxer, seems to enjoy our 'inner childishness' and plays his part.

As pleasurable as snow can be in the short term, it takes very little time for it to become a serious aggravation.  Getting the cars out of the drive is a two hour physical challenge and after twice getting caught out we have now taken to keeping an eye on the forcast and parking roadside when snow threatens.

So enough of the weather already!  2011 is well underway and the year of the pig 2010 is mercifully fading into the past.  What I actually mean is a pig of a year.  2010 was actually the year of the tiger.  So forward with positivity is my resolution.  Ride out the recession; focus on the good things that life presents and ignore the bad.  The world is not a bad place if you look at it through the right glasses.