winter

We've had a very ordinary winter.

"Put Them To Work Early!" is our parenting motto.

Now, right up front we've got a cross-cultural translation issue to address before we can go on.  Australians will read that opening sentence to mean our winter was lacklustre, not up to par, not worthy of the name, not right, no good etc.  Canadians, I have it on good authority, will have read: We have had a very normal winter (i.e. nothing out of the ordinary happened).  Just so we're clear, I am going with my mother tongue here.  As wild, northern winters go, this one has been a bit too stop-start, a bit too "could try harder".

Halted.  Breathless.  Speechless.  The sidewalk snowplow goes by

After last year's exciting Snowmageddon!, the relative mild temperatures and low snow fall have left us all wondering if winter will ever come back.  There is an awful lot of warming going on, after all.  However, we have tried to make the most of the bits of winter that have come our way and have sought to continue Tiny's education about all things Outdoors.  He is a reluctant student, we are sad to say.  He is no great outdoorsman - yet, anyway.  To be fair, he has very strong indoor, bookish genes holding him together, and so we probably shouldn't be surprised when he stands, bewildered, amongst the elements.

One thing he does like about winter is the snow.  Eating it, to be precise.  Almost all outdoor photo opportunities have seen me standing there clicking away only to see later that every shot is of him at some point in the picking-up-snow-eating-it-reaching-for-more cycle.  This is all very endearing until we get to the dog park where there's a distinct sense that pretty much everything at ground level has at some point come in contact with dog pooh or wee.  Or at least it feels that way.  Thus I have come up with some snow categories to help him in his decision making - ooky snow and good snow.  You can tell that the poetry of the north is seeping into me, can't you. 

Next year we'll try and introduce throwing snow balls into his repertoire, but for now we'll just have to be content with him eating them.