In the bleak mid winter

In the bleak mid-winter 
  Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, 
  Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, 
  Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
  Long ago. 

Christina Georgina Rosetti 1830 -1894

This is one of my favourite carols and the one I always hum when it gets really cold here in St. Albert.  And it is really cold today, although it's warmer than yesterday when it was minus 40.  Hah, warmer is a strange adjective to use when we are talking about the difference between minus 40 and minus 30. 

Some people think a dry cold doesn't feel as bad as a humid cold. And it is dry here, our hair crackles with static electricity and our lips feel as puckered up as a dried apple skin. But for  those of you who haven't experienced temperatures this cold, trust me, when it gets to minus 30 centigrade, dry or wet,  it's COLD - brrrr.  

I took these photos from the kitchen windows. Now the strange thing that you will notice, is that the sun is shining and all looks quite warm apart from the snow. Blue sky and sunshine in the winter is what most diehard Albertans cite as the reason they wouldn't want to live in BC (and it rains too much there supposedly). Now tell me, would you trade this picture for a few drops of rain?

If not, consider this, when we go out today, we must cover all expose skin because it will freeze in about 4 minutes. But we don't bother as we dash from car to shop, because we are hardy and foolish (for living here). 

This is probably not the last time I'll talk about the weather on this blog.