Winter Wonderland

Ice on the evergreen in my backyard

The last two weeks have been a bit overwhelming. Apart from the usual pre-Christmas craziness, work has been incredibly busy, I've been sick as a dog, I had an allergic reaction to something and was covered in hives, and two days of freezing rain left a good chunk of Ontario covered in ice and without power. Luckily the area I live in wasn't that hard hit... we got lots of freezing rain but the damage was limited and power was restored fairly quickly. Many of my neighbours are still making repairs from the floods in July, so more damage would have been devastating. Personally, I slept through most of it.... like I said, sick as a dog.

I can't remember the last time I caught something that hit me this hard. I suspect it's because I've let myself get run down and haven't been taking care of myself the way I should have. Perhaps this is my body's way of forcing me to slow down. When I finally emerged from my neo-citron and cough syrup induced haze, the streets had been transformed into some kind of winter fantasyland. It was truly beautiful... the sun reflecting through the ice on the trees made everything sparkle. It was amazing. It was a couple days before everyone was able to get out and about... it actually took me 20 mins to get the door of my car open so I could warm it up and scrape off the rest of the ice, which took the better part of an hour. If I didn't really need to go see a doctor, I would have just given up.

The ice was everywhere. This was 4 days after the storm, when it was starting to melt.

I am still coughing but seem to be on the mend... at least I've been able to sleep for more than a couple hours for the last few nights. I'm hopeful today will be a productive painting day. It's been almost two weeks since I've done anything and I'm getting a little antsy. I'll keep you posted.