A shower of icy flakes graced my sleepy gaze as I woke up recently. Before consuming my first cup of coffee, I started to ponder the importance of our first significant snow fall in Calgary.

In the aftermath of receiving a 10 cm snow blanket, I was surprised how deserted the city seemed. Buses ran extremely late, people avoided the streets, and trains never arrived to empty platforms.
We were explorers treading across virgin country. Navigating the sideways and trying not to stumble ignorantly into the streets, we paved a path for others to follow. Adventure was at hand.

Of course, these weren’t the first Canadian snow flakes I watched fall. Mid October, about six weeks ago, I first encountered a short-lived taste of winter. Libby and I had been out grocery shopping all afternoon, and shortly after dusk the weather turned. Crossing the Real Canadian Superstore parking lot (think Fred Meyers in Calgary), we faced a dry, skin blistering wind, yet on the return to our car the wind stilled and in its place—ashen powder littered my car.

Then in a blink of an eye, the hush gave way to a howl. To my marvel, flakes rode the swirl current echoing an aura of carefree delight. At three degrees Celsius (that’s about 36 degrees Fahrenheit), the roads remained clean with scrap snow melting or crumbling under car tires. In the wonder of nonchalantly falling October snow, drifting to my wind shield, the adventure of moving far, far away from my home town to steak a claim on a new life.

Now six weeks later, the novelty of snow has faded to a sense of seriousness and general respect for the elements. Leaving the townhouse means facing Mother Nature and praying the beautiful deceit of snow isn’t our demise.

Under the spell of mystic and delight, we left our cozy, climate-controlled apartment to touch winter. The desire to roll snow balls in our gloved hands, and feel Jack Frost’s kiss upon our cheeks drove us out. Out at the mercy of the elements, the air held magic. We hallucinated ice cream joy until the snow melt, the sun set, and the breeze turned into a wind chill warning.

Stumbling home—thank you Calgary Transit—we slipped from the trance of snow to be wrapped safely in the sweet embrace of hot chocolate.

Stripping wet layers of clothing off, we are satisfied with the white capped trees and pure clean crisp carpet enchanting the senses from afar. Through double-paned windows, the landscape is clean, cold, purified. For today, we are happily caged.