Dark grey clouds move swiftly across the sky. Trees, nearly bare, are shaking as winter begins to make its move. the predictions for Renfrew County are for heavy snowfalls and cold. I prefer snow to cold. Snow can be shoveled. Cold must be endured.
As we pulled into the driveway, coming home from voting in the Municipal election, we watched the black squirrels chase each other around the maples.
When I look back on my childhood, growing up in Alderwood, my winter memories are pleasant. Well, except for one winter when I fell through the ice. Two, of my buddies and me, were down by Etobicoke Creek, not far from the mouth of Lake Ontario, as I walked across the ice, it cracked and I went down.
It was not deep. I scrambled out easily enough with a little help from my friends. Home was about 30 minutes away. Cell phones did not exist so we could not call any. We walked home. It was cold but we laughed about it, well I was the subject of the laughter. It was not a mean-spirited belittling but buddies taking advantage of an event that turned out okay.
Christmases, in the late 50s and early 60s, were often white, but rarely cold. I remember one year my best friend Jimmy and I were walking around the neighbourhood, wearing our jean jackets. Of course, we were teens and so very cool.
Growing up in Alderwood, I lived there from the age of 13 months to 21 years, was a memorable experience. It seems in memory to have been an idyllic time, but we paid no attention to the news.