documenting winter

 this year it started well = with snow. and it continued with snow. less cold than last year (so far, and keeping those fingers crossed) and much more snow, which is exactly how i like it.
these past two months i've been in schools where at breaks there's a joyful craziness: kids burying each other in snow, happily playing with shovels, doing snow angels and just sitting down (in snow pants duh) not caring. i think it contributed a lot to my appreciation for winter.
another thing that might have contributed: insulated winter boots.
i seriously leave the house in the morning with thick jacket, huge scarf covering my face, hat, mittens and boots, and i just don't care. between -5 and -20 it's been pretty much the same to me.

as for documentation:

january 1st: we braved...mostly laziness, and went to parc jarry, which is excellent for kids, and not only, all year round. here's  some of the tobogganing madness

and fort-building madness

it still seems weird to me that people are sliding (and parents pull their kids in the street) on just a small sheet of plastic. the sleighs of my generation/upbringing were solid light wood with metal bars

visit downtown (to the stores) equals great opportunity to photograph the lights. also notice how i usually take my hat off for photos; my winter hat is great for warmth, but tends to ruin photo ops.
scarf is from my mum, received in the "winter package", is the size and thickness of a blanket, and shows a winter landscape

the annoyance of shoveling the stairs right before it snows again.
only surpassed by the annoyance of being woken up (after 10 a.m., lol) by our very conscientious neighbour shoveling the stairs when it is our turn; again.

interior interlude: my kitchen shelf looking like an indian store in parc-ex

and the literary magazine shelf at "indigo", while doing research for the online course i took this jan/feb.

full winter gear, as described above, including the dreaded chinchilla hat. this was on a day with new snow, straight out of work in parc la fontaine
hey, i got a couple more hats, thinner and more colorful, and hopefully more photo-friendly. i'm sure i'll make the most of them throughout march, and april god forbid

scooping out the lake in the park for future skating opportunities. 

and i always like to see how montreal murals find their way to integrate through various seasonal changes

lazy day, and mandatory tina pic

parc jarry again - the advantages of having dogs over cats (we can't even take tina out on the porch these days)

amazing winter light and b. just teaching himself how to skate

apparently he got much better after i was out of there:), but i don't know how much skating time he's got left this year.