The Rural Voice, 1998-12, Page 14PARTS & EQUIPMENT - NEW & USED
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10 THE RURAL VOICE
Robert Mercer
Missing the best of winter
When we left rural Ontario for the
mild climate of Vancouver Island I
never thought I would miss the
driving snow or the howling winds
of winter. Well I
don't really. But
what I find I am
missing are
those glorious
clear cold days
and nights when
the smoke from
the hearth goes
straight up and
out of the
chimney like a
midsummer
sunflower at
noon standing
bolt upright in
the air.
Winter and
Christmas go together and Christmas
needs snow. It needs the change in
climate and it needs the thoughts of
renewal that come with that change.
It is just before Christmas that we
pass the longest night of the year and
move towards longer days. This
basic and hardly -perceived change
brings with it thoughts of spring to
regenerate faith as well as growth.
While looking through some old
photos of ice on Lake Ontario where
the snow was shifting across the
surface in rivulets of motion, I
realized that crisp air and clear blue
skies have pleasures as well as costs.
The beauty of the cold is worth some
discomfort — maybe three or four
days a year. Not however, three or
four months a year!
I don't miss the Ontario winter for
its length or its severity. I do not
miss that morning battle between the
grinding starter motor and the frozen
battery at 20 below. I can't say that 1
miss the creaking floors and cracking
of the beams when the thermometer
dips below zero fahrenheit. I don't
miss the frozen pipes for sure, the
long lanes filled with snow or the
stamping of the feet to keep them
warm. And most of all I don't miss
the freezing rain and icy roads.
There is
beauty in
winter
On the other hand I find I am
beginning to miss the intensity of the
colours of winter in Ontario. The
contrast of the dark blue skies against
the white of the fields and the browns
of the cornstalks or stubble. Also
missing are the pitch black nights
with the crystal clear stars shining
down like cats' eyes in the hay mow.
And if you are lucky enough in
Ontario you can catch the winter sun
casting long dark shadows across the
uneven snowdrifts making milkweed
pods look like pole beans.
In BC you don't have to shovel
much snow, but you don't get the
satisfaction of walking over snow
that crackles under your feet and
leaves a trail of footprints like a
lonely deer or friendly rabbit.
Rural Ontario is Christmas card
country. It is here where you get
pictures of the farmhouse lit up
inside and out. The old Dutch barn
steaming as someone enters to do the
chores and the turkey in the oven and
not in the shed. The rural lifestyle is
the backdrop to so many Christmas
cards which so few people really
understand, enjoy or participate in
any longer.
May you enjoy it, cherish it and
live a long life to remember it.
Winter is more than Christmas, just
as much as Christmas is more than
winter.0
Robert Mercer was editor of the
Broadwater Market Letter and a farm
commentator in Ontario for 25 years.
Thanks to the farmers who have supplied us
with excellent wool
and to all our
customers who
purchased yam for
their knitting projects.
Merry Christmas.
The Philosopher's Wool Co.
Inverhuron, 519-368-5354