The Season

Winter has arrived in Calgary, at least for today. There is a heavy, wet snowfall tumbling from the sky, blanketing the roads and trees outside my window. The air is a crisp chill. Sidewalks are wet, parking lots are a mess. It's the beginning of the season of cold.

I went out for an early lunch with a couple of friends this morning, a start today that was almost a shock to my system. Afterwards another friend and I went to Canadian Tire to see about getting the tire on my Freewheel repaired. I lent it to another PALS a couple of weeks back and when I got it back the tire was flat. No problem, that is what Canadian Tire is good at. Well, not so much. They can put air in it but cannot tell me if the tire is flat from a puncture or something else. They inflated the tire for me; I'll find out if it goes flat again.

While I was in the store I noticed the Christmas supplies already on the shelf. It's officially the Christmas shopping season too! I need a new Christmas tree, and I wanted one of the pre-lit ones, so I purchased a tree. Then I saw the pre-lit garlands and thought how nice one would look on my patio. So one of those went in the basket too, plus a couple of little toys for little grandchildren. I can't resist.

On getting the tree and garland home, my friend Dion put up the garland. Then he went to the basement and got my deck trim lights and front door wreath. He put up the lights and I put up the wreath. My little apartment is now ready for Christmas, only two months ahead of the holiday. This is probably the earliest in my life that I have had my outdoor lights up.

Now all I have to do is put the tree up. I think I might wait a month or so for that.