Last year, both Sandra and I devoured the book “There’s No Such Thing as Bad Weather” by Linda Akeson McGurk. We spent our evenings discussing the importance of outdoor winter play, and concepts such as allowing children to nap outdoors in winter, the ridiculousness of indoor recess if the temperature is at all below zero, and how desperately we wished schools would include more outdoor curriculum. We discussed moving to Sweden at multiple points throughout the book.
In the end, we disagreed with the author on one thing: We both truly believe that there really is such thing as bad weather.
Our family lives on a small acreage outside of Edmonton, Canada, which, for those of you who are unfamiliar, is the northernmost city of over 1 million people in North America. This means its winters are long, dark, and COLD. Most years, we get our first snowfall sometime in September and our last snowfall sometime in May. On our winter solstice, the sun rises at 8:48 a.m. and sets at 4:16 p.m, leaving us with just under 7.5 hours of daylight. The winter temperatures plummet to extremes, with usually at least a couple of days each year where we hit -40, the frigid intersection where Celsius and Fahrenheit meet.
During the worst stretches of winter, the desire to hibernate is strong: curl up somewhere warm and not reemerge until the world has thawed, but when winter is six months of the year, it is imperative to find a way to still get outside. I know, for me, my mental health during these long months depends on outdoor activity and sunlight. As a family, we are all-around happier and more connected when we spend days outdoors. So, while we may not come to love winter, we need to find a way to coexist with it. We need to make the best of the season.
Many Edmontonians are trying to learn to embrace our harsh climate, and the city began the Winter City Edmonton initiative to try to encourage people to get outdoors more year round. With this initiative, there’s almost always some sort of outdoor activity going on in the city at any given time, so there are things to do, however, getting outside in winter is still hard. It takes extra effort, extra planning, and a lot more motivation. Especially with a toddler.
And then, to add to the challenge, we moved out of the city.
Last year was our first year at the acreage, and while we love life in the country, we found things rather isolating during the winter. We no longer had a neighbourhood to stroll through at night. The country roads, with no sidewalks or streetlights, felt hazardous, and we wound up cooped up at home after dark. Our young toddler struggled to move in her layers of clothing and any snow not already trampled down into a path became impossible for her to move through, taking away the option of playing for hours in our yard.
So why does all of this matter? Well, first of all, this won’t likely be the blog with tips on how to beat the heat in summer. A good portion of our blog is going to be focused on how we find ways to make the best of the snow and cold in the winter, and what kinds of activities we can do to make the season enjoyable. We’ll probably write about what tips, tricks, and clothing we use to stay warm; what books and activities inspire us; and how we navigate the struggles to get outside. We’ll also write about the beauty of winter– the unparalleled tranquility of the world on a frozen day, when it is so cold that there are sundogs in the sky and hoar frost on all of the trees– and the magic we make throughout the season. We live in a winter city, so a good portion of this blog will be a winter blog.
Already, the days are getting colder and we can expect the snow to settle in for the season anytime. While I already miss the long, warm days of summer, I’m excited to take our daughter skiing and snowboarding for the first time this year, and Sandra and I have been looking into options for winter camping. We want to document the learning curve for these activities and the memories we make as a result, and we hope you’ll join us in the adventure!