Winter on the frontier

Québec is one cold city. The winter here is looooong. It's much further north here than where I was living in relatively mild southern Ontario: in the peak of this winter, the sun was already way down by the time I left work at ~5pm. And this January was frosty, boy, with many days in the -30's (°C). Brrrr........ think ice-covered streets, snow blocks falling off roofs, and maniacal drivers whipping around narrow, slippery streets.

Luckily, in a place with such a long winter, people don't seem to let it bug them. Instead they totally embrace it, and getting caught up in that joie-de-vivre has made it a bit easier. (I like snow, it's just 5 months straight of it that gets a little old). I bought downhill skis for the first time and visited Mt. Ste. Anne. Winter play is definitely a central part of life here.

Another key strategy for winter survival = having un copain. Allow me to introduce Rob. We've been exploring every inch of this town since meeting in the fall. Some of our favourite excursions are wandering around la vieille ville (the old city), sampling local cafés, busting out raquettes (snowshoes) in the parks including les Plaines (the Plains of Abraham), and cooking dinners with friends. Here's the yummy dessert from a get-together that some pals had for me in January, and a Valentine's meal cooked by a real sweetie.

There have been some big international events here recently, including a skating circuit race that is like roller-derby on ice, full of tough bruisers from cold places in Canada, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. That night was so frigid that a friend of mine watching from the sidelines had a can of beer freeze solid in 10 minutes. And there were something like 20,000+ spectators, outside... the Quebecois are tough, man! Then in early February it was Winter Carnival. In what other city can you stumble across sled dog rides, giant inner-tube slides, and a horse-ski jump rodeo?!

Red Bull Crashed Ice event: the track, and the crazy skaters

Some friends of ours came up with another great approach to winter: get a lil Bernese Mountain Dog to frolic with. Tell me this wouldn't cheer you up on a frigid morning!

Sam, the cutest puppy in the world.

Of course my knitting needles are clacking away, as always. A fun recent project was the "cross-Canadian baby blanket " that a gang of us made for a special girl. This was with 7 friends who used to stitch n' bitch together when we were at the University of Toronto. Now we're spread from coast to coast. We all knit squares from a cute pattern, sent by one pal in Vancouver. She assembled the blanket for baby Eloise and mailed it to Paris, where another member of our former group now lives (Sharilynn, and her hub James, my old lab mate).

I still hang out regularly with my new stitch n' bitch group here (it's Tricothé à Québec, if you're a Ravelry fan). Another fun adventure I've discovered is knitting swaps. These are some of the box o' treats I received all the way from Minnesota, courtesy of my awesome pal wittyknittin in the recent FaveThingsSwap on ravelry. I'm seriously loving the headscarf that she knit for me =) The turquoise toque is something I made to send to the swap partner I had, in Seattle.

I had a business trip to Edmonton in February, and it coincided with Derek's birthday. He and his girlfriend Jen were coming into the city for the weekend so we met up for dinner, very fun.

Rob and I have made some fun road trips to explore around here. One weekend we visited the beautiful Charlevoix region, hanging out in La Malbaie. This area of rolling hills on the north shore of the St. Lawrence has some jaw-dropping scenery. And then last weekend was a total blast— six of us rented a cabin in the Chaudiere-Appalaches (the Appalachian Mountains) about two hours south of Québec, and drove down together in a pick-up. This was part of a big surprise to celebrate our friend Céline's 40th birthday. We did some snowshoeing and lots of good eating. More survival strategies ;)

Driving to the Appalachians.

But now that it's March, I know (hope!) the rest of the winter will zip by. I'm looking forward to some spring skiing. Other than that, I say bring on the sunny warmth. Please.