It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…

When I read A Tale of Two Cities, I was quite surprised to learn that the famous first line was not twelve words long as I’d been led to believe. It is, in fact, an entire paragraph long.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

Charles Dickens

The ‘spring of hope and winter of despair‘ seems like an apt description of 2021. Last spring we were hopeful that we’d soon be able to travel and make plans again; that small businesses would be on the road to recovery; that kids could return to school, and employees could return to the office. Now that winter is here, we despair that we’re moving backwards.

Despite the sense of doom and gloom, our life has carried on pretty much as normal.

A windstorm swept through town last week, which now feels a bit metaphorical. The winds of change. We were at a dinner party at Rick and Josée’s when the wind started to pick up. We watched as Canada Geese flew-blew across the lake at super-high speeds. The lights went out just before dinner, which wasn’t entirely unexpected.

We didn’t lose power at our place, but R&J were without heat and water for over 24 hours, so they spent bits and pieces of Sunday at our place, charging devices, filling buckets of water, drinking coffee and eating dinner. A lot of trees came down and the local Facebook page felt like a game of Go Fish for the next week. “I’ve got two garbage can lids and a planter. Does anyone have an inflatable Santa?”

We had our final night of Learn to Curl, including lots of pomp and ceremony. We were ‘bagpiped’ onto the ice (with an iPad, not real bagpipes) and given a pre-game shot of whisky. Teams of 3 were randomly created and we played ‘Hot Shots’ where you have to make five different types of shots. No one was more surprised than I was when our team got announced as the trophy winners. I’ve NEVER been on a winning sports team. Ray was on a different team, so I’ve been gloating almost as much as he did after winning the sunflower contest. We had Bill and Lorrie over for dinner last night and I used the trophy as the centrepiece when setting the table.

About four and a half years ago, I promised my friend Susan that I’d treat her to a day at the spa for her birthday. She lived in Collingwood and I lived in Ottawa, so it took us a while to get around to it. Now she’s moved to Cobourg and I’ve moved to Brighton and Ste. Anne’s spa is conveniently located in between. We had a lovely, relaxing day of treatments, walks around the grounds, lunch, hot tubs and afternoon tea. We probably stayed in the hot tubs a wee bit longer than we should have, but it was awfully nice in there.

Ray and I went to a beginner birdwatching session at Presquile Provincial Park. Winter bird-watching is mostly birds we already see at the backyard feeder – chickadees, cardinals, sparrows, nuthatches and woodpeckers. I wasn’t too impressed (because it was cold as &%$# outside), but in between muttering to myself and visualizing the chai latte I’d make when I got home, I picked up some interesting tidbits. Like the fact that loons can’t walk. They can fly and they can swim, but they have to squirm and shimmy themselves onto land to lay their eggs, which is why they’re mostly found on remote lakes where they’re less likely to be disturbed. In the winter, they hang out on Lake Ontario.

Nick spontaneously decided to come visit for the weekend. We introduced him to the movie Planes, Trains & Automobiles, starring John Candy and Steve Martin. Normally Nick has a ‘no movie made before 1995’ rule, but we convinced him that it was a Christmas classic (before realizing it was actually an American Thanksgiving movie). He enjoyed it though. “You’re going the WRONG WAY!” “How do they know where we’re going?”. Classic.

By the time Nick headed back to Kingston, he and Ray had agreed to another competition. Nick mentioned that he was trying to grow his hair longer, and somehow that turned into a contest to see who could go the longest without cutting their hair. My money’s on Nick to win this one.

It was a great week spending time with friends, hanging out with Nick, and having a luxurious spa day. There are so many things I’m grateful for. And yet…I’m struggling to find that Christmas spirit. There’s a heaviness in the air that’s hard to ignore as restrictions ramp up again. The best and the worst. Light and darkness. Hope and despair. These things don’t arrive in separate packages. They come all mixed up together.