A diaphanous almost frivolous ornament of snow falls uninhibited and straight down from the pallid sky. Its tiny wispy particles slowly augment the existing layers of snow that overnight covered the ground and mounted the railings of the balcony and the tops of fences. The blinding white snow fills the cracks and rows between whatever is beneath its nearly imperceptible and airy obstruction. The gradual camouflage of the fields and the river continues unabated and unaltered apart from the occasional angular draft of wind that temporarily creates a shallow pillar of snow before its permeative amplitude is restored.
The world about me is gradually fading from view, the matching sheer sky above blocks the sun and creates an orb of faint white molten steel beneath its cover. It is an invitation to all but the most determined to hibernate, to lie dormant and torpid, to sleep, to overwinter and hole up. There are no birds, no foxes, no hares. The tarnished yellow ribbons of corn fields marked by their whittled stalks are circumscribed by undulating corridors of white. The roofs of the distant farm houses and abandoned shed are perfectly veneered in satin. The entire landscape is subdued by the white snow within its crevices and upon its platitudes.
Within our den is a contradiction of colour and warmth. Inside is a soupy mix of dense tinctures, vermillion red, emerald green, walnut black, deep rich hues, bright luminous tints and glistening crystal. All is soothed by the dry implacable heat surrounding one’s body like a large woollen blanket. Though the inner extension from the outer blanchement has created a separtion, I was anxious not to disturb the pleasant location. Overnight once again I had familiarized myself with the substance of this resort, a most comfortable lair, retreat and shelter.
Puis venait, flottante et paisible, une barge brune, large et aplatie ; elle portait au milieu une maisonnette blanchement tenue, dont les petites vitres étaient rondes et rissolées ; des volubilis rouges et jaunes rampaient autour des fenêtres, et sur les deux côtés du seuil il y avait des auges de bois pleines de terre avec des muguets, du réséda et des géraniums.
Marcel Schwob: La Lampe de Psyché/Le Livre de Monelle,
Mercure de France, 1895
But my punctilious ambitions prevailed. At first a routine 30 minutes on my tricycle up and down the concrete floor of the subterranean garage. Only one other resident dared during my constitutional to undertake his own mission out of the garage in his automobile, up the heated ramp to the snowbound roadway and beyond. I followed his example after my purge. But it was a mistake. Those who are engaged by the Powers That Be (I’m guessing a combination of federal, provincial and municipal jurisdictions) to undertake the management of the public roadways had apparently not yet addressed today’s particular exhibition of Natire’s command. The roadways were unattractively mixed with dirty snow, ice and salt. But I prevailed, against my better judgement, carefully careering my way along the often intricate pathways, a resolution which improved on the more publicly ventured highways.
Upon my return, an epiphany! Yesterday’s hockey game (in which frankly I have but a sparing interest) was I am now told between the Ottawa ’67s and the Kingston Frontenacs. Upon hearing this, my recognition (though not immediate) percolated sufficiently to awaken me to the proximate result.
Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston is a provincial electoral district in Ontario, Canada. It elects one member (2022: John Jordan, Progressive Conversative) to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. This riding was created in 2015.
The Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston riding includes Beckwith Township, Carleton Place, Drummond/North Elmsley Township, Kingston, Lanark Highlands Township, Mississippi Mills (where we reside), Perth (our County seat), Smiths Falls, South Frontenac County and Tay Valley Township. Most of the territory is in Lanark County.
The Kingston Frontenacs are a Canadian junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League, based in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The Frontenacs play home games at Leon’s Centre, which opened in 2008. Team history predates the Ontario Hockey League, to a team known as the Kingston Victorias in 1945. This current Frontenacs franchise was founded in the Ontario Hockey Association in 1973–74, then known as the Kingston Canadians until 1987–88. The team was briefly known as the Kingston Raiders in 1988–89, and as the Frontenacs since.
The Ottawa 67’s are a major junior ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, that plays in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). Established during Canada’s centennial year of 1967 and named in honour of this, the 67’s currently play their home games at TD Place Arena. The 67’s are three-time OHL champions, and have played in the Memorial Cup five times, winning in 1984 and as host team in 1999.