Monday this past week it snowed, here in Toronto. We had recently returned from Nova Scotia and we drove through several hours of wet snow on the way home, and then a few days after we got back we had snow here too. It was barely Halloween ….

So it was dreary, and yet it was also heartwarming. There is something lovely about fresh snow on a tree in the autumn, a duality to it – you dread the cold and the early winter arrival while at the same time you also can’t help but be charmed by the beauty of it.

Which got me thinking, as I walked about this week. From snow on Monday, the temps climbed in Toronto until by Friday it was a November heat wave, short sleeve shirt weather with blue skies and positively spring-like temps.

The news these past few weeks has been depressing and overwhelming- a resurgence of COVID-19, the overwrought drama of the US election, economic challenges, and much else. And yet there was a brighter side too. The sun came out, the air was warm, and the birds were singing.

A walk is a chance to escape, to think, to realize that all is not doom-and-gloom. There is a silver lining, somewhere. Find it and hold it, and remember to smile. Over the past 3 weeks, my nephew and his wife and my niece and her husband have welcomed two gorgeous healthy babies into the world. Walking the neighbourhood this past week, that news cheered me more than the sunshine. Bienvenue Miles and Beatrice.