Chinook Winds are Blowing and the Trees are Crackling

Have you ever just listened to the world around you, I mean really listened to all of those noises and sounds that make up the background symphony of our world? The honking of horns in downtown traffic, the whoosh of air brakes as a bus pulls away from the curb, children's laughter in a nearby playground, you get the idea.

Tonight the trees are noisy out in the country. The promised chinook winds have finally arrived and the trees are rapidly dropping their uncharacteristic coats of ice. The sound reminds me the tinkling of broken glass Christmas ornaments as they hit the ground. A soft, sparkling tinkle that is pleasant to the ears, even though it means something has broken.

We haven't really had autumn in Calgary this year, just a quick drop in temperature that brought with it freezing rain, ice pellets, and trees encased in a thin veil of ice. Not the early winter we are accustomed to on the prairies. We are prepared for the dry snow and cold winds but not for this foreign, eastern kind of ice foggy mornings and crusty banks of snow. Is this what they mean by climate change?

I find it interesting that a little change in the weather pattern can cause so much discussion of , well, the weather. This topic is usually preserved for coffee shops populated by retired men and not typical water cooler conversation. As our neighbours to the east and south struggle to overcome the devastation created by hurricane Sandy, many of us have moved on and are once again focused on how the weather is affecting our lives.

This brings me back to my original question, do we ever really listen to the world around us or has it become white noise to us. Does the enormity of the devastation make us want to push it aside? Now that the storm is past, things must surely be back to normal...aren't they? We aren't seeing crashing waves on the evening news anymore, now it's back to election news and ads filling the airwaves.

But there are still families dealing with the aftermath, not only the struggles of power outages and gasoline rationing but also the families of the 103 people who lost their lives during this natural disaster. These families will never forget this tragedy and will be forever changed by the premature loss of their loved ones. Somehow the inconveniences of an early, icy winter suddenly seem much less important now don't they.

miss kimmy