Frozen solid to the ground

Henrietta picks up some ice
London, ON
December 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

We no longer need to wait for the weather report on the 6 o'clock news. Nor do we even have to look outside. Rather, a quick scroll through our social media feeds is typically all we need to know what Mother Nature is up to.

Digital weather: It's a thing.

And so it has come to pass this morning, with Facebookistan crammed to the gills with seemingly endless images - and complaints - of the ice storm that's blown into our region. Which is just as well, because our windows are coated with a thick layer of ice.

Our pup was decidedly unhappy, forced to slip and slide across the sidewalk-turned-skating-rink as the howling winds drove painful flecks of ice into her pretty pink raincoat.

I talked to her gently in the hope that the sound of my voice would calm her down. It didn't go so well, and soon enough we were headed back inside where my lovely wife was waiting with a warm towel and lots of treats.

On the way in, I noticed icicles hanging from the lower rocker panel of my car, Henrietta. Given the weather, we're not driving anywhere today, but the sight of a frozen-in-place Honda got my photographic brain spinning.

I now knew how I wanted to remember this frightening and miserable Sunday morning. So after the furry girl was safely in my wife's arms, I returned outside and took the shot.

Like all extreme bouts of weather, today's will pass soon enough. The ice will melt, and the hunkered down city will once again hum with activity. Our social feeds will leave the weather behind and return once again to the usual meme-sharing, political-battling, passive-aggressive-one-upmanship that typically defines modern digital discourse.

And in one house tucked into a quiet corner of a southern Ontario town, we'll be left with a red-tinged memory of a moment that won't return again anytime soon, if at all.

There may be other storms. But none of them will feel exactly like this.

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