Soccer? Football? Does it matter?

Blowing in the wind
London, ON
August 2011
Click here to get in your last-minute Thematic warmth

The ground outside is covered in snow, and the roads are just icy enough to make life interesting every time we take the car out. So of course my mind drifts to summery things because they give me something to focus on while I shiver my way through a Canadian winter.

Funny how that works, isn't it? As we sweat through summer, we ponder winter. And while donning parkas and boots, we think about soccer games and little drinks with umbrellas in them. I guess we're never happy with what we've got - a story for another day's writing, perhaps.

The logistics of life conspired against us this year, and we couldn't make it to a warmer place for the winter break. It is what it is, and if that's the biggest challenge we face, we're doing pretty well indeed. But as I close the door to the house early this morning and drive into the darkness, I'll settle into the drive across southern Ontario's hinterlands with a thermos of tea to warm me, a couple of hours worth of podcasts to keep me company, and images like this in my mind to remind me that everything is temporary, and more carefree days lie ahead for all of us.

A rather nice way to end a week of warmth, no?*

Your turn: What keeps you warm when the world is anything but?

* New theme, "faves of the year" launches tonight at 7 p.m. Eastern