Snowbound

Shut in from all the world without,
We sat the clean-winged hearth about,
Content to let the north-wind roar
In baffled rage at pane and door,
While the red logs before us beat
The frost-line back with tropic heat;

Snowbound: A Winter Idyl by John Greenleaf Whittier

Groundhog Punxsutawney Phil was right - we are still in winter's grip. Yesterday morning we woke to a blizzard. We watched as finely grained snow swept past our windows in horizontal drifts; great clouds of powder snow swirled off the rooftop whenever a strong gust of wind hit, and the temperature stood at minus 0.4 degrees F. The winter storm lasted most of the day… leaving behind almost a foot of new snow on top of what was already on the ground. Fortunately Bob had gone into Kitwanga on Friday to pick up a few supplies, so we are all snuggled in for a snowbound weekend, listening to Stuart McLean’s Vinyl Cafe on CBC Radio One and eating grilled cheese sandwiches.

We first started listening to Stuart McLean when we lived and sailed in the northern waters of British Columbia. Then soon after we moved to Kitwanga, we learned there was going to be a live performance of the Vinyl Café in Terrace. Obviously it is popular with others too because the first performance was quickly sold out, and a second performance scheduled – the one we attended. The Vinyl Café is a lot like The Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. It has the same folksy quality and humorous monologues. Stuart McLean’s monologues are about a fictional family… Dave and Morley, and their two children Stephanie and Sam. Usually there is one monologue during the one-hour radio show, but with the two-hour live performance, there were three: Morley Runs Over a Racoon, Dave and Morley Have a Baby, and Dave Takes Sam to Coney Island to Ride the Roller Coaster. Stuart McLean is lean, almost gaunt, with a shy, gentle face. When he performs his monologues, his whole body is in motion; he sways - waving his arms, his legs bend like silly putty, and the familiar voice with pauses and inflections that we have grown to love, flows effortlessly as he tells the story. The audience sits completely and thoroughly involved in the telling. We smile. We laugh. We know what’s coming and the anticipation is part of the pleasure. It was an evening well worth the hour and a half return trip back home late at night.

McLean’s charming book, Welcome Home, guided us to the small Canadian communities we visited during our 'Looking for Hope' cross-country trip. Towns such as Maple Creek, Saskatchewan. In my September called “When Past is Present,” I wrote:

“I had been reading about this little town in a book by Stuart McLean called Welcome Home. He wrote it in 1992, so what were the chances that we would find his favorite places still here fifteen years later? Places like Carson Currah’s Bakery? Stuart wrote, If you ever find yourself crossing Saskatchewan on the Trans-Canada Highway, you could do worse than drop down Highway 21 into Maple Creek for a coffee and one of Carson’s cinnamon buns. Well Currah’s Bakery is still here, along with the best cinnamon buns I have ever tasted. We poured our own coffee from the pot and sat down at one of the five tables… ”

It was also in Maple Creek that we were treated to the rare sight of The Empress 2816, a vintage Canadian Pacific steam engine pulling into the train station for a special fund-raising event. (Photo at Where Past is Present)

So what could be nicer than to be snowbound with Stuart McLean telling us a funny story about ice-fishing in Keswich,Ontario.

... P. L. Morningstar
(Photo: Stronach Creek in ice and snow.)

.