If they kick me out of the cottage...

I've got somewhere to stay. Yesterday afternoon after a heavy snowfall, my daughter got the idea to make a Quinzhee. A quinzhee is a winter shelter made of snow. It is not unlike an igloo, but it is smaller and far less elegant - it is basically a chest level hut made out of snow designed to give you somewhere to sleep at night.

When I stepped out the door, I looked up. The tree branches were covered with snow, like a postcard. Behind them were blue sky and gold-coloured clouds - I had never seen anything quite like it in all my days. Even at the age of forty, I thought, I still see new things. My daughter was already out looking for me as I returned from the front door with the shovels.

We cleared about a forty square foot patch of ice on the lake in a heap of snow, taking frequent breaks (it was heavy work, as the snow was wet and heavy.) Then we sat in the sun for a while, and went inside for a bit. When we came back out, the gold clouds had turned orange, as the sun approached the horizon.

I fetched a few sticks for measuring the roof. When you build a quinzhee, you make a mound of snow, such as we had done. Then you dig out a cave, and you stick foot-long sticks in the sides and roof to ensure you leave at least a foot of packed snow in each, so your quinzhee does not collapse in on you. I dug out the hole, and my daughter kept slipping in to test it. The first time, she barely could get in, so I widened the entrance. Our quinzhee was a little wet, as it had been a warm day. The snow was wet, the lake surface was slushy. But going down to minus nine celsius last night as it did, it will be rock hard because of building it wet like we did.

After finally completing a suitable tunnel in the Quinzhee, my daughter went galloping across the lake like a horse. I stopped, and stared as the sun went down between the pines on the other side. She galloped back over and said, "It looks like the trees are on fire."

"Yes it does," I said. We stood there and said nothing more until it vanished.