Quite the adventure that was, not one we're eager to repeat, but given the unusual circumstances, unavoidable. We all went up to bed earlier than usual last night, hoping to catch at least part of a good night's sleep before having to get up and started on a day of goodbyes. Someone set the alarm wrong, at pm instead of am, so it wasn't until 4:15 that I squinted at the clock on my bedside table, and sleepily asked my husband what time we were really supposed to be getting up.

By then our son was already in the shower, preparing himself for what would turn out to be a rather long day; just as well I heard a sound to wake me up at that juncture. It's amazing how quickly two old codgers like us can move when it comes to being prepared on time. We simply dressed, took little Riley out to the backyard for a minute of relief, packed up the car and left by 4:30 am.

Traffic was not much in evidence in the dark early morning hours of a cruelly icy day. A slight wind, with temperatures at minus-26-degrees Celsius. At the airport it was a different story; the curb in front of the departures desks was packed with vehicles stopped, emitting passengers anxious not to miss their early flight. We heard that 22 states in the U.S. were affected by a blizzard of a storm dumping snow and curtailing air traffic to a standstill. Not so here, though Canada's east coast was also being hit by a snowstorm of significant proportions.

We kissed and we hugged and we waved and we hoped for a good flight from Ottawa to Calgary and from Calgary on to Yellowknife. And then drove back home in the dark, but for those areas blazing alight still with colourful Christmas lights.

A few hours later, while I was baking, and cleaning up the house a bit, my husband -- speaking to our daughter-in-law who with our son had just arrived back in Toronto last night as Halifax was being hit by weather they had escaped in Toronto to arrive there -- softly called me over to the front door. We've been putting peanuts out in this intense cold both at the front and at the side doors. There are tiny squirrel pawprints everywhere.

But on this occasion, there was a bright and beautiful carmine male cardinal, cracking a peanut and enjoying the nuts within.