Yesterday I walked from Centretown to the Glebe, and I decided to take a route along which Google maps warned me to "[u]se caution – This route may be missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths." Normally I don't ask Google maps how to walk to areas I've been before and normally I go for routes that have sidewalks, but yesterday was special. I could really give my Winter Trax a challenge!

The route, you see, took me down Queen Elizabeth Drive for the most part, and the QED only has sidewalks on both sides of the road some of the time. I stuck to the city side, which doesn't always have a sidewalk but does have a two foot wide plowed pedestrian area. Winter Trax held up pretty well, in that I didn't slip or fall or worry that I might, except for one thing: at one point, I looked down at my right boot and saw that part of the trax had started to sneak up around the side instead of staying firmly underfoot. When I reached over to correct it, I discovered that fully half of the trax on my left foot was on top of my boot. I'd blame the boots, but they have nice lips all the way around that the trax can grab on to. They did stay in place for the rest of my walk and on the way home, though I took a route that had sidewalks that time around, but I am suspiciously about their efficacy.  

Despite the fact that I am somehow ignored December while it was going on, I am fully aware that it is January. As such, I thought it appropriate to fully winterize myself this year, by which I mean try to correct past winter mistakes.

Two years ago, I slipped on some ice and fractured my leg. I don't want a repeat performance and mincing around everywhere trying to avoid ice is no way to live. I picked up a pair of Winter Trax* for $20 and wore them for the first time this morning. There were two moments when my right foot sort of slipped out from under me, but I think that has more to do with the fact that I was deliberately not watching where I was stepping to give the Trax a real test. It's a little weird at first to walk on springy metal coils, but it's definitely a better grip. 

After several hours out in the snow the first weekend of the year (not my usual), I realized Sunday afternoon that I had a (very mild) case of frostbite on my right ear. My hat covers my ears, but it's flopsy and loose. Wind still managed to get in there. I decided I should get a hat that clamped down tight over my ears, and my friend offered hers up as she is abroad for the rest of the season. The day before I started wearing it, however, I spotted a sweet mohawk hat like the one pictured, and now I want one. How cool is that hat? Except the one I saw was more like this one, in that it had ear flaps. It was nice of my friend to lend me her hat, but a pom is no mohawk, I think you'll agree.