March 16, 2010. Mexico.. Athabasca.

Fifty degrees was a common number this winter, as in, fifty degrees below freezing and this was Celsius. Their thermometer goes to forty degrees below, so at fifty, the red stuff just huddles in the bulb at the bottom of the thermometer. I would too if I lived in Athabasca. Helen is the daughter of Margaret and David, our neighbor here, and Helen and her husband Brian along with two year old Benny are visiting for a week. Benny is a sweet child, but soon number two will arrive in August, so his life will change. We have visited with them a couple of times this week and we enjoyed their company, but most of all, I enjoyed getting to hear about Athabasca.

First thing I must do is look at a map. I know that Athabasca is north of Edmonton and I know that Edmonton is very cold, so going further north must be an ordeal. A direct flight from Edmonton to Puerto Vallerta is a good thing, probably necessary if you live so far north. Athabasca is a town of three thousand and once was a major trading site for the Hudson's Bay Company, as the town is on a river. Once the population was greater than today, but seems to be holding it's own.

I asked Helen how she survived the winters and she struggled to come up with suitable answers. She in turn asked me how I survived when I was home looking after children, so I gave her my solutions; picnic group and book club were my salvation. We enjoyed meeting these two young people. Now we must go up and see Athabasca, but not in the winter.