CanadiAnneinSweden: Baby it's Cold Outside!

Vickie had me listening to Dean Martin on our holiday and now it's in my head :) For a stroll down memory lane visit the youtube of it - warning - it will stick in your head!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crFQpOCDfEc
Well it is indeed COLD outside! And everyone has been suffering from colds inside - I lost a day at the lab this week - but happy to be healthy again :) But the cold weather never dissuades the Swedes from doing anything outdoors - the racks filled with bikes outside SLU are a testament to that. As is the fact that some friends from SLU are horseback riding today - nope - not riding in a sleigh tucked under blankets, but riding horses. Brrr I say!!! I think it is hovering around -17C the last few days and I think I am not ready for even colder - but seeing as someone pointed out yesterday on the bus - I am from Canada so I know cold, I should be prepared. Baby steps I say - and maybe going back to Spain isn't such a bad idea (I think the air space has re-opened!
Last night Katie and I visited Goteberg Cafe - can I say again how delightful the cakes and yes ice cream (perhaps it's never too cold for ice cream?) are, as was playing a half round of scrabble (they closed early owing to no one else wanting to eat cake - crazy people)! Mmmm! I laughed at how Swedish we were on the way home - me doubling her on the back of her bicycle so that we could minimize our time in the cold on the way home. A balancing act it was, but also quite amusing. Reminded me of when I was younger and used to double my brother Don on the back - although in that case he ended up in a cast. No casts this go round! No pics of the doubling but will be posting pics of decliciousness when I get them from Katie - I actually forgot my camera for once!
Today in spite of the cold weather (more -17C), Aida (my wonderful office mate), Natcho, and their lovely pup Patum invited me out for our first cross-country ski adventure in Sweden for this winter. Anna-Marie at school has generously loaned me some equipment and so I was excited to try it out (and can I once again rave at just how friendly and lovely Swedes are - I had many reminders of this my first week back from Spain!!!). We had about 10 km of skiing and trekking up and down :) Turned out to be more than just calm trails - some rocky adventures as well - with sometimes uncertainty of where we were supposed to go. -17 is better than -30 at least, and it was still a great time - cold weather and all. Thankfully our thermoses were filled with warm tea - so that helped too :) We were out there from sunrise to after moonrise - down to 4.5 hours of daylight - so you gotta make the most of it!!!. The days aren't getting any longer yet ;)