For months now, they've been predicting that Edmonton will have perhaps the warmest winter in a decade. And while that poses its own set of problems, we've had a really balmy fall. Realistically speaking there have been very few days when I've been considerably underdressed for the weather (which yes, does happen — probably a fact related in part to my desire to always wear skirts and dresses if I can at all help it). The good weather even held out (well, for the most part, as it did rain) for Halloween. In my youth I can remember nary a day when Halloween didn't at least mean bundling up because there was snow on the ground — sometimes in rather large snowbanks, though other years it was less, but almost always the ground was white — as an adult this has been much less snow, but I didn't spot even a bit of the white stuff on the ground this Halloween.
Yesterday it snowed, but the white stuff had melted before I had to venture outside. Today I awoke to a white lawn with little tips of green trying to show through… but this has all melted by now too. And well, I think in concession to the weather I started wearing my ol' trusty winter coat yesterday (it worked with my outfit). But this concession pretty much always (okay so for pehaps the last eight years now?) means that I start longing for the perfect winter coat. Mine is getting rather worn now, and even though it does have some wear left in it, it has long been time for me to find a new and better one.
What do I want in a winter jacket? I want it to be warm, maybe still the wool type material that my current coat is? I want it to be long (at least as long as my current one, but longer would make me warmer in my dresses and skirts). Ideally it would be a deep vibrant shade of red or burgundy, and it would be a shape that fits and flatters me. I've noticed over the years that I really do spend a lot of time thinking about good layering pieces be they coats or sweaters or lighter garments. And I think part of the reason I think about them so much is because it's hard to find the precisely right ones for both my tastes and my fitting desires. I like things to be practical for the season, but also to have a look that matches my interests and personal style. I mean in a perfect world I'd own a somehow practical long warm red cloak and would fit in perfectly with some of the fantasy books of my youth (well except my character would wear red whereas most of the fantasy characters from my youth didn't wear such brilliant deep scarlet)… but in reality I've yet to find a garment that is all that. Even if I were a seamstress or a tailor, I imagine that the perfect winter garb would be hard to construct.
So these are things I think about when the snow flies. And I do really love winter on many levels (with the noteworthy exception of ice. I HATE ice as it so often leads to falling and hurting one's self)… but winter would be oh so much nicer if I had a winter coat of my dreams… or I guess in more practical terms if my current winter coat wasn't getting so worn after the many years I've worn it.