{"id":16154,"date":"2023-02-03T09:07:50","date_gmt":"2023-02-03T14:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/?p=16154"},"modified":"2026-06-24T10:27:45","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T14:27:45","slug":"the-most-beautiful-snowstorm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/une-tempete-de-neige\/","title":{"rendered":"The most beautiful snowstorm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

7:30 a.m. on my way to the coffee shop
This morning, as I left the house, I was instantly dazzled by the splendid wintry sight: A thick fog made the sky seem like it had transformed into a grand white ballroom where large snowflakes waltzed with magnificent partners dressed in white linen crinolines. I stopped the car halfway down the hill to the main road. On my right, the branches of a beautiful pine tree were decorated in huge snowy meringues. With my foot on the brakes, I searched for my cell phone to take pictures of this extraordinary sight. Click, click, click. Winter has never been as beautiful as it is today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m telling you! It\u2019s even more beautiful than in the famous sleigh ride with Doctor Zhivago (played by Omar Sharif) and his lover, Lara (Julie Christie). The eponymous movie was produced by David Lean and adapted from a novel by Boris Pasternak. I was 18 when it came out in movie theatres in 1965 and I still remember each detail from this incredible love story. I can still hear, as I write today, the immortal soundtrack from the movie and strains of Lara\u2019s Theme, composed by Maurice Jarre. Go to YOUTUBE and listen to it! It\u2019s as beautiful as the most beautiful snowstorm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I drive towards the coffee shop with my four wheels tightly gripping Highway 117. Will the coffee shop be open? I live nearby, maybe just five or six streets away. I drive at a snail\u2019s pace and I can\u2019t help but notice the dozen or so workers playing like kids with their big trucks, clearing the sidewalks of snow. I see their rosy cheeks and big smiles through the foggy windshields. I\u2019m certain they\u2019re enjoying some youthful levity. And to think they are getting paid for having this much winter fun!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The snow removal company that used to do my driveway closed its doors last year. I liked them a lot, especially the man who shovelled my porch and kept the space in front of the two garage doors clear all winter long. It\u2019s natural to get a little worried when you need to find a replacement for someone who was good at their job. It\u2019s as stressful as replacing a vice-president of finance. You simply need to calm down and put your faith in others. After all, no one wants to do a bad job, especially those who spend the entire winter in the cold, in storms even, and very often with half-frozen fingers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7:58 a.m.
The coffee shop is almost empty when I finally get there, with the exception of four employees hanging around the counter where the pastries are kept. Upon seeing me, two of them make a start for the coffee machine to make me a latte. This place is magical. I always sit at the same table unless someone who\u2019s not a regular gets there before me. It doesn\u2019t happen very often because I\u2019m usually the first one to arrive. Not this morning, however.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes I think of drawing a map of my life with the names of all those who are dear to me printed in white lettering on green signs outlined in white, just like the names of the villages in my native GASP\u00c9SIE. Isn\u2019t each person a village unto themselves, with a story to tell, talents to be discovered and landscapes to admire? I would also plant fluorescent signs in the ground announcing all the \u201cgood\u201d advice I never listened to; the speed limits that once made me impatient; the yesses that should have been nos; and the nos that should have been yesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would write inspiring quotes in pink calligraphy to display in parks, in schoolyards and around university campuses. On major commercial streets, I would write \u201cSTOP BUYING STUFF\u201d on big red panels. Isn\u2019t unnecessary consumption the biggest expense in a household, particularly now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9:15 a.m.
\u201cAll those hearts, all those faces enraptured by Puccini\u2019s Madame Butterfly,\u201d as my friend who lives in the Eastern Townships exclaims. She loves the opera, and I have never been! It\u2019s a major shortcoming in my cultural knowledge and it should be my first resolution this year. There, you have it: I will go! I just asked my friend Google for the show dates. MADAME BUTTERFLY will be in Montreal from May 6 to 13, 2023. I have more than enough time to discover this popular opera by Puccini.
\u2014 \u201cGoogle, please tell me more about this Madame Butterfly.\u201d
\u2014 \u201cA young geisha from Nagasaki, named Cio-Cio-San, becomes Madame Butterfly after she marries Pinkerton, an American naval officer. The young woman truly loves him and patiently awaits his return with their young son. One day Pinkerton does return with his new American wife.\u201d
\u2014 \u201cYuck. That story is worse than my bad marriage.\u201d But I still want to learn all about it because I love stories, even those that turn out badly.
\u2014 \u201cIn Montreal, from May 6 to 13, 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last night, happily nestled on my red couch, I watched a wonderful movie on NETFLIX: Hector and the Search for Happiness, directed by Peter Chelson in 2014. The story is about the incredible adventures of a psychiatrist named Hector (played by Simon Pegg), whose patients never seem to get any happier. He decides to travel the world in search of what makes people happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For nearly two hours, I travelled with Hector, visited many countries and found a dozen good reasons to be happy. The movie is wonderful and I will watch it again soon because I want to write down every single reason. I strongly recommend this movie, which is full of nuggets of wisdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all want to be happy. Isn\u2019t that what lies at the core of our life\u2019s mission? The burdens of everyday life aside, shouldn\u2019t we all leave this world content? Think about it for a while. Should we follow Hector\u2019s example and look for new reasons to be happy? Maybe we simply forgot about the reasons we already had?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life deals out a new hand so often and worry drops on us from above like overripe apples in an orchard. I won\u2019t travel the world like Hector did. However, I need to weed my garden, soften my speech and be more open to new experiences, encounters and adventures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cora
\ud83d\uddfa<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

7:30 a.m. on my way to the coffee shopThis morning, as I left the house, I was instantly dazzled by the splendid wintry sight: A thick fog made the sky seem like it had transformed into a grand white ballroom where large snowflakes waltzed with magnificent partners dressed in white linen crinolines. I stopped the car halfway down the hill to the main road. On my right, the branches of a beautiful pine tree were decorated in huge snowy meringues. With my foot on the brakes, I searched for my cell phone to take pictures of this extraordinary sight. Click, click, click. Winter has never been as beautiful as it is today. I\u2019m telling you! It\u2019s even more beautiful than in the famous sleigh ride with Doctor Zhivago (played by Omar Sharif) and his lover, Lara (Julie Christie). The eponymous movie was produced by David Lean and adapted from a novel by Boris Pasternak. I was 18 when it came out in movie theatres in 1965 and I still remember each detail from this incredible love story. I can still hear, as I write today, the immortal soundtrack from the movie and strains of Lara\u2019s Theme, composed by Maurice Jarre. Go to YOUTUBE and listen to it! It\u2019s as beautiful as the most beautiful snowstorm. I drive towards the coffee shop with my four wheels tightly gripping Highway 117. Will the coffee shop be open? I live nearby, maybe just five or six streets away. I drive at a snail\u2019s pace and I can\u2019t help but notice the dozen or so workers playing like kids with their big trucks, clearing the sidewalks of snow. I see their rosy cheeks and big smiles through the foggy windshields. I\u2019m certain they\u2019re enjoying some youthful levity. And to think they are getting paid\u2026<\/p>","protected":false},"author":414,"featured_media":16155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"En route vers le caf\u00e9 du village, Mme Cora est \u00e9blouie par une temp\u00eate de neige et partage le spectacle de l'hiver.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"class_list":["post-16154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lettre-mme-cora"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/414"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16154"}],"curies":[{"name":"WP","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}