Definite Signs of Spring

This is usually the time of year where I grit my teeth and remind myself that Hollywood is wrong and Canada does not have winter 365 days a year.  We’re usually dealing with temperatures well below zero and double digit windchill factors.  I don’t like the cold and I really don’t like the way winter saps all the colour out of everything.  Everything goes shades of gray.  The roads turn white-gray from salt, the buildings are pollution-tainted gray concrete, the sky is full of horizon stretching gray clouds and, of course, the snow blankets everything else.

I mentioned I’m not a fan of winter?

Sometimes we get a thaw (which seems like a big tease) since the temperatures never actually get much above zero.  It lasts just long enough to ruin the winter festivals and then we sink back down into the deep freeze.

But this year, it looks like our thaw might actually be an early spring.  I’ve seen little songbirds in the trees, Canada geese flying in the sky and the river’s ice is looking very thin.  Not to mention the most important and scientific sign: our local groundhog did not see his shadow on the second.

Maybe winter is going to surrender gracefully this year and leave before wearing out its welcome.