it's not spring here

it wants to be spring here, but it isn't yet. spring in northern Canada is a bit hard to identify. the calendar says it's spring, but we're still slogging through snow. had a light skiff last night, in fact. but the air is warm (for northern Canada in March) and the sun grows stronger every day. like it's recovering from a long bout with some wasting disease. a little stronger and steadier and heartier every day. By the time we have green trees and fields, flowers and butterflies, the calendar says we're closer to summer than spring. for me, when the pussywillows peek out, it's officially spring, though there'll be nary a sign of green, for perhaps weeks to come. it's always a very trying time for me. spring seems so slow in coming.

so, i've been surfing the blogsites of others, savoring the photos of trees covered in a mist of baby green, of spring flowers and critters. i look out my own window at winter's dirty laundry, piled in soiled heaps along the roadsides, and i'm so very glad she's left. she's like a house guest who never picks up after herself, and expects others to clean up the messes she leaves in her wake. good riddance. but we know she'll be back all too soon, fresh and white and charming.

lunch break is over.. back to the salt mines.