April Showers?

When we lived in Ontario my sister Jeanette and I loved to go searching for pussywillows in the spring. The neighbour who lived behind our house had some bushes and for a while we could go over there to get a few sprigs so we could play with the furry buds but after a few years the mother would catch us and we would get heck. So we had to go farther afield. It’s one of the many things that I find disappointing about a southern Alberta spring. No pussywillows.

But hardest of all is the erratic weather patterns we suffer through. Unlike Ontario, or even Manitoba, once spring has sprung it stays and progresses into summer. Here in Alberta we find we can have spring in January for several weeks and then we can get another long blast of winter. Seldom have we experienced a truly balmy springlike spring. And the last few years we haven’t had spring at all, we went directly from winter into about 6 weeks of summer and then we had fall. Can someone explain to me why do we stay? Oh that’s right. There are jobs here!

Well, it’s Sunday morning and I’ve gone for a long icy walk already but perhaps I can experience a more springlike walk after lunch when the sun has warmed up the land. I saw a flock of ducks in a newly made pond across the street from my house and one of the ducks made such a squacking noise when it saw me that I was reminded of Mrs. Puddleduck! Yesterday we saw a flock of white swams flying north; it was a sight to behold. I’ve been hearing the geese fly over my house at night so I know that spring is around the corner. I just wish the corner was a little shorter!

Ah, springtime. Everyone loves spring. Some day, like every other woman, I will go to Paris in the spring, and imagine Gene Kelly dancing in the rain. But for now, I will do my jazzercise in the sunroom!