Spring Is Coming

Only 58 days to go

I LOVE the Spring...it is my favorite time of year. I don't need the cold after New Years - bring on the Spring!

s'funny

hamburger's like this every year - winter's almost over before it gets a good chance to get started

I love you hamburger!

I needed a happy springtime thread to remind me that there will be a thaw.

to all of you :
THAT'S THE SPIRIT !

sure , there has to be winter - even some cold days and nights are o.k. - but when the days are getting a little longer , the sqirrels start running around again and the birds arrive again , i know : it'll be spring again !

i'll have to smile when i think about our first few months in canada .
we arrived in august 1956 - to us the heat and humidity seemed unbearable -
no air-conditioning - our "bedroom" was a small room off the attic in a friend's house - i'm sure the temperature in that cubbyhole must have been in the 90's (we hadn't gone "metric" yet ) .

december came and it turned cold quickly - we now had "our own" two room appartment in another friend's house - what luxury !
i had "advanced" from a job on a construction site to an office job - nice and warm !
we had brought our fancy european style trenchcoats and proper hats .
one of our first purchases was a "farmer's cap WITH earflaps" - ahh ! nice and warm !

now we have a look at the thermostat and have to decide : do we want it a degree warmer ? a degree cooler ?
it seems that our comforts have increased considerably !

our first car was a VW BEETLE with a heater ... that didn't heat !!! no rear defroster - but if it wouldn't start , i just pushed for a few feet in neutral , jumped in , 1st gear , clutch out ... ROAR !
if i'd do that on our honda there would probably be a $5,000 repair job .

.. ... waiting for the warm breezes off lake ontario !
hbg

AND SPRING IS COMING ! ... even in eastern ontario .

daytime temps are finally above freezing and nights only about minus 5 to 8 C - we have switched from the down duvet to a regular one !

brilliant sunshine the last few days , so today we went for a little drive down the st. lawrence river - about 50 kms .
it was nice and cosy in the car but we had to put our parkas on when we went for a walk by the st. lawrence river - a strong westerly picked up the cold from the ice that's still sitting along the edges of the river .
this is the perfect weather - cold nights/sunny days make the sap rise - for "sugaring off" (tapping of the maples and boiling the sap for maple syrup ) .
might take a drive to a " maple bush " next week .

from today :

looking toward the united states from the canadian side of the st. lawrence river



a little museum (closed for the season) with some momentos from the 1812-1814 war



one more look across the river before heading home



btw ship traffic won't resume until early april after the canadian coast guard cutters break open a safe shipping channel for lake and ocean-going vessels

Spring - pah! Not here, it ain't

on the way home , briefly stopped at our city's waterfront on lake ontario .
a recent westerly storm had tossed huge chuncks of ice ashore and heaved sections of the adjoining sidewalk . it'll be a while before these chunks melt away - but SPRING IS COMING !


the kingston yacht club is hidden behind those chunks of ice



but still ... SPRING IS COMING !

the daffodils are sticking their heads out , but i covered them carefully with some bark .

Mild day like today and still vaguely light at 7:30pm, it might as well be spring, already. Day by day, different shrubs and trees begin to bud, and the days just keep getting longer. Suddenly, it's June and they're getting shorter. Time to start fixing the leaky windows you discovered last winter, darn it, winter's here again, and we haven't done a thing all summer. My glass is all empty again, and it's going to take another half year to get if full.

it's been relatively mild sunday and today :plus 10 C - so we took some nice walks along lake ontario .
spotted the first gulls , ducks and a lonely cormorant - the first of the season .

still plenty of ice piled up along the shoreline



the warm air caused a bit of a haze to lie upon the lake .
in the distance is "wolfe island" - largest of the 1,000 islands .
78 wind-turbines are going up on the island to catch the mainly westerly winds and provide electricity for sevaral hundred homes - they are expected to be on-line by june - in time for "air-conditioning season "

nobody can hold spring back - forever - not even in eastern ontario !
and spring rains over the next several days should make things a little green/purple/yellow ... again .
hbg

same down our way

spring has a long way in coming to eastern ontario - but it does come !
very bright and sunny the last few days - which made for cold nights .
hbg