This past Winnipeg winter was the coldest in over 100
years. It also felt like the longest!
If you
believe the calendar, it has been spring for the past two months. Yeah, right!
Spring has been trying
to come for weeks but winter has tried to thwart it's every attempt to proceed.
Oh, the snow was ever so slowly melting and the temps
seemed even slower getting warmer. Even April was several degrees cooler than
normal. More than a few of us were starting to wonder if our beloved prairie landscape
had somehow been transported to the land of Narnia! Every time we'd start to
see bare ground, the Wintery White Witch would send more of the white stuff to
cover it - if only temporarily!
By early May the tides seemed to finally be turning
towards spring. It was cooler than normal, but a glimmer of hope was on the
horizon as the daylight hours grew longer. Even city street cleaning crews
began the annual spring cleanup!
Sadly, we were not yet fully there, For the most part,
temps remained a bit below normal. Then, just over a week ago (Wednesday May 14)
we were disheartened to wake to wet flurries and a dusting of the white stuff!
Thankfully that was mostly gone within a few hours! We've
since been inching closer to more seasonal temps.
It now seems that it may
truly be safe to finally put the winter things away!
Actually, I put
the heaviest outerwear and boots away May 1. I never do it before then - regardless
of the weather as that just feels like daring Mother Nature to throw more
winter at us! That being said, I have always kept out a heavy spring jacket
that can be layered with a heavy fleece for the really nippy days.
Alas, I was still wearing that heavy spring jacket till about
a week ago. This past week, I finally decided it was time to move the summer
clothes to the front of the closet and the winter clothing to the back! Fingers
crossed I won't regret that decision!
Last weekend was the Victoria Day long weekend - or as we
here in Manitoba call it "May Long"! That is traditionally the
weekend when people open up the cottages for the summer season and/or start
planting the gardens. Now, that doesn't mean that we won't still be getting some
frost. That can still happen - it's just a calculated risk as to when and what you
plant. It also means that you may be covering baby plants at night in the coming
days/weeks to prevent them being killed/damaged by frost.
I've never been a gardener. I can't keep plants alive no
matter how simple the care is. Despite coming from generations of a farm family
and talented gardeners on both sides of the family - I have always had a brown
thumb. I can't even tell the difference between the weeds and most things that
were intentionally planted. Oh wait, odds are the weeds would be the ones that
would thrive if I had a garden!
So, I wisely leave the gardening to those with the
patience and the green thumbs to nurture.
Truth be told, I don't tend to notice much of the spring
growth. Well, at least not until it truly gets green. My low vision doesn't
allow me to really see those baby buds on trees or the tiny sprouts shooting
out of the ground. I've seen pics from friends showing the tiny bursts of green
and heard tales of their beloved gardening this season but hadn't really
noticed the true greening until this past week.
We got a good dousing of rain on this past Monday of the
long weekend (rain almost always happens on a long weekend in these parts!) and
the rain continued well into Tuesday.
That rain has truly set the spring growth into full swing!
The leaves on the tress of my street are starting to open. Lawns are greening
up and I expect to hear lawn mowers and smell the fresh cut grass almost any
time now. Even the temperature has been above normal the last few days!
On Thursday morning, I took my camera with me when I went
for a walk.
The wind was light. The sun was shining warm and bright
with not a cloud in the beautiful deep blue sky! The signs of spring were
everywhere! Lots of people out walking, cleaning yards and working in their
gardens! The baby leaves on the trees, bushes and hedges were opening and
reaching for the sky - preparing to give us a canopy of shade through the coming
heat of summer. The plants - both perennials and the newly bedded were lush and
green in the freshly worked soil. I didn't take a lot of photos but I thought I
would share just a few:
dn
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