Skip to main content

The advent of spring

It seems to me our common weather proverbs – particularly relating to spring – are not necessarily inaccurate, merely geographically misapplied. Climatic sayings from England’s sea-bound coasts don’t describe the conditions in continental extreme very well, and my skepticism of weather dictums extends to the calendar dates of spring and winter. Usually, winter-like conditions are long established by the time December 21 rolls around, and rarely is spring in the air yet on March 20.

Except this year.

Not only has the snow been disappearing and the temperature playing above zero even before and certainly since, but the air itself has had a refreshing warmth suggestive of the actual arrival of the marvellous season called spring.

So, on April 1, with several days of rolling on dry roads already behind me, I’ve already got the Skyline home from the shop.

Both my girls will stay in my living room, close at hand, until April has proved more definitely it will not bring snowstorms yet.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Our pensions for genocide? No!

Just Peace Advocates has found that as of 31 March 2026 (fiscal year end 2025/2026), the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board had over $54 billion invested in 120 companies complicit in Israel’s genocide, war crimes, and apartheid. This represents 6.9% of CPPIB’s total holdings in 25/26. They're trying to fund our retirements by profiteering off mass murder. I'm not okay with that. Are you? Read Just Peace Advocates’ report Send your own letter to let them know. I am writing today after having learned about CPPIB’s 2026 Annual Report. I am disgusted by what I have learned.  After the millions you spent on a cross-country consultation tour, you are ignoring every voice that cajoled and begged and pleaded that you not invest our money in genocide. We'll be happy to have smaller returns if it means our funds aren't causing children to die at the hands of a wanton, sadistic genocidal state. An analysis of CPPIB’s holdings shows more than $54 billion invested in com...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bread not bombs

Yesterday, I saw a post from a Dutch antiwar organization: Geen Bommen maar bomen. “Not bombs; trees instead.” I love it.  Today, I saw a campaign from MCC: “bread, not bombs.” So I wrote adapted their letter to write to the prime minister et al.: Sure, money is important, but even more crucial is air to breathe and food to eat.  War makes money for a tiny fragment of human population, but for the vast majority, war means displacement, loss, deprivation and at worst death. Even for those far away from war, like here in Canada, every bomb that drops leaves not only a crater in some distant soil but also further deepens the desperate carbon crisis we are in, which will exact its retribution faster and faster in wildfires, droughts and floods.  That is why I am writing to you today.  Canadians did not vote for war in the 2025 election.  War does not lead to security.  How could the hunger, displacement, and worsening impacts of climate change lead to sec...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fighting motornormativity one letter at a time

If-you-see-something-say-something strikes again.  Sick and tired of motornormativity, I'm setting event notifications straight. Don't just tell people where they can park when they attend your event. Have some hope for humanity and believe we can step out of our death machines and get around in a more human way. Especially for an event that is pitched as a picnic. This is what they sent: So this is what I wrote:  I know you already have a lot of details in this message. I know that realistically, most of your attendees will come in private vehicles. But can you please add notes for bus and bike travellers the next time you send a message like this? What constructs our view of “normal” is not only what we personally see and interact with but also how our world is talked about. When “where do I park?!” always gets top billing in event information whereas “which bus can I take?” and “is there a safe place to leave my bike?” are never even addressed, it reinforces the impre...
Post a Comment
Read more