Don’t get me wrong. I love Winter! It has its own kind of beauty. It has it’s place. It is a time for introspection and rest. It’s a time to hibernate. I savour those chilling months as I’m less active and quite deliberate about my intensions and actions. The slower pace helps me reassess what’s most important. I am, therefore, more focussed and joyful come Spring when the surge of energies percolate from deep within and from Mother Earth.

A four stem Lily bouquet graced the antique-pine blanket-box coffee table between two caramel-coloured sofas. The Spanish-blue living room’s footprint is small yet it looked grande when fresh cut flowers were part of its ambiance. The Lily’s forest-green leaves twisted, twirled and danced the tango. The twelve yellow blooms opened bit by bit. I love watching flowers unfurl their magnificence whether the flowers are inside or outside. I left my humble abode to see that, this year, Winter died a slow death.

We got a lot of snow in the final weeks of February which was great! That would help mitigate our forest fire season which also starts in Spring. Meteorologists reported temperatures would trend upwards. Thankfully, we saw some sunny days. It was overcast a lot which was a far cry from Winters’ past when we experienced minus thirty Celsius with bright sunny days. Those were extraordinary times. Then, I used the engine’s block heater and warmed up the car for fifteen minutes just to get it moving, for weeks upon weeks.

At the beginning of March it was below zero every night. Rooftops and car windshields doaned thick frost each morning. Spring blooms were nestled deeply in place with not even the slightest whisper of growth.

In mid-March, we received a “heavy snowfall warning”; travel plans were wisely postponed. It snowed heavily for 36 hours! It took half an hour to clean the snow off the car. It was almost a foot high. That was a work out; the snow was wet and heavy. It’s not unusual to get a huge blast of snow in Spring. I remember big dumps at Easter and on the May long weekend. It’s as if Mother Nature blew out the last of the white stuff from her pipes with one final huff. These humungous snow dumps appear designed to saturate the Earth’s need for moisture and the start of Spring’s growing season. Winter seemed to be on it’s way out. And that copious amount of snow vanished quickly.

At the end of March, the double digit temperatures enticed some tender grass shoots out of hiding. They edged the swaths of dead grass. Our Canada Geese returned from warmer climes down south. They made quite a racket. I sang the Goose Song, that I learned, welcoming them back. “Hey ja, hey ja, hey ha, hey ja, hey ja”…. The days are noticeably longer, too.

It’s April now. The forecast was sunny for 10 days. It was time to watch for snow drops, crocuses, and tulips to make their entrances bit by bit. More green grass popped up and people started their Spring lawn routines.

Temperatures climbed into the double digits by mid April and stayed on until the end of the month.

I mark the arrival of Spring when I see my first crocus. It’s my ritual to go to the flower beds outside Edmonton’s Muttart Conservatory located nearby. I love to take photos of the fuzzy green foliage and purple flowers. The silver hairs on the greens are unique to the northern and western regions protecting the plant from the cooler nights and maxing out their absorption of the sun. I reminisced about my childhood growing up on an acreage. My mom planted snow drops, purple crocuses and daffodils in clusters through out the forest. Once the snow melted, we’d look for green shoots poking through the tea-coloured terrain and uncover them just a smidgen.

I finished this write on a flight to Halifax, to visit a dear friend, for a few days. I anticipate seeing more flowers in bloom in NS. Today feels like a good time to celebrate, more fully, the death of Winter and the birth of Spring!

What do you love about Winter? What symbolizes the death of Winter for you? Do you have any Spring rituals?

I would love to hear from you!

In gratitude,

~Barbara