Hungry for Spring (and Summer and Fall)

Winter is nature's way of saying, "Up yours."  ~ Robert Byrne

This is what it looks like outside today. Sunny and bright, yes, but almost colourless.

February 12, 2012 in Ottawa
Temperature: -10C | 14F

It is cold. The world seems dead. And, even though we've been blessed with a relatively mild winter (Winterlude has been a bit of a bust), I am BEYOND ready for it to be over. For colour to come back into our world.

Every winter,
When the great sun has turned his face away,
The earth goes down into a vale of grief,
And fasts, and weeps, and shrouds herself in sables,
Leaving her wedding-garlands to decay -
Then leaps in spring to his returning kisses.
~ Charles Kingsley, Saint's Tragedy (act III, sc. 1)

I am so eager for spring that I stopped at Michael's yesterday and bought some peonies (my favourite flower) and dogwood. Artificial, yes, but still beautiful for all that.

Instantly, my heart lifted a little. Beauty has such a powerful effect on me. 

I still can't wait for the REAL peonies in our garden to make their way through the thawing earth and taunt me with their swollen buds for weeks (it always seems so long, as I watch the ants crawl across the sepals, birthing the extravagant blossoms within).

And then I sliced myself a pear [Yay for me: healthy snack!] and was grateful for the fact that here, in the depths of winter, I can still enjoy a succulent fruit.

It was neither organic nor grown within a 100 km radius, but I enjoyed every last sticky drip of it.

All of this is my way of telling winter, "Up yours." ~ Wynn Anne Sibbald