EARTH DAY TO DAFFODIL DAY, WITH A RAINBOW LINING

This week started with Earth Day and included Daffodil Day (for cancer research). You could say we honoured both by working in the dirt and welcoming  the daffies as they bloomed in the yard. We had a snow day and then a freezing rain day. So how cold was it? It was so cold the lawyers had their hands in their OWN pockets!

The spring turkey hunt started and the turkeys were nervous, dark targets on a white background. But it turned warm and sunny, allowing the early frog to stake out his pond pot for the season. The attic in the garden shed had to be cleaned out of the winter's mouse and squirrel nests and toilets. November's leaves had to be raked up and dragged to their next life. Our always helpful neighbour came over with his ATV and chain saw to share the fun of thinning out some ash trees. They're bigger/heavier than they look!

The best news of the week though was the official final report on my rehab assessment.The numbers are so good you'll think I was making them up but the bottom line is all excellent. As my trainer said, "You couldn't ask for better results!" And I'm not making this up either ---- minutes after that phone call, a rainbow arced out front. All my angels making sure I remember how blessed I am.

A MARATHON OF A WEEK

The past week started with the horrible events in Boston. It looked bleak in Massachusetts, and out our window too. But things improved in Watertown and here, quickly. Some snow still crouches in the shadows, like a suspect hiding in a boat. But warmer days melted the pond ice enough that the fish and frogs reappeared, proof of Nature's Magic Show. The winner of The First Daffodil marathon is a bulb planted on the sunny side of the hill.

By Thursday events turned to a sprint. After the drive to Toronto, a tornado ripped a barn apart and threw the pieces across the highway we had passed only hours before! Daffodils and other spring blooms were 2 or 3 weeks ahead of ours --- 130 miles north. I passed my final rehab assessment with flying (biking??) colours. My long-distance coach Kanika was just as proud/happy about it as we are! It was so exciting and gratifying Pat bought me a graduation present. I can now bash my Fender (guitar, not car) that I've wanted to get back to for years. Should I say "stay TUNED"??

Then we had snow and a freeze again. Doves tried to sip through the ice of the bird water. Passengers on the first run of the local ferry couldn't sip in the cold outside either! And we've had the first bear damage of the spring with smashed feeders and claw holes in a drain pipe. I hope your house isn't as bear as this one...

WANT ICE WITH THAT?

The unseasonal, climate-changed weather was the story again this week. At first the ice on the pond was almost melted. We can now see that many medium-sized pondfish survived the winter. The bad news is that many of the smallest fish did not, and the largest fish are missing ----- probably taken by the herons back in November. Another sign of the season is this skull (deer? dog?) found in the bush. Oh, and that's not a pile of raisins on the ground!

Then midweek the whole province was hit by a train of storms bringing rain, sleet, snow, and especially gale force winds covering everything in ice. The winds  kept up so long that icicles formed at angles, and ice lines marked on trees sideways, like white bar codes. (What would come up if we scanned them at a checkout??) Branches, crocus, and rock walls became coated in ice like plastic paperweights for your desk.

Today, though, is partly sunny and tomorrow is supposed to be 16C. The new growth such as this fuzzy strawberry bud will speed up. And some much-appreciated  sunlight will finally give winter the one-finger salute goodbye!

WHICH WAY ARE WE GOING??

Mother Nature giving mixed signals this week! We've had sun, rain, wind, cold, warm, fog, and snow. Up here you can see what's coming ---- like the first picture: a snow squall that became our white-out moments later. But the calendar says Spring has sprung so there's no holding back for the forsythia buds, robins, drowsy raccoons, curious deer, or The Gardener removing protective lattice from the shrubs.The bulbs are up (guess what colour they'll be??) and the pond fish would be too, except the icehole still freezes overnight and thaws in the daytime. Great for maple syrup sap running, not so good for the fish eager to break the surface.

The crocuses (croci?? crow-cusses??) still seem to be celebrating last week's Easter with their traditional yellow-and-purple display. And the turkey tracks in all directions seem to back up the local weather dilemma ---- which way are we going, anyhow?!?