Fresh air, countdowns and road trips
A breath of fresh air
Spring is my favourite season of the year! My celebration is one of delighting in its gradual unfolding, rather than one single identifiable event. I walk or jog almost every day. Along my route, I eagerly take note of receding snow, puddles spreading, then slowly drying and especially the ever increasing patches of green grass and dark soil. In my own garden, I daily search out every new sprout and follow its growth until everything is blooming and the world is green again. I celebrate green, my favourite colour and the colour of freshness and life! Happy spring.
--Brenda Gervais, Ottawa, ON
Counting the days and the robin watch
As of January 1st each year, I start counting the days until spring. Then I occasionally phone, email and/or write notes to my family and friends, send spring poems and/or photos of robins, along with the number of days left to spring.
About March 1st, depending on the weather, we start the 'robin watch.' We have a little contest to see who spots the first robin then we all celebrate with a dinner out together. A little dollar store or homemade prize is offered to the 'winner' who sees the first robin. It has been a great source of fun and it gets everyone in a happy mood.
--Burnice Ochtabienski, Hamilton, ON
A road trip to greener pastures
January in Edmonton is cold and dark. To celebrate the arrival of spring, we do these things:
Take a road trip with girlfriends to greenhouses outside of the city to buy seeds, gaze at plants, enjoy the colours, go for lunch and forget about the usual Saturday errands and jobs. Have a laugh, catch up on everyone and the kids. (Arugula starts wonderfully inside and in Alberta it could be the first crop you enjoy in your salads, well before the lettuce is ready. Nutty, hot, healthy.) We have done this for years -- even before you can buy bedding plants -- just to get in the mood and to get together.
Then come home and pour your hubby a glass of wine and plant "seeds" in his mind for upcoming garden projects. A few weeks later, he will bring up the ideas as if they were his own, and things are on "grow." Things sprout -- the retaining wall might come, the new tree is just where it should be, the new raised bed for sunflowers, a few rocks picked up from the countryside... Then have another glass of wine and before you know it, the snow is gone, the tulips come up, and your hubby goes to the store to get the supplies. Right on.
--Janet Fraser
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