HOUSE ARREST

*sigh*  When will this winter ever end?

I realize Canadian winters have a reputation to uphold.  Ask anyone who isn't from here and they will tell you that cold and winter is what we're known for.  Well, also there's Banff and the RCMP and Niagara Falls, and how nice the people are, but top of mind is always ice and snow. 

As Canadians we know this is not true.  We have summers too.  There is proof.  We have pictures. 

In a normal year (if there is such a thing), winter should be in our rear view mirror by mid April but spring 2018 is proving to be a reluctant participant in the regular story line.  I think even the snowmobilers and the ice fishermen have had their fill by now.  If we could figure out how to give Old Man Winter the old 'heave-ho' I think the whole country would show up for his going away party.

Some winters are particularly harsh with a steady train of storms to snow us under.  Some are bitterly cold for weeks on end.  Some start before Hallowe'en.  And as seems to be the case this year, some plan to stick around until the May long weekend - just for the heck of it.  *sigh*

As it is, I personally feel like I am under house arrest.  I pace the rooms, looking for something to do (Well, not the dusting.  I'm not that desperate.), I reread books, I stare out the windows.  I sigh, and I dream of bbq suppers and sipping coffee in the morning sunshine on the deck.  These days I do a lot of sighing.  I just want out of my cage.

Not only do I not know what my crime is, I have no idea how long the sentence is going to be.  It doesn't seem to help that my fellow countrymen are imprisoned with me under the same circumstances - so much for the saying "misery loves company".  At this point Misery just wants let outside without having to wear a parka.

In a cruel conspiracy, the weather predictors keep promising us temperatures that will melt the snow; taunting us with lines like "plus 2 on Saturday!" or "7 above by mid week!"  Whether they do this to undermine my sanity, or because they are just plain mean, I don't know.  *sigh*  What I do know is that if I had a dollar for every time they have broadcast these false promises I could afford a trip to Mexico to thaw out.

Or maybe the money would be better spent on a small greenhouse in the backyard.  I'd still be 'on the inside' but it would be warm, I love the scent of moist earth, and the colour green is soothing to my soul.

I'm not sure if this means anything, but late yesterday I noticed brown patches showing through the snow banks in the front yard.  This morning they are slightly bigger.  I think this is how spring goes.  Is our parole about to be granted?

I have also been invited to spend a day at a halfway house of sorts.  It's being offered as a re-integration to normal life, work-the-day program at a greenhouse, but I'll take it, if only for the warmth and the chance to hang out with other parolees.

This may signal the beginning of the end.  Or the end of the beginning: the weatherman's latest news concerns a 'wintery mix' early next week.  *sigh*