And yes that’s from Rosalita by Bruce Springsteen. Sorry for the boomer reference (I HATE “CLASSIC ROCK”), but it fits.
One question I get a lot after our move to Calgary is something like, “oh, winters must be brutal!” Actually, no, and this past one was, aside from a couple of the usual arctic outbreaks (-37 one bitter morning as I recall), really not bad at all. In fact, we only had one below-zero (below-freezing for you Fahrenheit junkies- that’s below 32 degrees) high in all of February. March was lovely too.
It’s not winter that’s brutal. It’s SPRING. April? April can be vicious here, from the unpredicted blizzard of a week and a half ago to the torture chamber we find ourselves in now. Four straight days of snow predicted (starting yesterday), and a high of below zero- it SHOULD be 14, or a very pleasant 57F, this time of year- until next Friday. Basically, a week worse than any we had in February. Sucks.
Here’s some of what I saw today, this after a dump of maybe 10 inches yesterday and more coming in flurries all day today. First, our patio:
Puts you in the mood for a picnic, eh?
You might be wondering how my tulips are doing. They’re under there somewhere:
Before setting out (to shovel snow, again, then off to lunch), I had to don these studded things so I wouldn’t slip on all the unshovelled walkways…
…and then I walked across the street to get this amazing (IMHO) shot of our house through the budding poplar branches:
Beautiful shot if I do say so myself, and it says it all- well, not until you see overexposed me, as the SUN was starting to poke through and making everything blindingly bright:
Ah, me. I can’t deny there’s a brutal beauty here, and the moisture is great. I guess another week won’t kill me, unless I die in a car wreck, which is a distinct possibility.
Stay warm! And shovel your damned sidewalks, Calgarians!
