A glimpse of Spring...

They say in Canada, there are four seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter and Construction. I was talking with some fellow ex-pats over coffee a couple of days ago and one of them who has lived through several Canadian winters now (and lived to tell about it) mentioned the lovely Spring we're having. Spring? Seriously? I thought. Where I'm from, temps like this would shut down the town, causing school closings and a mass weather warning. Actually,this week we've had some of the warmest weather since we moved here - with a high of 8 degrees (aprx 45 degrees F), but as I've mentioned before, my whole perception of weather has changed since moving to Canada. Anything above zero now qualifies as "nice weather" because it's warm enough to melt the snow. The only thing that makes the weather more tolerable is there is no humidity. It's true what they say about "dry heat" and "dry cold" - both are much less severe. We all agreed we've actually felt colder than this when we lived in Illinois because of the damp bone-chilling cold. When the sun in shining, there's no wind and no moisture, -10 really doesn't feel that bad. -40 on the other hand...

But this week, we did what we could to enjoy our "Spring". We played outside in the yard, didn't wear a coat all week (just a fleece) and on Friday, we attended the birthday party at the home of a fun new family from Holland we met. The weather was so nice, all the kids played outside in the backyard and some even cried when it was time to come in. Yes, it was a nice taste of what's to come and we were really looking forward to this weekend to spend some time outside with Daddy. Imagine our surprise to wake this morning and look out the window to see this...

Such is life in Canada!

Yes, our first Canadian Winter has been a little tough on this island girl, even though the locals keep talking about how mild it's been. I've been daydreaming of Florida and counting the days until our next trip. After this assignment, I don't think I'd be sad if I never saw snow again.