It is April 2nd and there is still snow on the ground.  It has been an incredibly long winter by southern Ontario standards.  We have had snow on the ground and below freezing weather for months now.   And then, last week, after most of the snow had melted,  and many of us had put our boots away, we got 18 inches of snow in a 36-hour period.  This happened in the last 2 weeks of March!!!

But spring is FINALLY in the air.  The days are longer with light in the sky until 7:00 in the evening.  The birds are coming back.  I heard cardinals and chickadees using their spring call.  I have seen my first robin, heard my first red-winged blacked, and watched 20 Turkey Vultures playing in the in the thermals over the valley last week.  The plants are also awakening.  The snow drops, daffodils and tulips are pushing up through the earth even though they are surrounded by snow.  There is colour returning to the naked tree branches; a tent of yellow, red, and purple.

My life has been aligned with the seasons this year.  For several months now, I have been working alone at home; researching, writing, editing and formatting.   Working inside the cocoon of my home; hardly venturing out.  It has been a quiet time; a peaceful time.   I have worked hard with little contact from the external world.  And I have spent a lot of time with my own thoughts and feelings.  But now my project is coming to an end.  I am doing all of the finishing touches.  Next week, my reports will go out into the world and I will have to follow them with presentations and meetings.  My quiet time, for now, iss coming to an end.

At some level, I feel incredible relief, to be finishing this work, leaving this house, and going back out into the world.  I have been longing for social contact; new environments; the return of colour, scents and sounds.  But there is also some reluctance about leaving the peace and the quiet; about losing control of my schedule; about getting back on to roads and trains; about re-entering the world.   But it is time; winter is giving way to spring.