Van Island Violet says...

Yesterday I came home at lunch time to take our dog for a walk. It's out of the ordinary, but Shauna's in Quebec City for the next 6 days chaperoning the annual grades 6 and 7 trip, and I've been putting in 11-hour days at the office trying to get out from under a report-writing rock. More of a boulder actually, but that's a whole other story...

A day or so before Shauna's trip we (meaning Shauna) were obsessing a bit over the forecasted Quebec City weather prior to her departure. Lotsa snow, potential delays in Toronto; how will teachers/ chaperones cope potentially trying to corral 30 (or 50? I can't remember the total) kids in the TO airport waiting for a re-scheduled connecting flight to QC. Shauna texted me yesterday to say they were indeed delayed in TO for about an hour and a half, but I haven't heard from her since. So I'm assuming, as they say, "No news is good news".

But my point was actually going to be a comparison of West versus East weather. Living in Vancouver, or at least in this small corner of the province anyway, is kinda like living in a whole different country from the rest of Canada when it comes to weather. This winter we've had one snow event which deposited a few inches on the ground for a week or so around Christmas...and that was it. On my lunch time walk with Tannah today (another 11-hour office day - don't ask) I encountered a flowering bush, and yesterday I photo-documented the first snow drop in our front yard! To plug an over-worn phrase, I do believe "Spring has sprung"!

The snow drops are here!

Tannah hasn't really developed an appreciation for Spring's blossoming
foliage, unless there are birds or squirrels involved.

I evicted the Poinsettia this week due to the green leaf slow-mo strip tease it's been performing for some time now. Despite the change it remained photogenic however, due to perfectly formed water droplets on its red leaves a couple of mornings ago. I may relent and bring it back inside for a few days as the mercury's supposed to dip below freezing overnights this weekend. Last year I managed to keep a Poinsettia alive and well outside until around Sept/Oct. I was beginning to think it'd see its 2nd Christmas. Nope; missed it by that much!


P.S. For groundhog aficionados, I just Googled to see if a BC groundhog existed, considering that similar rodents in the rest of the "real winter" regions of Canada and the US more or less formed a consensus to extend Winter 6 more weeks. Please be introduced to Van Island Violet (actually a Marmot). I haven't officially investigated her pronouncement, but based on budding evidence in my front yard, I think she'll heartily disagree with her compatriots. Coincidentally, Quebec's Fred la Marmotte predicts an early Spring.

Van Island Violet was reportedly still hibernating on Groundhog Day this year.