Season-obsessed

Can't we get her off the seasons? asked a friend after reading my blog. But the truth is Canada is the seasons for me. I come from a country of indistinct seasons defined only by the amount of rainfall. Today I was marvelling at how blossoms from the trees looked remarkably like snow. Then it dawned on me. Those were no blossoms. I have only officially been in my Fall wardrobe for a matter of days and now it's flipping snowing. I am only just putting away my sandals and feel embarrassed to even look at boots yet. But who can complain with the Fall colours at their peak?

Like a true Canadian I have a sense of what peak actually looks like these days. The colours at the lake did not disappoint. The geese, which I have mentioned many times in this blog, flew south and honked their goodbyes high above the cottage.

Inside the cottage the heating is being challenged like never before (well at least not since May when it was also freezing). We close up the place for the winter this weekend and leave it to hibernate until Spring. We will visit it on skis or snowshoes but never go inside. It is a summer cottage and not built to keep you warm when it's below minus 20.

The shoulder seasons of Spring and Fall here are short. Spring doesn't exist here as far as I'm concerned. One day everything is dead and dirty from snowmelt and a couple of days later you are putting on your shorts. Trees go from buds to full leaf in front of your eyes. Blink and you'll miss it.

There was a high of 8C today in Montreal, a day of clear skies. On Monday the temperature will double. Although it is lower than average for this time of year the swings in temperatures are typical (and what help the maple sap run in the Spring don't forget). We get three times the amount of sunshine here in the winter than back in my home town of Newcastle. But today marked a sign that winter is coming. Not just the snow that fell this afternoon. The temperature was higher back in England.