While Colleen has been obnoxiously posting colourful pictures of trees exploding into bloom over at The Pancake Chronicles for the last week, I have been bemoaning the fact that there is still about 18 inches of snow over most of the ground in the view out my window. (After nearly eight years in Yellowknife, I do not begrudge her her right to celebrate a British Columbian spring--I am just feeling a little jealous.)

However, after days of sunshine, my heart perked up today as I noticed that we, too, have some signs that spring may not be far away:

• the streets in town are covered in water
• people are walking around with heads uncovered
• people smile at you for no apparent reason as you walk down the street (unless it's that you seem to be smiling at them for no reason!)
• the icy snow on my roof has been falling off in large, clattery clumps at random intervals throughout the day, scaring the pants off of me
• I've been able to shed several of my layers for the last week or so
• the cats actually don't mind being outside most days
• my thoughts are turning to gardening
• the thermometer read on the "plus" side of freezing today
• people (including Jason and I) have started to think it might not be a total waste of money to wash their vehicles
• I've started wondering what kind of dress I should make this spring (my annual "spring dress"--traditionally, the only dress I make in a year, although I've thrown that balance off over the last year) - I have a California wedding to go to in May, after all!
  
• We've started counting down the weeks until we are finished each school subject (By "we," I mean Jude and me--it's looking pretty good to be finished almost everything by the end of April! Yay!!!)

So, we haven't seen a robin redbreast yet--but, on the 25th of February (dare I say it?), it is starting to feel like Spring! in Northern Alberta.

Unfortunately, I've lived here for enough years to know that no matter how convincing the false start might be, chances are we've got at least one good -20C snap yet, and more than likely a snowstorm or two. I am not normally a pessimist--but I would call this realism, not pessimism.

For now, though, I will not think about that. For now, I am going to revel in sunshine on my bare hair as I walk my dog... in my Sorels... through 18 inches of snow!