Wiosna, wiosna...

With the spring season officially beginning on Friday, March 20th, I am reminded of how I am definitely not in Canada. March and April in my hometown is not a good place to be. The weather changes drastically from one day to the next. One day could be a beautiful 10 or even 15 degrees but on these days all the snow and ice melts leaving water and mud from one end of the city to the other. If the nice weather continued there would be no issues: just a few days of mud and water but then everything would soon dry out. The problem is one beautiful day is followed by cold days. It can be as cold as 20 below and accompanied with lots of snow. With the cold temperature the water, the slush and the mud freezes leaving ice everywhere. And even worse, this very slick ice can be covered in snow. You know the ice is there, but you don’t know exactly where. Walking and driving anywhere feels like trying to move across a minefield. Can I step here? Is this intersection icy? Will I slip? Will I be able to stop my car? ​

Spring starts so late in Grande Prairie, I was not prepared for green grass and the beginning of blooms so early in the year. For me it seems the weather has been put on hold since October. The nights can be cold and the days are mostly temperate. Nothing like the winters I know, it has been more of an extended fall. I have been waiting for winter, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to come. But I am completely okay with this. 
Walking through town, the parks are beginning to show their green colors and even the gardens have the first blooms of the year. It seems strange to me, it isn’t even April and there are flowers. A common spring rhyme you hear with children is “April showers bring May flowers.” This rhyme reflects two things about life in Northern Canada. The first is April has bad weather. It is usually wet, as both snow and rain are common. The grass may turn green, but you won’t see flowers until May. ​