Short, not necessarily sweet

-

At about 5 foot 2 inches, I am a short person. The world is not really made for me: I often need to ask a tall stranger for help getting an item off the top shelf at the supermarket, and I use a grabber to reach things out of that awkward cabinet above the fridge in the kitchen. Being short can be challenging, but it is not a problem — it’s more a matter of accommodating to the realities and, until my super powers are sharpened, working around them.

But February is a whole different matter.

The shortest month of the year, it has an outsized capacity to drag on…and on. Thankfully, today, it’s over, and we can move on into March which, regardless of what actually happens, heralds spring and all the hopeful possibilities that this budding season brings with it. If November is winter’s start on the prairies, then March is summer’s overture.

Bring. It. On!

Current fantasy; future possibility

Sunday, February 26, 2023 (mound includes snow taken from off the house roof, but still...)


Winter here does mean lovely sunny days and walks along the Assiniboine River...

...the City maintains a skating trail on the river and a walking trail along it, both of which are fantastic — 
and rival Ottawa's for length and beauty. 

..............................................................................................................

To receive my weekly blogpost in your inbox, email fiveyearsawriter at gmail dot com. Simply put SUBSCRIBE in the subject line. 

Land acknowledgement: I respectfully recognize that I live on the original lands of Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.

Comments

  1. AnnFebruary 28, 2023 at 5:42 AM

    So beautiful! And yes to all things March. Our snowdrops and winter aconite are blooming and lots of buds ready to burst on the rhododendrons and dogwoods. The winter of our discontent, etc!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 28, 2023 at 7:41 AM

    Beautiful pictures Amanda !
    Here today, February is not leaving without leaving its mark with a snowstorm expected for the whole day.
    At least we had 11 hours of daytime yesterday. More there is light, more there is hope that spring will come followed by summer a couple of months later.
    Danielle

    ReplyDelete
  3. PamelakatFebruary 28, 2023 at 11:49 AM

    I'm ready.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousFebruary 28, 2023 at 9:02 PM

    It's been such a busy, fraught month that I've hardly noticed the cold but I'm ready for spring! Bring it!

    ReplyDelete
  5. EdnaMarch 4, 2023 at 2:34 PM

    Lovely winter scenes, however, I never trust the month of March

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousMarch 5, 2023 at 11:22 AM

    No wonder you look forward to the fresh possibilities that come forth with spring. Yet, winter has its place. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Comments are moderated. Please be respectful.

Popular posts from this blog

Listening for the piano / Thinking about grief

-
Image
Grief is not a land in which I have travelled much, though I routinely explore it via others’ experience. I am drawn to do this as a student is drawn to the masters: To observe, to sit with, to wonder if those others’ experiences might help prepare me for my own when I find myself in that place. Will it? Sara Paretsky, author of the V.I. Warshawski mystery series, says that the grief over her long-time husband’s death hit her like a grand piano falling out of the sky onto her head. There is no pre-mourning, she says. Nonetheless, I persist in my studies: Memoirs of loss. Stories of grief. Tales of survival. I sit with those experiences. The words, the feelings, the anguish wash over me. And I ask myself: Will the sun rise tomorrow? Will I see it when it does?  Should I worry about this? Should I just expect, presume that what has always been will always be? Absurd. It will not always be. The loves of my life are all older, are all old. 95, my mother. Almost 80, my p...
Read more

Anniversary post: This year marks 31 together

-
Image
Amanda and Val: many years ago and today.  Man, look how young we were. Sheesh. Thirty-one years and counting certainly shows. But who in their right mind would care about wrinkles or grey hair when it is a good and generous love that has propelled us through the years together.  Every good story is told through both summary and scenes. Val & Amanda’s story: The summary A generous love that has withstood the challenges of two bouts of cancer and multiple joint replacements, of job changes and career disappointments, of cats found and cats lost, of parents living and parents dying. Two women, together, building a good life. Amanda: Three scenes April 1997: Val and I are driving from Winnipeg  down through the Dakotas and Wyoming and Utah to Arizona, camping in a tent along the way and marvelling at what we can do together, still, after Val’s cancer diagnosis earlier that year. At a roadside cafe somewhere in Utah, a woman asks me if we are sisters. Without skipping a b...
Read more

If pride comes before a fall, what comes after disappointment?

-
Image
Disappointment is not something any of us aim for, I’m sure. The very last thing I ever want to be told by someone is that they are disappointed in me. But this week, I have been very disappointed in others. Life goes on, but that niggling thread of “if only” and “why could it not have been different” lingers in the corners of my mind. Last week’s lightening-quick sale of our cottage ended in disappointment all round when the deal fell through at the final hurdle. The details are not what matter here; what matters is that age-old life lesson about counting your chickens before they’re hatched and sharing good news before it is fully rooted and secured. But who among us has not jumped the gun? Presumed that all would go as promised, as planned? Believed in the goodness of people and trusted that the story would unfold as it had begun — smoothly, seamlessly, successfully? Ah, well. Sometimes it just doesn’t. So we find ourselves at a new beginning, with a different round of showings and...
Read more