| Sunny Side Up! March 14, 2001 Copyright 2001, Kathleen Gibson Fairweather Friends Winter is finally stretching its long white neck and flapping its wings - like a big old swan preparing for a lumbering liftoff. I, for one, will be glad to see it go. I grew up in B.C. Family and friends from there like to rub my nose in our seven month winter. They start the calls in February �Just checking on the color of snow.� �Mowed my lawn today.� �The tulips are up.� �The kids are wearing shorts this afternoon.� It�s enough to inspire a letter bombing campaign. One called last Saturday. �Guess what I�ve been doing today?� she chirped. �Gardening!� One deep breath and she catapulted onward, taking no thought for my particular prairie pain. �We pruned all the bay bushes, and the wisteria, d�ya know that it�s budding already? and the boxwoods, and the apple tree, then I started cuttings in sand - the man at the garden store said I could just go down to the beach and pick some up there, but I wanted the sterile stuff � no telling what�s in all that seagull�.. well, I just thought it�d be better, and you should see the backyard - the last owner planted snowdrops years ago and there must be fifty thousand of them now��uh,.. Kathleen? I don�t know if you�re supposed to prune a budding bush. I hope her wisteria dies. The green was up to my jowls before I could answer. �Carole, a little consideration please. The snowbanks in my driveway are up to my chin. Do you know how long it will be before I can even see the dirt?� I sniffed. She thought a moment. �Well, you could root an avocado,� she offered lamely. Nearly ten years I�ve lived here. Before that I spent five in Ontario�s snowbelt. I will not complain, I say every winter. I will thank God for the blue umbrella sky, the pristine expanses of white and the golden orb that gilds it all. I will rejoice in the beauty - like today�s. The trees have donned diamond dust, and they�re waltzing in the breeze, flaunting their glitz. The sun is smiling. The chickadees and Bohemian waxwings are tuning up a rousing chorus. There�s a morning party underway. It�s sheer loveliness, and I do thank God for it. But I�m too cold to dance. I�m going there. To B.C. I mean. I will not wear a parka. I will shovel no snow. I will go outside in a light sweater, count the tulips and snowdrops, root a real boxwood, walk on the beach and seagulls be�.well I always liked their mewing sounds anyway. Vancouver may quake into the sea, and Saskatchewan will likely float over to join it when the snow melts. But I�m still going. Oh, I completely forgot to make the point I intended - that we should each learn to carry our own fair weather in our hearts. I�m going to go get some right now. Forgive me, but I have a plane to catch. You can respond to this column at [email protected] |