Robins, Kids on Bikes, & Marie-Claire from Cameroon
Hope springs eternal in this winter of our collective discontent
Recently, Mother Nature generously sent us days sweetened with sunshine, warmth, and the promise of more to come. Then, she abruptly changed gears and sent bitterly cold days worthy of Old Man Winter. Her reversal feels cruel given our desire to be done with this winter of our collective discontent.
But in my 60+ trips around the sun, Mother Nature has never let me down. If anything, humans have let her down. We pollute her air and oceans, usurp her forests, and fill the earth with garbage. Despite this, she does her best to grace us with the beauty of changing seasons. This year will be no different. There are signs that spring-like weather is on the way; we just need to be patient.
MARCH 15th: FIRST ROBIN SIGHTING
In Quebec, the first robin sighting is like a good-natured competition.
“I saw a robin today!” someone might say.
“Really? I saw one two days ago,” another might answer.
It was still cold and snowy when I spotted my first robin. He was perched on the bare branch of a maple tree, proudly displaying his round, orange belly. Amused, I whispered as I walked by him, ‘Did you gorge yourself at all-you-can-eat buffets during your southern vacation?’ If birds could speak, he would have told me that I have an active imagination. He hadn’t overindulged. He had simply created a layer of insulation to keep himself warm by puffing out his feathers.
MARCH 20TH: KIDS ON BIKES AND NEIGHBOURS CHATTING
From my living room window, I watched Aurélie, the five-year-old girl next door, bomb down the street on her two-wheeler. It was suddenly, unseasonably warm. Her father, in a short-sleeved T-shirt and no jacket, ran behind her, pointlessly warning her to slow down. She’s a mini Evil Knievel who fears almost nothing. She fell off her bike twice in the short time I was watching. She picked herself up and took off again.
Harrison, the little boy across the street is almost four. His hair is a rare shade of shiny gold, like corn silk. He has fair skin and periwinkle-blue eyes. He is going to be a heartbreaker someday.
He trailed behind Aurélie on a tiny pink bike with no training wheels. Harrison doesn’t have a sister, so I assumed the bike was one Aurélie had outgrown. Since he hasn’t mastered the skill of riding a bike yet, he scissored his legs on the asphalt to move forward.
His father and Forest, their big, goofy Golden Lab, followed him. When Forest ambled up to our porch, Ben and I couldn’t resist. We opened the door and stepped out to greet the dog, the kids, and their fathers.
Forest wagged his tail and accepted a pat on the head from us. Then he lumbered off to snuffle a patch of the flower bed where the snow had melted. He wagged his tail in pleasure at the glorious smells of spring
Nothing says spring more than kids on bikes and neighbours chatting in the early evening.
MARCH 22nd: MARIE-CLAIRE FROM CAMEROON
The cold weather returned with a vengeance. The sun came out, but the wind was bitterly cold. Spring seemed like a distant dream. Until Marie-Claire arrived.
I had placed an ad on social media offering a free couch we no longer needed. Almost immediately, a lady named Marie-Claire answered the ad. We agreed that she would come to see the couch the next day.
The following afternoon, a regal woman in a long dress the colour of newly-sprouted leaves sprinkled with golden yellow flowers came to the door. A turban in the same shade of green partly covered her braided hair. She wore a light shawl around her shoulders and Dr. Scholl’s sandals on her bare feet. The light skin of the soles of her feet peeked out, contrasting against her brown ankles and legs. (Her husband seemed more sensitive to the cold and wore a heavy jacket and a wool tuque.)
Her outfit reminded me of the brightly-coloured T-shirt dresses and summer sandals that had been packed away for the winter. I couldn’t wait to take them out.
“Bonjour,” she greeted me.
“Bonjour! You’re like a breath of spring, but aren’t you cold?” I replied in French. She smiled, pleased at the compliment.
Ben is always interested in other cultures, so he asked where they were from.
“Cameroon,” Marie-Claire’s husband said, and a discussion about their move to Canada followed.
They left twenty minutes later with the couch in their rented trailer and a friendly parting wave.
MARCH 25TH: THE GEESE ARE BACK!
I heard their joyous, cacophonous honking before I saw them. I looked up and saw a sky full of geese! Everywhere I looked, there were V formations of geese flying back to their summer home.
The robins and the geese can’t both be wrong.
Brighter, warmer days are ahead.
Hope does spring eternal – even in this winter of our discontent.
I love your sightings of hope!
Oh I love the image of springtime joy that you give us a glimpse of in your newsletter! I could almost smell the wet earth that Forest went to sniff!