tis' the season.

Having only permanently resided in two places (Florida and California) where it is only one magnificent season year round (the best season, summer!), I never really had an appreciation for what 'the four seasons' were until I moved to a place that experiences all seasons... to the extreme. Arriving in Winnipeg right at the end of fall, the leaves on the trees had already died and fallen off. Winter (October-April... none of that three months of each banter, it is by far the longest of the seasons up here!) came roaring in with a bone-chilling entrance 3 days after I arrived and continued to leave me frost bitten and shivering until about April when the snow melted and spring came... the typical April showers characteristic of spring lasted until about mid-July torrentially down pouring on everything and eventually all the brown slush and barren trees turned in to a lush green. My favourite part of spring was all the mama animals having their babies. I can't tell you how many families of geese and goslings I made Mitch pull over to watch waddle in to their respective ponds. But I am happy to report it's one week in to August and summer is officially here!!! I've been soaking up every unit of Vitamin D I can get and if it was physiologically possible, I would be storing up for the impending doom that is winter to fend off another case of seasonal affect disorder. Winnipeg really comes to life in the summer [No, Grams you don't need to strengthen your glasses Rx, I did just say something positive about Manitoba! =)] All winter I wondered why everyone I work with wasn't taking their allotted holidays during the most frigid temps to escape to somewhere warm (like LA!) & that the most senior of staff wait until August to take their coveted vacation time ... now I know why! There's different festivals almost every week (although, we often find out about them after they happen!) The weather is perfect: no humidity compared to what I grew up in, cools off at night, not a cloud in the big blue skies. Sun doesn't set until 10:00 or 11:00 so the days feel endless! Everyone has a cabin on one of the 10,000 lakes that they can escape to. I have been fortunate to have almost every weekend off in late June/July/August and while I have no proof on film, Mitch and I have been lucky enough to be able to take advantage of the time off/cooperating weather. Now if only I could tilt the Earth so that was summer all year round, I might actually learn to like this place.