Winter? What winter?

Yesterday I saw my first 2 trees with pink blossoms on my way to my yoga class. That was January 21, 2010!

What happened to winter?

The Winter Olympics start in about 3 weeks here. Unfortunately, up on one of the local mountains - Cyprus Mountain - they are going to hold some of the competitions. There really isn't any snow up there anymore. We're doing spring now, everyone! So there is a movement to save up shavings of ice from freezers and ice cream storage to collect enough to put on the mountain for the events. Actually, the organizing committee is fully prepared to air-lift in snow from other mountains for the events - that should cost a mint.

So where did the winter get to? Well, Europe is getting a wallop of winter. They aren't used to the amounts of snow they are getting. And the Sierra Mountains in California seems to be getting the snow we are supposed to get. (Yes, that would be in a region generally, typically, normally called the dessert.) So anyone want to dispute global climate change?

Did we miss Spring?

I'm not complaining (not yet anyway), but did we miss a season?

Isn't the winter supposed to be a cold time, then there is spring which is a slowly warmer time, and then there is summer, which is hot? It seems we've gone straight from cold to hot! 

I do recall claiming it was spring in February, when the first flowers called "snow drops" started blooming here in Vancouver, but it just didn't warm up from there! But now we have sun, shorts, tourists, and heat. We missed the gradual warming, it's like standing in the shower when someone flushes a toilet!

Well, here's to summer! We have it now, lets enjoy it! Cheers!

Did I just kill off an entire species?

Spring cleaning has started with a vengance in our home.

We have a large couch with feather-stuffed pillows. They can't be cleaned by calling in steam cleaners, the covers must be removed and then washed.

Oh... that's why the typical couch is not made with feathers these days. Removing the pillow cases (10 of them) leaves the place looking like a bird fight was staged here!

There are feathers everywhere!

There will be feathers everywhere for weeks! They worked their way out of the main pillow compartments into the areas between the pillow and the outter covering, which I needed to wash.

The feathers just don't all clean up! And where did that static cling come from?

So I washed the pillow cases in batches, twice. And I think I may have killed off an entire species.

I've seen TV programs that show pictures of microscopic animals that live in beds. They eat dead human skin that naturally comes off and stays on a bed. They look like finger prints with legs.

And I think there must have been some in the couch pillows. They've all been washed away now. I killed them off. I feel kinda guilty.

I've just watched a program on Stephen Hawkings which gave a useful size comparison. If you take a massively huge library stuffed with books, our galaxy would fit nicely inside one period (full stop) in one book. So in that case we're the microscopic ones... lets hope the galaxy doesn't need a wash!

Did someone say Spring?

I think it's finally here! This picture of little white snow drops about to bloom was taken in Vancouver's West End a few days ago.