It has begun. A sunny Saturday reaching up towards maybe 7F today. I took down the cold frame that sat out back all winter and found one lone red lettuce plant growing along with a fair number of carrots. Leeks survived, hilled, out back and out front. Parsnips are starting to poke up enough green …

Previous celebrations: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012. The snow lays about in dirty lumps congesting into ice before it melts. Baseball is close now. SO close I can watch spring games on the iPhone. 450 onion seeds have sprouted in my basement. Under a grow lamp. One sole …

When did being panicked by storms become so common? Maybe its being raised on the North Atlantic but is every big blizzard really Snowmageddon? Nothing too panicky in the Buffalo forecast discussion this evening. Maybe we all pine for a snow day. A day when then banks are too big. The ice too …

Hurricane Sandy. Sounds too benign to be a real threat. It's only a category one at the moment. Nothing like when Juan bashed the family cottage nine years ago. Not like Gustav the year before that knocked down the big old birth at the farm house. But still a big water dump is a coming. Six cm or …

What is the royal role in my life given the suburban modern life that is guided by nothing that is sourced from that person, family and constitutional principle? Not all that much despite the slightly sad tepid efforts of the seemingly one term Tory government. Yet, there are things like the …

A hot Victoria Day weekend saw a whole lot of seedlings out there in the yard. Carrots and onions were joined by beets, collards, lettuce and bok choi sticking their heads up. Squash has been joined by zucchini and musk melon. I should rip up more lawn. And why not? It is nothing but a dandelion …

Hot. +22C after supper. Redwing blackbirds. Crocuses are up. It's not even that muddy. With any luck we'll get back to wet, cold and dreary soon. Normal would be nice. What's normal? Not Ottawa. Who questions that a revival of Grit fortunes is the real risk to Harper? Odd that we have gotten so … read more »

March Break this week. Spring the next. Warm weather straight through as far as I can tell from here on out. Seeds have arrived from Stokes and checking to see if I can get 25 wine grape vines. Plonk de backyard. Why have a backyard urban chicken coop if you can grow grapes? Or onions for that …

Previous celebrations: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011. Even though it is snowing, it is again already too late to start sprouting your asparagus seeds for 2012 planting but baseball is close as is BBQ.