Thursday, September 29, 2005

the greyness decends

Oh... well I guess the rainy season has begun. My mom always complained that there was no spring in T.O. There is spring in Toronto, but it's 2 days mysteriously in January, 7 in March, 10 in April and then, mid-May it's suddenly summer. On the prairie, where she grew up, there were four equal seasons. Out here in lalaland, I have come to understand the beauty of a spring that unfolds. Here, we get crocuses in late-January, followed by cheery blossoms in February, followed by apple blossoms in March (and assorted other lovelies, sequentially). Likewise, summer unfolds. So it seems like the seasons are more equal on that level, but really, it's just that spring and summer are more gradual. Really the seasons here are spring, summer, and GREY. GREY has begun. Since spring and summer are, essentially, next-to-perfect, no one really cares that we are stuck in greyness until the new year. Even I can't really feel sorry for myself. The trees do turn colour, and some pretty spectacular and multifarious I-thought-those-only-appeared-in-children's-fairytale-books style mushrooms pop up spontaneously, so there is a hint of fall. But the main feature is the wet, rainy, greyness. It's liable to be overcast for 3 months now. My colleague's mother tried to retire here, from northern Saskatchewan. Apparently she hated GREY so much she would cross off grey days on the calendar. When she got 40 grey days in a row, she moved back to Saskatchewan. That's a pretty strong statement. My grandfather had stories of his childhood in Saskatchewan, like the time the HORSE FROZE SOLID. I don't think he made that up either. So, think about it: this lady would rather have 40 below and blue skies than 10 degrees and GREY. I almost understand. I miss the fall in southern Ontario! In the winter, I actually miss snow (though we strangely had much snow last year) and definitely miss the clear blue skies.

One last thought about Saskatchewan. My officemate M informs me that he and his buddies were on a US roadtrip and his friend needed a passport to buy a drink in Arkansas, because the barman insisted his driver's license was fake, because, "There's no such place as Saskatchewan." I can sympathize, because how many Canucks can even spell Saskatchewan and claiming that it's a giant rectangle in the middle of the country is unlikely to be convincing. However, there's added irony here, since the barman was from a place called "Arkansas" mysteriously pronounced "arc-and-saw"... I mean, give me a break.

This wasn't even what I meant to post at all.

Poor cold-addled brain. I seem to have finally got the evil cold Di brought home from F&L's cutie pie kids/walking germballs, especially N, the monkeybaby.

Yeah, I just wanted to complain about having a cold, and maybe mention the rain and the new computer weirdness. I got this new computer at work and now, webpages don't update unless you press refresh. So I posted the giant pink bunny thread and wanted to post something else and I couldn't figure out why LJ kept telling me "update successful" instead of offering me a chance to write more. I can't believe this took me a week to figure out. I'll blame the cold.

I think it's just about time to walk home and snuggle with the cats for three days. Happy weekend folks.

No comments: