Autumn has fallen . . . hard

Well, it's September 7 and it's 14 degrees Celsius (that's 57 for us Fahrenheit-ers) here in Southwestern Ontario - YIKES. 

The last few days of August were in the 20s and low 30s (70s & 80s) and that lasted through the first couple of days of September.  It was like the weather hadn't realized it was the beginning of fall - the climate hadn't caught up to the calendar.  But as soon as it did, off went the heat and on came the cold.  Man it was chilly waking up on Labour Day at 16C or 60F degrees!

And so it begins, our journey toward winter.  Though the leaves haven't started turning yet, it won't be long.

Sure sign that summer is over: the sedum is blooming. 

All that beautiful colour that Mother Nature gives us in the Autumn is just a cheat to make us forget the endless white that will soon blanket the landscape.

Some people profess to love fall - the colour, the renewal, the new season, the cooler temps.  Is that you are you a 'faller' or do you dread it because it's the beginning of winter?

Chime in here and let us know what's your fav season.

SNOW-FREE ZONE!

It's safe to come out of the house, finally!!

With Victoria Day weekend safely behind us, gardening season has officially begun in Ontario. 

Some parts of Canada are ahead of us and others behind - but most if not all of the country is now officially snow-free!  That's right - the long, painful winter can now be put behind us and we can look toward an unforunately short summer - followed by another awful, horrible, long, painful winter!

But always the optimist, the short summer months are to be enjoyed!!

ROCASS will be on hiatus during these few short months of nice weather.  But I couldn't end the bitching season without recognizing two fellow ROCASSes who contributed invaluably to our united ROCASS experience.

Charles Vincent, talented artist and graphic artist extraordinaire, created the logo.  Thanks, Chaz - you've truly embodied the very essence of the ROCASS spirit in it!

Erika Faust, my able assistant at Write.On Communications and fab writer/editor - and now web page creator - took my little idea and ran with it, making ROCASS.ca the fun, frivolous waste of time it is!

Thanks to both of them and we'll be back in a few months with plenty of gripes and swipes at that always-hate-it white stuff!

Frozen bunny ears and death to the Ground Hog!

Well folks, it's nearly Easter weekend and even though 'spring' is officially supposed to start with the Vernal Equinox - this year it was on March 20 - the 'spiritual' start to spring is often around Easter.  I don't mean spiritual in a religious way, but rather as a 'we're all caught up in the spirit' kind of way.

This year, however, the Easter bunny - that arbiter of warm weather that makes us frisky and spreads eggs (a fertility symbol) around - has moved in with his/her rodent buddy the two-faced ground hog.

That punctilious pundit of meterological predictions got it REALLY wrong this year.  He foretold of six more weeks of winter the day named for him at the beginning of February and here it is nearly 12 weeks later and it's SNOWING in London, Ontario.

So that's it - spring has officially been cancelled! 

Is there any hope for summer?

141 certifiable people!

That's the number of folks who answered yes to the London Free Press poll yesterday: Are you enjoying April's snow?

That's right - 940 people answered the poll.  85% - the sane ones replied an emphatic NO!

So the crazy minority of 15% - or 141 people - said they enjoyed freezing and slipping, grey skies and chill winds, wilting spring flowers and scared squirrels.

Just goes to show you  . . .

:-(

Three new reasons to hate spring snow:

1)  My daffodils look so sad!  An inch or so of snow has accumulated in the front lawn, blanketing those trumpeting yellow buds with ugly white stuff - truly pathetic!

2)  Had to wear a full wrap-around-the-head scarf to protect freshly coifed hair from blizzard this a.m.  Straightened hair doesn't like earth-bound precipitation, so full hair protection measures (HPM) were called for!

3)  Sales girl yelled at me!  Walked into bridal shop on Dundas while passing by this a.m. - during snow storm - to check out some dresses.  She scampers towards me though I indicated that I was just looking.  "Can you just take off your shoes?"  And walk on your wet dirty floor to perhaps give you some of my hard-earned moola?  I don't think so!  Quickly my money and I left this retail establishment.

Sad, snowy day :-(

A flurry by any other name . . .

What's better than taking the boat out of storage on a windy day?  Doing it on a windy day when it suddenly starts snowing!  Yes, there was a flurry if wet snowflakes in Grand Bend today - April 16!

Yowza - that's all I can say!

Cyber fist pump

to our friends in Alberta!  Calgarians getting snow mid-April deserve our sympathy, empathy and undying wonderment on  . . . why the heck they live there!

(Lifting martini glass) this one's for you, Calgarians!