Apparently this has been the coldest winter in Ontario in some twenty years. Three days before Spring officially arrives, it is one of the coldest St Patrick’s Day EVER in Ottawa.

On the other side of the province, I stand today on the westernmost point of Lake Ontario looking east. The long grass and wet, packed sand whispers promises of summer, beach fun. The boulder size blocks of ice at the shoreline recall the harsh reality of the winter that is slowly passing. The shadows of light reflecting against a thinly veiled high-cloud announce the warmth that will soon embrace us, once again.