Canada is a calm and placid country, an idyllic place to live and bring up a family, but when it comes to the weather, Canada can be maddeningly fickle and disappointing.
Spring in this country is a cruel tease. It comes and goes as it wishes, dashing hopes and expectations.
When spring officially arrived in the third week of March, I was still deep in winter mode, bundled up in a warm coat, a scarf, a hat and a pair of gloves. Like most Canadians, I yearned for a breath of warmth.
Spring seemed so far away. The sky was an inhospitable cobalt blue, the sun was pale and weak, the trees were pathetically threadbare and the lawns were depressingly brown.
When would spring finally arrive?
This was the question I asked myself as yet more snow fell, blanketing the roads, sidewalks and driveways, defying the calendar and tempting Torontonians to flee to sunny Florida, California or Cuba.
For several blessed days in early April, we got a break as we basked under unseasonable high temperatures. I took advantage of the respite by changing into summer clothing, taking long walks and riding my bicycle.
But of course, the good weather didn’t last. Soon enough, Toronto — which had had a relatively mild winter compared to 2014 and 2015 — was hit by another unforgiving blast of frigid weather.
But by the third week of April, winter was effectively gone and spring seemed just around the corner.
The evidence could be seen in my garden.
In a miraculous transformation which never ceases to amaze me, the lawn turned green, the blades of grass growing higher and greener by the day.
The first weeds of the new year, including dandelions, appeared.
The coriander, the ferns and the purple shoots of the peonies pushed through the black earth. Buds formed on the lilac trees and on the big branches of the Manitoba maples in the ravine.
On some early mornings, I spied a wild rabbit on the lawn, foraging for morsels of grass.
With warmer days upon us, the accumulated debris in the garden beckoned. Rake in hand, I cleared the flower beds of twigs, dead leaves and loose bark. Bending down, I pulled pesky weeds out of the ground.
During the first week of May, tulips, daffodils, trilliums and buttercups — the unmistakable heralds of spring — magically surfaced. A rainbow of bright colors belatedly replaced the drab greys of the previous months.
During a visit to the professionally-tended gardens of Spadina House, formerly the residence of the Eatons, one of Canada’s wealthiest families, I feasted my eyes on dazzling ornamental flowers.
In the adjacent orchard, an oasis of tranquility and beauty that summons up visions of rural Ontario, radiant white petals had already formed on gnarled apple trees.
As I rode my bike around town, savouring the balmy air, I came upon the magnificent spectacle of magnolia trees in full bloom, their pinkish petals a sight to behold. On a few other streets, I stopped to admire the corona of deep red blossoms on Japanese cherry trees.
By the second week of May, native trees — primarily maples and oaks — were blooming and creating what will be a wonderful summer canopy.
I cycled to Trinity-Bellwoods Park and High Park, two of our finest recreational areas, and saw yet more evidence of spring. Young men and women lounged on the grass, relaxing, chatting, reading, soaking up the rays of the sun.
It was an evocative tableau of spring, when bleakness gives way to brightness, when pessimism melts into optimism, and when all seems right with the world.
Toronto offers delights to those who reside here all year round. Those looking to purchase property in the area will find listings on the homeads website.