Today is March 1st, and I am more than ready to turn from fur-clad Highland “hairy coo” into a “springer”.

Folk tradition holds that if March “comes in like a lion”, it will “go out like a lamb”, and vice versa. The trouble is that there is no benchmark for what constitutes lion or lamb-like weather. We’ve seen some pretty docile, well-fed lions on our travels, and some pretty stubborn annoying lambs (okay, to be fair they were full grown Scottish sheep that wouldn’t move out of the road for our tour bus, but you get the idea).

My current thinking is that maybe impending spring is really more of a meerkat. Quick to come and go. Popping up unexpectedly in one place, disappearing, and reappearing somewhere else. Or maybe I’m just exhibiting meerkat behaviour: head swivelling, vigilant for shoots of green emerging from the ground, and ready to run for shelter at the first sign of snowflakes.

Yesterday was sunny and above freezing to end February, but today the temperature has plummeted and there is a high wind warning in effect. Lion? If so, the end of the month should be truly springlike. We have our fingers cross that it will be all uphill weather-wise from here on, although it’s been known to snow in our area well into April. Both our sons were born in mid March, and in each case our drive to the hospital was on snowy roads. For the next couple of weeks, nights are predicted to be below freezing, which combined with warmer days means the sap should be running and we’ll have a good year for maple syrup production. Covid vaccination clinics are finally opening in our region, focussed on front line workers and “super seniors” over the age of 85 for now, but we should be on track to join the eligible demographic by April, in plenty of time to be immunized before our (fingers crossed again) January 2022 travel.

I’m optimistic for a great month, one that goes out like a well-trained puppy.