the May spring fake-out, and the despair that accompanies it.

This happens every year, and every year it's like I have no memory of anything that has happened in previous years. The garden centres are open. There were plants for sale at the farmer's market last week. Therefore, I must shop for plants! And my indoor seedlings are looking bushy and anxious to meet the outdoors. In fact, if anything, I am running out of room in my basement for them. And I have a whole bench full of new perennials and annuals in my living room, under my biggest available window.




Whereas outside it looks like this:




You're mean, Edmonton. We woke up yesterday morning to a huge dump of snow, cold, miserable winds, and a sense of self-pity.

However, when I woke up this morning I know it would be miserable outside, and I also knew there was a chance that I would have a few more sprouts. And lo and behold, the first of the watermelons:




That's a sugar baby watermelon, and even though at this moment it seems unbelievable that it will ever survive outdoors, I know that in a few weeks today will be like a half-remembered nightmare.