As I think back over my years in Canada, I cannot remember an April that was very nice. I can dredge up April snow storms without any challenge. I can remember the mud season which always threatened to swallow us.
In eastern Canada it was often the last week or so of April before things started to even think about being green. If we were lucky, we got our cattle in the pasture by the middle of May.
We would plant our gardens in June and hope that there would be no June frost. Tomatoes were a mid-August treat at best in New Brunswick. On the shore of Nova Scotia, it was sometimes close to September before we got a ripe tomato.
There are a lot of things to love about Canada, but April weather is not one of them. Admittedly if you have chosen to live in Canada, you have made the decision to put up with a fair amount of cold. Still April seems to be cruel and unusual punishment.
Here on the Carolina coast our early spring flowers are gone. Tulips, dogwoods, and azaleas are in bloom. I put my tomato plants in the ground on April 1, and if things go as well as they did last year, I will enjoy a tomato sandwich around June 1.
As much as I loved the cool Canadian air in the summertime, I certainly do not miss that those late spring snow storms. In year like this where most of the continent as seen cooler than normal weather, it is nice to have some heat.
While we are about to get a dose of Canadian cold it will be short lived. Even tonight as the cold starts to roll in, the temperature is still at 60F at 11 PM. That would be a nice mid-summer day in Halifax.
I have been wearing shorts for a couple of weeks now. I might have to put bluejeans on for a day or two, but that should end it for the year.
When we are cooking in the summer heat in late August, I will write a post about how much I miss those cool Canadian breezes.
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