Early Spring in Cottage Country

On the weekend we went to the cottage for a few days.  While it has warmed up and the snow and ice are gone in the Toronto area, it is still pretty wintery up in cottage country.  

This has been a record cold winter for all of Canada (thanks polar vortex) and the ice is late leaving the lake this year.  It was still frozen right to the shore all around the lake and the ice was over a foot thick.  Across the lake we could even see a few people out ice fishing (I have no idea why people think ice fishing is fun, but they sure spend a lot of time doing it).

  

 

There was snow all through the bush, but it was melting rapidly and forming little streams and icy puddles.

The most exciting thing, though, was to see the crocuses blooming only feet from mounds of snow.  

The road was too soft to drive on so we walked in from the main road carrying everything we needed.  We each got a book read and had lots of time to relax.  I love weekends like that. 

How was your Easter?  Was it the busy-busy-busy-with-family type or was it the low-key relaxing type?  

Easter Eggs

Happy Easter my friends.  I hope all is well.  

It's finally spring around here.  Although it did snow a couple of centimetres on Tuesday which didn't melt until Wednesday and was kind of a bummer.  I heard the best tweet on CBC Radio regarding the snow though (made me laugh all day whenever I thought about it):

"I'm dreaming of a white Easter" said nobody, ever!!!

   

We've had rabbits galore - all over our backyard.  I hope that means we will see little bunnies soon because we sure won't be seeing much in the way of flowers or bushes.

I finally got the Easter eggs out and arranged them on the table.  I got a new table runner from IKEA, but I'll let you in on a secret ... it's really a rug for the floor that cost me $2.99.  It looked so pretty that I bought it and put it on the table and bought some pink tulips to match.  Best.  Deal.  Ever!!!

  

I wanted to introduce you to the Pysanky that I made this year in art class.

 I really went modern and appear to have been inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright and Polkaroo (anyone remember him from TVO kids - no idea if he is still around).

I hope you have a great Easter weekend.  It's a long weekend here so there will be much relaxing and enjoying of chocolate.  What are your plans?

Bring Spring In

Are you as excited as I am that it is spring (despite the minor set back we had on the weekend with some of the white stuff)?  I'm enjoying all the bright colours in the gardens and the warmer temperatures so we don't have to wear heavy winter clothing. Hooray for spring!

 Here are 4 ways that I love to enjoy spring:

1.  Add some spring flowers to the house.  If you have a garden with an abundance of flowers then cut away, but if not then bring home a bouquet of tulips or daffodils or a pot of hyacinths next time you are at the grocery store.  Nothing says spring like a beautiful bouquet of spring flowers.

2.  Add some brighter fresher lighter clothing to your closet.  I love wearing skirts and dresses now that it is warmer and I won't freeze when I expose my legs.  And I love all the bright spring colours and patterns. When it comes to spring clothing, I think of florals, and nautical stripes, and safari clothing.  What's your favourite type? I've included two of the three in the ten items I selected to wear for the next few weeks (to find out which two, look here).  I just bought this dress to wear in the warmer weather (and I'm sure I'll look just like her in it!)

Joe Fresh

3.  Add more salads and raw vegetables to your menu.  I like to cook seasonally so I make soups and stews all winter and in the spring we like to eat more salads.  Here are a few of our favourites - click on the captions to go to the recipes (apparently I like to serve salads in the same bowls):

Beet Salad

Couscous Salad

Salade Nicoise

4.  Get out and enjoy the sunshine and the flowers.  It doesn't have to be a long hike, but just going out for a walk will get your blood moving and awaken your senses. I love walking through a neighbourhood park with flowering trees or enjoying the beautiful flower beds in a botanical gardens or hiking through a woods to admire the spring flowers.  

Royal Botanical Gardens

How are you bringing spring in?

To the Swamp and Back

Yes Sir, I made it into the depths of the forest, visited the swamp, and made it out alive.  William wanted to show me the swamp and this weekend seemed as good a time as any to go.  
The good part was that it was too cold for any bugs.  The bad part was that it snowed on and off for most of the two-hour hike.
The forest was pretty with the new leaves opening.

And the swamp was quiet and peaceful and beautiful.

William made me a bridge to cross the narrow part of the swamp.

It was a weekend for animal sightings.  We came within a few feet of hitting a deer on the way up to the cottage.  We saw a beaver swimming in the lake. William saw a moose on our walk, but I missed it - we tracked the footprints for awhile, but never saw it again.  And William saw a friendly weasel on another hike he took.

The pictures on the hike don't really show the snow we got, but you can see it in these photos - poor spring flowers!

 

Did you get snow over the weekend where you are? I hope you had a wonderful weekend no matter the weather.  

Taken by Trilliums

You know it's spring in Ontario when ...

you see lots of spring flowers in the forest.  Not only were there loads of trilliums - especially white ones and also a few red ones -

but also dog-tooth violets,

marsh marigold,

hepatica (which amazingly enough were in full bloom last weekend and were almost over this weekend),

and wild ginger.

This wasn't just a hike to find spring flowers, but it was also a sketching trip (this one is William's).

Oh and speaking of spring flowers, you should see how the mantel collection has grown (you can see how the mantel started off here).

Have you been out enjoying the spring flowers - in your garden?  Or in the forest? Really there is nothing better after a long cold winter!