For the past 2 years we’ve traveled to New Zealand in the winter to get a welcome break and a taste of their summer. This year we didn’t and I’ve been thinking that may be the reason why this winter feels so long. No break. But now I suspect it’s just part of the program. I look back a year ago and find that I was feeling the same way then. Waiting for winter to pass.

At one point in January the island of Maui came to my attention as a maybe winter destination. A couple of friends like to travel there and one of the things that attracted me to the idea was that it only takes one flight to get there (Vancouver-Maui direct), 5 1/2 hours, not counting the travel from Qualicum Beach to Vancouver, another 15 minute small plane flight. Any other destination that may be of interest takes much more effort to get there. So this could work, given my aversion to air travel these days – it takes a lot to get me up and motivated.

As I was contemplating the warm winds of Maui, along came the news of the people of Hawaii getting a bogus text message that an incoming ballistic missile had been launched and was on its way. Whoa. Goodbye to that bright idea. Decided that I didn’t want to go to a place that may have missiles pointing at it, with a fucked up warning system to add to the mix. Besides, what would you do if you received a message like that? Take cover under the nearest table?

So here I am. Waiting out winter.

The first part of February was a joy. Noticing the days getting longer, watching the bulbs start to appear and the winter blooming shrubs flower, some of them fragrant. Some of the large pots of early daffodils I’d planted in the fall were starting to bloom. When the tiny iris reticulata started blooming I announced that spring had arrived.

NOT. By mid month, winter reappeared to mock me, and another heavy snow came and stayed, covering these little flowers and wiping out the camellia bush, with its hundreds of buds just starting to open. I’ve spent a lot of time staring out the window, watching, willing it to go away.

I spent the first part of the month bent over a killer jigsaw puzzle of an owl in a winter scene. This is the closest I’ve been to an owl for quite some time as I haven’t spotted them in the forest for awhile. I heard a news report from Tsawassen on the mainland of an owl attacking a couple of humans who were minding their own business, jogging and biking, which sounds seriously bizarre. That must have been one confused owl.

This time last year I was entranced by the release of the television series Planet Earth II, narrated by David Attenborough’s dulcet tones, and this February saw the new Blue Planet II, about the wildlife in our oceans, that is just as spectacular. Outrageous cinematography and compelling stories highlighting the sheer wonder of the creatures that inhabit the oceans of our planet (think about fish using tools or sea lions coordinating intricate group hunting plans to take down a school of yellow-fin tuna). Stuff like this makes me wonder once again how humans can possibly retain the idea of that our species is somehow superior to the rest of nature.

The Olympics were also a great winter distraction. Loved the snowboarding and free-style skiing that resembled skateboarding on steroids. Oh. Wait. That may be an unfortunate turn of phrase. When young Cassie Sharpe, a skier from Comox up the road from us, won the gold medal for women’s ski half pipe I was cheering out loud and the semi romantic drama around the ice dancing where the Canadian golden couple won yet another medal was great entertainment. I was also cheering for the young New Zealand bunnies, Nico and Zoe, both only 16 years old, who won bronze medals, in half pipe skiing and snowboarding, breaking the country’s medal dry spell. Fun.

Cassie Sharpe – photo Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press

In the studio I haven’t been painting so far but I did interrupt (with great relief) my Swedish Death Cleaning project long enough to set up the camera to play with some close up and macro photography, mostly of flowers, practicing lighting, focal length and manual focus.

Now that March has come, the temperatures have risen slightly, the days are longer still, the snow is vanishing and the garden is slowly coming back to life. The GreenHouse is full of 25 large pots of leafing out fuchsias and seeds I’ve planted are sprouting. Lots of gray days still but when the sun shines it’s glorious and hopeful.

Winter days and probably cabin fever have turned my attention to dreaming up change of scenery trips. Time to think about going exploring and once again expanding the perimeter. So far I’ve booked a few road trips – a trip to the west coast (Tofino-Ucuelet) this month, to the mainland coast mountains late spring, back to Quadra Island, as well as a much longer, farther trip this summer.

I know that this account reads like the weather report it is, but hey, I’m Canadian! Talking about the weather is one of our tribal characteristics. Bring on spring.