As the signs of winter's end arrive I begin to dream of summer fun!

Inside retail businesses, the inventory is changing. While we still have snow on the ground, swim suits, bright colourful skirts, tops and shorts are finding their way into the windows.
In hardware stores, barbecues are popping up right in front of you as you walk through the doors as are seed stands.
I go to work shortly before 7 every morning, and the sun is just appearing just above the horizon, and in the evening it doesn’t fall off into the western horizon until almost 6 at night. Daylight at both ends of the day is wonderful. For a short period of time, beginning on Sunday, I will be back in darkness in the morning. We will advance our clocks ahead one hour early Sunday morning.
Spring is almost finally here. The sun is focusing its heat on the snow banks and can quickly eat its way in where sand and gravel have built up. The snow banks that I complained about just a few weeks ago are shrinking. Puddles are lining the edges of the street. Icicles are hanging from roof edges. Sidewalks are melting and refreezing.
This coming weekend is the big travel weekend for families. Spring school break brings the clamor of suit cases being slammed shut, doors being banged shut, and the disappearance of many families from the area. They bolt from the community to warmer climates or places where the slopes are covered with thick packs of snow. For almost everyone, this coming weekend is the last hurrah to celebrate winter. It is also the hurrah that winter is over. By the time school restarts, spring will be officially announced.
It never seems to amaze me that no sooner has winter set in, than the seed, tackle and boating catalogues arrive and I am being tempted.
I like to fish and the fishing catalogues catch my attention. There is always a better more sensitive fishing rod, a smoother casting reel, a more perfect lure and a new shape that no self respecting fish will be able to resist. In most cases those fish are creatures of the land and not the water.
Even though open water is almost two months away, I am tempted. Already I am imagining launching my boat. I can feel the sun warming my face as I run to a favorite fishing hole. I can feel the rod in my hand, with a favorite lure and casting off to the edge of a shallow reef. I already know that a sudden hard pull will grab my attention and the line will begin travelling away from where the bait landed. I can already anticipate this.
For others, it is the new seed catalogue that offers new heritage tomatoes, or brighter bolder colored flowers. Ed Lawrence was on the radio Monday talking about starting plants in your house for planting in May.
Gardening catalogues also offer new tools to reduce the aches of weeding, or planting. It is what spring signals. It is the chance to perfect something.
It is the new start, filled with hope and optimism. Possibilities are endless.

–Jim Cumming,
Publisher