My Canadian friends are reminding me that Winter is nowhere near over. I read news reports of record low temperatures in Texas. Weather seems to be a topic of conversation everywhere. Most of the time the comments aren’t complimentary.

Not wanting to make anyone envious (or maybe I do), it appears Winter is over where I live. We got a few centimetres of snow about a week ago, and I think that is it for the season. It melted after a day or so.

Saturday I celebrated Spring, even if it is a month away according to the calendar. My neighbors laughed when they saw me, as i knew they would.

When I went for my afternoon walk in the vineyards outside Sulzburg I took the weather into account. A week ago I was wearing snow boots. The trails were covered after all.

Saturday I switched not just to sneakers, I also put on shorts. At this time of year only joggers here do that, and I certainly don’t jog. But I figured it was time.

Not only was it sunny, but the temperature was 17 Celsius (63F) – and it felt warmer. I was worried about overheating if I wore a winter coat and jeans.as I did earlier in the week.

Saturday’s high in Ottawa was -5. In Baker Lake it was -16. I was in shorts. Need I say more?

The grass really isn’t green here yet, even if it looks it in the picture. It will get much greener.

Funny thing though, as I walked through the vineyards in my shorts, basking in the sunshine, I was very aware that the weather app on my phone included an extreme cold warning for Sulzburg for Saturday night.

I still don’t think of minus two as extreme cold. But I guess it all depends on what you are used to.

I decided to enjoy the warmth and sunshine and not worry about the forecast. After all, even if it did drop below freezing, my Canadian friends would be envious.