April 24, 2025

Orillia, First Spring

this is our first spring in Orillia

we arrived here last summer

settled in during a glorious fall

then hunkered down for winter

it would be ‘different’ they said

Orillia is further north than Ajax

and it enjoys lake effect weather

so we bought ourselves a blower

bigger shovels and better boots

they were right, it was ‘different’

but not just for we recent arrivals

Orillia got hammered this winter

we’re told it was a historic season

they call it a generational snowfall

which, now, thankfully, has gone

gone into Couchiching and Simcoe

four meter’s worth of snow, gone

towering heaps beside driveways

replaced by heaps of deadwood

remnants of the trees destroyed

by the ice storm at March’s end

(we were fortunate with that one

neighbour’s tree fell onto a shed

already history beneath the snow

the parts that fell into our yard

we took to Dan and Kim to burn)

those olde timers, they were right

winter is ‘different’ here, and how

now we anticipate the tardy spring

so slow coming, winter seems near

we all rejoice each sun filled day

moan somewhat in returning cold

and hope

hope for spring and summer soon

soften our harsh recollection

of a winter too hard and long