This morning, so far, it’s cloudy with sunny breaks and it’s not that cold. 7 Celsius, expected to rise to 11c this afternoon. The snow is finally gone after the big storm blew through here several weeks ago. Well, it’s mostly gone. This is the edge of Walmart parking lot the other day. A reminder of what was.

Snow piles will be hanging around on plowed parking lots for a few more days. I see another pile too, further back (on the left) on someone else’s parking lot. The snow is always a little ugly once it melts a bit. It’s the sand left behind making the whole thing look dirty.

They spread sand around liberally on roads and parking lots so we can drive safely on slippery snow. But then, it gets picked up when they plow the deep snow to clear roads and parking lots so we can drive without getting stuck. Stuck and slippery can be fun if you are playing around, not so fun if you have somewhere you need to be.

Needless to say, we go through a lot of sand every winter. I imagine they try to recover some of it at the end of the season but I don’t know that for sure.

It has been cooler sooner this October than other years. There was frost one morning and the evidence was on  the roof and back deck. The temperature had dropped below freezing during the night and with all the moisture in the air the frost was thick and sparkly in the rising sun. I didn’t manage to catch the sparkle, which was sad because it was beautiful. It didn’t last long – once the sun hit the deck it melted. That last bit of snow was soon gone too.

It’s easy to be taken in by this lull in the cold weather. I keep reminding myself our days are numbered so get to work.

This is the before cleanup picture with fallen leave everywhere.

This is the after picture, evidence of some much needed clean up. The leaves keep falling so clean doesn’t last long. The need is never ending.

I’ll get out there again today and do what I can.

The snow will be here soon to cover up whatever doesn’t get done. I’ll sigh in relief. Six guilt free months ahead. There is definitely an upside to winter.