Le trois fait le mois, si le cinq ne le défait pas

                                ~ old proverb

It means:  The third determines the month, if the fifth doesn’t reverse (or undo) it.

I can’t explain why they use this particular expression, especially in March, except that this is the craziest month of the year. Don’t try to talk me out of it!  It’s like a teenager with all their hormones outta wack.  Monday, March 1st, was a glorious day, here on the south shore of Montreal. Meltage was happening, mini lakes were forming, the temps were above freezing.  You could smell spring was in the air.  Of course, that also meant lots of muck! But it was a wonderful 4ºC (40ºF) – now, to some of you not used to this, you might think it’s cold. Nay. Not to us.

And then, that very same night, just as I was heading for bed, the winds picked up ferociously.  Things were banging on the roof, against the house – I was sure I was going to wake up to a yard full of debris.  Nope.  Just my shovels in the middle of my driveway.  But boy did that wind bring a bitter, go-to-your-bones cold.  What in the blessed fuck?  The type of cold that makes your jacket crinkle, your nostrils stick together and you wonder if you’ve been teleported to the South Pole. Or North Pole. Both – at the same time. (Yeah, I stole this from you, Marc 😉 ).  I dunno what happens to the human body.  You get a couple of mild days and suddenly you turn into a solid wimp when the temps dip down to -28ºC (-18ºF).

By the way, it was too damn cold to take a picture, so these will have to do!  (Friday’s moon)

Wednesday morning dawns (and this was the day this post was to go up because it was the third, but yanno… life and all that) and it’s snowing. But not just any snow. The snow globe kinda snow.  So Zeke and I took a morning before work walk.

Lunchtime came around and out I went again because steps to be had!  The sun was shining and the temperature was just right.  I made my way down to the Parc du Bois de Brouage to “my” river.  I stepped as close to the little bridge-like stone walkway as I felt was safe, and clicked away. And then it wasn’t.  Through the crust I went. Up to above my ankles… and I was wearing hiking boots – that go up to your ankles. Boot full of water. Cold water. Friggen cold water. Turns out it was time to turn back home anyway… a twenty-minute walk.  OY!

Not one to cry over things, I sloshed-stepped-sloshed-stepped my way home, changed my socks (amazed I could still feel my ankle) and made myself my lunch. I didn’t quite have my steps come five o’clock so closed up the work computer and back out I went! The sun was such a show-off and turned Zeke golden! He’s been loving the fact I bring him out twice per day for short walks.  Those hips are not getting any younger but his enthusiasm is still there. For short wslks, anyway.

What did Thursday bring?  More cold. More wind. Ugh. I did manage to get out there for a morning and after-work walk with Zeke and at lunch, it got cut short when I ran into a friend and we jibber-jabbered.  It wasn’t as horrible as Tuesday but far from lovely like Monday.

Yesterday? Cold. More cold. -7ºC – feels like -15ºC (19ºF feels like 5ºF). As a native Montrealer, this is not really that bad. But for some strange reason, after the mild that we had?  It feels so cold! Plus the wind was rather not fun and tried to pierce through – nothing like Tuesday.  Still, optimist that I am, I did enjoy the blue of the sky and captured the noon moon.

Noon moon

Which brings us to today.  March 5th.  Seems like we have a cold month ahead of us if we believe that old proverb mentioned at the top.  Went for my morning walk with Zeke. -11ºC feels like -20ºC (12ºF feels like -4ºF).   And it’ll only warm up by a couple of degrees come time for my noontime walk. Sigh.

Even Zeke is discouraged.

I hate March.  Only good thing about it, is the last day… coz that’s the day Iain came into the world.  The rest?  The cold, the muck, the cold, the major snowstorms – ever notice some of the major doozies happen in March?