Geese

Over the last few days we have had rain, wind, and temperatures above freezing during the day, and some nights.

The snow has mostly retreated, there are large expanses of bare grass. But the snow banks persist, so far.

Such a contrast from eight days ago, when the temperature went down to -20C, and we bundled up to go for a morning walk!

This morning there were flocks of geese flying in formation, heading north. It is wonderful to see and hear them. Welcome back friends!

This morning as well, on our walk, we observed a small flock of swans flying north in formation. That isn’t something we have seen here before, so beautiful.

The birds are singing the praises of spring this morning. Robins, crows, chickadees, mourning doves, cardinals, and blue jays. The world out there is suddenly alive with activity, the context of human life on earth.

Indoors we are experiencing a small scale invasion of insects. Over the last few days we have caught four large wasps, seven stink bugs, and numerous Asian beetles. Mostly they congregate in the front windows, but this morning as I was filling the Berkey, a stink bug was crawling along the upper rim. All this is a sure sign of spring!

I haven’t put my winter boots away yet though. Mother nature will be sending more snow, more freezing temperatures, and I will be ready. No one is going to blame me for tempting fate! In the meantime though, I am thoroughly enjoying going for walks wearing my sandals, so light and carefree. I still wear the parka, but not the many layers of warm clothing under it, nor am I wearing my snow pants. The change lifts the spirits.

Attila is out in the garden for the first time today. He is removing weeds and old growth. In the fall he leaves anything that has seed heads, including weeds, for the overwintering birds. In the spring the seeds are gone and the stems and roots are pulled to make way for this year’s plantings.

This spring is lighter than most for me. I loath income tax season. Funny that, I dealt with a monumental level of bureaucracy during my academic years, form after form after form, the paperwork was staggering. I got through it without too much stress.

But income tax returns put me into fight or flight mode, every single year. Before I met Attila, as an adult, I took care of all the paperwork involved with modern life, including income tax returns. My first husband relied on me completely to do it all. When single again I continued with my and my children’s paperwork, with the exception of one year, the year I sat for my PhD comprehensive exams, that year I just forgot about income tax returns. That situation was a bit disastrous, I was fined, and then afterwards I experienced frequent audits, more paperwork. That period in my life came and went.

Attila took over the dreaded income tax return season when we moved in together. He does an excellent job. My involvement is minimal, as I save and keep the records needed, that come into my possession. I still have a rough few days when Attila does the income tax returns. I doubt it will ever be stress free for me.

This year though, I advocated to use software to do the income tax returns. Attila was not keen, but humoured me. We are getting older, and if something happened to Attila I would be stuck doing the tax returns again, I wanted to try the online process hoping it would be easier on me, best to learn now while Attila steadies the rocking boat. I figure it is also good for Attila to get used to the software, as if anything happens to me or paper returns are discontinued, he would be stuck without me to assist in learning how to use the software.

I purchased the software, using one of the recommendations on the government of Canada web site. It offered ten 2025 income tax returns for $13.99, we only used two. My price range! They have good technical support. I always enjoy technical support, I am an expert at finding small gaps in processes.

The biggest challenge to doing the returns was learning to navigate the software, the learning curve was gentle. The returns are submitted within the software, which is handy, and the notices of assessment were almost instant, but subject to review and not yet available. Barring unforeseen issues, it was a relatively stress free tax season.

Worldly

Weather

8°C
Date: 12:00 PM EDT Tuesday 10 March 2026
Condition: Partly Cloudy
Pressure: 101.3 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: 8.3°C
Dew point: 1.4°C
Humidity: 62%
Wind: SSE 9 km/h
Visibility: 24 km

Quote

“It’s important that someone celebrate our existence… People are the only mirror we have to see ourselves in. The domain of all meaning. All virtue, all evil, are contained only in people. There is none in the universe at large. Solitary confinement is a punishment in every human culture.”
Lois McMaster Bujold
1949 –