Oh, The Little Black Fly

Living in Canada you just get settled into one season, then suddenly your heading into another. I love all our seasons, fall being my favorite with the warm sunny days, brilliant, clear blue sky's and being lucky enough to live in the Haliburton Highlands we get to enjoy the most breathtaking colours when our beloved maple trees leaves change colour. You just get thinking to yourself how you could take this forever when you wake up the next day to dull sky's, bare grey trees, and days of rain. Wow, that didn't last long! We head into winter begrudging the cold winds and grey sky's but as Christmas nears we long for the white stuff. And the white stuff we get! I love the snow! It brightens the frozen earth below our feet and opens a whole new playground for us northeners to enjoy. Out come the ski's, the snowmobile's are now sitting close by waiting for more of the white stuff so we can hit the trails, I even dig out the snowshoes to make trudging through the bush much easier. There's nothing like a walk through the bush at -15 with brilliant blue ski's above you and snow glistening like diamonds all around you! The silence is deafening. Have you ever paused to listen to the silence and ponder just how loud the silence actually is? I love it! Then the sun becomes stronger as the days roll by. The creeks start to move faster, the ice melting away at the creeks edges. The horses start to shed their coats and I warn them theres more cold days to come. The yard starts to bare under the warm rays and suddenly we're half way up our wellies in mud. Every step we take the mud sucks at our wellies with the hopes of capturing one in its deathly grip, so a person is left hopping to and fro desperatly trying to pry their snagged wellie from the muds jaws. This usually doesn't end well. I usually find my flailing socked foot landing squarly in the mud never to be white again.

This year the mud was short lived and we've enjoyed the most beautiful March and beginning of April I can remember in my 42 years. I'm loving sitting on my new covered deck watching the horses mosey about in their field, nipping off sprigs of new found grass. I idly sip my hot coffee while my devoted Kinley lays at my feet soaking up the sunshine. I notice the buds are growing quite prominently on the trees and I know this little bit of heaven is going to be short lived. Time is moving on to when this girl goes into hibernation mode, just as the bears are coming out of their's. You see, I actually don't like this time of year. The time the leaves come out and the days get warm, I long for winter again! No, I'm not crazy, I just know under all those dead leaves on the ground, as soon as those buds start to open up on the trees , a little black alien is waiting to pounce. And pounce they do! Swarms of them! Bitting and swarming blood sucking blackflies! Waiting to wreck havoc on any warm blooded creature walking the terrain of Haliburton County. All I can do now is hope for hot sunny weather to come burn these little buggers off so life can resume again and our blood loss replenishes itself! Until then, good luck fellow Highlanders, I'll be sure to be doing the Haliburton wave (that we all do this time of year) right back to you!