April showers?

This weekend I am going to plant some seeds. I am desperate to move the seasons along a little faster. This April we have had nothing but SNOW. Geesh! I know Calgary is pretty far north , but my third year here and I'm still not used to it. I love the winters and summers but the spring/fall times are so awkward.
Last weekend was Easter and I continued what seems to be my new tradition - I took visitors for a little mountain cross-country ski! There was still over 1 m at Mt. Shark and the sun was beating down. It is so hard to dress for skiing when it's +15 Celsius... Last Easter I went with a friend from out of town to Lake Louise (check back to last year's post!). So, visitors be warned - if you come at Easter you will be skiing in your undies!!
The weekend before I went to Kicking Horse for a last weekend of snowboarding. It again was fantastically warm but the snow was great. I rode blue runs with confidence. What a change since December!
Tomorrow is the University Outdoors Center rental sale and my original plan was to pick up some alpine touring skis I could use at the resorts so that I could learn to ski next year. But, another look over the finances killed that idea. However, I am still going to go and buy two pairs of snowshoes. Even though they are very cheap to rent, I think it will be nice to have a few pairs kicking around.
These next few weeks I'm reading 3 Italian novels recently translated to English. Just checking out what makes the bestseller lists over there. On the bus yesterday I was reading a rant by an Italian convict about how hard it is for him to get new/replacement rubber seals for his moka (small burner espresso maker) and that after 15 years in prison he really needs a good moisturizing soap. (this was in between the plot of him murdering a mother and son during a getaway from a robbery 15 years earlier and now he has cancer but wants to die a free man and is going through the system to get a pardon, so there is some substance).
I'm glad to hear Easter was good in Neb, but am still waiting to be cc'd on a good Auz update... hint hint. Same old going on for me here though. Happy spring!