Happy Family Day!

Tomorrow will be British Columbia's first ever Family Day. It is a new statutory holiday, meant to relieve the doldrums between New Years and Easter.

For us in the northern part of BC, February can be an awful month. Winter still has us in it's fist. The piles of snow reach their peak, and despite our certain knowledge that it will all melt, some days it just doesn't seem possible. Groundhog day means very little to us...there is six more weeks of winter coming, no matter what a rodent sees.

The best part of February is it is finally obvious the days are getting longer. We no longer drive to and from work in bleak blackness. And days like today make it even more bearable, when the sky is a clear, peaceful blue, birds flicker through the sunshine, making swift forays among the leafless branches, and the snow gleams white.

My houseplants take a beating at this time of year. My gardener's instincts are beginning to awaken, but everything outside is still locked under a crust of ice. So I I clip and clean my few indoor plants in desperation.

The extra day away from work and the brilliance of the day outside also inspire me to write. I've taken a break since finishing revisions on “Reservations for Two”, a contemporary romance. But my fingers are starting to twitch, ready to start work on my next manuscript.

Happy Family Day (to those of you lucky enough to celebrate it).