This year, they keep saying, is different for Calgary. Cold rain, day after day, along with sunny breaks (like right now) with cumulus clouds floating on deep blue. But still Spring Jacket Weather.

Last night as I was out walking to raise my spirits, the sun appeared and I discovered, close to where we live, a wide park. Besides an asphalt path, tennis courts (beside which I spotted a gopher) and a skating rink/basketball court, it had a great view of the mountains. I hadn't realized there was a place so close to home (less than a five minute's walk) for seeing them.

Later in the evening, again with cabin fever, I thought I'd try to find a good vantage point for watching the sunset. (The park was not the right angle.) I did find such a place, but by then the sky had begun to display one of its Battle of the Titans images: huge purple clouds with rays of sun poking out. The opening of light somehow struck me as a cross between the entrance to heaven and the entrance to hell, and maybe that's a good metaphor for the way I can feel about living Way Out Here sometimes.