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IN OUR VIEW: Spring at long last

Let’s all get outside and enjoy it while it lasts!
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Sandi Thiessen and a group of friends – a Facebook group called Ridge Meadows 55+ Social that formed during COVID – recently visited Grant Narrows Regional Park, a popular recreation and sightseeing destination located in Pitt Meadows, that offers stunning sightseeing year round. The group, led by Thiessen, walk twice a week at different dikes and destinations. “This day there were six of us. Sometimes as many as 14 turn up for the hike/walk. We do Grant Narrows a few times a year,” she noted. (Special to The News)

We’ve had worse winters, and we’ve had longer winters, but the one we just got through had more than enough cold snaps, intense snowfalls, and blustery days.

There are still some frosty mornings to come, and we may still see some sleet slapping against the windshields of our cars in the coming days, but spring is definitively here.

Cherry trees are wearing pink and white, daffodils are blooming, and grass is turning from beaten-down brown to vibrant green.

It’s time to get outside.

The hardiest among us, or those who love winter sports, have spent much of the past three or four months still heading outside.

But for many of us, winter is the season of hunkering down, pulling on sweaters, and seeing if we can drink our weight in hot chocolate.

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Habits like sitting in front of the TV, seeing what’s new on Netflix, can become ingrained.

We’re expected to make big plans for exercise or getting out more after New Year’s, but when it’s pelting down with cold rain or snow, that prospect is somewhat less enticing.

With warmer weather here at last, make a spring resolution instead.

It doesn’t have to be anything major – getting out for more walks, to see what flowers are sprouting up around the neighbourhood is a good start.

After that, maybe check out one of our region’s many parks and trails.

It’s time to start spending as much of our daylight hours outside as we can, prying ourselves away from work and chores. Yes, it will be rainy more often than we’d like, but that keeps everything green and bright for the days when we can shed our coats and umbrellas again.

Go for a walk. Take up an outdoor sport. Meet friends on a patio for lunch.

Spring is here! Time to emerge from hibernation.