After a long winter, a spring in our steps

Sometimes this winter seemed like a Celine Dion concert: hard to take your eyes off but never ending.

Like Celine's heart, it's been a season that has gone on (and on and on).

Snow. Cold. Snow. Cold. And not to completely drown in a metaphor, but enough ice to sink the Titanic 1,000 times over.

The good news is that eventually the curtain slips down on every concert and eventually the temperature claws its way past freezing and the sun breaks through and we can finally give winter the warm shoulder and truly start to dream about spring.

That's what happened this weekend, when time actually allowed us to spring ahead (hey, it's light after 6 p.m.!) and we could look forward to temperatures climbing near 50 in the coming days.

It's still almost two weeks until the official start of spring, but this weekend seemed to mark the start of a transition, from the days of sledding and skating to those of jogging and, before long, outdoor hoops and baseball.

Phil Schneeberger of Lombard got in one more outing of ice fishing at Herrick Lake in Wheaton. “This will be the last real safe ice”, he said. He started ice fishing last November and he said it's been a great year for the sport.

You might not want to put the snow shovels away just yet, but winter can hear the sultry Canadian woman singing.

As Celine will tell you, A New Day Has Come.