A Sure Sign of Spring

Sure, it's well-known that Spring 2012 arrived around 2 a.m. this morning but in our neck of the woods,  the way to be sure spring has arrived -- and by that I mean, real spring, not a vernal equinox that doesn't account for the annual Easter snow storm -- is the changing of the flag.
After a year of Nova Scotia weather:

Fresh and ready to flap:

My father, who taught me how to hang a flag and whose ashes are buried a short distance away from the flag pole, is restly quietly again. Dirty cars and tattered flags were the two things he could not, would not abide!