April is it? You'd hardly know it by the prevailing temperatures, the wind, the sun when it's out, barely making a difference. We thought April's introduction would emphatically demonstrate spring's resolve to arrive, but early days have proven otherwise. And today's whipping wind and icy-cold atmosphere, even with a bright sun that is strengthening in warmth by the day, is even worse than yesterday's.

On the positive side of the natural ledger, it seems that word is getting around that there is food to be had around our house. Even greater numbers of the spring-arriving redpolls have been coming to our feeders. Those tiny birds cling to everything, swooping in a looping arc down to the seeds. When squirrels are also around, the redpolls momentarily make themselves scarce heading in a wild dash to the overhanging trees, but they return once the initial caution has passed. Surprisingly, the mounds of layered snow have now disappeared from the lawns.

And yesterday the Rakhra family brought food over to us, how's that for a change? I'd said to Mohindar that I'd like to get the recipe from him for the lentil soup I often smell cooking in the atmosphere, and he laughed a few weeks back when we were meandering up the street on the way to the ravine. He relayed my message to Rajinder who said she'd send over a sample of the soup next time she prepared it, and then if we liked it, would provide us with the recipe. And yesterday Imerin came over with a container-full of the soup his mother had made. Along with the soup was a portion of the roti bread she had also made. That's what we'll have for dinner tonight.

The day before, I'd baked a lemon-crunch pie for dessert, and also a small batch of croissants. The croissant dough was made with milk, eggs and butter, so it's a bit richer than the normal fare we have in bread products. I used to bake croissant every Friday night when our daughter and her husband who at that time lived close by, came over regularly to share Friday-night dinners with us.

So, there'll be a little suspense in the anticipation of what walking conditions will be like in the ravine this afternoon. The high temperature for today is minus-three degrees, so the ice capping the trails will present as a real challenge, even with our cleats, on the ascents and descents that are so frequent in the ravined forest. Even Jackie and Jillie tend to slide uncontrollably if they make a poor decision rather than seeking out the more likely prospects where the ice has been denaturized since the advent of milder weather. We won't have that option today.