Our house was illuminated this morning by a bright new day, the early sun ascending in the sky. But the forecast by Environment Canada warned of the likelihood of rain in late morning or early afternoon. So after breakfast we decided we'd go out for an earlier-than-usual ravine walk. So, after a quick kitchen clean-up off we went, pleasing Jackie and Jillie enormously.

The temperature had soared to almost two degrees, and it felt indulgently warm out, despite the gathering clouds that began to obscure the sun from time to time. It was, in fact, a gorgeous morning, an impression entirely our own, since no one else appeared to be out and about.

When we returned home I set about preparing cheese blintzes for dinner a bit ahead of time, to refrigerator the prepared crepes so they could later be quickly finished; a bit of a reflection of last night's stuffed tortillas served alongside steamed asparagus, but different enough. For one thing the tortillas were filled with salsa, cheese, chopped onion, chopped bell pepper, whereas the crepes are filled with ricotta cheese tinged well with honey and cinnamon; the former baked in the oven, the latter sauteed. With the blintzes will go a fresh garden salad, heavy on avocado followed by a fruit salad of clementines, strawberries and grapes.

After that I prepared a cookie batter for crunchy peanut butter cookies and proceeded to bake them and the house filled with the fragrance of hot peanut butter. Once that was done, I put together some plastic bags and newspaper, and began rounding up items around the house that we would take to the Salvation Army thrift store. A bit of overdue de-cluttering. Of inexpensive and decorative items bought over the years as impulse purchases. And while they're decorative and enjoyable to have, they're also classic dust-gatherers. Dusting this house and the objects within it takes me an enormous amount of time. Now, there will be a few fewer items requiring dusting. It's a start, in any event. With a lot more to go.

Once they were delivered to the Sally Ann we drove on to another place which is a bit of a favourite but for other reasons entirely. Where we picked up another 25-lb. bag of black oilseed for the flock of a hundred or so redpolls that have decided to linger rather than press on with their northern spring return. Which gave me the additional opportunity to look around at the spring-planting bulbs, and annual seeds. In thoughts of the months to come when the garden will be clear of ice and snow and the temperature moderated sufficiently to enable me to begin setting out flower seeds for summer viewing pleasure.