Yesterday the ravine resembled a swampy bog. And there are still stretches of trail that are thick with ice. The night before unrelenting rain had lashed our landscape. By morning it was still dark when it should have been light, and rain continued to fall. It wasn't quite a Biblical flood but at this time of year when rain events occur they do have the appearance of never stopping as though a raincloud of universal proportions has settled over the Earth and will never dissipate. At those times we gain the uncomfortable impression that we live in a gigantic fish tank.

But the rain did eventually relent, although the day remained dark, a bit cooler, and windy. A day when caution advised to go out for a ravine walk adequately geared. We shoved Jack and Jill's little raincoats in our own rainjacket pockets and set off.

Before the all-night rain had broken we'd had a sunny, warmish day and we wondered how long before we'd see the first indication that woodland wildflowers would be making their appearance? We'd already seen a clump of coltsfoot, and knew that it was likely the next showing would be the presence of trout lilies. So as we approached that portion of the forest floor off the trail where we knew that large colonies of trout lilies always appear in the spring, we had a keen lookout.

Trillium

Thinking for certain the mild overnight temperature linked with the rain would awaken seasonal realization that it was time for botanical specimens to raise themselves out of the ground, we made an especial effort to be vigilant, and we were rewarded. There, rising in triumphant little spurts of green were the pointed sprouts of trout lilies making themselves evident.

Foamflower

And so, on we went, remarking to each other how much rainwater had accumulated on the forest floor in small ponds because the drenching rain had proven to the thirsty soil that it was still in the throes of absorbing the spring melt-off of snow and ice, it could welcome no more, and so a waiting period would ensue. Again, we peered where we knew trilliums would soon appear, and were rewarded with the sighting of a few first-of-the-crop triple-foliage without their shy crimson flower buds.

Violets

As we passed a few honeysuckle bushes we saw they were flush with small new leaves. Cattails dripped from hazelnut bushes and alongside them tiny green leaves. One lonely little gingerroot plant had emerged. So had a small clump of foamflower, and further along another part of the ravine's interior woodland violets. The season of birth and renewal is well underway. There is a slight flush of yellow, seen from a distance over the poplars.

Ginger