Our night-time temperatures still plunge toward freezing, even though we're now in the month of May. And so, of course, we haven't yet thrown our bedroom windows wide open. Not while we can still hear the furnace coming on. Yesterday afternoon we put the fireplace on, to take advantage of the wan warmth thrown by the gas-heated flames. When this house with its large windows doesn't have the advantage of an afternoon sun streaming in to warm up the house, the inner atmosphere of the house is cold, and thus it was yesterday with an all-day rain.

It was dark, it was rainy and it was uninviting out-of-doors, so there was no ravine walk. Our puppies, Jack and Jill, don't appreciate walking in the rain. And they don't mind refusing to go out into the backyard when it's time to evacuate. They'd rather 'hold it in'. And they've both been feeling under the weather so to speak these last few days. Nothing like sharing life with two little dogs to remind us of what it was like, raising children.

When they're feeling unwell they give off those symptoms well known to parents of very young children. They're restless, and sometimes they retch, and sometimes they ask to be taken out, no matter what time of the night it is. Since our bedroom windows are not yet flung wide open to take advantage of fresh air during the night how else might we have known that well before light gathers to welcome a new day, robins are already hard at work introducing the dawn, urging it to turn back the dark curtains of night?

This was experienced because at 4:40 a.m. on Saturday night our two siblings insisted they needed to be taken out to the backyard, breaking the peace of their sleep and ours as well. And last night, my husband, attuned to any sound they make, bounded out of bed to the sound of retching. This morning their bedding is being washed. Yesterday Jackie refused his breakfast and although Jillie ate as usual, all the indications of an ailing little dog were there; they were restless and listless.

This morning there was white-throat sparrows at the bird feeders, welcome new guests. And the little resident chipmunk was deep into the seeds in close proximity to the black and grey squirrels also feeding there. Also welcome was a renewed appetite evinced by Jackie and Jillie showing signs of recovery to the point where they both jostled one another excitedly and ran in their usual berserk fashion around the house in a spontaneous display of their usual playfulness, informing us that life is returning to normal for them.