We keep thinking it will never happen, but eventually it does. Spring, having arrived by the calendar well over a month earlier, just hesitated far too long to fully enter its very own season. Unsurprisingly, because it's been so uncharacteristically cool, there are still areas in the forest where icy patches remain.

Yesterday my husband uncovered our natural gas-powered barbecue. It has stood us in good stead for twenty-five years, proudly Canadian-made. I had put together a fresh coleslaw salad, and we had ears of corn and barbecued chicken drumsticks for dinner. It was very festive, a celebration of a beautiful day, finally mild, with mixed sun and cloud. Of course by the time dinnertime rolled around nighttime temperatures had settled into cooler mode, but that is destined to change shortly.

All indications seem to be that we won't even need a medium-weight duvet any longer. We've thrown house windows wide open, and the patio door is also open to the fresh air. It's the perfect time of year; mosquitoes haven't yet surfaced although there are still pools of water on the forest floor that doubtless harbour their horrid larvae. There's a cooling breeze on the air, and although the forest remains rather bleak looking without green bracken and shrubs and a fully green canopy, it's all on the way.

Yesterday was the first day that trout lilies began their bloom, and we were very glad to see those insouciant, bright little sunny heads. We also ventured on to trails we're normally averse to taking because they remind us so achingly of our little Riley. It was those trails we took when our normal regular route was closed off because of the presence of lumbering tracked vehicles replacing the ravine bridges.

But yesterday we took that route, and it was quite pleasant. And since we rarely go that way it was interesting for Jack and Jill who likely don't recall we had taken them there on the rare occasion last year. The varied landscape, with its hilly terrain is a treat for the eye. On the slopes in the ravine grow yew, close to the ground, the tips of which are harvested elsewhere to produce taxol for formulation as an anti-cancer drug in chemotherapy, proven to be an excellent cancer-fighting substance. The natural world provides us with a cornucopia of medicinal products, the best known of which is derived from willow bark: acetylsalicylic acid.