Finally, proof-positive that spring, though tardy, has finally arrived. Since we were expecting more rain, we took the initiative to leave for the ravine in the morning, while the sun was still out, the temperature slightly more forgiving than it had been yesterday. Enough so that even though it was windy, it was still not as cool as yesterday, though we both still needed gloves to keep comfortable.

We were surprised to find another delightful discovery. In yet another place where we'd never before seen the earliest of the spring wildflowers in bloom, there they were, a nice, bright patch of sunny coltsfoot. Our little dogs weren't much impressed, but we were.

We also saw hazelnut bushes beginning to send out their earliest of bright red, minuscule flowers, and the early-blooming honeysuckle shrubs are full of tiny, bright-green leaves. And, looking up and above, toward the forest canopy framed by the still-blue sky, there we could see buds on the poplars and maples. In fact, as we walked further along the trails, we saw the first of the tiny red flora that maples tend to drop in the early spring.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of all, though, was that the interior of the forest floor was erupting with trout lily foliage, so the bright, shy, yellow flowers shouldn't be too long in blooming. Since we saw the trout lilies coming up, we sharpened our vision for the very first glimpses of trilliums coming out of the damp soil, and sure enough, not yet fully displayed, but on the verge of it, were a number of early-early purple trillium leaves and stems; the flowers won't be far behind!