Perhaps not to be believed, the abruptness with which one day can present as extremely warm with a balmy wind and warming sun, and the day following darkly overcast, intermittent rain, cold with a biting wind. From Monday's record 22 degrees under sunny skies when we had no need of any outerwear on our daily ravine ramble, to Tuesday's miserable 8 degrees, damp and rainy, we run the gamut in mere days of nature's cantankerous moods transiting to graciousness.

But that one day of lovely weather made quite a contribution to the diminution of snow and ice both on the home front and in the forest. There are now large, wide areas of snowmelt that resemble fields of swamp, unattractive, grey and miserable looking.  That's in certain portions of the ravine.

In others, snow and ice persist and likely will for weeks to come. We need consistent warmth and the rays of the sun to make full inroads into the prevailing winter's leavings of snow and ice. As soon as the snow recedes we can see tiny bits of bright green preening itself in preparation for a full-on breakthrough restoring the forest floor to its usual lush green persona. We may have welcomed the snow in early winter with great enthusiasm, but we're as fickle as the weather; we've had enough and yearn for warmth in both the atmosphere and the visual aesthetics of a beautiful summer landscape.

In the garden, finally, there are the first faint stirrings that promise to return our pleasure in growing things, the shrubs and the flowering perennials, all our old, familiar friends we're anxious to greet. The pop-up presence of minuscule flowering bulbs resembling miniature irises represent the beginning of a gradual restoration of the summer garden, and we're delighted.