Sunlight bouncing off the snow in the forest is beyond dazzling, challenging our sight to remain fixed on the landscape that unfolds before us as we make our way through the trails. That same dazzling light has the effect of ameliorating the cold that has descended this week, with each day below freezing. Prevailing wind gusts do the opposite.

For the most part the trails, hard packed with layer upon layer of snow left by each succeeding snowfall throughout the winter months, are now layered with a thin veneer of ice where only a week ago, milder temperatures had persuaded the ice that then persisted, to turn to mush, making our way through the forest more readily navigable without threat of slipping,

Even so, there are areas where trees are fewer in number adjacent the giant slump of the hillsides closest our street where crews had entered to remove still-standing trees so that engineers could do their work pounding steel supports to bedrock to ensure that no further hillside slumps occurred, and there, the snow has taken on its spring look; rotting and falling in on itself on its way to the final, spring melt, as a result of being more fully exposed to the gaining warmth of the sun.

That portion of the ravine has been re-forested, but it will take many years before it begins once again to resemble the rest of the forest. The creek that runs through the ravine carries off stormwater for the entire community which is why it was such a priority for the municipality to come up with a restoration plan, aside from the fact that it was liable should houses abutting the ravine slide into it as a result of ongoing erosion.

The ravine and forest it contains remains an invaluable source of pleasure, affording residents the opportunity to daily set aside their concerns -- to take the opportunity to embark on a brief embrace of unspoiled nature. We're grateful that it serves a dual purpose; one of utility, to ensure that its state of stability remains a concern to municipal authorities, leaving the relatively few residents who make use of it as a leisure time their outdoor focus enhancing health and happiness.