Although nothing is quite predictably normal in this geographic area of the world, there are certain patterns of weather behaviour we recognize and become accustomed to. And so, I can sympathize with the oft-repeated phrase: 'so much for global warming'. We see it around us constantly; that anticipated, expected, familiar trends fail to materialize and in their place climate surprises.

On a personal level we've come across weather events that fail to mirror what we've been more or less accustomed to. As an example, we're way, way behind this year in the normal trajectory of weather events than we were last year, which was itself in the 'normal' range of spring onset. What has remained constant is frequent and heavy rain events in the past years.

I can't believe this is the same time of year when I look at last year's photographs I took of our garden and of the forest environs close by. Everything matured much, much earlier than they're managing this year. In response to weather and temperature conditions last year I'd already done all my annual planting in our various garden pots and the gardens themselves.

In the ravine all the spring flowers were far more advanced, mature and ubiquitous, delighting us just as the rarer glimpses of trout lilies, woodland violets, coltsfoot, trilliums, and newly-emerging lilies-of-the-valley and Jack-in-the-Pulpits and foamflower catch our attention so pleasingly this year. But they're late, quite late in emerging from the forest floor this year in comparison to years past thanks to the stubbornness of winter. Not that we don't observe and complain every year that winter is taking its crabby time finally departing.

Yesterday morning the heavy overnight rains of the night before continued, and the atmosphere was locked into dark clouds prevailing until early afternoon, when those dark clouds remained but thunderstorms stepped into the breach when the rain straggled off. The temperature was moderate at 18C, but high, blustery winds cooled things off substantially, and we knew the wind was bringing in another cold front. There was risk of frost overnight, and this morning it was bright, clear and cold.

Yesterday on our ravine ramble in between rain events was a day of discovery when we came across ferns unfurling, the first sighting of a Jack, and more blossoms appearing in patches of trout lilies and trilliums, though there are far more that have yet to emerge from the soil, much less blossom. It was a wet-underfoot, but lovely walk on the forest trails, even the wind felt pleasant caroming through the forest.