Because the entire forest floor is still bare, including the hillsides; some of them fairly steep, some negotiable with care where one treads, we have discovered wide swaths of trout lily and lily-of-the-Valley colonies where we never before suspected they might be.

On a particularly steep portion overlooking the ravine where we look down from a coll between two hillsides we came across what looked very much like a crowd of trout lilies but unlike all the other areas we've seen through the years, this group halfway down the hill appeared to be sporting a large group of bright yellow flowers.

So I carefully edged my way down to where we spotted them. My husband sensibly stayed up above, on the trail, indulging my little adventure. Jillie was happier remaining up there with him. But Jackie would never allow me to set out to do something new and perhaps interesting without him trotting companionably alongside.

The understory of shrubs and immature saplings, though not yet leafed out have branches that tend to grasp and entangle, so it meant making a meandering pathway to avoid cracking any little tree limbs to reach the level of the wildflowers; first to make certain they were trout lilies which they were, and second to verify that our eyes weren't deceiving us, which they weren't.

It was the first time I'd ever seen an outcropping of trout lilies where at least a third of the crowd of plants were showing off their flowers. So, balancing myself on the slope, trying not to step on anything tender enough to be crushed, I took a few photos. And then discovered when we got home that as close as I was, it wasn't close enough to show the flowers.

For one thing, yellow tends to come out in shades of bright green. So it was difficult to differentiate the foliage from the flowers in the photographs, since both appeared green. But it was fun, and now we know something more about the forest and its nurturing abilities.

We had more sun yesterday afternoon than the previous few days, and anticipated that more of the trilliums would be strutting their stuff, but that wasn't yet to be. We keep telling one another, well, tomorrow, or the day after. Sometimes that prognostication based on previous sightings and experience works, mostly it doesn't.

Some areas of the forest remain steeped in wide pools of water. So for the time being Jackie and Jillie continue wearing their little rubber boots. For a disposable product those boots have really stood up well. We've had to replace only three of them over the space of several months. It keeps them good and dry and Jillie in particular appreciates that; she has less of a tendency to be squeamish about placing her dainty little paws in water. Just like a couple of small kids delighting in splashing about in rainwater, they both indulge in a little of that and one can only conjecture what they might be thinking about not getting wet, despite their best efforts.