Now, when I take Jackie and Jillie out to the backyard I take the time to look about, for there are ample discoveries to be made there. My anxiety has been allayed that spring would never arrive. Finally, tulips have opened, the bleeding hearts are blooming their little hearts out, the irises and lilies are coming up, the roses have come to life, the magnolia tree flowers are in deep bud and I can even see their crimson colour preparing to fully emerge in bloom. Oh, and clematis and honeysuckle are beginning to leaf.

Not much in the way of weeds yet, but they'll arrive too. Meanwhile I've been plucking out miniature maples that seed themselves in the garden among the emerging hostas and coral bells. I'm sure Jackie and Jillie wonder what I'm doing. They follow me up the rock garden, hoping I'll swing the gate open and they'll have an opportunity to leap into action which translates to making a beeline for the porch.

On Saturday when I was busy filling the garden planters one of the smaller of the raccoons that come along daily was uncertain about my near presence at first, then when I spoke softly to it, the creature turned with confidence back to the important matter at hand for him, reassured that it was perfectly reasonable for him to continue picking at the kibble and bread while I was out and about. It's the goodies that Jackie and Jillie know are on the porch that they're interested in sharing between themselves. And just incidentally letting intruders know they're not welcome.

The weather gave us a little bit of everything yesterday. The littlest bit was the sun; it emerged briefly from time to time while the sky remained heavily overcast with raggedy grey clouds dripping rain. But at the same time the temperature hovered around 18C, so that was pure bliss. Once we delved into the ravine with Jackie and Jillie, off they went like a shot down the trail. Neither they nor we were wearing rainjackets. Just too mild to be burdened by them.

We figured it wouldn't rain heavily, just light rain showers. And we were fortunate enough that this is just what happened. In fact, at times we were striding along the forest trails in sun showers, a truly strange phenomenon, to feel the sun warming us and at the same time light rain dampening us slightly. The wildflowers are content with this weather; the bracken on the forest floor is emerging seriously at this point.

And the pools and puddles keep getting larger with each new rain event. Jillie still tries to evade the really wet areas of the trail. She has surprised us more than once at her leaping ability, able to cover a considerable distance over a pool, while her brother lumbers right through for the most part, though he is more than capable of leaping  higher and further than she is, with his light, wiry conformation.

When we got back home I couldn't resist taking some photographs of some of the garden pots. But newly planted they don't look like much, truth to tell, since the plants will mature to fill the pot as the season wears on, while at the present time they look fairly paltry. But it's exhilarating to see the bright spots of colour every time we look out at the gardens, a sight that will delight us for the next six months before the pots have to be emptied for winter storage.