It's early spring and it's April after all. As the old song goes, April rain brings May flowers. We've had quite a few days of rain this month. But when I look back over entries in my daily diary from years back it's simply a repeating pattern. We may not recall from year-to-year what the weather has been like in specific months but usually they balance out. Last night I riffled through my current diary and found some 18C days last April but then days later, cooler temperatures and snow flurries, just like we've been experiencing this month.

And full days of rain as well. Just as occurred yesterday. From the time we woke in the morning to the time we went back up to bed last night, it rained, at times heavily. Leaving Jackie and Jillie with little appetite to venture out-of=doors other than for quick spurts when they really had to go. In every sense of the phrase.

As for we two, we had plenty to do in the house. My husband finally completed the second half of the latest window covering he had begun -- well, quite a while ago. This season of the novel coronavirus that sees everyone in lockdown for the good of their health in trying to avoid becoming infected with that highly contagious SARS-Cov-2 virus has provided ample opportunity to finally get back to completing things never quite finished.

With all this indoor time I should be involving myself in spring cleaning, going through all the kitchen cupboards, the bathroom vanities, shelving here and there, clothes cupboards, cleaning areas of the house that often get ignored. But I haven't been able to work up any enthusiasm over beginning, though this is the right time to get started. And anything I would want to discard or send over to the Salvation Army thrift shop just can't be done now. They're closed just like all other places of business.

My husband went down to his workshop every day for the past month to complete the last of the pair of windows he designed. Its mate was installed a year ago and sat there awaiting the second  half. Somehow, other things of interest always seemed to intervene. This time, though, my husband decided he'd get going and finish it, and he did. All the fiddling small pieces that had to be cut fitted into the pattern, took forever. But it's done, and yesterday he installed it.

It's actually supposed to be a capture of a small part of the garden at the front of the house. Familiar garden pieces are represented, as well as a rough sketch of the garden layout. There are some resemblances readily recognized by us, but anyone seeing the real garden then comparing it with the stained glass window might have a bit of trouble. Regardless, it's yet another bright, insouciant and colourful focal point in this house that has so many. Come to think of it, there is now only one window of the house without stained glass.

So this morning dawned bright and sunny, albeit cold. The temperature plunged to -4C last night and was still at -2 when my husband took Jackie and Jillie out to the backyard this morning. It slowly warmed up thanks to the fierce brightness of the sun, and I hurried through the Monday house cleaning so we could get out a bit early in the afternoon for a long, leisurely ramble in the woods.

Increasingly, we're coming across the presence of greater numbers of people, most of them new to the forest trails. Some clearly appreciating the natural surroundings they find themselves plunged into, others with surly expressions on morose faces, as though resenting that this is what they've been resigned to, rather than exercising at a now-closed exercise club of their choosing. All non-essential services have been shuttered during this time of social distancing, so everyone is getting sick and tired obviously of being cloistered at home.

Jackie and Jillie had the opportunity to re-acquaint themselves with several dogs they've most recently met in the ravine through these new societal arrangements. So they had a full agenda during their hike along the forest trails, muddy and somewhat slippery in places uphill and down thanks to all the rainfall. Mud is something that doesn't faze them terribly, however; Jillie usually finds a way
to get around it, and when she cannot, she girds herself and bravely trots through it.