My whining and carping on about winter overstaying its privileged position in our landscape must have been echoed and amplified around the globe, judging by the weather that suddenly got pluncked down on us. When we came downstairs for breakfast this morning it looked as though it was raining, the sliding glass doors leading to the deck were streaming with water.

Not rain, but snowmelt from the house roof sliding over the ice-frozen-in eavestroughs, hitting the doors. But we did get rain overnight, just not rain-rain. Instead, it was freezing rain and so that resulted in Jackie and Jillie sliding all over the place once they went out to the backyard. Due to the warm temperature -- already hitting 3C, Irving was able to chop all the ice off the steps from the deck to the garden. So that was a bonus.

The temperature kept rising very nicely, aided and abetted by a clear sky leaving the sun to beam down beneficently for hours. Clearly this was intended to be a snow- and ice-melt day. The glassy gloss of overnight freezing rain that had left the evergreens such a charming icicled sight melted in no time at all. 

By the time we prepared to get out for our afternoon hike through the forest the temperature had risen to 8C. And there was wind, as we walked up the street to the ravine entrance, but it felt like a gentle caress. The street itself is a mess of melting snow and ice, and we sloshed through it all. A few people were out chopping ice away from the sewer drains at the end of their driveways to allow the water to flow and not create little lakes of meltwater.

The snow-hardened trail leading to the forest was no longer packed firm, and we plunged into the melting snow, but the footing was otherwise fine; firmer as we got deeper into the forest. From the top of the hill rushing meltwater could be heard flowing through the creek below. What a thought, that with the rate of melt on this one day, were it to continue, we'd be free of ice and snow in a week or two. 

But it's just too early in March for that to happen. And, since snow is forecast for tomorrow, it's entirely possible that what has melted on this one balmy day could be replaced in a snowfall tomorrow. The creek, free now of ice and snow, and given the snow melting on the forest floor making its way downhill was wide, deep and dark. Roaring and tumbling downstream in a command performance that was really just a brief rehearsal of the real thing when it arrives in a few weeks or a month.

I'd left a lentil-tomato-yam soup on to cook while we were out, in preparation for tonight's dinner. And when we returned, I formed the waiting bread dough -- whole wheat-cumin-cheddar cheese -- into the makings of a small focaccia bread topped with Rosemary and Parmesan to accompany the soup. So the house is quite, quite fragrant in anticipation.