Nature must have taken April out to the woodshed. And now April is finally waking up to spring. We can only assume her notice had drifted elsewhere leaving her oblivious to her responsibility to usher spring in with warm weather to match the endless showers, and to pack away the blustery winds. Could be someone with influence took nature aside and lodged a complaint. Wasn't us.

It does appear that we're now moving steadily toward warmer days. The garden needs some motivation to wake up its rent-free denizens all of which have as yet failed to poke a tiny pointed green toe out of the soil. We definitely do not want to be surprised with another snowy morning. Jillie told us she heard a shriek of disbelief from our neighbouring squirrels a few days back when everything was pristine white -- at the wrong time of year.

We were laggards this morning, slept in. Because Jillie, who had an upset stomach woke us. She wanted to be comforted. We wanted to clean up her barf. We also wanted to get back in bed and return to the comfort of badly needed sleep but she had other ideas. And so it went, until she finally exhausted her patience with us -- oh, guess that was the other way around. In short, she re-positioned herself for sleep and graciously permitted us to do the same.

Before I'd got very far into my Monday cleaning routine, the thought occurred that we might want to shift our afternoon ramble through the ravine somewhat, to take advantage of the sun, since the forecast was for complete cloud cover to replace the very light, low cover allowing the sun's rays to penetrate and warm the atmosphere.

We did just that, deciding that at 8C Jackie and Jillie could forego their jackets. They've been wearing raincoats often this week, but since rain isn't expected until nightfall, off they went unencumbered but for their harnesses and collars. It was noticeably milder, though there was still wind, albeit lighter. Most of the trails are now shed of ice and snow, and just small patches of it appear on the ravine's hillsides. Still, enough ice is left on some trails to make for footing problems, so we're still saddled with our cleats.

No sign yet of anything much poking through the soil with the exception of some green fronds of ferns hardy enough to remain bright green and fresh looking under the snow. We did see some new-generation shelf fungus though. At one point, an eggshell-coloured, dainty, frilly shelf fungus. In time it will  help to break down the woody fibres of fallen trees into mulch for the forest floor.

This is the time of year when the forest looks nothing but dull and drab. If it weren't for the presence of conifers there'd be no colour at all aside from the bark of birch trees. But things are happening up at the level of the forest canopy. Change is on the way, though we can't really see it from ground level. What we did find on one section of the trail was short tips of twigs bitten off by squirrels that fell to the forest floor. A few of those tips were bright red with just-forming Maple flowerettes. 

When we arrived back home, there was the housecleaning patiently awaiting my ministrations. First, though, I decided to make a pear-plum compote for dessert for dinner. Jackie and Jillie obligingly accepted little slices of the raw fruit as I cut them up. And then I cut stewing beef into bite-sized pieces to refrigerate them in a mix of finely diced garlic cloves, wine vinegar and olive oil. I refrigerated that until late afternoon when I would prepare a beef stew with mushrooms and carrots to be served over cous-cous, with green beans alongside.