APRIL, BLESSED APRIL

Has brought us unbelievable spring. No foolin'. Each year the wonderment deepens. After another 5cm (2inches) of snow last week-end, the robins came. Their hopeful songs lift my spirits even on the foggiest evenng. Now they compete with the crows for the small patch of brown we call lawn amidst the alders and rocks. Crows are fiercely defending their nesting material, while the red-breated interlopers pull earthworms from it.

Crocus are in full flower; poppy leaves in fuzzy rosettes have formed. Spurge is trailing beneath the winter cladding of straw.