This has been another lovely day, but quite a bit cooler. It would have been a perfect day to work outside, but I had to give my back a rest, so decided to putter around inside instead. After lunch I could stand it no longer - I had to get out into the sunshine. We took a walk in the woods in back of our house - steep hillside most of the way, but really nice this time of the year because with no foliage you can really see the lay of the land and check out any winter damage, and the biggest plus is there are no bugs! It is too early for black flies, and whatever other insects are out and about don't bite. I've put our pictures into a short slide show - not exciting stuff, and I'm sorry you won't be able to hear the birds, the woodpeckers drumming, and the crackle of dry limbs and last fall's leaves underfoot. It is very peaceful in the woods. I was hoping to find some mayflowers or daphne, but I guess it's too early for them, too.

Back home, our daffodils are blooming and this morning I even found a little violet peeking out from between the stones on the garden path. But we know it's still very early and we need rain to get things really started growing much. However, it seems that by the weekend we could be getting snow . . . but we can't complain too much. We've had some really nice stretches of weather - back in March and again just this week, and it should come as no surprise if we get snow. Not that anyone will like it much at this point, but we won't be surprised.

I looked back at some pictures we took on April 18, 2008. I'd forgotten, but apparently we had lots of snow that year. The ice in the pond was just beginning to break up, and the brooks were gushing with runoff from the heavy snow. We hadn't begun mud season yet - this picture is West Shore Road looking at the top of the hill by Gardner's - and below you'll see there was damage from the heavy snow in lots of places.

See how fortunate we are this year? Mud season wasn't as long as some years, and there was almost no damage from heavy snow.

The ice went out on April 25 in 2008, so it must have warmed up quickly.

Every year is a little different. Mother Nature likes to keep us guessing.