We’re almost there! Despite still wearing winter coats, toques and warm mittens, the bicycles and lawnmowers have been pulled out of storage in anticipation of warm spring conditions which are on their way. The feeder streams to the lake are noisy and full of melt water and there is clear cold open water all around the lake, attracting the odd migrating waterfowl. The ice itself is rotten and there are dark patches that attract the heat during the day, converting the sheet of ice to hard-packed but unstable icicles. Soon the ice will begin to shift with the wind, the beginning of the end of the ice for the year. Bright red shoots of young rhubarb are emerging from the long grass in the normal spots and last year’s groomed lawns are very green and just about tall enough for the year’s first cut. Snow flurries, normal for April, can be expected but the big white snowflakes sure look out of place against the green grass.