The forecast for Vermont today is 100 percent rain, but it's still too dark for me to glimpse the actual state of things outside. Yesterday, though, was quite warm, and on a brief walk I found a blooming hellebore and clusters of daffodils budding in the shelter of the house. A day of rain will surely start greening the fields.

The landscape of the Champlain Valley is not my personal ideal of beauty. I prefer forests to farmland, and this is a highly domesticated region. But watching a meadow transform from winter into spring is always a delight.

Today I'll be cooking, cleaning, carrying firewood, doing whatever needs to be done--or rather the edges of whatever needs to be done because there's no way to add anything more than a slight gloss to a situation that's never going to be under control.

Outside rain will fall, and the fields will become ponds that shimmer under a heavy sky.