April is dour here, with grim rain and nearly sleet, but for the burgeoning buds and leaves manifesting themselves in a variety of resplendent colours, from the lightest pastels to the most saturated earth tones, for our wonder and delectation, despite the glum gray cover of clouds under my matching umbrella I am also a flower, I conclude, and take consolation, inspiration, from the fact that I am not among them alone and proceed as though touched by magic Richard