With the return of springlike temperatures, we all but forgot the cold rain that dampened the desire to be outside just a day before in these photos taken by our own Robert Brune.

This Sunday, the drive wound through Phoenicia, where early flowers and cherry blossoms held on through the lingering chill and wet. Bright sunshine now feeds the fresh growth, lighting up the mountains that rise on both sides of Route 28. Goldfinches and robins have returned, their movement and song marking the shift in season.

It may not be time to fully trust the forecast, with the chance of a late snow shower still lingering in the coming week, but here in the northern Catskills we take the weather wins where we can. This Sunday was one of them, a day of simple, unmistakable joy.