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"When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching — they are your family." Jim Butcher Family for most of us is everything. In part, I suppose, because they are there for you when you need them most. They might never forget your misdemeanours, nor let you, but they will forgive and accept.  Though they might be quick to throw a dart, they are also likely to be the first to take one for you if someone else tosses it in your direction. No poison can come from outside the circle. No one will defend you with as much ferocity. Of course there are exceptions, but most of us can count on our family, from siblings and parents, to cousins and in-laws. Like anything else in life, however, the family you have today might not be forever. Time and circumstance has a way of changing the players. It might be a divorce, a new marriage or the arrival of a baby or two that alters the family you see today from the one you will know a year from now. Regardless,

Such a treat the past few days have been weather-wise in this little corner of the world. As we celebrated our Family Day long weekend we were welcomed by temperatures well above freezing at a time of year when the chill of winter is so damp and deep it normally seeps into our very core. Where typically we are buried under snow, longingly looking ahead to warmer days and burgeoning life as we enter the last week of February, currently we are seeing patches of boggy lawn with streets lined by banks of crusty grey snow. Rather than shivering and shaking we've been out and about in light jackets —  bareheaded and un-mitten-ed. And it sounds like we can enjoy more of the same for several days to come. Temperatures are actually expected to soar into double digits later this week. No matter what the rest of winter has in store for us, though, there's no question that we have become inspired to gaze expectantly ahead. We look to spring, to that time of year when existence just b