We have enjoyed a pleasant winter week of moderated temperatures. On a few of those days the thermometer edged up slightly past the freezing mark resulting in rain instead of snow, albeit mostly freezing rain which does tend to complicate getting about in the out of doors for people. There have been a sizeable number of people admitted to hospital resulting from slippery conditions underfoot.

For us it has meant that our daily rambles through our wooded ravine have been enhanced by somewhat less cold than we had been experiencing, and since we always pull cleats on over our boots the icy conditions don't present as a liability. On the other hand, if its icy underfoot and extremely cold it means that Riley has to wear boots and the combination of boots and ice makes for an edgy performance in struggling to maintain all four paws from slipping out from under his sturdy little body. Although he hasn't mentioned it specifically, we're confident that he too appreciates the cold-weather relief.

It's also meant that my glove-clad fingers don't become as miserably painful at the end of our hour's ramble, because of doling out peanuts for the squirrels. We've enjoyed the minus-1-degree Celsius bonus. A temperature of minus-5-degrees is considerably different from minus-18-degrees during the afternoon. And it has brought out people into the ravine whom we haven't seen in ages. Yesterday's walk was one of those days when we were surprised to see old ravine acquaintances out in force, enjoying the weather and the ambiance.

Whether it's overcast or sunny the aspects of the environment that we perceive are almost equally fascinating. On sunny afternoons I delight in seeing the sun blazing through the canopy of the foliage-denuded trees.

Strangely, as we exited the ravine to walk down the street on which our house sits, we saw above us in a cloud-streaked sky which didn't completely obliterate the sun's rays, a group of about 40 gulls flying across the sky. Surprising because these birds don't normally remain behind when winter enters; they head for more clement atmospheres.

But as soon as the first group exited the scene, additional, smaller ones kept evidencing themselves. Perhaps some 70 birds in total. And yesterday, when we were halfway through our jaunt we saw a Pileated woodpecker, the giant of the species that we see in this part of the world, busy on a tree trunk. We had heard its piercing, frenzied call in the last few days, and knew it heralded its return, and it was delightful to see it in action. great chunks of bark flying off the dead tree trunk.

We'd earlier seen its much smaller cousins which are always around and about, the downy and the hairy, and as well nuthatches and those adorable plumply tiny chickadees. And the squirrels, red black and grey were out in force as well, happy to be able to scamper along on a firm snowpack, branches in the trees now finally shed of their snow load.