Just when you think you've seen everything, you encounter more evidence of the strange nature of humanity. We were less than twenty minutes into our afternoon ravine hike through the forest today when our eyes struck on a somewhat unusual sight to come across in a forest. This must be someone with either a puckish sense of humour, or alternately someone who truly believes they're doing the forest and all who enter it an aesthetic favour to hang faux painted bird houses from tree branches. Hard to say whether the sight should elicit a chuckle or a sigh. Perhaps both.

As coincidentally as things may occur, earlier in the day when I was out in the backyard with Jackie and Jillie I was surprised to see a natural, for-real bird house in the most unusual place imaginable. Only about a foot above soil level, an abandoned little nest sat between a lily patch and a clematis, nestled comfortably where I imagine the pair of song sparrows that spent the summer in the garden raised a brood or two.

We ambled along the forest trails thick with fallen leaves, appreciating those areas that remain multicoloured like confetti on the forest floor, where other areas that received earlier downfalls of foliage have already lost their colour, looking dry and dark, melding into the great generations of the rich forest leaf mass. An unexpectedly beautifully warm day that rose to 12C, though there was overnight frost again.

By the time we completed our circuit in the ravine for the day, and were headed back up the last long hill leading to the street, we saw two large dogs and with them a woman with a rake, busily raking the trail. Truly, the world is full of odd characters. She was raking the trail, she said, because she found then when spring arrives, leaves on the trail become very slippery. Yes, they do. So she was doing some ameliorating work, helping the natural environment to adjust to the presence of people.

When we got back into the house, we were greeted by the fragrance of a tomato-dried bean soup simmering on the stove in preparation for dinner. The night before we'd had another type of soup, just vegetables, that had garlic, onion, jalapeno pepper, celery, bell pepper, potatoes and corn kernels featured in a chicken soup base. Hot and warming.