Definitely not a good start to a Sunday morning.I had busied about preparing breakfast. Irving does the same alongside me. He was halving a new melon to scoop its seeds and prepare a quarter each for us along with a nice ripe banana for the fruit portion of our breakfast. I had mixed together flour, sugar, baking powder, eggs, milk and vanilla and then dropped in the fresh blueberries I had saved just for that purpose. In our innocence we thought blueberries would give a nice fruity kick to the waffles I was preparing.

 

Unfortunately, the waffle iron had other ideas. While it works its magic for most Sunday mornings, today it expressed its indignation that I would presume to add berries to the batter. It took me forever to scrape between the ridges of the waffle iron to rid it of the firmly caked-on blueberry mush-batter that resulted. The blueberries were most uncooperative. And then I mixed up another batter without the offending fruit and the waffle iron, somewhat mollified, produced its usual perfect waffles.

 

Just as well we were in no hurry. Jackie and Jillie did wonder what the delay was all about, mind, waiting for their own after-breakfast waffle-sausage treat. In the end, we enjoyed our usual serene Sunday breakfast, a little later than originally contemplated. 

 

On the positive side, no rain yet today. The sheer volume of rain that fell in an afternoon succession of violent thunderstorms that seemed to be becoming a pattern, after rain of the night before, swelled some of the wood of the window frames. Which meant the windows also balked at being opened.

 

Perhaps that was for the best, given the air quality index warning for today. Once again, 'severe'. We knew that the minute our eyes popped open and we glanced out the bedroom window to confirm yet another day of opaque light, a symbol of the presence of acrid smoke occluding the atmosphere. Sun was making a failed attempt to penetrate the haze, but though we could feel its heat later in the day, it was a wan attempt. 

 

We had been meaning to tie back some of the climbing roses in the garden with the bamboo stakes Irving had bought a few days back and today seemed as good a time as any. We're almost through the June bloom when the roses put out an enormous amount of growth and the new canes began to fall over. So I was busy cutting back the spent clusters of blooms and then Irving took over, tying them securely to the stakes. They look a lot happier now.

 

While we were at it, as usual, I discovered a lot more weeds that needed disciplining that results in their being banished from the garden. The more I discovered, the hotter the atmosphere became, the sun penetrating the haze finally, and its heat along with the heavy presence of deep humidity reminded us that the less time spent outside while this polluted air quality remains, the better off we are. Jackie and Jillie have the good sense to spend an absolute minimum of their time outside; they're happy to leave us out-of-doors as long as they can see us while they're more comfortable indoors.

 

But eventually, we ran out of things to do and the pups reminded us that we hadn't yet taken them out to the ravine, so that was next on the agenda. Although we never quite know in advance, there are some days when the presence of mosquitoes are minimal as opposed to those when they're ravenously irritating. Because of the high humidity and heat we surmised the mosquitoes would be out in droves, despite which I wore shorts and a sleeveless top, since I was so hot.

 

We tend to 'cover up' with light cotton garments; long-sleeve shirts and full-length pants when we're out in the ravine, for many reasons, not the least of which is the presence of mosquitoes but there's also stinging nettles and without long pants it makes little sense to forge our way through undergrowth on the forest floor to reach the site of interesting vegetation. And, of course, to avoid too much exposure to direct sun. We don't use insect repellent, can't stand the thought of putting it on our skin.

 

As a result of the heavy circulation of carbon particles from the wildfire plumes that have been covering our area the last week, where we've been spared it in weeks previous, we're also aware that the less time spent outdoors engaged in strenuous activities, the better. So, once again, we chose a short circuit for our forest tramp. Taking a different set of pathways intrigues Jackie and Jillie, just as unfamiliar landscapes and odours that attract them are intriguing motivations to run ahead of us for some exploration.

 

Then it was time, as usual, to sit for a short while in the garden relaxing before washing up eight little paws and preparing their freshly-diced garden salad, their daily afternoon treat. While I'm preparing their salads they leap about the house madly, rushing here and there, playing catch with one another, Jackie uttering his special commentary and Jillie giving as good as she gets.