Last night, before we went up to bed, we went out to the backyard with Jackie and Jillie and there we discovered that the moon isn't silver, after all. The almost-full disk appeared instead to have a gold tint. It definitely looked far different than how we're accustomed to seeing it. The result of the haze from the wildfires in Ontario and Quebec shifting the light spectrum. 

During the night our sleep was disrupted by two things: a monstrous rumbling thud directly overhead our roof and Jackie and Jillie responding to it with indignant barks just tinged with alarm. A heavy downpour followed, of course, and we all swiftly fell back asleep. When we awoke in the morning a glance out our bedroom windows confirmed that the atmosphere remained deeply steeped in the same dark yet luminous glaze that the circulating haze high above has conferred on our atmosphere lately.

And, while we were showering, yet another rainburst occurred. The already soaked backyard bore much evidence that it had reached the point of beyond capacity to absorb any more moisture from above. The plants were covered with shining pearls of suspended raindrops. There was no acrid odour, but a fresh-air fragrance reflecting the just-concluded rain.

 The atmosphere felt warm and humid, but there was to be no clearing today, no sight of an absent sun. Overhead there was a static ceiling of grey that emitted a peculiar light but occasionally turned much darker, as for impending rain. More rain held off, though the air was moisture-penetrated to an extent we could almost feel the rain. We decided to risk a short circuit through the ravine regardless, taking the chance of getting caught out in a heavy rainfall.

It was just too warm, too humid to wear raingear, and off we went. As we walked up the street nearing the ravine entrance a lush, sweet fragrance enveloped us and escorted us into the ravine where it became much more evident, a perfumed invitation to admire the proliferation of blooming panicles of the small Elderberry trees that have colonized parts of the ravine's upper portion, challenging the dogwoods.

The trails were, of course, beyond drenched and inclined to be somewhat slippery on descents and ascents. We reversed our usual trend of going left to right in all our circuits; short, medium and long. Which meant we descended to the forest pollinating meadow to our right. Expecting more rain to break out at any moment, given the atmosphere, we still took our time since we planned to be out only a short while.

We watched bees and hoverflies over and around and into the plentiful pollen-rich centres of all the flowering wildflowers. The blooming thimbleberries are particularly attractive to them. But they didn't neglect the daisies, fleabane, cinquefoil or either. We also saw that cowvetch was beginning to bloom. And unexpectedly, noted that ragweed is also now in bloom. Milkweed is dangling its flowers, more than we've ever seen before, in the ravine.

Finally, to our surprise, we came across Black-eyed Susans beginning to bloom. We could see them from our vantage point across the creek to the other bank. And then on the bank we were on, we came across several just beginning to flower. The cultivated variety in our garden will be later coming to bloom than these wildflowers. And oddly enough the wild Black-eyed Susans are more variegated, larger and plush than those in the garden.

Not a drop of rain fell while we were out. Which was both surprising and gratifying. It enabled us to make the most of our relatively brief time out in the woods, taking our time ambling along, appreciating what seemed like fresh air, an illusion swiftly to fade as we looked skyward and even looking at a distance seeing the overall haze not as visible at close range.

Today is Canada's national birthday, as it were: Canada Day. And festivities have been planned in honour of the day right across the country, wildfires be damned, weather aside. In some jurisdictions like Quebec, fireworks are banned for obvious reasons. Controlled fireworks will be making brilliant colourful displays elsewhere. People will gather in droves to enjoy celebrity performances in honour of Canada Day.

There was a time, generations ago, when we took our children to Parliament Hill to enjoy Canada Day celebrations. It was an entirely different era. We don't believe there was the current aura of resentment between east, central and west Canada that exists today, back then. That was the era of the first Trudeau administration, so there certainly were divisive issues that he created between Ottawa and Alberta, along with Quebec separatists roiling the country with their foul, violent actions.

Today's Trudeau administration has many of the same fault lines in national unity that erupted back then. But Justin Trudeau's agenda is far more socially, regionally, and nationally disruptive than his father Pierre Elliot's. It is today's Trudeau that has alienated so many Canadians with his idee fixe of a 'post-national' Canada, his focus on environmental issues, on gender and faux 'feminism', his penchant for lecturing other world leaders, his utter lack of balance and absolute commitment to his very special version of a Canada he has labelled as racist, homophobic, socially backward and resistant to his remedies for climate change.

Just as well that we have our own pleasures and faithfulness to the Canada we honour and revel in; its vast reaches, its people, its lakes, rivers, forests and mountains. Landscapes second to none in the world.

In mid-afternoon the heavy rain events that had been augured all day erupted with violent thunderstorms once again inundating the landscape. Mother nature informing us in no uncertain terms that we are in her estimation failing to fully appreciate the care and privileges she has granted us?