We were all sound asleep last night and woke confused at a sudden loud, sharp and prolonged sound that had the pups barking in alarm. It was an immediate sound, as though coming from the interior of the house, leaving me with the impression that one of the paintings hanging on a wall somewhere had suddenly come loose of its mooring, slid down the wall and slammed into something. The abrupt sound and the quiet that followed immediately after was enough for us to turn over and try to fall back to sleep.

 

The puppies were silent, and we said, no great hurry to find the cause, back to sleep, we'll look about in the morning. Sleep eluded both of us, no doubt our minds busy with what the hell WAS that, anyway? When I got up hours later to the bathroom, I did a cursory look around our bedroom, bathroom, hall, adjacent bedrooms, but nothing as out of order. Back to bed.

 

Irving had drawn the same conclusion when he was up, a bit earlier. When we finally fell back to sleep, it seemed  an instant before someone was ringing the front doorbell, setting Jackie and Jillie off again. It was Dan, our next-door neighbour to tell us he found the material he had used a year ago to kill the cinch bugs that were destroying our lawns, when he rummaged about in his cellar. He had applied it to both our lawns and wanted to warn us to keep the pups off the lawns. He's such a wonderful (early-rising) neighbour.

 

And then we looked about everywhere in the house, but there was nothing out of order. Irving concluded that the sound had likely reached us from the open windows at the front of the house, that someone outside had done something in the wee hours of the morning that had created a metallic clash resounding through the front windows.

 

We had a busy morning, Irving went out to run a few errands after  breakfast, and I had my own things to do, among them to bake a batch of fresh chocolate chip cookies. When our daughter-in-law delved into the cookie jar a few weeks back, there were only a few stale cookies, but she ate them anyway, so much does she love chocolate chip cookies. Now, when they return, there'll be fresh ones awaiting theme.

We finally moved ourselves out-of-doors on what has turned out to be a quite hot afternoon; clear sky, refreshing breeze, and no rain in the day's prospect, although tomorrow rain in the form of violent thunderstorms is set to return. We've finally got a break in the incessant rain, and the good news is that Alberta and British Columbia are steeped deep in heavy rain now, which should help to pacify the wildfires that are destroying the forests there.

 

The usual fresh-berry nosh was available for Jackie and Jillie. Irving almost automatically stops at all the places alongside the forest trails where thimbleberries, raspberries and blackberries are ripening. Jackie eats them all but the  blackberries, for some odd reason, while Jillie who last year was fussy about eating any of the berries now loves them all, including the blackberries.