Our refrigerator has its very own personal motto: never without bread dough. So that, if nothing is planned for dinner, we can always withdraw a snugly covered bowl where bread dough is at rest awaiting an opportunity to make itself useful. For any number of uses, including dinner rolls or pizza. And yesterday it was pizza. During the course of a week dough I've prepared on Friday always finds a use for itself.

We generally use a fairly constant formula for our pizza topping which mostly consists of tomato paste, a mixture of herbs and spices (mixed in a jar that is refilled every now and again; fennel, garlic, sweet basil, oregano, hot pepper flakes and thyme, one tablespoon of each), mozzarella, Parmesan, chopped mushrooms, bell pepper, tomatoes, sometimes smoked oysters, anchovies, pepperoni.

This time my husband suggested something different, a topping that we'd had before and enjoyed. So last evening we shared the kitchen and put together a pizza topped with tomato paste, mozzarella, Vidalia onion, feta cheese, black olives, anchovies, bell pepper and tomatoes. We sprinkle cornmeal over the pizza pan before rolling in the pizza dough, then load up the top. And into the neat little pizza oven, the bottom part of our microwave oven, it goes. Interesting taste combination, pleasing to our taste buds!

After breakfast this morning, Irving drove the truck over to Canadian Tire for servicing; an oil change and whatever else. Then he walked back home to wait for a call that the work was completed. And this time he didn't have long to wait; they obviously aren't busy in the garage. Quite different in the store itself, he reported to me. Long line-ups of people being vetted for numbers, waiting to enter the store and shop, after months of lockdown.

We busied ourselves in the garden, lots of trimming to do; everything has just vigorously outgrown itself in a frenzy of activity hastened by ideal growing conditions; lots of sun and rain. Out came the loppers and the secaturs, and of course Jackie and Jillie, to give direction to our gardening tune-ups. The perfect time to do that kind of outdoor activity, puttering about in the garden, on a cool, windy and sunny day. 

Then the call advising that the work was completed, and Irving retraced his steps back to the garage to pick up the truck. It's been a long time since he did things like oil changes himself, and I'm grateful for that. He's careful and capable, but he's also elderly now, and doesn't need the physical strain of that kind of work.

On his return we set off for the ravine with Jackie and Jillie because we promised the restless little squirts that we'd soon be off, and soon we were. The puppies on the prowl, as usual for enticing new fragrances that tell them interesting stories, and we just happy to exercise our limbs and rest our minds in the cool comfort of the day, swinging through the forest trails.

A good array of wildflowers to be seen; clover in bloom, cowvetch beginning to bloom, daisies soaking up the sun, cowslips and henbane, thimbleberries ... and what on Earth might that be, across the creek on the other bank? Looks like, but couldn't be, could it? ... a Black-eyed Susan! That's absurd it's much, much too early for them to be in bloom yet. But there it is anyway. 

So far, for both of us the aftereffects of our first dose of the Pfizer anti-COVID vaccine has brought us to a feeling of being tired, and the likely unavoidable muscular ache where the intermuscular inoculation had taken place, but otherwise we're fine. Nice to have no complaints in view of the fact that many other people have experienced far more intrusive side-effects. I wasn't able to sleep on my left side last night, but otherwise we were so bushed we had no trouble sleeping in late this morning.

Yesterday when I was preparing the choux for the chocolate eclairs I meant to serve for dessert at dinnertime, I needed to exert quite a bit of muscle-power, mixing-and-cooking the wet-and-dry ingredients, adding the eggs, to produce the smooth and glossy batter required. It is hard work, though I continue to prefer mixing my baking ingredients by hand. I did use an electric mixer later when I beat up the whipped cream to fill the eclairs, however. A bit of fussing around, but it's like a puzzle and putting all the pieces together; the last part of which is melting baking chocolate to dip the tops of the eclairs in before filling them with whipped cream.

While I was at it, I decided to prepare the chicken in sauce a little differently this time, using chicken breast cut into cubes (while still frozen) rather than the deboned, skinned chicken thighs I usually use for the dish. And instead of mushrooms I substituted chopped red pepper, along with carrots in making the sauce, and it turned out to be quite flavourful. It passed the critical test when Irving approved the end result.

I had set aside some of the puffs once they had baked, rather than fill them all with whipped cream. It had occurred to me that the puffs would lend themselves nicely  to a somewhat different breakfast if they were filled with chopped boiled eggs, salt, pepper and a little mayonnaise. I ran the idea through to Irving and he thought it worth a try. So that's what he had at breakfast this morning.

Oh, and after dinner last night we had an unexpected guest. One we know has visited countless times before, but we hadn't spotted him. A juvenile raccoon who had doubtless come around last winter, perhaps with his mother (we'd seen small young raccoon cubs with their mothers at night on the porch in winter in previous years, seeking out the edible offerings Irving placed on the porch) last year. We hadn't meant to re-invite them since one of our neighbours had problems in his attic with wildlife, but there you are... 

After yesterday's all-day rain we speculated how much of the snow and ice would be left in the ravine. On Wednesday, the temperature had soared to 20C and full sun for an absolutely glorious day. Even at that temperature the ice on the trails remained thick in many places, and extremely slippery. Today's weather is an improvement over yesterday's cool, dark wet day, but only minus the rain. It was in fact, colder than we imagined it might be when we set out with Jackie and Jillie this afternoon for our daily hike.

A lot of snow and ice has receded. There are large stretches of forest where the floor is fully revealed, the snow completely gone. And others where it is obvious that it will take a lot more than several full days of rain interspersed with mild temperatures and full sun, to melt it all. We're edging fast past the 50/50 mark, however.

I was sorry that I thought I could dispense with a head band, the wind was cold and fierce enough to be uncomfortable. If Irving had noticed I had gone out without an ear covering he would have reminded me, and I would likely have spurned his advice, as I often tend to. He's far more sensible than I am. But he also feels cold more acutely than I do. 

Jackie and Jillie had one occasion only to do whatever it is dogs do to exchange gossip with one another, aside from sniffing the bountiful messages left by marking. We were out for an hour and a half in a protracted circuit, taking our time and it was obvious we weren't going to be bumping into hordes of other hikers this day, for with the exception of one other person and her dogs, no one else seemed to be anxious to enjoy a brisk tramp through the woods.