The weather, a huge topic of casual conversation in the Ottawa Valley, is exceedingly variable and changeable. A few days earlier we had incessant, day after day rain events, which gradually subsided, leaving us with heavily overcast skies, cool-to-chill temperatures, and occasional cloudbursts.

Now, we're in a system that is dry yet humid, if one can imagine that, which gave us a series of resounding thunderstorms last night. Today, the skies have cleared, the sun is brilliant and it's heading toward a hot day.

All the rain, leading to standing pools of water in the forested ravine adjacent our home has welcomed the mosquito season. They're there with a vengeance, large, black and hungry for our tender flesh to withdraw their daily quotient of blood. We give a sympathetic thought to the wildlife who cannot escape the predations of the mosquitoes as we do, when we exit the ravine.