It's been a peculiar weather-day. Milder by far than the preceding days this week. We woke to a dawn that gave us a pewter, cloud-filled sky, but temperature just at minus-6-Celsius. Soon enough we had clear skies and full sun.

Enabling us to have a ravine walk with our two little dogs who did not, this day, require boots to shelter their feet from fresh snow on the trails that would grip them with icy-cold in temperatures lower than minus-8. And we had the additional treat of seeing a Pileated woodpecker come back down from the boreal forest to thrum on the frozen bark of the ravine's winter-bare trees.

We set out shortly afterward to drive our granddaughter back home. Taking with her her new haircut, waxed, eyebrows, her new La Senza-bought underwear, her new school supplies for the new semester, and the suitcases full of clothing she had brought with for her six-day stay with us. By the time we had set out for the hour-long drive, the sun had disappeared behind clouds that brought alternately, freezing rain in a series of events, along with silver-rimmed cloud openings where the sun ventured to make its appearance again.

It was beyond pleasant to have our grandchild with us for just short of a week, coinciding with her uncle's visit with us on his way to attending a Fisheries conference in Moncton, before flying back to Vancouver. The interaction between the two was amusing and appreciated; we had our younger son to ourselves for the first half-week of his stay, and our granddaughter for the last half-week of her stay.

Sandwiched in between was a bit of exhaustion in ministering to them both in a manner that satisfied the standards of a mother and grandmother. Now it's time for a brief recuperation for both of us.