Neither yesterday nor today did we see anyone other than ourselves rambling through our neighbourhood forested ravine. The amble up the street from our house to the ravine entrance was a hot one, brief though it also is. The high for this day being 30 degrees, and with full, relentless sun modified by a gentle breeze, it is atmospherically oppressively hot.

Woodland Buttercups/Daisies

Most of our neighbours tend to shun the out-of-doors in any season. Where once it was common to see people walking through their neighbourhoods, mobility is now hugely dependent on the use of cars; people appear to have forgotten how to walk, why to walk to a destination, and the utility of using one's own bipedal capabilities to get from one point to another.

Granted, on a day with such guaranteed environmental physical discomfort, walking on pavement doesn't present as too appealing, but there is no one about seated in their gardens, enjoying the day in grateful shade, looking about, being neighbourly. But then, there rarely is. It is a long-gone phenomenon.

Mosquito Heaven

And while the stroll to the ravine entrance was uncomfortable, once within the all-embracing shade of the forest canopy, coolness prevailed. Mind, mosquitoes also prevail, and that's a nuisance. But it's all part of nature.

Anemone and Guest

As is the fact that the forest floor freshly inundated with an endless rainfall several days ago has left pools of standing water on the forest floor, making it resemble a wetland in some areas, more than a dry urban forest. Beloved of mosquitoes, the standing pools of water are no doubt teeming with their larvae.

Thimbleberry bloom

But there, at the edge of the trails, where the sun does manage to penetrate at some point during the day, grow all manner of wildflowers, from daisies to buttercups, flowering clover, bedding grasses with their divine fragrance which early settlers must have enjoyed as they settled down into mattresses stuffed with the grasses.

Bedding Grass/Clover

There is also cinquefoil, and trailing cowvetch, the last of the dogwood in bloom.

Cinquefoil

And joining them the exquisite blossoms of anemone, thimbleberry (purple raspberry), raspberry canes and for green effect, ferns in abundance.

Raspberry Canes

The bright red berries of baneberry glow brilliantly when caught by stray shafts of sun penetrating the canopy.

Red Baneberry Berries

The opportunity to take a daily stroll in the woods, clambering uphill and down in our circuit, circumnavigating the neighbourhood adds pleasure and leisure to our days. And there's little doubt it adds years to our lives.