Along with yesterday's all-day gush out of the sky, the temperature wasn't able to nudge above 7C, and we kept the fireplace on all day, for Riley's comfort and its usefulness in warming up the house; much too soon to put the furnace on.

The goddess of the garden looks far more comfortable today, overseeing matters in the garden; yesterday she was drenched, looking over the rain-soaked gardens, today she is in her glory, anticipating some sun, and slightly more tolerable temperatures.

Shut completely out of the ravine due to the incessant rain and the certainty that all the clay churned up by the tracked vehicles moving repeatedly through the trails, including the one they'd just completed, we anticipated what a mess it would be in there even if we geared up for rain. So we didn't bother.

We went along, instead, to the local JYSK store to pick up a few items. It's been cold at night, not far off freezing, and of course the house mimics to a degree the exterior temperature. This is a house geared, with its towering window space, to make the most of sunlight hours to warm up the interior. With no sun yesterday, incessant rain and plunging temperatures the house was a bit on the cool side. I had put floral coverlets on our bed, but my husband complains they aren't comfortable enough. For my part, since I snuggle up to him for his furnace-heat to warm my Arctic interior, I'm comfortable.

But I relented, and we went out to the shop to acquire a light-weight duvet suitable for the weather. We found one to our liking, and bought a blue-and-white "peacock pattern" duvet cover to go with it. And my husband was in comfort-bliss with those two on our bed, sleeping soundly throughout the night.