When our granddaughter was in our care for many years, in the years before she began attending pre-school and then elementary school we would take her daily to the many playgrounds established in the parks in our neighbourhood. And there were plenty to choose from among; at least four in easy walking distance.

To get to the furthest among them we would cross a major street that intersected between our own and the ravine to continue along ravine pathways which eventually led, in about a twenty-minute perambulation, to several playgrounds further than those more closely adjacent where we live. We hadn't been in that part of the ravine for many years. At least fourteen; she is now eighteen and a student at University of Toronto. When she was really young I would backpack her through the ravine in the opposite direction, to a playground attached to one of the many elementary schools present in the neighbourhood.

Now that the ravine has become a maze of interconnected and non-connected alternatives since our usual circuit and the four bridges enabling access to the various trails have been hugely compromised -- the trails widened considerably to enable tracked vehicles to aid in the process of destroying the bridges and prepare the areas for the building of new bridges has taken place -- we find ourselves trudging along miserable clay-mud tracks, slipping and precariously balancing ourselves as we manoeuvre our way down long hills whose access to trails otherwise has been closed off to us.

So yesterday we decided to revisit an old haunt, cross that major street and have another look at what was available to us in that direction. In essence, revisiting old trails we hadn't ventured upon, with no reason to do so, in many years. There we found little-used trails, not as extensive as our own, but in comparison to which given the prevailing conditions, readily accessible, relatively dry and more than picturesque enough for our tastes.

So, until the ground settles into its winter freeze-up and snow covers the ankle-deep muck in our part of the ravine, we'll venture on occasion to the old-new trail system that had served us so well in the past when we were new to grandparenting and the entertaining and exposure to new horizons required by young, inquisitive action-oriented children. Whose grandparents remain committed to their action-oriented devotions in the great out-of-doors.