Winter is arriving early in the Ottawa Valley. Although it's just mid-October, and snow flurries generally appear a month later, yesterday we 'enjoyed' a number of light and (thankfully) brief snow events; just too cold, too icily windy for rain. Instead we had little snow squalls. The sky veered fitfully from dark threatening cloud cover to interludes of benign, bright sun; polarized competition.

We dressed in mind of the cold and even little Jack and Jill were outfitted with light little sweatshirts under their harnesses. They paid no mind to the light coverings, and helpfully lifted their little legs to enable us to pull them on. It's their collars and their harnesses for which they reserve their irritation, attempting continually to pull them off, biting them fruitlessly. The harnesses we're currently using are heavy-duty ones, however, and it will be more than difficult for them to destroy these as they have the lighter ones we use in the summer months.

My husband had decided to cut the carry-handles off their carrying bags, since they too are extremely irritating and our little adorables tend to stick their heads through them. We took those bags with us along with Jack and Jill and drove to Carleton University's indoor sport arena where the last decade or so the semi-annual spring and fall antique shows are held. I find the artificial turf in that cavernous building quite difficult to walk on, it can seem unstable. Those events did, initially, closely resemble genuine antique shows, but over the years they've been succeeded by shows heavier on the 'collectibles' side of the equation than antiques. And now, finally, that's how they're advertising themselves in recognition of the transition where antiques are in short supply there and the major focus is simply on the collectibles that people in this area seem far more interested in.

The result is that there are now few authentic antique dealers setting up booths there, and dealers of art are infinitely less likely to appear. We saw, in fact, few of either category. But our old acquaintance from whom we usually acquire a painting or two each season did turn out and it was lovely to see him. His large, genial frame is more gaunt than it used to be, though he told us he was in good health. His focus is mostly on the acquisition and sale of elderly prints of high quality, but he also carries oil and watercolour paintings and he knows the kind of art that we prefer. In fact, he remembers the very first painting we'd bought from him decades ago, a Mower-Martin landscape.

This time he had another landscape he knew would be of interest to us; this one of the Meach Lake-Mulvihill area of Gatineau Park. It's not of the century-old era of paintings that we usually tend toward, painted in the 1980s, but the artist is well known for his excellent landscapes and this one has joined our little collection. Jack and Jill received close attention from our friend, an animal lover who though he himself and his partner have three cats, neighbours' dogs are regularly walked by him with huge mutual appreciation.