Environment Canada issued another heat warning for today. Last night's temperature didn't drop much, and it got up to 33 degrees by late afternoon yesterday, so there was no overnight cooling down, and with the level of moisture in the air, it feels even hotter. People are advised to stay indoors, to seek shelter from the hot sun and the burning atmosphere.

We were in the ravine for our woodland walk right after our leisurely breakfast. As soon as we entered from the street into the woods with its protective green canopy and felt the breeze that was wafting through, there was immediate relief from the oppressive closeness.

We came across an older man we occasionally see, who always remarks what a relief it is to be there rather out on the street. He has a regular route in the ravine, although it's always on the upper level where he can do a short circuit without actually challenging himself too physically, avoiding the ascents and descents. He simply stays on the level portion and completes four circuits, feeling that this is all he really needs. He is, after all, exposing himself to a certain level of physical action and for him it's the right formula.

We're often out in the afternoon and see no one else. Today was different. We came across Jasper, a five-year-old pleasant pitbull mix, always glad to see us, but he was already feeling the heat of the day and looked exhausted. His owner, a lovely young man, wasn't with him this time, but his mother whom we also know, was. She told us her son was now working two part-time jobs. We know he's hoping to be hired by the Ottawa Police Services, but he hasn't heard anything yet from his application and they've had it quite a long time; a year ago he told us of his ambition. He would be a credit  and an asset to any police force.

Then we met Oliver for the first time. And what a pleasure that was. Oliver's a tiny toy apricot poodle, lighter than Riley in colour and an absolute character. Our two towered over Oliver who was eager to challenge them both to a good runabout, obviously more than capable of looking after himself, a tremendous bundle of energy at four years of age. He was just visiting from Comox, British Columbia.

Then, before we finished our circuit, we came across a group of four young people walking three dogs, two hounds and a mastiff, all three beautiful dogs and well behaved. They were curious about our two, who returned the compliment. But where the three large dogs behaved impeccably, our two still had plenty of social niceties to pick up before we could ever say the same about them.