We are in serious fall mode now. Each walk in the ravine is a reminder, a pleasant one for the most part, since the shades of gold seem to intensify day by day. The three days of rain that kept us out of the ravine have been followed by hugely brisk winds blowing the newly-frigid air about in this sudden change from the somewhat balmy weather we had been enjoying before the onset of that petulant rain event. The leaf mass in the forest is enormous since it is, after all, a forest, a mixed woodland of conifers and deciduous.

And with the influence of that high wind harassing the tree canopy, each time we venture out into the ravine for a daily walk, we can see the evidence of its work, in the diminution of the foliage on all the trees, the colourful leaves being tossed through the air even as we gad about in there, and the colossal heaps that have accumulated on the forest floor and the trails, cushioning our boots, and sending little Jackie and Jillie into throes of exuberant delight.

Treat? We know what that means!

Both of those little black imps, but in particular Jackie, seemed possessed with the spirit of perpetual motion, speedier than a hawk swooping down on its prey, they were here, there and everywhere. One chasing the other at high speed passing me in the blink of an eye, and then turning about and speeding off in the opposite direction. They would stop only for a moment, and only when I might shrill at them "treat!" experimentally, to determine whether that might be sufficient to give them pause. It did. Momentarily. Before they spun off again.

And they're off!

Watching them is ample entertainment in and of itself, marvelling at their spirit, their enthusiasm, their expressions of sheer unadulterated joy.

Jackie, challenging me for a run-about