There was the pandemonium of fun in joyful excess this morning in the ravine. We set out earlier than we normally do, when the temperature was just hovering at freezing and the wind had started to pick up, but there were still some blue patches among the gathering storm clouds and we thought it best to get out sooner rather than later, given the warning of freezing rain and much heftier wind conditions.

It was nippy indeed, and with the wind, relatively less insistent than we're accustomed to the last week, it felt colder than it has done, of late. Still, people are tired of winter and since it's Sunday we soon discovered that others were eager to get out before the day unleashed the fury of higher winds amid freezing rain.

We met, for the first time, Webster, a rambunctiously happy five-year-old Apricot standard poodle with his humans. And while we stood about talking and enjoying watching our two smaller poodles gambol and chase and play about with Webster, along came another acquaintance with her 14-year-old, small Golden. And then the fun began in earnest, with the two larger dogs challenging one another to serious jousts despite their vast age differential, and Jackie and Jillie picking up the rear, yelping and getting bowled over and barking their happy discomfiture.

Soon enough another friend came along with her much closer-to-the-ground little Angus, a Shih Tzu who also wanted in on the fun, but soon turned grumpy when he got bumped about. And then arrived Lilly, the white German shepherd, to calm the situation down, because she is everyone friend and idol, lending a bit of dignity to the scene, quieting things down.

As we finally tore ourselves away from the group which dissolved with everyone going on their separate routes we continued to come across other walkers and their dogs, each meeting occasioning additional brief doggy interactions, and creating as usual much amusement for the spectators, we also took stock of the conditions in the ravine.

Ravishingly beautiful as usual, although the wind had knocked down the plentiful snow that had nestled fluffily on all branches and limbs of the forest. If yesterday's slightly milder temperature had begun a bit of a snow-melt, today's chill iced it all back into place, but it made for a good solid foundation on the trails, where our boots weren't slushing about in the denaturized snow, and nor were they threatening to slip on the revealed ice.