There is nowhere quite like the Ottawa Valley for roller-coaster weather. If there are patterns in seasonal weather they appear to have bypassed this area. The unexpected should always be expected. Benign warmth and sun one day to be turfed the next when without any hesitation on the part of nature we become the recipients of the direct opposite.

Two nights ago the temperature steadily rose to 7C, overnight nice and balmy. Before that happened we'd had what appeared to be a firm dusting of snow that could or perhaps not become the initial base for the snowpack that would develop over the succeeding months of winter. We should know better. The ground that had been so firmly penetrated by frost returned to its pre-frost state of muck in the forest.

And while we had wandered in a delight of winter whiteness the day before, it had disappeared almost completely by the time we re-entered the forest for our daily ramble the following day. Gone, the pristine whiteness covering all the rude and usual leftovers of a community of dogs wandering about freely in the woods. Gone the light blanket of crystals shimmering atop the mass of fall foliage resting on the forest floor.

There was ample sun, however, to light the again-revealed leaf mass and it was a delight to see that it still retained some vestiges of the ornamental colour that makes fall such a glorious landscape, brief and unforgettably colourful, though photos certainly help in that department. We become so swiftly immersed in succeeding landscapes we have a tendency to forget what had gone before. And perhaps that's just as well, since that 'forgetfulness' leads to fresh amazement on our part whenever the scene shifts, gifting our eyes with fresh and new portraits of the natural world in flux.

It hardly matters the season, our two little dogs take it all in stride. As long as we're out there, ambling about, observing, swinging our legs and arms in the freedom of the moment.