We had a pleasant Saturday that included our usual daily ravine walk in the forest with our two little dogs, yesterday.

Our oldest son, one quarter part of a Medieval music ensemble along with his wife, told us last night that they had performed earlier in the day at a Toronto church where they have given performances over the years. We had a pleasant evening including a half-hour of dancing, thanks to Radio Canada airing a regular Saturday night program of music dating from the 1940s, 50s and 60s. Much later in the evening we watched a Russian film, Leviathan. We much prefer, if we can get them at the public library, just about any films that haven't been produced in Hollywood.

This was a grim film which included some typical Hollywood fare of human degradation, violence, corruption and societal dysfunction, but did so from the perspective of a more mature lens. Taking place in northern Russia, present-day Russia, its revelations do nothing to promote respect for a society mired in hypocrisy, helplessness against the state, the grip of religious sanctimony, institutionalized graft and corruption rife in all arms of government including a corrupted judiciary and police forces aiding politicians in their immoral fraudulence.

It is spiked with the drama of interpersonal relations that become more complex as the film progresses. Beautifully filmed, both under- and overstated in one way or another, it amply demonstrates the hopelessness of ordinary civilians fighting for their rights against a nefarious bureaucracy established to benefit ideologues and base establishment figures irrespective of their crimes who manage instead of themselves facing due justice, to skilfully and without an iota of conscience, twist events to establish false evidence against the innocent, ultimately incarcerated to sweep the way clean for evil to prevail.

Morning brought an infinitely more cheerful attitude to our sensibilities with a bright, sunny day. And since it's Sunday, we had a nice, long breakfast of melons, bananas, tea/coffee, and pancakes and tiny sausages. Jillie was feeling under the weather and missed having the usual Sunday morning treats which Jackie was more than happy to gobble up. We had some leftover pancakes and because we'd watched out the patio doors during breakfast while a resident red squirrel sauntered onto the deck this morning, two of the pancakes were left out for it, while another several were placed on a chair sitting on the porch at the front of the house.

It seems our local raccoons have taken a break from hibernation. They have been ransacking the compost bins for anything edible, but everything there is clumped and fast frozen, so last night my husband put out an assortment of bread pieces and this morning none were left. As for the pancakes on the porch, I watched as a tiny red squirrel turned one of the pancakes, about a quarter its own size, over repeatedly in its clever little paws, licking the butter off it, then racing off with it.

The tiny creature returned and made an effort to take both remaining pancakes with it, but couldn't handle more than one at a time.