We've come back home to unsettled weather, having just left the very same kind of weather six and a half driving hours behind us the day before yesterday. The weather a mirror image from the Ottawa Valley in Ontario to the Waterville Valley in New Hampshire.

On our short circuit through our nearby forest yesterday afternoon we were hoping that the lull in the all-day rain that fell throughout the day would last long enough to give us the opportunity to walk our little dogs and ourselves through the thoroughly drenched woods. And, as it happened, no rain fell while we were out, then returned with the full vengeance of a tropical storm soon after our return home.

It's almost as dark and forbidding weather-wise today as it was the day before. So we went off a lot earlier in the day hoping to bypass the inevitable, and this time took the full circuit, in the process coming across plenty of woodland hiking acquaintances and their dogs.

A week ago we had ventured off to Franconia Notch in the White Mountain range of New Hampshire's National Forest to visit the Basin, known for its large stretches of smooth granite on a mountainside within the range of the Notch, down which flushes a wide stream over the rock as it has done since prehistory. People generally stop there to admire the flume and the basin itself, but it has long been our habit to continue on up a steadily eroding forest path criss-crossed with tree roots and boulders to climb alongside the granite shield and its tumbling waters.

Many years ago we sampled all the trails with our teen-aged children, hiking for miles up the mountainside to reach a mountain lake not far from the summit where we saw moose at the lake's edge and had to traverse some quite challenging areas on our ascent.

Now, we content ourselves with a difficult-enough clamber uphill with our little dogs, to emerge at various points from the trail following narrower short off-trails leading to the sloping granite areas to rest, to enjoy the landscape and marvel at the power of water to transform the geological landscape, and its seemingly impervious granite.

The phenomenon of erosion, the determination of flora to grow, thrive and flourish where it is most difficult, never ceases to impress us. That day too was cool, overcast and threatening rain, but luck was with us and rain held off, allowing us to thoroughly enjoy this quite special place.