It's always a busy day when we've errands to run downtown. But first, on a still-somewhat-coolish day we took our little scamps, Jackie and Jillie out to the ravine for a stroll in the forest to enjoy the cool atmosphere cast by the treetop canopy of the masses of trees in the woods that those trails take us through, helped immeasurably by a good, strong breeze.

As usual, when we returned home they sensed we had other things in mind than just settling down and anxiously circled us to try to determine what was happening. Their uncertainty didn't last long as we prepared to leave and they in turn made it abundantly clear we shouldn't even think of leaving the house without taking them along. So we did. Along with a flask of cool water since they would be waiting in the truck while my husband ran the errands and I agreed to sit in the truck along with them.

Driving the Eastern Parkway is always entertaining, and it was no less so yesterday afternoon. We passed familiar places, not the least of which is the Ottawa River where the Province of Quebec can be seen in the distance, its shoreline dotted with churches and residences in a picture-card-perfect display of what could be a late-19th century portrait of a sleepy backwater.

On our way it wouldn't be possible to make that drive without remarking on the proliferation of wildflowers on each side of the highway, heavily wooded areas behind them. Queen Anne's lace prominently displayed everywhere, along with black-eyed susan, leftover daisies and clover in flower, a show of nature's own masterpiece gardens.

We passed the aeronautical museum, its parking lot full as usual with visitors, and beside it the small airport where private planes of all description are parked until their owners decide they want to explore the nearby skies, and on a day like yesterday's skies of blue and puffy, white clouds they had the perfect opportunity.

Then came the Royal Canadian Mounted Police horse paddocks, a facility housing the incomparably beautiful black Arabian-bred horses made famous by the RCMP's musical ride. Some of the horses were out in the meadow, browsing, far more of them clustered under a broad canopy to shelter from the rays of the sun; this unrelenting day after day of unusual heat gets to everyone.

Arriving at Byward Market and the Rideau Street bakery took far more manoeuvring than we've been accustomed to. There is so much construction and municipal infrastructure remediation going on that traffic is constantly re-routed to a confused and crowded maze out of which drivers finally find their way to their destinations, as we did.

On the return home after acquiring magazines, specialty cheese, and a large assortment of breads and rolls most of which will be popped into our home freezer for later extraction and use, we passed Rideau Hall, the home of the Governor-General where at the front gates  two of the G-G's foot guard stood to attention in their traditional splendour (dreadful heat traps on such summer days), a tradition of the British Empire, emulating the very same spectacle to be seen in London where the Queen's Guard is on watch outside Buckingham Palace.