We're moving into warmer territory again, with yesterday's high of 28C and today's 29C. Fortunately, we can never complain about an absence of moderating breezes, even though the Ottawa Valley is well known for its high humidity level which has been in 30s territory the past few days.

Only one of us opted for the use of insecticide against the mosquitoes. I shrugged on a light cotton long-sleeved shirt and long pants. And paid for it in feeling warmer than everyone else, but came away with few bites. The cooling effect of the breeze and the overhead canopy of the forest, however, ensures that we trot along for the greatest territory we cover in shade and that makes a huge difference.

Jackie and Jillie chose not to spurn offers of water and drank greedily as they tend to do when they feel the need. They certainly enjoyed ripping through the trails, and so did we, taking our time after them. We stopped for the now-obligatory picking of ripe apples from one of the wild apple trees, where Jackie and Jillie now tend to pause when they reach them before we do. And were rewarded amply with the treats they were awaiting.

 Dragonflies and Monarch butterflies drifted through the air. A raven's hoarse call off somewhere not too distant. Goldfinches swooping about in charming little groups. We stopped briefly to wonder at one old pine whose trunk was covered in sap; in essence bleeding its life away, though it looked otherwise sound. We speculated what kind of injury or insult from an infestation it might have sustained to have that effect.

And, glimpsed through an almost complete screen of leafy shrubs, a garden's boast of jewelweed mixed in with asters on the forest floor, surrounded by trees, the sun managing to find a gap in the canopy, shining benevolently down on the grouping. The jewelweed we're accustomed to seeing on one part of the trail they grow on, is much shorter and it has now even been reduced further in size, due to the damp ground they proliferate on having dried. But this colony was flourishing delightfully.

We noted the ripening berries dangling from elderberry trees. And thought with satisfaction that we had been gifted by nature more than sufficiently for our woodland hike yesterday afternoon.