Nature, when it seems to suit her volatile, perverse temperament is never averse to treating us to strange and averse atmospheric conditions. And so it was that last Friday we were gifted with violent thunderstorms and high humidity when the temperature soared to 29C, and then, according to Environment Canada and the stark evidence left behind, we were treated in this geographic area, to no fewer than six tornadoes of varying strength and destructive capacity.

We in the east end of the city were fortunate to escape the carnage that ensued in the violent sweep of the tornadoes; those living in the west of the city and beyond were infinitely less fortunate. It will take a long time for those affected to turn their lives back to normal, to amend the horrendous losses, and the memory of the circumstances that afflicted them on that day will linger long.

The April before last we were ourselves plunged into a concerning weather pattern whereby too much rain acquired in too short a period liquefied the Leda clay that makes up such a substantial portion of the ground where we live, the result being that the hillsides of the ravine across from the street we live on began slumping, taking that portion of the forest whose trees stippled the nearby hills crashing and clashing into the creek below. Remediation work took a long time with heavy equipment and their crews working diligently to secure what was left of the hillside, encroaching on the properties of anxious homeowners hoping their houses wouldn't tip into the ravine, some of whom were forced to evacuate their homes for the summer months.

We're back to normal, but the folks out in the west end having just experienced a catastrophic weather event that destroyed many houses and buildings and shut off power to a quarter-million residents, face a much greater challenge than we ever did. Back to normal, we've had so much rain and accompanying high winds that the forest is now steeped in rain puddles -- where all the rain that fell incessantly last week had made no impression whatever, the forest floor remaining high and dry.

We hardly imagined we'd be able to get out for our usual walk in the forest with our puppies, yesterday. We had been locked out on Tuesday; too much rain to enable us to embark on even a short trail circuit. But finally yesterday afternoon we went off, wearing rainjackets with Jackie's and Jillie's raingear tucked into our pockets, under dense, watery clouds that had for the moment ceased leaking, planning to hustle back in a hurry if the skies opened up again.

Our tentative foray took us on a shorter-than-usual circuit, but then we decided since it hadn't rained again yet, to elongate the circuit, taking a trail we hadn't bothered with in ages, which took us to the remediated area where huge iron rods had been smashed down to bedrock to stabilize the hills and logging trucks had hauled out all the downed trees. It's open looking in that area now, barely resembling how it once looked, but it made for an interesting trek, and we were grateful for the opportunity to get out and about.