Living in a northern climate like ours has its options. The first, which many residents lay claim to, is to shelter indoors from the elements. Barricading ourselves within a shelter so we are as little exposed to cold, wind and snow as conceivable. Of course we have warm houses and buildings whose purpose is meant to allow us to get on with life in weather-inclement conditions, whether it's our personal lives or our business lives.

We also have access to warm clothing meant to shelter our vulnerable bodies from the deleterious effect of extreme cold. And with that warm clothing we are enabled to get out into the weather. It is nothing but invigorating to plunge into a winter day, and we in this part of Canada are fortunate to be able to anticipate that many days, even during the winter months, tend to be sunny.

And so it was yesterday. Well, of course clear skies also means colder temperatures without the shield of a cloud cover to maintain a more moderate temperature down on Earth's surface. There's a trade-off as it were, some cloud covers look and smell like snow and sure enough they produce snow. At times falling in light flurries and graduating from that to furious snowfalls aided and abetted by even more furious winds penetrating the folds of garments and shoving snow into every available crevice.

Less frigid temperatures mean freezing rain pinging off surfaces, including the headgear you're wearing. No harm done until it accumulates and becomes a slick ice-covering over everything. It's why we wear cleats over our winter boots when we venture out into the ravine daily. And we're there in the afternoon hours because we're no longer in the workforce and can call our own times for recreation and pleasure. When we were working it was the evening hours when we ventured out for forest walks.

This abrupt descent of the atmosphere into winter when it's still supposed to be reflecting normal fall weather seems to stick its tongue out impudently at all the warnings of global warming. Yesterday's frigid walk through the forest trails nipped our cheeks and our noses. My husband remarks that I look like one of those red-cheeked stacking dolls when we're out in those conditions.

Jackie and Jillie wouldn't have been able to identify why or how yesterday's atmospheric conditions were different than those of the days previous when snow wouldn't stop falling, but because the extreme of cold at -10C yesterday afternoon mandated little rubber boots on their paws they were free of the cold and their antics reflected that; they sparked about everywhere in gay abandon. Their delicate size makes them more vulnerable to the cold so it becomes a necessity to dress them in winter coats and boots if the temperature dips below -6C.

So they had a rip-roaring good time out on the trails yesterday, with us plodding along behind them. The sky was perfectly clear, the sun in areas of the trails where the tree canopy temporarily recedes was warm, and the wind a mere breeze, though at that temperature even a mere breeze plays havoc with bare skin and our jacket hoods came in quite handy.

By the time winter does arrive, we'll have been accustomed to this incessant cold and when daytime highs of -20C come along, able to withstand them as we always do....