I can recall only one winter when Christmas arrived here in Ottawa and there was no snow in sight. An anomaly that has never repeated itself, in our memory. That must have been several decades back. Weather conditions are so unpredictable here in the nation's capital, that anything is possible. We've been ricocheting back and forth between icy and moderated temperatures this winter, with consequent snow on the one hand and copious amounts of rain on the other.

We'd have acquired quite the accumulated snowpack had those rain events when the temperature rose above freezing, been just a tad colder and snow had fallen rather than rain. The 36-hour rain event we experienced just a few days back played havoc on the considerable snowpack that we had acquired, and that, just a few days from Christmas. Since then, nature has taken pity on us and arranged for several subsequent days of light flurries, just enough to cover the ground and make everything look as it should for the arrival of Christmas.

In the ravine it's meant that some of the snowpack has been much reduced, and where firm footing could be guaranteed on the trails, that has been replaced by thick layers of ice resulting from the combination of rain followed by quick-freeze events, making it absolutely mandatory to take care negotiating the ascents and descents, even with cleats strapped firmly on our boots.

Back when I used to make our own boots for our little dogs those icy conditions created a dilemma because I'd sewn the boots with leather bottoms and fleecy uppers; the leather, freezing in the extreme cold gave insufficient traction to their little paws. Now, with the use of these commercial, inexpensive and insubstantial-looking but surprisingly effective little all-rubber booties, Jackie and Jillie move about with great confident alacrity, the rubber nicely giving grip on the ice.

Yesterday, a fresh sprinkling of snow offered a sparkling quality to the landscape which we very much appreciated. The high for the day was -7C with few wind gusts -- also very much appreciated -- and though mostly overcast, the early-setting sun cast a lovely glow over the horizon, seen through the bared trees at some vantage points in the forest, the sun sitting low as it does now in the winter sky.

Jackie and Jillie, as always, were on the lookout for any of their friends happening to stroll by; although they pick up scent long before any others come into view. Usually they're most inclined when they're on high ground, to view trails below to pick up movement and scent. Their vigilance is rewarded, for the most part, and yesterday was no exception, though we came across only several other people walking their companion dogs.

Jackie bursts often into exuberant and flashy dashes back and forth between where we are at any given point on the trails, following them, and the stretch he reaches by romping gaily ahead of us. Jillie is more reserved, but when she goes on too far ahead and we have trouble seeing where she is, an urgent call-back proves she can run as fleet as the wind to rejoin us, just like her brother.

They're happy to be out ambling about in the woods along the forest trails and so are we. It completes and gives quality value to our days that nothing else can quite compete with, for all of us.