Sunlight streamed through the house yesterday morning, every room in the house ablaze with light, and we knew we had a hot day ahead of us. Since we had overnight guests, leaving before breakfast for an early-morning walk through the forest trails was out of the question, however. On the other hand, once we waved goodbye to our company after breakfast as they drove off further to reach their final destination, from New Brunswick and finally Truro, Nova Scotia, we set off ourselves on foot, towed by Jackie and Jillie, into the ravine.

Jillie was panting even before we reached the ingress point to the ravine. My husband picked a few stray raspberries still available on the shrubs before we plunged into the ravine, to whet the puppies' whistles, as it were, and then we were off, hiking along the forest trails. Early as it was, it was also very hot, somewhat relieved by a breeze struggling to move cooler air for us, and barely succeeding.

We came across a clump of dogwood shrubbery already responding to the dry conditions, its foliage looking suspiciously like autumnal preparation, despite the high humidity. The leaves were a soft pink, the green entirely receded, and set amongst the larger aggregation of green surrounding it, the colour aberration really stood out beautifully, yet another vestige of nature's endless colour palette, in season and out.

Before we were long into our hike, along came Nova, the white German Shepherd, now all of a year and a half of age, and far more subdued than when he was a puppy, though it remains questionable whether he has really left puppyhood far behind him. He is still a happy boisterous dog, albeit moderated slightly, given all of Rod's efforts to teach him not to rip right over to people who aren't aware of his inherent qualities of non-threatening curiosity.

The pin cherry trees among the other deciduous trees in the forest now dangle their bright red clusters of cherries. Constant wind has seen to the pines dropping their dead needles, giving an overall orange aspect to many of the trails. The sumacs have made their seedling presence everywhere, growing at an amazing rate, despite the last month's lack of rain events.

When we finally arrived back home, we had ample time before our appointment to have Jackie and Jillie's bi-monthly grooming done. We wandered with them awhile through the gardens, to assess their irrigation needs. The newly-planted hibiscus looks as though it has fully adjusted to its new location and has got on nicely blooming its huge red blossoms.

The heady fragrance of the petunias waft on the breeze and fill our aesthetic sensory with an almost cloying sweetness of their heavy aroma, but they're one of the few flowers in the garden that can be relied upon for fragrance, since the roses have declined in their blossom period, and even then it was only the old-fashioned shrub roses that emitted that wonderful, light, sweet rose perfume.

Eventually we set off with Jackie and Jillie to deposit them at the site of the veterinary hospital whose services to us date back decades. They had recently opened a grooming salon on their property and it is there that we have been taking Jackie and Jillie. They know when we park in the lot there that we'll be leaving them for awhile and it takes them no time at all to begin complaining. But leave them we do, and during the time they'll be bathed, their coats and nails trimmed, we do the weekly food shopping.

When we return it is during a thunderstorm, and we walk quickly in the rain toward the spa entrance. Jackie and Jillie have been looking out the windows and see us as we pass, and we recognize their voices barking furiously in greeting. We drive home in the darkness prevailing during a rainstorm, glad that it's raining, even though we feel clammy and wet. The temperature has plunged from its high of 31C -- at the time we returned from our morning hike -- to 20C, by the time we arrive back home with our two shorn lambs.

Jackie

And that's the time for them to rest, after their exercise of the morning followed by the trauma, poor things, of a brief separation from us. Their coats are soft, silky and extremely short. Jackie looks pathetically thin, but that's his normal conformation. Jillie looks trim, since without her grown-in coat she no longer looks like a sturdy little tank. Now, it's easy to confuse one with the other; on seeing Jillie we can think we're looking at Jackie, because she looks now the way he did before their grooming.

Jillie