An all-day freezing rain throughout yesterday made it unattractive for us to go out to the ravine. Freezing rain at -3C is no picnic, and makes for miserable hiking conditions. So, we experienced one of those fairly rare days when outside activity was at an imposed minimum. When the freezing rain occasionally turned to ice pellets, Jackie and Jillie went out to the backyard for some frenetic running about, happy to be outside, but not prepared to stay out too long, just making the most of the situation.

Late last night the freezing rain gave way to wet snow, and very quickly the landscape took on an altogether different aura as everything that was frozen began to turn to white as the temperature rose to -1C. That doesn't seem to make sense, that at a colder temperature we'd get freezing rain and once the temperature moderated upward the rain would turn to snow, but this reflects not only peculiar weather, but the lay of the land in the Ottawa Valley.

And so, it snowed all night; every time I cocked an eye open through our otherwise-dark bedroom in a brief waking period, I'd see brightness out the window, a scintillating, sparkling light and I knew it was continuing to snow. By morning we'd accumulated several inches of snow and everything looked absolutely glorious. After breakfast our son, still with us for another few days before returning to his home in Vancouver, got his skiing gear together and made for the ravine.

He keeps a pair of skis, ski boots and poles here for those times that he stays over with us for a week here and there in the winter, so he can take advantage of the geology and the weather, as an avid skier. He's accustomed to different terrain, of course, accessing ski trails and backcountry skiing opportunities in the mountains around Vancouver.

By the time he returned, my husband has finished shovelling out our walkways, and it was still snowing heavily. Then off we went, all of us, our son on his skis, as we made our way into the ravine together. Jackie and Jillie are now accustomed to seeing him on skis and they behave well now, alongside him where years ago they would bark furiously at the unaccustomed sight of a person with long things strapped to their feet, coasting downhill,  yapping at his heels.

My eyes were captured by the forest deep in snow, every branch of every tree and shrub piled high with snow, boughs bent low over the forest floor with the weight of the snow. Jackie and Jillie were wearing their boots and rushed everywhere, flinging themselves into the joy of new snow, behaving very like children in fact, delighted with the atmosphere and the challenging adventure that lay before them. How one's perspective changes from one day to another!

Snow kept falling, at times heavily, as we made our way along the trails, up the hills, back down again over the crests and ridges and into valleys, and then repeating the process as we continued along through the forest. We saw several other people out with their dogs, and at one juncture came across a tall young girl out by herself walking serenely through this winter wonderland. Although she was walking alone she appeared not to want to be alone, keeping pace with me, and seemingly eager to talk.

And then she asked me to repeat the names of our two little dogs. After which she introduced her name to me, and it was a very familiar one: Jillie.