Our roller-coaster weather that gave us a mid-afternoon high of -6C with whipping winds, warmed up overnight as snow began to fall. Not as much snow as had been expected, just enough to give our landscape a nice plush loft of new snow, like nature throwing a lightweight comforter brilliantly crystalline over everything; enough to dazzle the eyes.

In the morning it was a balmy 0C paired with a wind that did its utmost to sweep all surfaces clear of snow, creating micro-tornadoes of snowdrift and eventually clearing much of the new snow off area trees and shrubs. The snow whipped off rooftops and onto driveways and walkways made it appear as though a follow-up snowfall had ventured by, when no one was aware.

We shovelled out the pathways in the backyard for Jackie and Jillie. So they would have a nice clear amble-about without having to go deep into the snow. They appreciated that thoughtfulness so much that they took extra pains to zip through the snow-lofted areas we never clear of snow; off the beaten track as it were. Wallowing in deep snow is an absolute delight for them. They whip through it at breakneck speed, stopping momentarily to signal to one another that a race is on, and off they go again.

By the time they're brought back into the house their legs are well slathered with snow. They know enough to leap from the patio door to the towel-covered seat of a deacon's bench we keep along one wall of the breakfast room, waiting a rubdown. Whenever they're out for a prolonged period of time while it's still snowing they re-enter the house looking like miniature snowdogs, and relish a towel tossed completely over them as each is towelled vigorously, from ears down to paws.

When we left the house for our afternoon ravine walk today the temperature had begun dropping; it had reached -2C. By the time we returned from that hike on the forest trails about an hour later it was -6C, and the wind was doing its roaring best to hasten a further fall in temperature. Destined to dip to -20C by tonight.

New snow brings out fun-time yearning for nearby residents. We could see tracks of snowshoes, skis, fat-tire bicycles and hikers like ourselves with their companion dogs on all the trails. Which meant that all that newfallen snow had been well tamped down on the trails. It was, in fact, more comfortable and easier to plow through the newly-snowed-in trails than it was slogging up the street which hadn't yet been plowed.

Before we set out, my husband had pulled on a pair of our trusty old Mountain Equipment cleats held in place by velcroed straps, and we set aside the pairs constructed of rubber that slip over boots that seem so frustratingly unreliable on my boots. The steel studs on those old cleat sets that give us such good traction get a good workout from season to season; these are over 20 years old. From time to time my husband simply replaces them with new screws and they're as good as new.