Back into frigid, windy, icy days again. But sunny. Last evening the temperature plummeted from the =14C we'd had throughout the course of the day, and which we'd girded ourselves against by dressing extra warmly when we were out in the ravine, to -24 by late evening. An hour later, at midnight, it was -25C and still falling. We have been using our fireplace quite a bit this winter, and are grateful for its presence. It does warm up the first floor. When we haul ourselves upstairs to bed invariably we're shocked at  how cold it is relatively speaking, on the second floor.

When we came downstairs first thing this morning the thermometer read -20C, so it was plenty cold, and the presence of light wind makes it seem even colder. Jackie and Jillie wasted little time, once they went out, in returning swiftly to be let back into the house. Even a light wind at that temperature tends to be sharply icy. But the sun was out, and remained out for the rest of the morning before clouding over in mid-afternoon.

Mid-afternoon, of course, is when we generally get ourselves outdoors with Jackie and Jillie for a jaunt through the forest trails, and today was no different. We were skeptical of the weather forecast that gave us -4C for the high today, and weren't surprised when the temperature rose, and then got stuck at -10C, since it's what we expected.

And even though yesterday's high was colder than today's, it seemed colder when we were out today because of a feeling of dampness and a somewhat brisker wind. But the scenery before us in the ravine was just as captivating as it had been the day before, the trees well laced with snow. From a distance there is that inevitable black-and-white prospect when we view the forest floor bedecked in white, the dark trunks of the forest in stark contrast, and what can be seen of the sweep of the sky above the forest canopy; a reflection of the same white aspect of the ground; a wide, thick layer of diffused white clouds.

We had Jackie and Jillie on leash, a condition which has become unfortunately habitual now. At one juncture when we rounded one of the major trails, they both became alert and began straining forward on their leashes -- and soon we saw a dog approaching at a fair clip in the distance, as they do when they're curious and determined to get to the root of what lies ahead as expeditiously as possible.

It took no time for the dog to come abreast of us, a really beautiful, red-coated Labradoodle, friendly and full of life. He ran whoopsie circles around Jackie and Jillie who attempted to chase him but were held back by their leashes, so we did the only sensible thing, in view of the fact that we had to keep untangling them all from the leashes, and detached them to enable them to whip about with this larger cousin of theirs. And back and forth they went, endlessly, the antics of the larger dog really quite hilarious.

Soon her human caught up, and we discovered the happy dog was only just passed her first birthday; a puppy still and full of puppy tricks. The three continued playing together, while we spoke at some length with the woman accompanying the puppy, until we all finally decided to part, since standing around talking when it's really cold tends to emphasize the cold, creeping past and through protective clothing.

We hadn't the heart to put our puppies directly back on the leash, so kept calling them to remain close beside us, when what they really wanted to do was to cut loose and run madly all over the place. They did this, particularly Jackie, whose energy level is usually super-high. It was a treat to watch them, just like old times, in mad spurts of energy flying effortlessly up the trail, then back again, leaping at us in sheer exuberance at the pleasure of freedom they were once again experiencing.