Snow flurries began to twinkle through the dark night just before we hauled ourselves upstairs to bed, last night. Well, that made sense; the forecast was for a possible 5 cm of snow to fall overnight. To add to the 20 cm we'd just been gifted with a few days ago. When we awoke this morning an unexpected landscape greeted us, and it wasn't the result of a mere 5 cm, but a snow dump that at least equalled that of a few days back. That, on top of the snowpack we've acquired over the winter, is finally bringing us up to 'normal' winter snow levels.

Jackie and Jillie were excited, eager to get right outside, and when we let them out, they stopped  to pause at the deck stairs leading down to the backyard. Deep, deep snow. Finally, they girded their intention and down they trotted. And they found it more to their liking to slip under the deck, where snow doesn't tend to accumulate since the deck above catches what falls excessively around the steel-topped canopy on the deck, rather than do a breaststroke through the backyard itself.

And that canopy needed to be swept clean of snow, since the metal can't hold more than a foot of snow, and there was now over a foot accumulated. We were snowed in. The backyard walkways too needed to be shoveled out. But that didn't deter a little red squirrel from visiting the porch where I'd scattered peanuts over the bouffant snow, wondering if the neighbourhood squirrels would detect their presence, since they tend to sink right into the fluff. That little red fellow certainly did, and his snacking gave Jackie and Jillie the opportunity to enjoy a little live entertainment.

Eventually, we decided we'd get out for a ravine hike. The reason, obvious enough. After the snow had finished, out came the sun, and the temperature soared to 0C. Utterly irresistible, the prospect of reveling in an exquisite forest landscape of newfallen snow on a mild, sunny day. So off we went. Jackie and Jillie dressed in waterproof jackets and little boots. Which kept their bodies nice and dry, but did nothing for their legs which soon became well encrusted with hard little balls of snow sticking to their hair.

Not that they minded at all. And soon they came across some friends, the motley crew of three sibling border collies, each with disparate temperaments and characteristics. While his brother and sister wandered off, Carter sank into the snow with, I swear, an audible sigh, while Barrie stopped awhile for a chat with us.

His charges don't wander far from their human caregivers, the most intelligent, alert dogs ever to be met. And brilliantly trained, which is more than can be said for ours. We often think how nice it would be for the three exemplary-behaved dogs to mentor our two undisciplined little imps.

The snow was deep and fluffed with air, yet wet enough given the temperature, to stick to our boots and to the silken-puffed and grown-out hair that Jackie and Jillie sport. We knew we'd have quite the time brushing those icy snowballs off their legs on our return home. And we did. But while we were out in the ravine, seeing the sun illuminate everything was a treat to be savoured.

Unlike our first decade spent in this neighbourhood allowing us daily tramps through the forest trails in the ravine when few others ventured out to enjoy and appreciate those opportunities, so many people in the surrounding community now value and recognize the leisure and exercise opportunities its presence represents, that it takes only a matter of hours before most of the trails have that trodden appearance, with little snowbanks piled high on either side. Beyond helpful when you're not the one breaking trail, as we were.