So many things have gone askew for so many people during this extraordinary and unwelcome time of lockdown thanks to the novel coronavirus. That people have been made dreadfully ill with respiratory illness and so many have died represents a total nightmare for society, but it is unspeakably tragic for many families. The scale of the global pandemic is just so difficult to fathom, how and why it all occurred, though much of it is known, is even more difficult to digest.

We've been relatively unscathed, and we're grateful for that. Because we're retired, live a quiet life and have the good fortune to live in our own home, and are able to access a valuable natural recreation site just moments from our home, we are moderately inconvenienced, even though the concern over contracting the virus is always uppermost in mind. Food shopping is a primary concern there.

Lilies-of-the-valley starting to emerge

And it's not just food shopping for us, of course, but for our little dependents. Just before the luckdown we knew we were running low of kibble for Jackie and Jillie. We had another several weeks'-worth and wanted to ensure we didn't run out when rumbles of a lockdown seemed imminent. So we went to the local pet supply store we usually frequent, only to discover that the Encana Wild Prairie kibble had been sold out. People were stockpiling dog food, too. The only bag of Encana left was a 11.5 kg.premium bag, so we bought it, figuring it would do. We introduced our puppies to it gradually and all seemed well. At first.

And then it wasn't. Jackie, who has an easily-upset stomach began refusing his morning meals and was ravenous by dinnertime. Nothing ever bothers Jillie, her stomach is cast-iron, and she'll eat anything. Jackie will too, but then there are consequences to follow.. Because it's not unusual for him to behave like that, we failed to make an immediate connection with the food change. And then last night he kept us up all night, having to take him out to the backyard. He would throw up in his bed, we'd change his blanket, take him outside, where he would evacuate and then start all over again.

So this morning we got in touch with the pet store. They had the right kibble in stock. My husband drove over to pick it up at curbside and they had a credit card machine at the ready. No contact between client and store operator and the transaction went smoothly. What to do with the more expensive premium food too rich for Jackie's little stomach? My husband planned to measure it out over a period of weeks for the raccoons.

During one of the times when we'd been up taking Jackie and Jillie to the backyard, I had stopped briefly to glance out the glass of the front door. And there, on the porch, was a tiny shrew, busy going up and down the cracks between the bricks lining the porch where crumbs from the bread my husband puts out for the raccoons in the evening accumulates. When the tiny creature thought it was in danger, it would streak like lightning off the porch. And then return to nibble some more.

Partrdgeberry under the leaf mass

Well, today turned out to be yet another gorgeous spring day. It had rained again all night, but the sun was out by daybreak. We went off to the ravine for our usual daily ramble, and were delighted to see that lilies-of-the-valley are beginning to come up around the bases of tree trunks. There are far more trout lilies, not yet in flower, but it won't be long. Partridgeberry is beginning to wrestle its low-to-the-ground presence out of the leaf mass on the forest floor but its red berries haven't yet surfaced.

Just as we appreciated the sun and the warmth of another 18C day, so too were other people in the community doing likewise. Something about Sunday - added to the fact that all public areas that people normally gravitate to are now inaccessible. There were young adults in increasing numbers, along with bicyclists. One group of a young man and four young women, obviously seeing the trails for the first time, had a leisurely tramp through the forest; we would see them now and again on various linking trails enjoying themselves. And smoking up, leaving the air redolent of marijuana.

But there were also plenty of varied groups including family groups. We came across special acquaintances of ours, walking their three border collies, and stopped to talk awhile. We mentioned Jackie's restless night and that the dog food we'd started and found inappropriate for him because it made him ill, and that my husband intended to feed it to the raccoons. Our friends' faces lit up, and they chorused that they'd be happy to take the kibble. And so, after we returned home, they drove by on their way back home and picked up the kibble that will no longer make Jackie ill.