By mid-afternoon yesterday the sun had disappeared behind banks of white billowing clouds as they swept through a sky that had been mostly blue for much of the morning. While we were busy in the house those white billowing clouds courteously made way for streaks of angry dark clouds which soon took over the heavenly landscape. The first indication we had of a rain-filled evening that would stretch into the night-time hours and beyond was the house becoming darker minute-by-minute.

And then, the unmistakable prolonged deep baritone of thunder reverberated through the atmosphere and made its way into the house to rouse Jackie and Jillie from an afternoon nap. They responded with vigour and full intonation to the giant that was obviously lingering on the roof of the  house and threatening the peace of the afternoon. No matter, the giant was unconvinced and just kept voicing its intention to drown the landscape.

When we awoke this morning it was to the tail end of the last of the rain events finally tapering off. But it was still dark and though the clouds were merely a bit grey, nothing that a good run through the laundry wouldn't return to white, off in the distance scudded much darker clouds, headed our way. The dilemma; do we ignore the signs and make off for the ravine as usual, or wait, shower, have breakfast, then check the sky again. Option two won out and though no more rain fell and we would have been able to have our usual  traipse through the forest without rain inundating us, we ended up going out after breakfast, after all.

Rain dripped from the canopy with the slightest encouragement from overhead wind, but the atmosphere was cool and clean, scrubbed clean by the rain. The hard-to-ignore odour that was manifested throughout the area yesterday of local farm fields having been fertilized with manure was no longer in evidence; that too scrubbed clear. A cardinal was trilling beautifully as only those birds can do though I mistook it for a song sparrow, only to be corrected by my husband.

And then we ran into two long-time trail regulars whom we haven't seen in months. They had bought a cottage over in Quebec on a relatively nearby lake two years ago, and spend the summer months there with their three feisty energetic Border collies. First thing they said was a chorus of "we sold the cottage". Too much work, though Barrie is himself energetic, always looking for things to do. But the lawn in front of the cottage, sloping on a hillside they said, took hours and hours to mow, and because their portion of the lake was so shallow, weeds tended to grow amok on the floor of the lake, necessitating that they do a lot of raking to clear the water so they can swim or boat and it exhausted them.

However, they sold the cottage for $100K more than they paid for it and plan eventually to look for a smaller cottage on a smaller plot, preferably on the same lake but with a different elevation. They'll wait out the current real estate cottage market, though. Where prices have gone through the roof with city dwellers anxious to escape COVID, by moving to rural areas.

Pussy toes

In the woods, the first of the fall asters, the common white varieties, are beginning to bloom. And we also saw a clump of pussy toes all by itself, where several had grown last year, and nor were the clumps growing elsewhere last year in evidence. Later-blooming asters tend to be more attractive than the white varieties. The mauve, purple and pink asters are more colourful, the flowers tend to be a little larger and the petals themselves more generously shaped.

The real surprise of the morning, however, took place when we were preparing to exit the ravine, up at street level when we were moving past a colony of blooming pilotweed, and a lovely orange butterfly flew by to settle on one of the flowers. It kept its wings folded, but we were impressed anyway, with its colouration and size. We thought at first it was a Monarch, then noticed the dainty black spots on its head. It was a Soldier butterfly, a close relative of Monarchs. It must have heard a military command to join the rest of its company, for it wasted no time in lifting off again and fluttering off.