When we were bundled up against the freezing-level temperatures the past several days and complaining about an early winter's arrival, one of our friends shouted after us as we parted to go our separate ways through the forest trails that Friday would be a day of deliverance, at 15C. We stared at him with a hefty dose of incredulity, shrugged and went on our way.

Today is that Friday as it happens, and it's been so toasty-warm at 14C, we felt overdressed even when we dressed down for the more moderate temperature. Jackie and Jillie were wearing little sweaters, not the fluffy winter jackets of two days earlier, and though they might not have noticed the difference -- at least they didn't mention it to us -- we most certainly did. I doffed my gloves halfway through our ramble, as unnecessary for comfort.

We caught glimpses of the sun and it tantalized us with the query, did it mean to burst out of the clouds or not? Not turned out to be the $65-thousand answer, but even without the sun glaring down to heat up the atmosphere, the ambient air felt downright balmy.In the morning, when we went out into the backyard with Jackie and Jillie it was clear that something or someone had bothered a skunk; the odour was sharp but not to the extent that it might have been from our backyard, though Jackie and Jillie made a mad dash of curiosity for the back of the garden sheds.

 Nice to have a day that breaks up a string of unusually cold weather. A bit of a lift from the down we felt from the morning news that the province has hit the 100,000 mark in infections with another 1,400+ cases overnight, more hospitalizations and deaths and cancellation of elective surgeries at certain hospitals. One of my old school chums from over a half-century back in time emailed me a few days earlier that she is scheduled for surgery to implant a stent. That obviously isn't going to happen now, not right now. 

It's been a lovely day otherwise, as long as we channel our thoughts and muse in other directions. And there's always plenty to do in the house. I still hadn't used all of the short-dated cream cheese that came in a large tub that my husband brought home last week, so I decided to bake cupcakes with what was left of it. I chose a combination I thought would work well so we would end up with a Cream-cheese lime cupcake with cheese-lime frosting.

My husband squeezed the lime for its juice after I had grated its skin and then he went downstairs to his workshop to do some much-needed clean-up before starting on the latest stained glass windows he's still in the process of designing. He's decided on a forest pond and ducks so that will be a little different. He has the basic outlines of the cartoon and has changed a few things in it to better reflect his vision.

I decided as well to bake cheese croissants and so we'll have those too with our dinner. I sprinkled the interior with sesame seeds and toyed with the idea of substituting the seeds with a herb-spice mix, but my husband didn't sound too enthusiastic about it when I put it to him. He vacuumed our bedroom, bathroom and the family room so we could get away a little earlier for our ravine jaunt this afternoon.

We ran into some familiar faces, and  most everyone had their jackets unzipped because of the mild weather. We met for the first time as we were ascending a hill and he was going in the opposite direction, a stand-in for Santa Claus. He greeted Jackie and Jillie, bending down to their height from his own rotund presence and before we knew it a lengthy discussion ensued between us, about gaining the trust of animals, about how difficult life is for Mexicans and Haitians, and how fortunate we are to have been born in Canada. Oh of course COVID was discussed as well; impossible to have a conversation with anyone without mentioning COVID, it so dominates our lives.

The man was French-Canadian and lamented how differently people behave locally than say, in Mexico, where he told us he had spent several months a while ago, and where the people are so friendly and personable as compared to Canada. I didn't of course, mention my own experience that if anyone is going to be unfriendly and non-communicative it is generally French-Canadians who take great offence at not being addressed in French rather than English, and tend to ignore cheery 'hellos'. 

This fellow was short and round, with a stiff, long white/grey beard that formed an inverted fan below his chin. His face was as round as his body, with engaging wrinkles reflecting a good temperament and a tendency to smile widely. He did, in very fact, bear a deep resemblance to that jolly old elf and it was a pleasure speaking with him, a very nice person.