Since it was my birthday yesterday we had a dish that I prefer, not one of my husband's favourites. But to my surprise the quiche I baked went down very well with him. It was the green beans that came as a side dish that he didn't care for, which is also unusual for him, he'll usually take them any day over broccoli. We had poached pears for dessert, and quite enjoyed dinner.

Tonight's dinner is more down his alley, so to speak, meatballs in gravy served over steamed rice (now that qualifies as his favourite 'vegetable'), with asparagus on the side and fresh-cut pineapple for dessert. It's only fair, after all, turnabout favourites for our meals. And since I enjoy preparing them all, and have a fairly large range of choices so meals don't get boring, why not? Today is another cold-ish day with a high of -5C, though no wind, and it's been snowing most of the day. Comfort food fits the menu

Earlier in the day when I was doing a deep cleaning of our bathroom upstairs I heard Jackie and Jillie suddenly burst out into a barking fit. Aha! I thought, it must be the ghost-shoveller striking again. It's been snowing all day, and we had some heavy snow in the morning. I hurried over to the top of the stairs and peered down at the porch through the glassed front door. Sure enough the porch had been shovelled and the walkway again, but I was too late to see and identify the altruistic culprit.

From our forays into the backyard with the puppies we knew that it was going to be slippery again in the ravine. Usually, snow falls when it's not too cold out, but it was cold enough today to ensure that the snow was a light fluffy variety that wouldn't stick to the walkways and in the ravine the icy trails that a more moist snow would give improved traction to, wouldn't be in the books today.

With that in mind we set off, well cleated and puppy-booted (the rubber boots help them on ice, but they still tend to slide about a bit) for our afternoon foray in the ravine. From the condition of the trails, well trodden, it was obvious that a little bit of cold and snow wasn't going to keep trail regulars off their game.

It is undeniably beautiful when snow falls steadily, even though it brings an earlier dusk into the forest interior. Our jacket hoods and shoulders began accumulating snow and we soon became acquainted with the fact that our assumptions were quite correct; the icy trails remained icy, and that was obvious enough by the signs here and there that people's stride had taken them into a long slide. 

We took our time, watched for the signs of hidden icy patches that would reveal themselves swiftly enough if anyone strode ahead with confidence, and had no spills ourselves. We keep checking to see that the cleats remain intact over our boot soles. When they slip off you don't always notice; awareness often sets in with the realization that you've lost one somewhere along the trail. Deep snow will do that.

When we crossed the last of the bridges and prepared to haul ourselves up the last of the hills to street level we met up with two neighbours striding with care toward us, on their way into the ravine.They had, in fact, just completed a circuit and should have been heading home but one of them suddenly saw she was minus one of her pair of cleats and they had turned back in the hope of finding it. That's happened to us. Sometimes they turn up, sometimes they don't.

Trail-walking etiquette has it that if an object is found on the trails, whoever finds it hangs it on a branch overhanging the trail where anyone who passes is certain to see it,whether it's a toque, sunglasses, scarf, doggy boot, or cleats, so the owner can gratefully recover it. Sometimes that works, sometimes it fails to.

Soon as we got home Jackie and Jillie clamoured for their cauliflower treat, and I set about preparing dinner. All's well with our little world.