The weather forecaster informed us with the aplomb of certain confidence that we'd have sunshine again in the afternoon. So we were in turn confident that the tight aluminum lid clamped over the sky would lift and we'd have a bright day thereafter. Confidence misplaced; at no time did we see blue sky, much less the sun beaming its beneficent rays down upon us.

Oh, wait, that isn't completely true. As we made our way through the trails in the ravine's forest this afternoon, glancing above the forest canopy we could see off to the west some glimmers of blue, albeit a narrow strip, and we did see the sun briefly tip its brilliant golden crown on this New Year's Eve. You had to be vigilant to capture it's brief presence.

 We should have felt snug in our winter gear as we tramped through the trails, but there was a prevailing chill that probed beneath our jackets and played 'gutcha!' with our too-sensitive chests. The temperature when we left the house stood at 0C, a very reasonable level, given the much colder temperatures of the past three days and the -5 of yesterday with the collaboration of an icy wind.

The good thing about it, though was that yesterday's light, fluffy snow had altered its character, and it now clung to the ice on the trails even though it was clear to see that people slogging through the snow yesterday were vulnerable to slips, their signatures left behind on the glare of the slide-uncovered ice. We had avoided those areas yesterday.

There was no reason to avoid any areas on the trails today and we could stride without hesitation over  the snow-clumped trails now sticking to the ice. We had entered the ravine at half-past three and exited at quarter-to-five and what a difference in  the quality of light from start to finish. Once twilight establishes itself it beckons night's entry to take over the show.