This.is.most.unusual. Call it climate change? Call it what you will, we appear to be stuck in a spate of unusual weather. There are no longer expected 'patterns' to anticipate. In the Ottawa Valley weather is never a constant, and always a matter of extremes; too hot and humid, too windy, too cold, too snowy. One day following another can be a complete contrast to the one before. Moderation is absent, excess is guaranteed.

The emphasis is on environmental change, but it is a process that has always been present, barely noticeable because it takes many generations beyond recall for the change to take place, much less noticed. Gross environmental change is cyclic in terms of 'ice-ages' and moderated times; and time for those to take place is seen in the geological record. Somehow, events appear to have accelerated, and there is one school of scientific environmental thought that clings to the fixated decision that human influence has served to degrade the environment. Traced to the Industrial Revolution the accelerated part, but humankind's influence on the environment began long, long before the 16th Century. 

Incrementally, bit by bit, so gradual that we never did 'notice'. Industrialization, agriculture, communication, travel, increased populations, urban infrastructure, all of it has diminished the natural in nature and we as beneficiaries of our natural surroundings have always extracted more from our environment than it could adjust to, to remain stable beyond entropy.

Now, and for the past half-century and more we have been in the midst of an evolutionary spiral of environmental degradation ... or at the very least a changeable and changing global atmosphere. Decades ago we stopped used hydrochlorofluorocarbons as cooling agents as a start. And then petrochemicals were targeted, a much more difficult proposition to transition away from. 'Acid-rain' warned us of the damage human activity was producing on the environment. And we heard about greenhouse gases as well a half-century ago.

There's also the considerable matter of how the planet has been polluted through waste materials improperly disposed of, and cluttering the oceans and the land masses of this globe. Careless disposal of carcinogenic chemicals, polluting potable water sources, our modern-age vision of 'disposables' in the reckless use, misuse and disposability of materials geared for single use, then considered garbage. And in the interests of mercantilism, the concept of built-in-obsolescence aided by advertising and public relations to enthuse the consuming public over ridding themselves of 'outdated' objects in favour of acquiring newer, more advanced ones.

All of which to link to the inordinately peculiar number of days this December thus far that have been temperature-mild, to the extent that rain has ensued rather than snow. The snow that has fallen simply washed away by a following storm's lack of ice content. From the sublime to the ridiculous; the macrocosm to the microcosm, I complain that we're once again locked out of a ravine-afternoon's hike through forest trails with our little dogs. 

Jackie and Jillie are nonplussed, making no discernible effort to link the rain they try to avoid going out into, with our lack of yet another hike. We've been ensconced in another day of freezing rain. Dim, dismal, gloomy, bad-tempered weather. Jackie and Jillie gambol about in the house, race after one another, tussle a bit, follow us around imploringly from time to time. They're happy whenever they anticipate meal times; that excites them to joyful run-abouts. They do the same once we've returned from a hike in the ravine.

Today they'll just have to be satisfied with their pre-meal celebrations. And go back to snooze-central. As for we other two, my husband always finds a sense of accomplishment in his workshop. And today I tended to little things in the kitchen and the bathroom and the bedroom. And we have our toys to entertain us; mine a Nikon digital camera that I like to play with, to try to better understand light and shade, ideal photographic conditions and the puzzle of fuzzy as opposed to clear outcomes. Along with the little photographic quirks of the camera, the add-on effects and their challenges.