Yesterday turned out an unusually quiet, contemplative, sombre day for us. We didn't much feel like doing anything. On the other hand, we did talk about the past, about how things were so many years ago when we were young, and about the people we knew and shared many happy hours with. One of those people, we learned early in the day, was no longer in the land of the living. We had been informed some short while ago that she had been hospitalized and the end result was -- the end.

So we talked and we talked, and though the memories were fond, the emotions they elicited were not bright and cheerful. We went about our day quietly. And so as a kind of solace I turned to what I know best; how to prepare a meal that might inspire a little joy. Not all that difficult to achieve for a goal that would lighten the evening prospects of a sad day.

Since I had some bread dough resting in the refrigerator it was a no-brainer to plan to bake  bread of some kind, and croissants laced with sesame seed and Cheddar cheese came to mind. Rolling out the dough and working with the ingredients involved to achieve a goal has a calming effect. The actions are familiar and deliberate and soothing. And the fragrance that wafts through the kitchen, making its way through the rest of the house has its own calming effect, whetting the appetite and lowering the burden of sadness to a more tolerable level.

Even before I did that, though, there were several competing fragrances, one of which was the chicken soup that always accompanies our Friday night meal. This time. for dessert I thought to bake light and airy cupcakes and chose coconut-lime, a quick and easy recipe that can be altered in so many ways to produce other types of cupcakes. This one needed a grated and juiced lime. And ingredients including 2/3 cup each granulated sugar and Becel margarine to which I added two large eggs, 1/4 cup sour cream, 1/2 tsp. vanilla, most of the lime zest and all of its juice. Beaten in intervals with 1-1/4 cup cake and pastry flour, 1 tsp.baking powder, 1/4 tsp.salt and a cup of desiccated coconut. I used the remainder of the lime zest in a simple butter icing.

Food, its preparation and consumption, is a guaranteed comforter for our emotional beings, both a sensual pleasure and a necessity for survival. Jackie and Jillie, our two little poodles agree with great enthusiasm. 

This morning the cold that greeted us read -15C on the outdoor thermometer, a tad 'milder' than yesterday's -17C, but the sharp, biting wind that distinguished yesterday, was absent today when we all went out to the ravine for our afternoon tramp through the winter woods. Astonishingly, the thick clumps of snow captured on branches of trees and shrubbery in the forest remain intact. They are so hard packed that neither the warmth of sunrays that reach them haphazardly, or the wind that whips through the tree mass has been able to dislodge them.

The trails, once so deep and narrow in years past, now wide and flattened by the many booted feet that have been traversing them, were readily manoeuverable, no longer quite as slippery on the ascent/descents. That's the rare upside of having so many people descend these days on the ravine, as an escape within the community from COVID lockdown conditions. We heard a Pileated woodpecker off in the distance, as well as a nuthatch much closer by, among a small flock of chickadees. 

We were out quite a lengthy time, taking our trek at a leisurely pace, and stopping now and again to chat with friends our paths crossed. We were fortunate this afternoon -- it seems the cold disagrees with many people not accustomed to enjoying the brisk winter air in the great out-of-doors -- feel discouraged by the low temperature, leaving the ravine to we old-timers whom untoward weather conditions rarely are persuasive enough to forestall outings.

It was admittedly very cold. Even the slight breeze making it seem even colder. But moving along at a steady pace usually generates enough energy to keep warm, though bare faces do  tend to reflect the level of cold through pinched noses and rebellious red cheeks. But the wonderful blaze of the sun through the screen of the forest trees and the snow-puffed forest floor along with snow remaining on trees all make for an exquisitely lovely landscape.