Jillie has reverted to her old tricks. She follows me in the morning, dish in hand making my way to the front door and then scattering nuts, buttered toast cut into cubes and whatever else is left over from breakfast (diced-up pancakes this morning) in hope that some of it may pre-scatter on the floor before I shake it out onto the porch. And when squirrels and birds come around she is livid with outrage, but they ignore her barking. Invariably there's some left over by the time we return from our ravine walk and as soon as she's off the leash she rushes over to the porch to see what she can pick up, poor little neglected puppy.

We had more snow today falling lightly throughout the morning hours. Not much of an accumulation, likely no more than 4cm. Unlike yesterday there was no wind to speak of. So though it was temperature-colder today, it felt quite a bit warmer, absent yesterday's piercingly icy wind. Our cardinals have returned from wherever it was they went off to. They tend to stay the winter and just return from time to time after brief absences. They've been serenading us the last few mornings, a singularly exquisite spring-anticipating song.

Just before we set out for the ravine with Jackie and Jillie the sun came out to lift the gloom of the overcast day, brilliantly lighting up the house interior. We thought we'd have our circuit fully illuminated as we made our way through the forest trails, but it wasn't to be. What we had were a few brief glimpses of sun before it retired once again behind stubborn clouds that though they'd finished their assignment of shedding snow, continued to hang over us, almost as white as the snow they had released.

Trekking uphill and down is proving to be a challenge to some people we noted as we watched a couple of people sliding downhill as upright as they could manage, rather than clinging to trees as some others were seen to do as they gingerly made their way through the forest. The silky, slippery quality of the snow remains intact despite several new layers of snow. No problem for us, with our cleats, but a challenge for those who enter the ravine unprepared.

Similarly no challenge for the children we see on the trials; they're delighted with the slippery hills. Many come equipped with sleds and toboggans, and others need neither, taking a running leap for momentum at the top of a hill, to let themselves fall backward on their rumps and free-sliding the rest of the way down amid shrieks of pure joy.

Hard to think of a way that young children could more enjoy themselves outdoors on a winter day when parents are searching out possibilities for entertainment and exercise for kids bored with staying at home, unable to go out and play with their friends. Street hockey -- those spontaneous local games neighbourhood streets used to host with kids living near one another calling out for a prolonged game on the street in front of their homes -- is a thing of the past now, with COVID lurking everywhere.

At least in the wide open, bracing cold landscape of the forest where the ravine's geology is rife with hills, area children have an option to remaining indoors fixated on video games. We keep hoping that Jackie and Jillie will eventually become more accustomed to all the activity that has erupted in the past months in the ravine. No longer their personal purview, but shared now with an extended community through which the forested ravine runs.

The morning's snowfall had given the forest trees a beautiful powdery snow coverlet, as though the trees had been embroidered by the artistic hand of nature. Which they most certainly have been.