We keep ping-ponging back and forth between icy days of wind and bright sunny skies and overcast conditions bringing light snow and milder alternates, These winter days keep influencing our meals for comfort foods leading to that internal warmth so badly needed, and yesterday we turned to hot soup again, our go-to menu for Sunday evenings. Nourishing and good-tasting, the fragrance of the soup wafts through the house whetting appetites and promising an enjoyable dinner. Cheese, toast, marinated herring and fresh sliced peaches for dessert rounded out the meal.

This time I used a mix of beans, peas, lentils and barley, augmented with fresh grated carrots, zucchini, chopped tomato, cumin and fennel seeds in a chicken soup base, with 1/3 cup tomato paste added for good measure. There's any number of combinations starting with peas, beans or lentils adding vegetables that make for a good, hearty soup, and over the years it seems we've tried them all.

Ontario is about to relax its lockdown to permit businesses other than food stores and pharmacies to re-open, reflecting a reduction in the daily number of reported coronavirus cases. Irving ran out of wine and cider a few weeks ago and decided today he'd go out to replenish a collapsed supply before the big rush scheduled for tomorrow begins. We haven't driven anywhere in ages other than to the supermarket once weekly and this time the truck refused to start, the battery cold. He'll have to give it a boost, but meanwhile he took the car and came back with enough of the bubbly to last awhile.

Earlier we had gone out to the ravine with Jackie and Jillie for our usual traipse through the trails. Overnight the temperature had dropped to -18C but by the time we set out it had risen all the way to -6C, and hardly any wind, though we had 40kmh to 50kmh winds ripping through the night. That wind had whipped a lot of the snow that had so beautifully settled on the forest canopy, onto the forest floor. It was quiescent for us throughout our circuit until the very last ten minutes or so, when we transited from comfortable to cool; a bit of a shock to feel the penetrating cold through our jackets.

 A fair number of other people were out on the trails, many with their dogs, most of whom Jackie and Jillie, as is usual for them, were not too friendly with. One large black Lab was offended by Jackie's irritating barking directed straight at him, so he returned the compliment barking a whole lot louder with a growl to end it, then walked off in disdain. Jackie reacted by trying to climb up my pant leg to be held and comforted; not likely pal. He's got to learn if at all possible that actions have consequences.

Most large dogs are pretty laid back, and for that matter most of the dogs we come across in the ravine irrespective of size and breed tend to be friendly; at the very least civil, neither of which could describe Jackie and Jillie out in public. Jillie at least, after she's exhausted her shrill barking does change her attitude and is willing to make friends; Jackie who is really responding to Jillie's incitement,  is less likely to.

So, we rounded up our circuit to make our way back up the hill out of the ravine to the street, and home. Invariably, we come across someone just parking at the lip of the ravine and preparing to take their dog/s out for their own daily trip through the trails, and increasingly, we and they are beginning to recognize one another as 'frequent travellers'.