The older people we know have now all had their first shot of anti-COVID vaccine. Now when we see our younger friends, the first thing that bursts out of their mouths is a jubilant: "We got our shot!". And usually, it was done the very day we see them, or the day before, and everyone is relieved and delighted that they've been vaccinated. Without exception, everyone is also quite aware that having been inoculated it remains incumbent upon everyone to continue exercising the same cautions as previously. 

For the present, as long as COVID remains a threat in the general population, and particularly at this juncture, where cases continue to rise and younger people are becoming infected, with hospital admissions soaring and ICU units pressed for the need to look after seriously ill patients, masks continue to be worn in public, and social distancing maintained. 

Schools have been shut, public parks have curfews, shops and restaurants may not operate as they have been doing. Canada has now realized the misfortune of overtaking its southern neighbour in per capita case numbers. Almost everywhere in the developed world the race to vaccinate as many people as possible is uppermost in governments' minds. And Canada has not distinguished itself in that regard, appearing 47th on the list of advanced nations in their success in inoculating proportions of their populations.

Mundane things occupy our minds, to take us away from concerns over the pandemic and the chaos it wreaks everywhere. It's almost too much to comprehend, the numbers involved in expressing virus cases, hospitalizations, deaths. So turning one's mind to everyday occupations eases concern and restores a sense of normalcy to one's intimate spaces, if not extendable to the outside world.

Yesterday we had a meal that was a little different. I like thinking up ingredient combinations that can make for a one-dish meal, and yesterday's turned out pretty good. I used a half-cup cous-cous and a half of a chicken bouillon cube melted in a cup of boiling water to start with; sauteed chopped onion and garlic clove, to mix into the cous-cous, then layered it in a casserole dish with the flaked contents of a tin of tuna fish sprinkled over, then frozen green peas, grated cheddar cheese, sliced tomatoes and basil. Baked at 350F for 30 min.

In the morning, it occurred to me that our breakfast table looked fairly crowded with everything we would consume. I suppose our focus on food is comforting to us, aside from being a necessity to fuel our bodies and our minds. And it sets us up for the day fairly well, given that we confine ourselves ordinarily to two meals a day; breakfast and dinner. We long ago dispensed with lunch, feeling it entirely extraneous to our needs and we don't miss it.

Jackie and  Jillie entertain themselves in their own inimitable way. Jackie hauled one of my socks out of the bin we keep in the laundry room and played with it in the family room, tossing it into the air, catching it, and re-tossing it. Jillie sits halfway up the stairway in the front hall from where she looks down at the porch through the glass front door to keep tabs on who's coming by. For his part, Jackie prefers to station himself right at the door, the better to bark indignantly at the squirrels coming by. When we set out for our afternoon walk, I turned to look back briefly at the porch and saw a rabbit scurrying away when it heard our two rascals barking.

There was some light rain this afternoon, on a heavily overcast, 15C, and windy day. But the rain didn't last and out we went with Jackie and Jillie, rainjackets for them in our own rainjacket pockets in case we got caught out in another rain squall. But we didn't. We noticed the first little strawberry plants on the forest floor, bright green in an otherwise-dun-coloured micro-landscape.

Irving spotted the first of the trilliums to begin poking through the warming soil, surprising us both, because we didn't expect to see them yet for another several weeks. They and the trout lilies will soon be sporting their flowers, bright little points of purple, white and yellow flags in a less-than-verdant background. 

Day by day we're astonished at the strides made by new growth, the tiny green leaves appearing on the forest understory, closer to our eye level, with shrubs like dogwood and honeysuckle beginning to leaf out. It's a miracle of nature we'll never be bored with, exciting to us each time we witness that transformation back to life.

And just before we left the ravine completing our circuit for the day, there was the male Mallard again, steaming up and down the creek. He wouldn't be far from the location that his mate chose to nest, and she's busy sitting on eggs while he awaits the outcome of a new litter of ducklings.