We couldn't, and wouldn't ask for a more perfect day. It's our 66th wedding anniversary. We usually treat ourselves to a trip to the Waterville Valley in the White Forest of New Hampshire at this time of year to hike along old familiar mountain trails, but not this year, and not the year before. Instead, we opted this morning that dawned sunny and hot and windy for a pre-breakfast tramp through our nearby forest with our puppies, Jackie and Jillie.

What convinced us that morning would be an ideal time for a walk in the woods was the prospect of an afternoon temperature high of 30C, punctuated by thunderstorms. It certainly didn't look as though thunderstorms were nigh when we set out, since the sky was perfectly clear, the sun gleaming in its golden chariot with a cooling wind making the temperature feel just right.

A few days ago we had stopped for a lengthy chat with a young man we occasionally see in the ravine, doing the trails at a double trot for a physical challenge. But he likes to stop and talk, and we oblige. We hadn't seem him for a while, and he just happened to mention that he'd never seen poison ivy in the forest. I just nodded, and went on to tell him of the poisonous plants that are present on the forest floor, like red and white baneberry and henbane, neither of which he had heard of, much less knew what they looked like.

A few years ago we recognized wild parsnip growing beside one of the trails and I pointed it out to another constant hiker who came along the following day with tools to uproot it all. I'm of two minds about that; on one hand, I like to see all the plants that erupt out of the forest floor, on the other it does pose a problem when these plants are close to the trail, anyone brushing up against such a plant could come away with a severe skin irritation.

 In the case of the poison ivy, even as he spoke, we were standing in the one area on one particular trail where poison ivy abounded. Today, though, we saw other, more pleasant plants flaunting their presence in the ravine. Blackberry canes have proliferated in the forest, they're everywhere a little bit of sun can penetrate the interstices of the forest canopy, and it looks as though this summer will bear a bumper crop of berries.

We were surprised after an hour of tramping the trails to come across our dear neighbours Mohindar, Rajiner, and Imeran, coming down one of the hills heading for an exit, meaning to return home through interconnecting streets. Mohindar has been having problems with one of his knees and finds downhill tolerable, but uphill intolerable. Rajiner has been taking to coming into the ravine on her own for a lengthy, brisk ramble, because it's good for her. She's been working from home the past year and more and so has Imeran.

Close to where we came across them we were surprised to see a few 5" goldfish (carp) swimming about in the stream in several places. We had thought the Great Blue heron and the pair of Mallards that have colonized the creek had finished off all the fish, but evidently not. Close by the creek there was several patches of daisies in bloom, and bladderwort, and alongside them, both purple and pink clover in bloom.

Back home again, setting the table for breakfast, the sun went in. The house became dark. We went upstairs to shower, and the house seemed really dark. Then thunder erupted and Jackie and Jillie barked their disapproving response. Thunder, lightning, a dark atmosphere and a sudden release of torrential rain. That kind of thunderstorm erupted again in the afternoon, the clear sky we had enjoyed departed the scene and dark clouds took their place.

After breakfast we drove an hour and a half to our daughter's house, to visit with her and our granddaughter, something we haven't done very often in the past year and a half. And there was spent the balance of the afternoon. She has feeders out for hummingbirds and you can see up to ten at a time flickering about her bounteous blooming honeysuckle growing up against the front of her house. And there we also saw Yellow Admiral and Monarch butterflies flitting about the flowers in her garden.