We had a little bit of excitement last night when we noticed that little Pepe had returned for a visit. We haven't seen him in a while, but I guess word gets around in the animal kingdom in the ravine and he decided to come and have a look for himself. Confirmation that skunks too favour peanuts. It was a distinct pleasure to watch the little fellow, and we did for some time.

Last night we spoke with our son in Vancouver. He's been busy lately with field work, mostly supervising graduate students under his watch. The site he was at was right on the border between British Columbia and Washington State, not far from Vancouver. When he was returning from the site under study he saw something that quite amazed him. At the border there's a kind of ditch to demarcate the division between the two countries, and there, on either side of the ditch people were sitting on folding chairs, talking across the border with one another.

Some groups had tables and were serving light food, and everyone looked comfortable and relaxed, conversations freely flowing, if at a higher-than-normal decibel. He was quite intrigued; we'd read about these cross-border 'meetings' between family members and friends, and there they were, in living colour. There were border agents on the American side, but no one was bothering the people gathered and it looked quite serene, he told us. Just looking at the people enjoying themselves under these miserable conditions imposed by the pandemic shows how resourceful people can be. 

When we awoke this morning it was obvious this was going to be a hotter day than the previous several. So we decided we'd get out early, before breakfast, for our ramble through the ravine, and Jackie and Jillie were willing, so off we went, on a close, humid and sunny morning. As we did, so did many others, including regular hikers we haven't seen in a while, so it was pleasant and entertaining as well to see our old friends.

After breakfast Irving decided to proceed with the last of the jobs awaiting his attention. When we lived in our previous house he was faced with the same problem that now confronts him. Although we have the vehicles professionally oiled for winter to prevent salt degradation, the concrete floor of garages take a beating from the salt municipalities use on roadways for traction against ice and snow. Cracks appear, and they widen, and the matter that constitutes the concrete begins to crumble.

Last fall he had bought some concrete patching material, but hadn't got around to doing the job because it wasn't warm enough, and the job requires a warm atmosphere. Well, it was certainly warm today. So he's been at it for hours. In our previous house we had a single-car garage, and he was 40 years younger than he is now. He just smiles and chucks my chin when I express any degree of concern over the work he's doing. It's taken him hours and he's almost finished, and then I'll breathe a sigh of relief.

He'd gone out to pick up an additional pail of the stuff and while he was out picked up some groceries I hadn't asked him to fetch. But we're expecting our older son and our daughter-in-law on Friday and he wanted to put in a few things that he knows they're fond of as special treats. I had baked giant chocolate chip cookies to greet them with. It hardly matters how old one's children are, they still head directly for the cookie jars...