We're back again into heated summer days after a cool spell. Changeable weather is not unusual in the Ottawa Valley but the alternation from cool to hot is always unexpected. To the extent that one day we may be wearing light jackets the next even light sleeveless tops are too hot to wear. When we set out for the ravine this afternoon it was with the expectation that it would be a  hot trek. So we took with us water for Jackie and Jillie.

We had noticed several days back that some colourful mushrooms had begun to pop out of the forest floor. We looked for them and for more today but saw only some that had been uprooted, their edges gnawed, the signals that the forest squirrels had been up to their usual mischief. Later in the season when conditions are just right for fungi to proliferate, we'll see hallucinagenic mushrooms come up, deep yellow cone-like tops with white raised areas, very attractive. Makes us wonder whether the squirrels also nibble amanita muscaria.

We did see some colourful poplar leaves down on the trails. The leaves have turned yellow and pink. Just as they do in the fall. Why they do this in summer we have no idea, but we've seen it happen in past years so we're no longer surprised, just bemused. A preliminary dress rehearsal for autumn to make certain they get it just right? 

We met up with a large dog and her walker halfway through our circuit. The dog remembered Irving and was rewarded for it. She kept leaping excitedly at him while he was trying to extricate a small plastic bag full of doggy treats, and she was big enough to almost topple him, standing halfway up a hill. But cookies were doled out all around and everyone parted happily.

We decided to take a side trip over to the forest clearing beside the creek where we take an alternate route uphill to street level. We make that trip from time to time because it's irresistible. It's where all the wildflowers gather because there the sun is always in full evidence where the forest retreats slightly. Te's a richness of wildflowers of so many types, and this year they've really distinguished their presence.

Apart from extremely large clumps of tall thistles in flower, and clover as well, daisies are still in bloom alongside cowvetch and Queen Anne's lace, and great clumps of the tallest fleabane we've ever seen. There a single lone mullein and it represents the only plant that managed to evade the temptation to spread out which most other wildflowers succumbed to, this summer.

We've never seen such tall fleabane specimens with copious blooms. As for the Black-eyed Susans, they make our head spin. Their spread has been rapid and quite amazing. Their golden heads with bright dark brown eye lifted to the sun is the epitome of a beautiful wildflower. 

Among the thimbleberry shrubs and raspberry canes, cowvetch has run rampant, in full bloom. I was a bit crestfallen when I noticed that one very large thistle on the cusp of flowering was host to a nasty group of beautiful Japanese beetles. I was hoping they might not show up this year, but obviously it won't be long now before they invade our gardens. They tend to eat everything in sight; particularly roses. They actually appear in flocks, and nothing seems to deter them.

They'll lay their eggs in the soil, so the larvae that result can feast on the roots of grasses, and the inevitable result is ruined lawns. So though they're beautiful little animals, they're also ferocious pests that I'd much prefer not to see in ravenously health shape, anywhere, forest or garden.

That area is also where a lot of the raspberry canes are now bearing fresh fruit, and Jackie and Jillie love juicy sweet raspberries. Their reward for being our trail-hiking companions is the opportunity to gobble up what Irving picks. And they do, with great gusto.