Wind howled and rain fell yesterday and it was so cold at 17C that in the evening we put on the fireplace for warmth and comfort. Later in the evening we discovered that our once-frequent visitor, a juvenile raccoon whom we haven't seen in a month,  had returned to scoop up the peanuts left over by the mother raccoon and her five kits a little earlier in the evening. Irving stepped out onto the porch to replenish the peanut pile, and our little friend retreated slightly to his perch under the porch bench, and immediately resumed his browsing once the door closed behind Irving. He was so relaxed he splayed himself out comfortably on the porch floor and went on unconcernedly nibbling.

By this morning the rain had stopped but the entire landscape was as drenched as we've ever seen it. On the other hand, that drenching means that we could take a leisure turn around the backyard without having to water anything. Jackie and Jillie, ever on the lookout for 'intruders' make quick dashes back and forth in a vain effort to uncover the hiding places of chipmunks who take shelter under the thicket of garden plants.

After breakfast we went our separate ways, so to speak. I got busy in the kitchen and Irving went out to do some errands; back to his regular routine after close to two years of sticking close around home. First stop was Richie's Feed & Seed for another 50-lb bag of peanuts; the first one almost exhausted. While he was there he looked through their nursery and came home with three large pots of perennials; one of day lilies with bright red borders, one of tickeseed and the other blanket flower (gallardia). A surprise for me.

He called to let me know he was at the library, looking around for films we haven't seen. Although we never watch television we do on occasion view films taken on loan from the library, and that too we haven't been able to do for almost two years, with the library shut tight as a drum during the emergency closures of non-essential shops and services when the only 'essentials' recognized were food stores, pharmacies and spirits outlets, which speaks volumes. We would have chosen differently; food, pharmacies and libraries to remain accessible.

In his absence, I kneaded up a bread dough to refrigerate, put on a chicken soup to cook for dinner, and baked carrot-date muffins. I had snipped the dates along with candied ginger, and added a cup of broken walnuts to the muffins after shredding a carrot large enough to please a horse. Using half whole-wheat and half all-purpose flour, a tsp.cinnamon, half-teaspoon nutmeg the finished product should be moist, flavourful and tangy.

On Irving's return we gathered Jackie and Jillie and went off to the ravine for our afternoon sortie through the forest trails. Hard to say whether we've ever seen the trails quite so water-dense as today. Days and days of heavy rain will do that. All of the compass plants have opened their flower heads, finally. We marvel at the proliferation of the sumacs, seedlings and saplings everywhere we look alongside the trails. And burdock this year has grown to a monumental size, some reaching my height. 

Although today warmed up a little more than yesterday, it was still cool enough to require really light jackets, and our choice was rainjackets since from the look of the clouds it appeared that rain might be imminent. Jackie and Jillie quite unaware of the possibility of rain, but they go into panic mode when it does come down, so their rainjackets were stuffed into our pockets for good measure. But the rain held off and we even saw the sun break through the clouds briefly on several occasions. Complaints there are none...!