Today is a typical hot summer day. 29C, light breeze, mostly sunny. It's why we decided to get out earlier than usual with Jackie and Jillie to do a round in the ravine, before the full heat of the day struck. So what's Irving doing now? He said to me he was headed outdoors to wash the truck, because he hasn't washed it in a year. We haven't gone anywhere in a year. He couldn't hand it over dusty, he said, to the fellow who is going to do a brake job on it.

He's the obliging fellow who works in the RCMP garage who also does private automotive work on the side. Mohindar had put us on to him; he changes his tires from winter ice tires to summer 'all-season' tires and back again every year. We decided that at age 84 Irving won't do it himself any more. He struck up such a rapport with this guy who has a hoist of his own at home as well as all manner of equipment that he asked him to repair the truck brakes. They've become a little spongy, Irving said, and their response is no longer instant. So, he's out now in the heat, washing the truck.

Our foray in the ravine was exceedingly pleasant. Before we left, when I went back upstairs after breakfast to change, Jackie and Jillie followed me, as they always do, and began their crazy routine of chasing frantically after one another, leaping from loveseat to bed, back again, bedroom to bathroom and challenging one another to tussles, then scrambling to outrun one another madly panting with the exertion, but obviously having a whale of a time.

They're more subdued in the ravine, on the forest trails. All those distractions from the messages they come across. The occasional dash into the interior after a squirrel. We began to notice yesterday in various parts of the ravine that there are quite a few elm-tree saplings coming up here and there. Dutch Elm disease had devastated the stately old elms throughout the city and its surrounding forests in the past decades. They're trying to make a come-back.

It hasn't taken ash trees quite so long to respond to their existential plight posed by the predation of the emerald ash borer of more recent vintage. Ash seedlings and saplings have been flourishing everywhere; coming up from the still viable roots of the mature trees that died, and from the forest floor where seeds have taken.

We ran into an old acquaintance we haven't seen in awhile. Not surprising since people tend to come out at different times during the day by habit and we just happened to be out at a time when we normally wouldn't be. His wire-haired Pointer is a dandy specimen of a beautiful looking breed. We'd never before seen this dog, devoted to his ball, carry it with him into the forest, but there he was, ball tenderly cradled in his mouth carrying it everywhere, gently kneading it with his teeth.

From time to time he'd place the ball in front of me for reaction, and I'd give it a light kick, making sure the dog's head was well out of range; instantly he responded time and again, leaping to reclaim his ball. It's a treat to watch a dog like this in motion, it's so smooth, the dog's musculature and perfect form a symphony in motion.

As we moved along through the forest Irving picked berries now and again for Jackie and Jillie; their just due. And from time to time approaching one of the wild apple trees he would study the ripeness, then reach up to pull a branch forward and pluck a few of the very small, ripening fruit. Then bite off pieces to treat Jackie and Jillie with. Or me.

 

Further along, we came across yet another immature maple that was already changing colour. We're seeing more poplar leaves on the trails, their bright fall colouration entirely premature to the season. Fall will arrive soon enough; we prefer not to see any reminders of its gradual transition from summer, bringing us closer to winter...