Catching up on correspondence used to mean responding to a letter from a family member, a friend, keeping in touch through the mail, making certain there's always postage stamps and envelopes on hand, and waiting for the reply. Now any days that pass between receipt of an email 'letter' from anyone you care about causes itchy conscience; shouldn't I respond right away rather than let days, a week even pass before writing in return? After all, I've had to wait a week before I heard from them after sending them a letter...

So it might be a good idea to set aside a day when you've got less than usual to accomplish within the space of that 16-hour period, and look after paying bills and responding to emails at length. Because after all, if they're proper letters they take time to compose. You want to make certain you're addressing all the issues brought up by your correspondent... Isn't life complicated!

Nothing complicated about the leisure feeling that Saturdays evoke, however. A holdover from days when working nine-to-five, five days a week made Saturday a celebration of doing what you wanted -- after you did what was needed. Breakfast in your own good time. Sleep in if you feel like it. Mosey about, there's no hurry about anything. Catch up on whatever it was you missed during the week. 

But the reality is we've been 'retired' from the active work force for a quarter-century; 25 years, if you prefer, though the term quarter-century sounds that much more impressive. So time's our own, right? Could be. But then if you've got lots to do throughout the course of every day even though time's your own you're still busy, reflecting the life-style you have chosen.

The highlight of the day for us is always gathering Jackie and Jillie and sloping off to the forest where true relaxation sets in. Something about the landscape, the restful greens of the forest, the blue of the sky above, the sweet breezes, the warmth of the sun -- all reminds us of the important part that nature plays in our lives. Exposure to nature, to things natural.

And since today is Saturday we're not the only ones taking advantage of a community's close communion with nature. A forested ravine simply does not conform to the requirements of home-builders, contractors who are looking for tracts of land where municipal services can be linked up and straight streets can be paved and houses crammed into the narrow plots to service a growing number of urban inhabitants. That being so evidently reality, this community safeguarded its close proximity to a natural setting.  

Today there were a lot of people out hiking through the trails; some evidently had never been in the forest before; the novel coronavirus has led to that kind of discovery for a lot of people for whom access to forms of recreation were denied during lockdown periods. Jackie and Jillie met a lot of new dog acquaintances today, too. From large and calm-tempered dogs to small and courteous dogs, young and old, all of whom they could take lessons from, but won't. They're their selves and that's that.

The last stop for us before emerging from the forest was the meadow, and it's rare to see anyone there poking about other than young boys looking to net a few goldfish for themselves. It appears they've been all too successful, since we haven't seen any fish for the past week gliding through the pools created by rocks and logs fallen into the creek, and that's a disappointment. What the boys won't scoop up, the Great Blue Heron will, however.

I hadn't meant to spend any time in the garden today, thinking I'd take a complete rest from everything And truth to tell the backyard looks good enough that it isn't calling out for me to do any tidying there. Ah, but the front of the house...well, lots to be done. Clearing out unwanted weeds from the interstices of the bricks on the walkways, cutting back wayward branches on the crabapple trees. Reducing some of the hydrangeas that have become too leggy and intrusive. Sweeping up fallen leaves and other detritus gathering on the porch from our day- and night-time visitors cleaning up on peanuts and biscuits.

So I was out awhile, filling up a compost bag for pick-up on Monday. And while I was out there, a young man came by, introducing himself as a representative of Bell Canada, to inform that work will begin on laying new optic-fibre cable shortly, and it will take about three weeks to complete. During which time our lawn and driveway will be dug up in a rough three- to four-foot-width, and everything will be done to ensure we are not too discommoded as the work progresses. Sigh. Our lawn has never recovered from the last two times Bell contractors came by to 'fix' our connectivity and that of our neighbours.