Irving's a picky eater, but he knows what he likes and yesterday evening we had chicken livers, mashed potatoes, fried onions and green beans for dinner. I'd done an Italian plum compote because the plums had no taste at all, big disappointment. As a compote, he enjoyed them. He ate almost everything, shared a bit of liver with Jackie and Jillie, left some mashed potatoes (cooked with onion and garlic mashed together) and then groaned under the weight of over-indulgence. 

That resulted this morning in his suggestion that we eat light tonight. What's light? I had originally planned to do a quiche for dinner tonight. Then I realized since breakfast included soft-boiled eggs, that was enough eggs for one day. So I switched over to an old standby that I hadn't made in years, but did do a few weeks back, a savoury onion-tomato tart. I've no idea why it fell off our menu, but it did, for quite a long time. Today, then, it's an onion-tomato tart. 

It has other ingredients, of course; integrally, old Cheddar. I also added finely sliced bell peppers with the tomatoes, savoury herbs and snipped bits of anchovies. He'll likely leave over much of the pastry dough, but that's all right. I used half whole-wheat, half white hard-wheat flour for the dough. And won't serve anything else with the tart, other than dessert.  Since we did our food shopping today, we'll have fresh raspberries and I hope they'll be better than the ones we had last week.

Turned out to be yet another superb day. We had morning sun, but that was it. Clouds moved in as soon as afternoon did, but it was still a beautiful day, warm at 21C with a light breeze. Jackie and Jillie and I puttered about the back garden a bit in the morning. It looks better than it usually does at this time of year even though there are plenty of tired plants, exhausted from a season of hard work.

Early afternoon saw us sauntering up the street to reach the ravine under an increasingly cloudy sky with a few patches of blue still remaining. Overhead, the sound of a passenger jet moving through the clouds and seeming to head straight for the sun blazing through a patch of blue. The roar of its jet engines vibrated through the air, then faded as it continued its journey leaving us earth-bound people to enjoy terra firma, not regretting the last bit that we haven't flown anywhere in years.

We were caught by surprise, as we traversed one trail after another, at the number of people that were out and about on the trails along with their dogs. It's Tuesday, not the weekend, and it's puzzling where all the people are coming from, throughout the community. Could it be that the tense atmosphere surrounding a federal election has been lifted now that the election is over? The results certainly not particularly pleasing, irritating and frustrating to many, including ourselves; actually outrageous that a man more suited to the stage than head of government has returned despite his constant demonstrations of inadequacy as a prime minister and his penchant for unethical behaviour.

In any event, we kept coming across a lot of cheerful people and playful dogs. We even saw a year-old Vizsla, the first of its breed we'd ever seen here, a beautifully proportioned, graceful and mannered dog. Who sat quietly while Irving fumbled for his cookie bag. And there would be more to follow as we made our way through the trails on our circuit. Jackie and Jillie accommodating themselves generously to cookies being doled out to all and sundry.

At some points where we found ourselves in conjunctions between trails, an assemblage of dogs would congregate, circling one another, sniffing, making acquaintance of each other, a little circus of dogs of various sizes, breeds and temperaments all sharing the same language. I could feel a grin from ear to ear freezing my face, watching them in motion and interacting.

Their presence and their antics even brought smiles to the faces of the few people passing by without their own companion dogs. That's the kind of effect they have on most people. Somewhat like seeing adorable young children in innocent play; irresistible. There were even some young mothers pushing infant strollers up on the plateau of the ravine, though if they entered with the thought of quiet and peaceful, the motion of the stroller putting their child to sleep, it would hardly work with the issues of excited barking erupting now and again.

We hadn't seen any snakes emerging from their dens earlier in the spring as we often do. Particularly nests of young ones, released from winter's cruel grip, coming out to warming days and searching out the warmth of the spring sun. Now, however, we've seen three garter snakes in the space of a week. Today it was a larger fellow than the previous two we came across. This one was stretched across the forest path seemingly disinclined to move, until I approached a little too close for its comfort.