I'd be lost without scissors. And without scissors my hair would be voluminous, long, unruly and difficult to manage. If on occasion I look in the mirror and congratulate my hair for appearing on its best behaviour, I take it for granted it will continue. Unfortunately that impression of well-behaved hair lasts no more than four days to a week. And then it becomes a fond memory. That's when it begins to look like a tangled mess and I reach for the scissors. It's a ritual that repeats itself at least monthly, with little nips here and there in between.

My face is small and I guess I'm altogether somewhat small, so flyaway, long hair does not suit me. Mostly because my hair has a natural curl and is by nature rebellious. On the other hand, because it's somewhat inclined to curliness I'd have to work really hard to give it a butchered appearance. It's as though it becomes chastened when I've set about cutting it. Doing acrobatics with the help of a double-sided mirror to cut the back as well as the sides and front.

For a short period of time after my hair has settled down after a thorough disciplinary session of plying scissors as liberally as the instance demands, I feel I look presentable. Aren't we all infused with a bit of self-confidence when our hair is framing our face, softening our appearance, helping to make us look at least halfway civilized? 

Jackie and Jillie are also getting to that point. They need a grooming session. And one is coming up in the next several weeks. We'll get a reminder call from the pet groomers and mark it on our calendar. We were so frustrated at the start of the pandemic in trying to book our usual appointment for them that we booked a regular appointment for the following two years. We'll have to renew it for another two years.

The two 50-lb bags of shelled peanuts that Irving picked up from Ritchie's Feed & Seed less than a month ago have been exhausted. Which led him to drive over there again after breakfast to pick up another two bags today. He stopped in at the supermarket to pick up a bag of Kokua Rose rice, because he refuses to eat any more of the rice we had latterly bought; he's very fussy about the quality and taste of the rice he so much enjoys. He also picked up a can of pumpkin for me to bake a pumpkin pie on Monday.

In anticipation of baking pie on Monday, I decided to bake a very small apple crisp for tonight's dinner dessert. We're not planning anything special, just half a turkey breast between us, likely a potato pudding, a green vegetable and the pie. I'll put off cleaning the house on Thanksgiving Day and try to get some gardening time in instead.

We were taken by surprise this afternoon, out in the ravine by the number of people who were on the trails; at least for the first half of our circuit. Wondering where they all came from, and why Friday. But of course it's a significant holiday long-weekend and it's more than likely the next three days will see the forest hosting a much larger contingent of people from the greater community than is usual.

Nature has been especially kind o us all for this week, offering us warmer, sunnier weather, and we accepted gratefully. Today the high was 20C, under a Pacific-blue and blazing sun. Irresistible. All the more reason to celebrate the occasion by making a date with nature. Each and every day now in this season of autumn, there's a notable change in the colour palette. At the same time most of the leaf mass remains bright, dark green.

But look below, on the forest floor, and there lies fall's decorative touch of a kaleidoscopic carpet of foliage in all the splendour of surrender to eventual winter; a kind of farewell gift before the landscape is entirely transformed to become void of colour under winter's white camouflage.

We heard small fixed-wing planes overhead; aviation enthusiasts wanting to make the most of the weather in their private aircraft. And the complementary sound of geese travelling south in their annual drive to escape winter through fall migration. The air is crisp and clean and we feel vigorous and relaxed at the same time. As for Jackie and Jillie, they're enthused about trail-hiking whatever the time of year and related weather conditions.