Last night's plum pie was quite excellent, the walnut crumb topping a perfect foil for the plum-stuffed filling that finished off our Friday-night dinner. With lots of pie left over for another dessert, since just how much can two people eat, after all? We went up to bed eventually feeling pretty stuffed. Perhaps not a bad idea on such a cold night, but with prospects of seeing the sun on Saturday cheering us up. When we awoke on Saturday morning it was to note that the house roofs behind ours seen through the sliding glass doors to the deck, were testament to just how cold it had been during the night; frosted entirely white. As were the roofs of our garden shed.

The house was snug and comfortable though, and two little dogs were anticipating their breakfast, racing about after one another as they often do, just before a meal is served. Everyone prepared to meet the new day. And we did, with breakfast melons, bananas, orange juice, eggs, toast, tea and coffee. Jackie and Jillie generously offering to share melons and eggs during our breakfast, having polished off their own with great gusto.

But the sun was out and beginning to warm up the house, although not the exterior markedly. Enough however, to melt the frost on the roofs. I was a little surprised and quite gratified to discover on venturing out to the backyard that the frost hadn't been hard enough and sufficiently prolonged to do any damage to the still-blooming annuals. Which I will compost, just not yet, not while they still appear fresh and appealing.

We went off to the ravine once breakfast was cleared away, the kitchen cleaned up, beds made, and puppies raring to go. Still cold, at 6C, but unlike yesterday the wind kinder, and the sun mostly in evidence. And while we still dressed Jackie and Jillie in little sweaters they were light ones and they seemed perfectly comfortable in them. 

The ravine had an entire day to begin drying out from all the continuous rain events. And since leaves are steadily continuing to fall, the trails are mostly well covered with leaves. Of course fallen foliage over slick clay trail bases make for excellent sliding opportunities, but we're pretty well accustomed to the kind of footing that awaits us during this time of year on ascents and descents. November will be even iffier, the results of freezing nights and thawing days. But we're not there yet.

We happened across an odd looking mushroom. In fact it far more resembled a bright, pink flower than it did a fungal growth. It was pink, and it looked layered, as though it had petals. And it was quite beautiful, an impressive natural caricature of a summer flower. Well worth a photograph, I thought. It wasn't actually the way the mushroom grew naturally. I had lifted a small bit of branch off it to reveal the entire mushroom. The branch had fallen at some point thanks to the wind, and partially crushed the top of the mushroom and that effect was what had produced the floral effect.

Soon after we returned home we busied ourselves preparing for a drive into central Ottawa for Irving to pay a visit to his favourite stained-glass shop to refresh his supply of materials in anticipation of starting his new door's insert. A small bag of liver treats, and a flask of cold water for J&J. A section of the newspaper and a pen for me. My camera, and I was ready for anything. Since of course, if the puppies accompany us, I'm relegated to baby-sitting, waiting in the car for Irving to get his shopping done.

On our way driving along the Eastern Parkway, we pass a large field where corn was grown this summer. Now plowed, it was full of hundreds of Canada geese, plumping themselves up in preparation for their long migratory flight south. They spend days on and along the Ottawa River, fattening themselves up on what they can find on farmers' fall fields. Flight has already begun, it's been weeks that we've heard those honking calls overhead in massive flights one after another.

We also eventually passed the Parliament buildings. Downtown Ottawa once again resembles the Ottawa of old. Packed with tourists ambling along the streets, taking selfies, photographing one another at the usual places that attract tourists. The neo-Gothic Parliamentary Precinct with its trio of buildings; East and West and Centre Blocks the primary attraction, as is the Byward Market, and the entire length of Wellington Street with its museums and galleries, from the Mint to the National Gallery, the War Museum and the Holocaust Memorial onward...

The Centre Block where the House of Commons and the Senate normally meet are under construction, with badly-needed rehabilitation taking place, so that both the Senate and the House must now meet elsewhere on a temporary basis; perhaps for the next eight years or so until work is completed. It's a massive job at an impressive cost, but one long overdue.

The drive along the Ottawa River to get to our destination is pleasant. We passed groups of both white gulls and Canada geese on the greensward alongside the river and in the river itself. The sun shone and then it disappeared, hiding behind pearl-grey striped clouds hovering overhead. People meandered about in couples and in groups. Quite a number of the groups comprised of young people, looking for somewhere to go, somewhere they can be together doing whatever the restless young tend to do, sharing seriously deep conversations...