Yet again summer convinced autumn it was not yet time for cold to prevail, and autumn courteously stepped aside, permitting summer to temporarily continue its presence, warm and comforting complete with wide blue sky and a shimmering sun to further warm the atmosphere. Autumn seemed content to sit on the sidelines envying summer's popularity as it witnessed disbelief and joy on the faces of those who peopled nature's precincts.

 

We can hardly believe this weather as it continues to see the sun glow, rain sprinkle the landscape, warmth pervade and the gardens wanly responding. The garden knows its time is up for another season. It still struggles to provide pleasure, and it succeeds in its mission while understanding it is with profound regret that the gardener must prepare everything for oncoming winter. The flowers will be gone, frost will nip its late buds, the foliage will drift down from all the trees that comprise the height of the garden architecture.

 

Remaining berries and tiny crabapples will obligingly provide treats for overwintering birds. The masses of geese flying overhead on their fall migration will be stilled. They join the songbirds and hummingbirds on their annual trip to kinder winter climes. Jackie and Jillie will be slightly less amenable to popping out to the backyard on purposeful trips, morning to nighttime. 

 

The weather forecast told of light rain events for this afternoon. The sun had other ideas and it came for a prolonged visit. Not wanting to waste its effort, we took ourselves out to the ravine with Jackie and Jillie towing us along. There, we found the forest floor and the woodland trails just as steeped in as-yet-unabsorbed rainwater as in previous days. Although no rain fell today, fallen leaves continued to cup yesterday's rain, glittering like crystalline jewels in the half-light of the forest interior.

 

Despite the ambience of the day, there weren't many out on the trails today. A situation we selfishly applaud, since little detracts us from our observations of the natural world embracing us, in their absence. Jackie and Jillie run ahead, then return and walk calmly beside us or at our heels. Jillie has always had a habit of rubbing her head on the back of our legs as we all toddle along. She does this if on occasion she knows she has not behaved well. It is her way of ingratiating herself, of asking forgiveness.

 

 

They are so unalike in character and temperament, she and her brother. When she is scolded she affects to be unimpressed, sloughing it off. But it does bother her when she is not in good grace, and her tendency to rub her head on the back of our legs is her signal of repentance. Her brother, on the other hand, becomes quite demoralized when he is reprimanded for anything; his reaction is instant and alarmed; his tendency is to distance himself, then drop behind as we progress, walking at our heels. As for those dogs we did come across, they instantly recognize Mister Cookie Man.

There was no need at all to admonish them for anything today. Other than to 'shush' them when they bark hellishly at other dogs approaching. There were scant few occasions today. But what we did see was a number of new fathers and mothers from the wider community accessing the forest from streets nearby, separately pushing those tough-wheeled baby strollers on the upper portion of the main forest trail where it describes a circle, well above the ravine itself.