Last night's quiche was just fine. I tried something I've never done before. Because the pastry for the quiche would be filled with beaten egg (and sour cream), I thought I'd like a stiffer crust, so I added a very small amount, about 1/4 tsp. of baking powder to the flour and salt before blending in the Crisco, then lemon juice and ice water. The crust turned out stiffer-puffier than it normally would and completely dry on the bottom when it was fully baked.

And the addition of the smoked oysters over the layer of mozzarella cheese with green peas sprinkled on top worked out well. Because I like to do things ahead of time and I was an hour early in the initial preparations with the quiche before putting it in the oven to bake, I held off adding the beaten eggs/sour cream (pepper and chives) and filled the crust without egg batter and just let it sit for an hour. When later, I had heated the oven to 350F, I filled the crust with the egg and let the oven look after the rest.

Last night was cold and heavily raining again. Nature is stuck in her fall formula, lots of rain as the atmosphere becomes colder and windier. Comfort food is the order of the day, every day. A little bit of sun during the early hours after an earlier rain event at night into the wee hours, followed by cloud-filled skies that release rain late in the day is hugely preferable to the kind of all-day rain we saw on the weekend.

And so it was, again today. Sunrays shimmering through the house windows, lighting up the interior, warming the house. After breakfast I made a batch of crepes and filled them with cottage cheese (honey and cinnamon). They're blintzes, and once prepared refrigerate nicely until the time comes to fry them either side and serve with sour cream or apple sauce, or maple syrup. One of Irving's favourite 'light' dinners.

When we  took ourselves out to the ravine led by Jackie and Jillie the 7C temperature was absent wind, so though it wasn't as warm as yesterday, it was still pleasant.  And then the sun kept playing peek-a-boo with us. Illuminating the landscape where gold predominates and glancing bright yellow off the forest floor. Every day the forest becomes a little more naked of its foliage, and the sight lines increase accordingly.

When we were approaching the third bridge fording the tributaries of the creek Irving spotted away in the distance a little white flash streaking toward us. And before we knew it, a tiny multi-colour-patched dog was prancing at his feet, awaiting the great giveaway. It was a ten-year-old pint-sized poodle mix, able to cover ground speedier than her 18-month-old companion and in a few seconds they were both there, imploring their share of cookies being dished out by Irving.

Soon their human caught up with them, and eventually we parted. But as we continued to make our way along the ridge of the forest and had gone our separate ways on different trails that converge, the little fellow kept running back to us for more. Half the size of Jackie and Jillie, she is very independent and so adorable we keep chuckling at her fierce determination to get her due.

I had wanted to get back home in time to get out to do the grocery shopping and on our return work outside in the front garden, to scoop out all the remaining annuals in our garden pots, but it was not to be. We just kept running into so many of our trail-hiking acquaintances and everyone enjoys standing around talking, before hauling off again to complete their tramps through the woods. Some of the dogs are more eager to have their ears rubbed and can't get enough of that. It's all time-consuming and inordinately pleasant.

My anxiety to pluck out the last of the flowering annuals wasn't to be realized, however. Just not enough time to do everything before the rain descended with a vengeance out of a thunderously dark sky. We're heading for a deep frost tonight and all those annuals will be turned to mush. More difficult and messier to remove. But that's how things turn out sometimes. Tomorrow will offer a greater opportunity to catch  up and finish off my autumn yardwork...