So though we contemplated investing in an ark, though we still have a canoe, the rain finally stopped. The sky's struggle with cranky dark clouds prevailed and all was clear, an ocean of bright periwinkle-blue this morning. The house interior was iridescent with gleaming light, electric with the rays of the sun probing every corner, Everyone was cheerful when we hauled ourselves out of bed.

 We basked in the bright light, eating our breakfast. Lingered with Jackie and Jillie in the backyard, warmed by the sun despite wind bursts of cooler temperatures. Mondays are busy. It seemed a shame to apply ourselves to the minutiae involved in cleaning the house. But I'm kind of dogged about that. Nevertheless, Irving looked at me and said how about an early trek through the ravine before housework?

He articulated verbally what had been going through my mind. That's the thing about living together for 67 years, you get to think alike, and come to conclusions both spontaneously and simultaneously, revealed when one or the other of you verbalizes what the other has also been thinking. We laughed, and agreed that was an excellent idea.

When we asked Jackie and Jillie they agreed. They had been a little forlorn now and again the past few days that comprised the weekend. A weekend of uncompromising, incessant heavy rain, with no breaks to allow us out on the trails as usual. And we missed our outings. It just felt as though each day was a failure, not having the opportunity to cap them off with the pleasure of looking about in the forest.

As we approached the ravine entrance we were surprised, though we shouldn't have been, at the difference two days makes at this time of year. But given the combination of shorter daylight hours, cold, wind and rain, predictable that so many trees would have shed their foliage. It's not that the only verdant areas owe their bright, dark green to evergreens. Many of the hardwoods continue to retain their foliage in defiance of autumn and resist losing their still-green leaves.

On the other hand, enough of the deciduous trees are now bare of leaves, the forest floor below thick in bright colours of gold, pink, red, orange and browns. Beautiful at present, soon to turn grey. The atmosphere is redolent of fall foliage, the unmistakable smell that takes us back to childhood when we raked fall leaves into crisp piles, and the musty, sweet odour met us, or when dove into them, and we kicked our boots through those piles to hear them crackle underfoot, smelling them release their autumn bouquet.

Yesterday was windy and with the rain, unpleasant. Today not quite as windy, but gusts now and again, roil the foliage that is left on the forest canopy, sending pine needles and drying leaves floating through the air. The poplars with their bright yellow leaves still intact, while others are bare, choreograph a leaf-dance of flickering yellow leaves.

The forest is well saturated with all the rain that's fallen. Wide rain puddles play host to floating leaves and the wind sends ripples through the water, while sun rays flicker like diamonds in the miniature lakes. We took our time, in no big hurry, wandering the trails. And we pretty well had them all to ourselves. Surprisingly, few other people were out with their dogs, and so it was a contemplative, quiet tramp with Jackie and Jillie satisfied to just enjoy the ambiance and forgetting the necessity to bark because people were about and they have to show who's in charge...

Last night's damp chill called for the comfort of a piping hot bowl of soup. I used a mix of dried peas and beans that don't require overnight soaking. Garlic, onion, zucchini, tomato and carrots comprised the vegetable component, perked up with fennel and cumin seed, paprika, pepper and garam masala. Served with a fresh-baked sesame-seed yeast flatbread topped with cheese and rosemary.

Today, after I finished cleaning the house and washing the floors I thought I'd put together a quiche, since we haven't had one for a long time. I decided to use Mozzarella cheese because I wanted something that wouldn't clash taste-wise with the smoked oysters I intended using. I also scattered in green peas. So it'll be interesting to see how those tastes blend in the finished product. I used sour cream instead of milk when I beat the eggs into the pie crust.