Where does the day go? All the more so when one wakes late, and even then the allure and comfort of remaining in bed, talking, discussing the news, playing with Jackie and Jillie ensures a really late entry into the day. Time zips by, afternoon arriving before we've had a decent chance to appreciate the morning hours adequately. Of course, lingering interminably over breakfast as an everyday ritual, prolonged even more on the weekend with more elaborate meals first off in the morning, kind of makes certain that late morning slips effortlessly into early afternoon before we know it.

And then for the next few hours we can play catch-up. It's a game Jackie and Jillie enjoy participating in. I can tell them I'm busy, have a lot of things to get done, and they assume I'm telling them, hey, let's have some fun, because I feel guilty and squat down for some play-time tussling with them.

Irving went out shortly after breakfast on one of his missions. To the bank, to pick up a Sunday Star, to get some more hardware, and in particular a ceiling roundel which Home Depot no longer carries and others do, to Canadian Tire for chandelier bulbs. No end of things to be picked up. Amidst the madness of Christmas shopping, now in full sway. It's frantic out there but it'll become even more so as we move into December. 

On his return he decided to start putting the light fixture together, all the bits and parts to be fitted into a whole, before he can install the thing. He sets  himself these tasks fairly spontaneously and then feels a sense of  time-urgency to get things done. I tell him he can work at a more leisurely pace since there's no schedule, no urgent time frame within which he must complete something, but that's not his way.

Off we went to the ravine on yet another heavily overcast, cold, windy, damp day. We left at 3:00, but at 2:00 we had a bright, brisk treat when the sun came out briefly to pay a local call. That's when I took Jackie and Jillie out to the backyard for a bit of recreation between our local squirrels taunting two little dogs and ending with both pleased with the outcome.

We're now at that time in mid-November when we yearn for snow to cover the landscape. For one thing, the absence of foliage and the sight of bare masts rising to the sky in dark silhouettes needs some visual  relief and snow will do that. For another, the forest trails are thick with muck and greasy, saturated foliage sliding underfoot. Snow will help that, too. As will the deeper penetration of frost in the forest floor badly needed at this juncture and on the near horizon.

As we ascended the main trail on the ridge of the forest we encountered others out like ourselves and for a little while there was a frantic free-for-all as dogs arranged themselves around Irving, doling out cookies. These are our friends and acquaintances; some we've known for many years, others more recently met, along with their dogs. Some of the dogs are restrained, some are bumptious, either by personality or by firm discipline. Irving appreciates it when dogs take cookies from his hand politely.

Last night as we concluded another busy day, we had what I call a 'harvest soup' for dinner. Chopped onion, garlic, celery, red bell pepper, potato, in a chicken-soup stock, with frozen corn added the last ten minutes of cooking. Today it'll be another favourite, dried beans, chopped onion, garlic, tomato, zucchini, sweet potato, tomato paste, cumin side and garam masala. This time I prepared a whole-wheat, cheese and rosemary-infused flat bread to accompany the soup.