Now that the light ambience in our family room has been improved, Irving is busy doing the same with our bedroom. For the past fifty years or so home-builders have bypassed quite a few things we take for granted; no longer does the electrical work in a house include a central ceiling fixture. There was no such lapse when we bought our first little semi-detached bungalow in Richmond Hill north of Toronto in 1957 for $11,500 although despite houses then being built wrap-around brick, not just as a facade, the building code back then didn't include adequately weather-proofing homes as it does now. I can remember seeing frost high up on the inner bedroom walls under the ceiling in winter.

Yesterday, Irving installed the roundel anchoring the new light fixture he'll be putting together like a jigsaw puzzle. The scaffolding under the roundel is hung, and now the patience to put all the bits and pieces in place will be the next challenge. A ceiling fixture will go far in our bedroom to offer more light than the current three table lamps provide.

Outside the house it's a quite a bit brighter now, too. It was still sere and grey looking as we came downstairs for breakfast this morning, and then suddenly all those white clouds let loose and snow began descending in great rapid fluffs. The snowsquall didn't last long but it did leave an impressive amount of snow for such a short spurt of heavenly activity. I shovelled the pathways in the backyard for the first time this season. Not the least bit difficult since the four inches were pure, light fluff.

Irving removed all the summer mats we have down at the house entrances and replaced them with the winter-weight-and-sized alternatives. And he dug up our winter boots that we will exchange for our hiking boots. 

Jackie and Jillie whipped about the backyard in a frenzy of discovery, the snow spraying out in all directions under their prancing little paws. Of course when they re-entered the house the snow was stuck halfway up their scrawny little legs, so a good run-down was needed before they embarked on yet another mad rush-about in the house.

We were surprised at the depth of the snow in the driveway. Not quite enough for the snow removal crew to come along and tractor it all out. Irving just swept the porch of snow, so he could put out more peanuts for the squirrels. We decided, at -5C, with no wind, that we could gamble Jackie and Jillie could weather the cold-plus-fresh-snow without boots today. That's just on the cusp of what their tiny paws can take without discomfort.

The sun was emerging behind the clouds by the time we all got dressed and prepared to leave for the ravine. Halfway through the trails this afternoon we realized there was more blue sky than cloud and the sun had fully emerged. Traction was good on the trails, others had been out before us, breaking trail. There were skiers and bicyclists, and hikers out at some earlier point, to tamp the snow down nicely. We experienced no difficulty either in ascending or descending the hills.

Occasionally, toward the end of our circuit, Jackie and Jillie lifted a leg, and we removed iceballs that had built under their paws, then they carried on without problems. Not many people were out when we were, and we had no trouble imagining a frenzy of Christmas shopping at all the malls. The forest was a peaceful cathedral of snow-slathered trees, the canopy well draped in a glitter of soft white opacity.