Yesterday I castigated nature for sending us icy cold days lacking snow. Today, what met my eyes is ample evidence that nature sometimes listens and responds. Patronizingly sometimes. Still cold, just a tad not as cold as yesterday, but with a brisker wind. No gain there. And glancing out the front door a moderately white world appeared. A gesture of snow, not enough to remain intact under the glare of a blazing sun and tramping feet. Ah, but that sun and the clear blue sky above was the consolation prize...

Just enough snow in the early morning to convince our neighbour directly across the street to haul her infant grandson about on a red sled up, down, and around their driveway countless times until no snow was left untracked, and the little boy was happily introduced to his first winter. Not enough snow to deter the squirrels from their sprints from garden trees to peanut-laden porch.

As good a day as any, I thought, to try out a different dinner-time recipe, getting all the ingredients and the process together in my head. And incautious enough to mention said ingredients to Irving. Ground beef, great. Tiny cubed potatoes, excellent. Broccoli? That green dread vegetable? What on earth is it doing in a savoury pie? Well, dear, it will be cooked and smothered in a beef gravy. We'll give it a try.

We realized that the chandelier we chose yesterday at Home Depot, while pleasing our aesthetic sense mightily, was too large and would hang too low for the location we had in mind when we decided to spring for it. We're so pleased with the crystal chandelier Irving hung in the family room for additional light to enhance our reading passion, we decided another one would do nicely in our bedroom. Problem: it's an eight-foot ceiling and the fixture is so deep it hangs down a full three feet. Back to the drawing board.

We bundled Jackie and Jillie up in their winter coats, and us as well, and out we went to the ravine. Disappointed but not surprised that the wind had whipped the new snow off its perch on the forest trees. Not that there was much of it to cling to the trees to begin with. It had started flurrying last night around nine or ten, and more came down through the night, but sparingly. And joy, we're expecting rain tomorrow.

Jackie and Jillie at first ran around the snow in the backyard when it was as-yet undisturbed. Re-acquainting themselves with the white stuff. Coming back into the house with snow-laden paws. Wanting a rubdown. Out in the ravine they were blase about it. Seen it, done that. But we came across a pair of golden retrievers, one nine, the other just  over a year old, and the  younger one was beside himself with exhilarated ecstasy, running madly about everywhere, nagging the obviously reluctant older one to run with him.

With them was a tiny terrier mix and he was more than willing to romp about wildly with his big brother but his short, tiny legs, pumping insanely, just couldn't keep up the pace, though he made the effort. The last word in utterly adorable.

The sun was pumping its blinding light into the atmosphere, through the forest canopy, lighting everything up, glancing off the snow, but doing little to warm the -2C ambience. Reminding us of that brilliant observation that you can't have everything.