Whoops -- another thousand-truck convoy is headed from Alberta to the national capital of Canada. Solidarity. That appears to be what's motivating truckers and ordinary citizens in France too from what I've read on the BBC, while Paris has warned such a sympathetic mass protest will not be permitted by authorities there. And some of the protesters that have arrived from others parts of Canada to park their rigs and stay right here next to Parliament, on the cusp of two weeks are saying that their young children living out of their daddy's trucks are doing just fine, thank you very much.

This government of Justin Trudeau's has divided the country on a whole range of issues, from energy resources to aboriginal reconciliation to reminding the citizenry that there are good people and then there are bad people; the bad people refuse vaccines and are racists, homophobes, deplorables. And we're not to forget it. What Canadians as a whole will not forget, however, is the arrogant ineptitude of this government led by an inveterate, disdainful egotist. 

As eventful at the truckers' convoy has been, bringing their hurt and outrage to national attention and in the process dislocating peace and serenity for people living in Ottawa's downtown core, while challenging elected officialdom to respond to their issues and account for mandates issued at every level of government which have partnered with the global pandemic to turn peoples' lives upside down and inside out, things are infinitely more banal in our cloistered lives.

Today brought us overcast skies and rain, brief interludes of sun and wind and a  high temperature of 4C when we've become more accustomed to -15C. This has been a weather-puzzling February thus far/ Vibrations from the division of public opinion supporting the truckers or condemning them? Only nature knows, for she is responsible for creating us and the weather, and she isn't talking.

Once the rain stopped we decided we'd gear all of us in raincoats and take the chance that it wouldn't rain again since cold rain even at 4C isn't anyone's idea of pleasant. Luck was with us, and it didn't rain again while we were out. And since it was so mild and the trails in the forest are just fine, we decided to tramp along in a larger circuit that kept us out quite a while.

The snowpack is beginning to shrink although if you're not familiar with its depth it would be hard to tell. Since we see it every day and note when it reaches certain levels, we could gauge just how much it has receded and it's considerable. The mild weather has also begun to free the creek from its icy prison overlaid with snow. Areas of the creek have shrugged off the snow and ice and the water beneath is running freely.

There's an elderly man we were just lately introduced to as a new hiker through the forest trails, accompanied by a sweet little terrier. I've never seen him when he isn't looking sad. Usually he walks with another man we've known a bit longer, but today he was alone with his little dog, and we stopped and talked awhile. And now it's evident why he always looks sad. He lost his 50-year-old son to a COVID infection. What can you say to a stricken man with that kind of burden of loss?