Yesterday was an iteration of Canada's newest public holiday, 'Family Day', when Parliamentary lawmakers sought to give Canadians a bit of a break for February, the winter month without a day to celebrate and feel free from labour and the usual. As a result most retail establishments were closed. We had a long weekend. The two papers, one local the other national we subscribe to, didn't publish. We thought briefly of skipping our usual Tuesday food shopping day, and go out on Wednesday instead of today. Good thought, but we failed to follow it through.

Consequently, because no one was able to do their grocery shopping on Monday, those who usually do, doubled up on Tuesday shoppers and the store we shop at, normally quiet with very few shoppers on an early Tuesday morning, was full of people gathering their groceries. Since the shelves were full as well, we had little to complain about. Everyone was masked and polite, but we've become accustomed to distancing and being in a situation where it becomes a bit of a problem is disconcerting.

We had a fine ravine hike yesterday afternoon with Jackie and Jillie and it's just as well we did, since although the temperature hovered around -5C all day, we had freezing rain and ice pellets today. The pellets coming down so hard plummeting from above each could be felt instantly hitting your scalp after tunneling through your hair. Jackie and Jillie weren't impressed. And so, we've got ice underfoot again. And since the freezing rain was fairly liquid, it meant bypassing a hike through the forest today.

 Although yesterday was house-cleaning day I was still able to indulge a bit for dinner, preparing a Cornish game hen, a Lokshin Kugel, (egg-noodle pudding with pepper and raisins; it works well, believe me!) green beans and sliced kiwis for dessert. That's something that Jackie and Jillie do appreciate. Since of course we can't have something that they don't also get to enjoy,

And today being another leisure day, I've put together another casserole with pasta, cheese sauce, green peas, chopped green onions and tinned pink salmon topped with Panko and grated Parmesan for dinner. Fresh raspberries from Mexico were on sale and they'll make for our dessert.

When we were out hiking yesterday we came across a young man walking two puppies. One, a Maltese/Yorkie/Chihuahua mix, the other a six-month-old American Golden Retriever, because, he said to us, his wife would only agree to their adopting a 'hunting dog' (for him) if she could have a 'lap dog' for herself. The puppies were both beautiful, absolutely adorable, and happily excited as only puppies can be. The tiny lap dog was a fraction of the size of Jackie and Jillie, and totally unafraid of anything, skipping about everywhere like a little grasshopper.

Late this afternoon when I was putting together the casserole for dinner, I was clumsy when I dumped the cooked pasta into a strainer to drain, and part of the pasta tipped over onto the floor beside the sink. Instantly, Jackie and Jillie were beside me, commiserating over the mess I'd made as I cursed myself. But would  you think these two otherwise-ravenous little kitchen helpers would hunt down every last slippery, difficult-to-pick-up piece of pasta to spare me the trouble of plucking the pieces up and into the compost pail? Not a chance!