I can hardly believe I wore an air-light summer top when we toddled through the ravine yesterday on a humid-cloistered hot day with a barely perceptible breeze filtering through the forest. After our return from our hike in mid-afternoon the sky became dark with rain clouds and the house interior even darker before a series of tempestuous outbursts of rain relieved the intense humidity of yesterday.

 The temperature began steadily falling and though it took the house a while to cool off, the outside did so in a hurry. The wind had picked up and came hurtling through the house and that did the trick. Before long we had to close the sliding glass doors to the deck because by then we were feeling downright cold.

By the time we went up to bed the temperature had plunged to 9C, with a really aggressive windforce. It did make for comfortable sleeping, though I regretted having put really cool cotton sheets on the bed to help with the sweltering heat, the day before. As though it wasn't yet windy enough, it became even more so through the night as more rain fell and we reluctantly closed the windows.

This morning it was downright cold, like a return back to winter. The trees in the backyard were almost horizontal at times with the force of the wind, matching the temperature which still hadn't managed its way back beyond 7C. Hard to tell whether the vegetation, shrubs, trees and flowers appreciated that sudden turn of weather, but it does seem to have spurred greater growth, the grass calling out to be mown.

Jackie and Jillie wore light little sweaters and we wore medium-weight jackets, into the ravine in the afternoon, taking along gloves 'just in case'. Irving had stuffed his little bag with cookies as usual in case we'd come across other dogs besides our two in the ravine. It soon became evident that people who had evaded going into the forest in heat and humidity so beloved by mosquitoes leaped at the opportunity to return today. The cookie store was soon cleaned out.

No sign of the owls; could be they're cowering in hiding against the wind shattering the peace of the forest and the cold freezing their feathers. Of course they're nocturnal animals and they could just be snoozing away last night's fulsome feast.

We thought about putting the fireplace on soon as we returned home, then decided we'd wait for evening. Since the sun's rays penetrating the house windows was doing a rather efficient job of warming the interior in compensation over being unable to do the same with the outdoors.

It was a refreshing hike through the forest, after all. And an absolute absence of mosquitoes which is quite the feat. And then, cold or not, ending the outing with a tour through the garden, which always warms us.