It was nippy this morning when we left the house to do our grocery shopping; not surprising since the  temperature was quite low last night. As we left the house a chorus of high-pitched, piteous howls followed us into the garage, Jackie and Jillie voicing their misery at being left bereft of our presence for a few hours. On our return they leap about in ecstasy, must be endlessly petted in reassurance, with kisses all around.

It was surprising to see the products that appear in short supply prowling the aisles of the supermarket. I usually buy among other things, tuna tins for the Food Bank, and there have always been some priced at a modest $1.29, often cans of meat on sale, along with beans and cheese-and-noodle boxes. And when I buy tins of soup I look for the house brand, less expansive than the usual brands. For the last while the house brands have been overwhelmed by the presence of officially-branded soups (Heinz), everything has gone up in price and the shelves of canned fish were almost empty. I used to spend $15 weekly for non-perishables for the Food Bank, now it's $20 to $25 at a shopping.

At one time, I'd be depositing my bag of food donations into a large, mostly empty cage for the Food Bank collection. Now that large cage is always full, and shopping carts are added so people can deposit their offerings as overflow. That part of the community that isn't struggling to put food on the table, spending a little more to ensure that others in the community who need help with access to food doing what they can.

By the time we left the supermarket the atmosphere under a now-clear sky had warmed considerably. We decided to drop by a fruits-and-vegetables-specialty shop to augment what we'd bought at Food Basics. Breakfast melons have suddenly gone into short supply, and we were able to pick some up at Farm Boy. Along with strawberries locally grown (Il d'Orleans), green grapes, 'brown' tomatoes, fresh green beans, beautiful looking corn, and Kettleman's Bagels.

We took an early afternoon stroll through the ravine with Jackie and Jillie after our late breakfast. They did their usual madcap runabout in the house in their excitement; from bedroom to bathroom (where I was changing) onto the loveseat, and sproing! from it to the bed and back again. But they play coy, especially Jillie, when we prepare them for our outing. Neither particularly like being harnessed, but once it's on them, they forget about it. It's just that we won't attach their leashes to their collars; not a good idea for small dogs.

 We had some rain overnight again and the constant rain events interspersed with more than adequate sun, has spurred everything to tremendous growth. It was so pleasant ambling along the trails on a warm, not hot day with a cooling breeze and the sun streaming through the forest canopy that we took our time and went off a little further on an elongated circuit. 

At home again, once J&J had their obligatory (for me) salad, I chopped some broccoli and zapped it briefly with butter in the microwave. Then I went back out to begin doing some garden work. Cutting back spent vegetation and filling a few compost bags with the results. Work that, despite the relatively cool temperature, warmed me up considerably. So, hot and kind of tired I finished up, satisfied with tidying up the garden and its containing brickwork that Irving had worked part of a spring and summer to accomplish twenty years ago, from excavation to cutting and laying stonework, then brickwork; infrastructure that has stood the test of time.

Back in the house again, I put together a vegetable casserole of broccoli, green onion, celery, bell pepper, tomato, ground pepper, sweet basil leaves from the garden, and grated Grana Pandano and aged cheddar for dinner. That will go into the oven for about a half-hour or so before serving, and prefacing it will be corn on the cob. And for dessert -- what else? -- fresh strawberries! 

As compensation for tolerating an all-vegetable meal, Irving gets to partially cook tomorrow's planned dinner. Steaks on the barbecue, and his specialty barbecue-fried potatoes. He'll tolerate the green beans that will accompany the steaks. He might decide to switch the potatoes for garlic bread...