The heat wave is done. We're back in tolerably cooler weather, in the mid-20s, and much, much cooler at night. Although we had a light sprinkle of rain this morning the constant pop-up showers and heavy rainfall has also departed. We call it typical August weather. Hot and humid days interspersed with cool and rainy days. Extremely windy at times as well. It can be a real puzzler planning outdoor excursions. But not when your excursions are predictably in the same place in a routine of daily tramps through a forest.

Summer meals are often made a little interesting with barbecue alternatives in the offing, and yesterday Irving did chicken drumsticks. When  we shopped Tuesday morning we bought a basket of baby new potatoes and they deserve special attention. Par-boiled, quartered and simmered in olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt, dehydrated garlic and cracked pepper, they make a spectacularly delicious side dish to any meal. And with it we had a fresh broccoli salad that included chopped green onion, dried cranberries and a hard grated peach drizzled with a vinaigrette dressing.

Tonight, we'll try for my version of a Spanish paella; no chicken or sausage, just fish, vegetables (garlic, onion, bell pepper, tomatoes) saffron, smoked paprika, and rice. 

 

We've had a perfect sunny weather day, with a high temperature of 26C, some cooling breezes that invited Irving to cut the grass in the backyard. Jackie likes to officiate. Jillie prefers barking incessantly at the monster leading Irving about the backyard and snarling.

 

And then we decided it was time for an afternoon  hike through the forest. Under the forest canopy, it was cool and beyond pleasant, urging us to saunter along, although of course we tend to puff somewhat ascending the hills. As usual, we weren't out long before encountering a few of Irving's cookie fan club. Which pleases Jackie and Jillie mightily, because they know if other dogs are enjoying cookies bestowed upon them, they will too.

 

We took a longer network of trails today, just because we felt like it. And whenever we do deviate from the usual, Jackie and Jillie are beyond pleased, excited to be ripping through the trails and into the underbrush to sniff out all the interesting new daily news tidbits informing them who has passed through, when and any other little canine details we won't question.

 

And then another deviation from the usual, heading on that narrow pathway closed right in with grasses taller now than we are, where we discovered the surprising presence of several tomatillo plants. We stopped to assess the progress of the tomatillos encased in their paper-thin pale green wraps, and found that there were still flowers blooming that will produce another series of tiny tomatoes.

 

From there, on to the blackberry canes and thimbleberry shrubs to see what could be harvested in ripened fruit. Irving never comes away empty-handed. And while he's busy doing that, I clump my way through chest-high grasses and wildflowers thickly massed in the pollinating meadow among the bracken on the forest floor, to admire the flowers; fleabane, goldenrod, black-eyed Susans, and purple loosestrife, primarily. A thicket of wildflowers, nature's original garden.

 

When we finally find ourselves back home again, it's time to take a little walk through the garden to see  how everything is faring in the garden pots and urns and garden beds. This is a daily task that Jackie and Jillie take fairly seriously.