When we left to do the food shopping early this morning, right on target, Jackie and Jillie put up their chorus of injured howls. You're leaving us again, poor defenceless little puppies to look after ourselves, don't you care about us at all?!!! When we returned we were informed that their howls ceased the moment they heard the garage door go down, and began again on our return when the garage door went back up again. So that's a relief, their languishing agony doesn't last long... 

We'd had a suffocating night, after a quite hot day. Then the morning sun glared through the house windows and the humidity level was sky-high. By the time we arrived at the supermarket, wind had driven dark clouds over the blue we'd seen first thing in the morning, a difference of just a half-hour. We shopped at our first destination then headed off for the second, which specializes in the freshest, most abundant fruit and vegetables in the region.

All went well, we planned to have the puppies out in the garden with us for a short while before unloading the groceries. And then the skies opened up and rain fell. They joined us outside anyway, romped about for a short while, then we all hurried back into the house to put all the groceries away. A much-appreciated, late breakfast followed, and we all sat around, talking animatedly, Family always has plenty to talk about, catching up with one another.

We decided on an early afternoon turn in the ravine. The rain, which had become surprisingly heavy, had stopped by then, the sky cleared and beautiful white puffy clouds had taken the place of the angry dark ones that had given us a surprising amount of rain. By then the humidity had dissipated, the sun was out and the air was scrubbed clean and cool.

Our son and daughter-in-law are familiar with the ravine. Over the years when they've stayed with us they've had ample introduction to the forest. Their condominium apartment in Toronto is in fact, right beside an urban ravine. Not as deeply forested nor as long and spread-out as ours is, but their living air is scrubbed clean because of their proximity to it, and they can on occasion walk through it all the way up to Black Creek Pioneer Village.

Our hike through the trails today like previous ones this week with them, was beyond pleasant. We moved as a quartet, or in pairs, lots of chatting, but attention spared for the landscape surrounding us. We enjoyed the sight of the wildflowers glowing in whatever rays of the sun that managed to penetrate the forest canopy. And looking straight up at that canopy you never know what you can see. Sometimes it's an owl, a cardinal or a crow, and today it was a very large wasp's nest.

In their turn we admired Himalayan orchids, pilotweed, fleabane, goldenrod and black-eyed Susans in generous bloom, and took our time now and then picking the occasional raspberry and more plentiful thimbleberries. The blackberries are in good display but need more time to ripen. And then we came upon something else unusual. A month ago or so Irving saw the most beautiful little flower on a vigorous shrub hidden amongst the bracken beside a narrow path leading to the pollinating meadow.

That same flower and others like it on the shrub had been transformed into a papery green globe, and it suddenly occurred to us what the plant, its flower and its fruit were, leaving us to wonder what a tomatillo plant was doing in the forest? How it got there may not be a great mystery, since birds are notorious for leaving seeds of all kinds behind in their droppings. Dogs' coats can pick up seeds and deposit them, the possibilities are endless, even the wind. But tomatillos, who grows them other than a commercial enterprise? There are nearby farms, of course.

The mystery won't be solved; nature keeps her secrets well hidden from curious minds. We did enjoy our tramp enormously, making our way through to the pollinating meadow and viewing the richness of a forest glen colonized by goldenrod, daisies, Queen Anne's lace and black-eyed Susans.