It was great while it lasted, weather aside. The weather, however, didn't keep us from getting out daily to explore wooded areas on trails both familiar and new to us. And the spectacular natural sites that always draws tourists to gather in honour of nature's grand geological design. Breaks between heavy rain events enabled us to do what we normally look forward to, and a good time was had by all; all being ourselves and our two little dogs.

Today was house-cleaning day, and there was a lot to be done in this house. So it was late afternoon by the time we got ourselves out for our daily hike through the forest trails with Jackie and Jillie. The morning had brought heavy rain again, a carry-over from overnight rain last night. We took our time, we always do, with breakfast. There are newspapers to read, emails to catch up with, and it wasn't until noon that the routine of cleaning began.

Before we left the house for our hike in the ravine, I popped a Cornish game hen into the oven to begin its roast period. With it, new crop baby potatoes. I prepared a few cobs of corn, and cubed pears and sliced kiwi made up dessert. It was a good hike for all of us, we always feel better, even when we're tired, to get out into the fresh air; it pumps up our energy and feels so good. And the puppies need their daily outing in a natural setting, as much as we do.

The contrast between the meal we had tonight and the chicken breast I cooked while we were away in New Hampshire couldn't have been greater. The game hen was done to perfection, its meat delicate and moist. The chicken breast bought at the Hannaford supermarket was dry and stringy, so much so it was difficult to cut with a knife at the table. Our poultry tends to go through a chilling process that tenderizes it. I had forgotten how awful chicken in the U.S. tastes.

But there are other food issues. Strange as it may seem, when we embark on a week's trip like this, we take along bread we've bought here at home, knowing how unpalatably cotton-batten-like bread is there. And though its quality is inferior to our taste, it's also more expensive than bread in Canada. There are other disappointments; boxed cocktail tomatoes and out of a half-dozen, two had to be discarded. Same thing happened in June, only with Georgia peaches, boxed and past their prime.

Lean, Black Angus beef, a premium cut, awfully disappointing; touted as lean but greasy tasting. Grape tomatoes with skins so thick they defied a knife. And American-grown oranges that were tough and full of seeds, quite unlike the U.S. oranges we buy here in Canada. So, what gives? Couldn't be nostalgia for home when we're away each time a week, no more. Fact is, we love being there, enjoying the exemplary landscape of the White Mountain National Forest. 

 Just tells you how regional food is. The corn we bought was fresh, the cobs much larger than the corn we buy here. The kernels were tough and starchy-meaty. The bicolour corn we eat at  home is smaller, the kernels also much smaller, but bursting with sweetness and beautiful to the taste. That tough corn is cattle-corn, meant for livestock feed, yet it's stocked for human consumption. Go figure.

Our family, including Jackie and Jillie, eats a lot of eggs. And we always buy Omega-plus, vitamin E-enhanced eggs. In the past I've been able to buy some kind of Omega eggs at Hannaford, but not this time. Mostly they featured free-range eggs, along with ordinary varieties, but none enhanced with chicken feed (flax) that would produce vitamin-E eggs. Our puppies don't know the difference, but we do.

Just as well there's so much more that draws us to New Hampshire than the food. The people are unfailingly friendly. Unless they're visiting Bostonians and they're everywhere at this time of year. Grumble, grumble. Hard to believe, reading this, that we love the place and the people and the exposure to some of nature's grandest landscapes...