It's been a productive day. One that began in a sense with the appearance of snow flurries. Not surprising, given the low temperature. We may dread the appearance of winter and all that it conveys to our minds; unrelenting cold, snowstorms, miserable wind, sleet, freezing rain and short, dark days but when we first come face-to-snowflake with the most distinguishing feature of a Canadian winter, we feel a frisson of pure, unadulterated pleasure. 

 

It's the child within us, despite having lived to a considerable age. With a plenitude of memories of years behind us, as children, as young emerging adults, as parents of young children, as mature and established, and finally in our elder years. The experiences are different at each of those stages but the sense of adventure and pleasure never entirely disappears. Above all, being sensible about it, not planning to flee to warmer climes for the winter months, but to live in the landscape you've been born to. Which definitely does not needless to say, come without complaints.

 

And Canadians are past masters at complaining about the weather. After all, it does exert a considerable pressure on the way we live. At the very same time that we complain, we boast that as Canadians we can take the cold, the damp, the miserable wind and blowing snow obliterating sight lines. After all, we're Canadians, eh? And truth be told, it does no one any good to hibernate in the winter months, fearing the outdoors. We have access to good, warm clothing and a wide variety of areas dedicated to winter recreation. 

Above all, we have ample green spaces wherever we live in the country for relatively easy access to natural surroundings. And winter and natural surroundings represent a superb match. It is where the splendour of winter can be observed and admired, and the atmosphere can create a pleasurable background for anyone's version of 'getting out in it', to preserve sanity and health. Irving hauled upstairs from storage in the basement some of our winter gear and we began use of it today.

Before that, though, even before we sat down to breakfast he had a call from his friend who comes over to change the all-purpose tires on the car and truck to ice tires. A few years back I was able finally to convince my darling husband that after age 80 this was not a task he really needed to do himself. The obliging gentleman that does, has a thriving business and cheerfully arranges to arrive at peoples' houses at a reasonable fee to do that for them.

 

So that was done as Irving wanted it to be; before he had to take the vehicles in to get them oil-sprayed with undercoating as protection from salt erosion causing rusting. And later Irving finally put away the last remaining summer items still not placed in the garden shed. A great big sigh of relief that everything's finally ship-shape in time for winter.

We were dismayed to see that the sun which had come out briefly decided it would retire and leave the day to low-hanging grey clouds. At this temperature -- 1C -- it's a tossup whether what would result would be snow or freezing rain.  In any event while we were out with Jackie and Jillie in the ravine it neither rained nor showed. The trail is wet and firm, but the puppies still returned home with muddy paws. At least they were snug enough in their new winter-intermediate coats.

The landscape was dark, even before four in the afternoon. Dusk was already creeping in, creating a veil of light grey soon to turn darker, under the forest canopy. Squirrels are more in evidence now, busy picking up fresh cones and seeds to take back to their nests. Yesterday while we were out we heard a raven for the first time in quite a long while. They're moving south from the boreal forest, Irving says. He saw and heard them when he was in the Yukon, and when we took a driving tour with our children many ages ago to Nova Scotia we saw and heard plenty of the birds around the Tantramar Marsh in New Brunswick.

Today again we heard the distinctive cry of a raven. We both love the sound. And as I looked in the direction of the hoarse sharp caw, we saw the dark silhouette of a large bird lifting itself from the crown of a tree as it flapped gracefully across the interior of the forest before it was lost to sight. 

Finally, too Jillie is over her stomach upset and this morning was able to enjoy her normal food. No more rice -- at least for the foreseeable future. To that end, we're keeping her on leash, although Jackie is just as stubborn as she is about mining for forbidden 'fruit' on the forest floor. It's just that she got sick and he eluded it. Even developing an eagle eye has its flaws; they act so quickly and furtively, the little devils. When we returned from our hike in the woods, they were both able equally to enjoy their usual fresh chopped salad.