When spring finally arrives after another too-long winter season, all the winter garments and peripherals are washed, folded and packed away for storage. Jackie's and Jillie's in one of the cupboards of the laundry/mud room, and ours in a more capacious storage box, downstairs in the basement in the cupboard under the stairs. When Irving had finished the basement so many years ago, he had put in a washroom, a small 'study', and a large recreation room. The under-stairs cupboard was one of two; another held his painting supplies.

You think, with relief, when everything is packed away and you look forward to warmer days when getting out can be more spontaneous with no need to pile on clothing for warmth, that that's it for another long interval. And suddenly the interval collapses and you're back to beginnings; up come the storage items and you riffle through them to find the most important pieces. Like warmer gloves and toques and scarves, and you sigh as you prepare the puppies and yourselves for a more complex season of accommodation to the weather.

But it's all good. Everything is in place, a time and a place for everything. We're flexible. We noticed something quite amusing with Jillie. Last year when we would return from our walks she would always rush up the driveway, up the garden pathways and onto the porch. The porch is where Irving put out seeds and nuts and kibble for the wildlife. We loved feeding them, but the work involved became too demanding, particularly cleaning up after them. It was amazing how much dirt and detritus they brought along with them and left behind. 

Now that there's snow down on the ground again, it triggers her memory of scarfing up goodies on the porch. Only now there isn't any. Because we're not feeding wildlife any longer. Two years ago when spring arrived our neighbour discovered raccoons in his attic. Looking for the warmth and comfort of an interior to bear young, close to a food source. And last year a rabbit found it handy to nest nearby that same food source, Making a temporary nest in the garden under the snow where it also nibbled on the roots and bark of an old yew tree and the holly shrub beside it. By the time spring arrived they were both dead.

Out we went with our two pups this afternoon, a little earlier than the past two days' sorties, just after three in the afternoon. Under a metallic-grey sky that throughout the day produced light snow flurries. A much windier day than yesterday, with a high temperature of -1.5C. We decided our hiking boots would work fine, we weren't quite ready for winter boots. But they're next on the agenda. Some of yesterday's snow melted on the forest trails, but enough was left to make ascents and descents a little dicey. Areas where snow had melted also carried the frozen residue of the melt, which became ice, since it's colder today.

It's always refreshing to commit an hour or two of the day to a hike through the ravine. We might, on the occasional day when the temperature dips to or below -20C with high wind and blowing snow, decide to give it a pass, but we're nowhere near that time and place yet.

 Yesterday on our return back home I felt inspired to produce a 'comfort dish' for dinner.And that dish was Shepherd's Pie. So that, piping hot and fragrant out of the oven, warmed us and pleased our palates along with green beans and sliced persimmons for dessert. Today it will be another comfort dish, only this time the focus will be on fish and rice, whereas yesterday's was ground beef and potato. Other than that they have little in common as far as ingredients go, but both serve their purpose very well.