Another perfectly lovely winter day. Light snow falling, under a heavily overcast sky. So heavily overcast  it seemed more like night than morning when we came down for breakfast. The temperature has risen from last night's -11C to a more balmy -1C, with nary a whisper of wind. Because we had some leftover rice I decided to make rice pudding for breakfast, and it was a really nice change. Otherwise, we'd have had another favourite, oatmeal. We prefer large-flake oats that cook for at least fifteen minutes, but end up simmering on the stove longer than that.

When we come down to let Jackie and Jillie out to the backyard first thing, I plop the rice into a little saucepan, cover it with milk, and let it simmer to absorb the milk while we go back upstairs to shower. By the time we come back down again for breakfast it's ready for me to add brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins and it continues to simmer. Served with milk at the table, it's delicious.

After breakfast on Mondays we're busy. We both clean this house, Irving doing the vacuuming while I do the dusting, dry-mopping, and finally floor washing. Although there are lots of floors to wash, it's the dusting of furniture and everything that sits on it that is really time-consuming. A reflection of a lifetime of collecting things.

And when we're finally finished the afternoon has fled. It was after four by the time we were ready to leave the house with Jackie and Jillie for our afternoon hike through the forest trails. Before we left I prepared a Cornish game hen for the oven, planning to  bake an egg-noodle-raisin pudding to go with it, alongside sweet-and-sour beets. I had parboiled the beets to be able to slip the skins off, but they weren't interested in cooperating and I had to peel them instead.

It's always invigorating to be out in the ravine, the air fresh and cool. Well, yesterday was beyond cool; it was icy, freezing our faces, but today at a kinder temperature, it was lovely. And incredibly picturesque. Now that the unseasonably mild weather has left, the landscape more resembles what it should, with snow covering everything. We haven't had a real snowstorm since, but the small amounts of snow that do trickle down is beginning to compensate.

Like yesterday, we were out too late to be comfortable with letting Jackie and Jillie run about off leash since dusk was boldly creeping forward and we prefer to keep them close by where we can see them and reach for them if need be. They're complacent about being on leash, so it all works out fine. Other people can be less concerned over the security of their dogs, since they're mostly middling- to large-size breeds; ours are too small for comfort should danger threaten.

It didn't, and we all enjoyed ourselves. When we encounter other, familiar dogs, it's like a little reunion; they're always glad to see Irving and his cookie pouch, and Jackie and Jillie are always amenable to snapping up a few extra cookie tidbits when they're being handed out.