Another dark morning, and then we realized it was snowing, steadily snowing. Snapping on the news we heard police had issued a warning to stay off Highway 417, right during the morning commute. Black ice, drivers were warned. Early, very early, there were already 19 collisions reported, some serious accidents. Drivers in the Ottawa Valley mostly equip their vehicles with ice tires, but black ice can be deadly. A combination of weather circumstances. 

 

So of course, traffic came to a standstill, and the highway was blocked off by police, and people had to find alternate routes. It was the reason for the repair person who was supposed to show up early afternoon to have a look at our two-year-old Whirlpool dishwasher that has been leaking, unable to arrive until mid-afternoon. By then, I was washing the floors, so we put it off to tomorrow afternoon.

 

To our surprise, defiant to the forecast, the sun emerged and brightened the day. But the snowpack is full and high and radiating an icy vapour though the thermometer finally edged up to 4-degrees Celsius by afternoon. Little wind, but a chill in the air nonetheless. Yesterday was colder, though, and warranted a comforting evening meal of warm dinner rolls alongside a steaming hot bowl of soup. This one was a vegetable bean-pea-lentil soup, heavy on tomato, celery and cubed sweet potato.  The soup had a robust flavour given the herbs, garlic, onion and jalapeno pepper in it, moderated by the sweetness of the yam.

 

A perfect day we found, for our afternoon ramble through the snow-packed forest trails. Whatever snow fell in the morning had been melted off the trees by the sun. Even since yesterday's ravine hike we could see, despite overnight deep-freeze again, that this season of melt is making headway. Wider stretches of the snowpack on the slopes of the hills are being bared.

 

 

We had a few visitors come around to say hello and wait for their cookies, so Jackie and Jillie kindly offered to accept a few little cookies just to keep their friends company in the cookie-frenzy that ensued. Actually, it's our two that behave so wildly, the others are well-behaved and patient while Irving fumbles about with his cookie cache, selecting little dogs' as opposed to big dogs' cookies.