We were invited by Jackie and Jillie to spend a short while in the backyard with them early this morning before planning the day ahead. The garden beds and borders are thick with flowering perennials, from roses to peonies, Cranesbill geraniums to mountain bluet, with our many hostas and heucheras filling in the spaces and flower buds already appearing on the varied flowering vines. 

After yesterday's cool temperature, dark atmosphere and all-day rain, a delightfully warm and sunny day  appeared this morning, and we thought that since the forecast alerted us to the potential for more rain for this afternoon, it might be a good idea to get out for our hike through the ravine early, say before breakfast. Since Jackie and Jillie were in complete agreement, that's just what we did.

The change in the weather pleased the birds in the forest, they greeted us with musical enthusiasm, their trills identifying them as mostly robins, a small flock of juveniles that we saw later flirting with the creek as we trekked along. A forest in its full green finery, the lilting songs of birds, free movement of your limbs in an air-scrubbed atmosphere, could there be anything finer to start the proceedings of the day to come?

Jackie and Jillie didn't think so, their enthusiasm glowed with the promise of a long yet leisurely circuit. An enthusiasm that included, by force of habit, anticipation of cookie-goodies doled out to them at points in the circuit they identify unerringly. Of course, they hadn't eaten any breakfast, just as we too held off in favour of trek first, shower and breakfast later. They opt to skip the shower. They had all the 'shower' they could tolerate two days earlier at the groomer's.

We spotted hawkweed blooming for the first time this summer, along with fleabane, bright pink flower heads of clover, buttercups, daisies, and among them the to-be-avoided-skin-contact-with wild parsnip. Red baneberry is now setting its clutch of berries, still bright dark green, soon to become bright red, visually appealing but poisonous. False Solomon's seal is doing the same. Copious numbers of bright white blackberry flowers proclaim their summer intention of producing ripe, juicy, sweet berries, as do the bright pink blooms of the thimbleberry shrubs.

We ended up taking a long, involved circuit since it was early morning. We had heard on the radio before departing a warning of poor air quality,but it wasn't until we returned home hours later that we could smell the acrid warning of the air pollution wafting over us, though we saw no haze indicative of the particulate matter that turns fresh air into lung-nasty threats.

After our of-necessity-late breakfast it was back to the backyard again, this time for a little work. A bit of weeding, and then the serious business of mowing the grass. Jackie and Jillie have an antagonistic approach to mechanized machinery that tend to make a lot of noise. Perhaps they view that sound as competition for their own frantic barking and there was plenty of it as they confronted the backyard interloper.