It's really difficult to make appointments at the groomers for Jackie and Jillie. It's a hugely popular establishment, linked to the veterinarian clinic we've been using for the past thirty years, as a later addition. I once used to groom Button and Riley myself, a process I didn't look forward to, and that they patiently endured. But my less-than-amateur skills never produced a good job on their haircoats; they might look good for a week or so and then they would appear unkempt shortly afterward.

 

 

What we tend to do is make a year or two years' worth of appointments well ahead when the groomers' calendar is still open, so that every two months they're taken in for a full treatment, and they do a great job. A month ago we noticed with dismay that we had missed two months in setting up their appointments; the time year when it's the hottest and they could use the comfort of shorter coats. Their last appointment was mid-June and they weren't scheduled again until mid-September.

 

 

They already looked pretty shaggy, when we called and asked whether there were any openings, but they were booked right up. Then last week they called back and said they had a cancellation and could take our two in for a regular appointment. That was for today. We drive them over, they recognize the setting, take them in and deliver them to the waiting arms of the attendants. They're placed in a little private waiting room and we can see them through the floor-length window of the room as we leave.

 

When we return an hour and a half later, they're there, at the window, waiting for us, Jackie barking, both of them scrabbling at the window. They've been bathed, their nails trimmed, ears cleaned, and hair shorn and they leap into our arms.

 

Earlier, in the morning, two young fellows came around with equipment to ask whether we wanted our driveway recoated, and because it was time to have it done, we agreed. They first had to dig up the encroaching lawn on either side of the driveway, and today is a hot, sunny and yet humid day. It's hard work. It took them several hours and now we've got to let sealant cure for 24 hours. We thanked them and paid them somewhat more than the agreed price, offered them cold orange juice, and then they went on to the next customer.

 

 

We took Jackie and Jillie out for a ravine walk just after 11:00 am to get a walk in before their 1:15 pm appointment. Up to that point in the day it was cloudy with a 40% chance of rain. After having been rained out yesterday, we were grateful when the clouds dispersed and the sun emerged. Irving forgot to take along his cookie bag, and compensated by picking quite a few ripe raspberries and thimbleberries for our indignant-expectant pups.

 

 

Our leisurely stroll through the forest was pleasurable as it always is. Bees and beetles, hoverflies and birds were everywhere we looked, particularly in the pollinating meadow. Clover has grown there to gigantic size, and the soft pink flowers of the clover plants attract the bees just as much as the Black-eyed Susans do We saw hoverflies on compass plants, red soldier beetles on Queen Anne's lace, and the Japanese beetles that wreak havoc in our garden on clover flowerheads.

 

 

After we delivered the pups to the groomers, shortly after our ravine ramble, we went off to do the weekly food shopping. Although that steady upward creep in food prices cannot be overlooked, it seems to us that fresh fruits and vegetables in season remain reasonably priced, a bargain for what they represent. Niagara peaches are now in, and a basket is under $6, the same for apricots. Regional melons and cauliflowers are available, fresh and beautiful and reasonable.

 

Our weekly purchases for the Food Bank don't include anything like that, however. It's non-perishable food that we focus on; Kraft dinner, canned turkey or ham and tins of tuna, and soups. I'm now down to my last plastic disposable bag to contain all these offerings left in a large steel-mesh container in the foyer of the supermarket. My only choice may be from now on, to begin using the cloth bags for the Food Bank collection, so it's hard to see where banning single-use plastic bags help the environment when it's more costly in energy to produce cloth bags.