Heavy overnight rainfall continued throughout this morning and into the afternoon hours. A dark day of perpetual dusk, overhead black clouds scudding over a landscape that would see no clearing this day. A day of leisure and the comfort of a warm, dry house, while outside raged the wind and the rain, the atmosphere cool and denying aspirations toward a tryst with nature in our nearby forest.

There is an undeniable beauty on such moody days. Looking out toward the house exterior into our gradually diminishing  garden, I'm grateful for the beautiful, still-fresh-in-appearance, hardy annuals that continue to bloom in our garden containers, insouciantly denying the season and oncoming frosts. Each time now, at this time of fall, when I glance out at our intimate landscape I'm thankful for this brief extension of summer's garden gifts. In the knowledge that their remaining time is brief.

We're absorbed by the news, watching footage through the Internet compulsively, listening to news releases, viewing debates and worrying, worrying with concern over outcomes. We speak quietly together, our voices betraying disquiet and concern. Jackie and Jillie are concerned about nothing but their creature comforts and we reflect those basic instincts ourselves. Unlike theirs, ours are tainted by the stain of ages-old experience.

We regularly update one another in sometimes terse passages of newly-acquired information. And then turn to musing over what underlying message there can be regarding events and statements by those close geographically to those events. The tragedy unfolding yet again seems too much to bear. Bear it we must. And look for comfort wherever it can be found in the outside world, finding instead that it is sparse, while the opposite is spirit-overwhelming.

Then finally the rain begins to lighten, though not the sky. Soon, in mid-afternoon we're able to get out with our puppies, albeit dressed for more rain, which will most certainly fall, given prevailing conditions. We're hoping a brief interval will allow us a short walk through drenched forest trails before the rain continues, and this is exactly what occurs.

We take precautions in balance on our initial descent into the ravine. Throughout the hours of heavy rainfall, much more foliage has descended to the forest floor. A kaleidoscope of colour is everywhere, beautifully varnished by the rain. Colour, despite the gloom of the dusky forest interior, is intensified. 

The creek is swollen with rainwater. It rumbles and burbles over cascades created by rock and fallen trunks and branches that temporarily interrupt its smooth but turbid flow. Carrying with it, fallen detritus, masses of spent foliage, and cloudy with particles of clay. A strange, and eerie light, common to such weather events, hangs over the landscape, further enhancing its beauty.

While our bodies are physically active, our minds are passively focused on watching Jackie and Jillie, and allowing our eyes to capture the beauty surrounding us. There is no intention, only a relaxed mode of contemplation even though the serenity of the place clears our minds. One other couple whom we're familiar with has braved the opportunity to briefly visit the forest. Their dog, far more familiar to us, takes its share of cookies, and we see no one else out this day.

When we return home we linger briefly in the garden. To look at the brilliant colours of the forever-blooming begonias that we plant so lovingly and expectantly in the spring, so many months ago, yet seemingly just yesterday. The flowers are lush and lovely, their colours scintillating with rain.