Canada has become a country where people from all over the world intermingle, live in close proximity and despite backgrounds vastly dissimilar to each other, manage for the most part to get along, to be civil, to be neighbourly. We've always found it that way. On the street we live on there are people of French, Italian, Chinese, Ukrainian, Bangladeshi, Egyptian, Russian, Indian, British heritage, some second- and third-generation and some newly-minted Canadians, living amongst one another.

 

It still surprises us when we walk into a supermarket and see long aisles of exotic vegetables we have never used in our standard Canadian-European cuisine, the infinite types of rice on the shelves, dried and dehydrated snacks in great array, pastas for all occasions, yet the people circulating in the stores for the most part look no different than we do, as Canadian-born. We aren't seeing all that many people from the Indian sub-continent, or Chinese, but the stand-out difference is the number of Blacks now co-habiting with us in Canada.

 

When we were children it would have been a rarity. Toronto, where we were born, is now almost unrecognizable, given the racial/ethnic mixture now prevalent. That could be a sign of a healthy community, and as such a worthwhile endeavour to accustom people to the presence of others from a different culture and heritage. On the other hand, importing ancient grievances, along with the politics of the country left behind has made for a fairly restive population in parts of the country. Not so good.

Like any other day for us, today was pleasant and comfortable. We interacted with quite a few people out like us, with their dogs in the ravine. Where it can be unusual to see people out and about on the street, it can be 'usual' to see people from the greater community out on the forest trails. Most of them familiar presences, some on occasion either just discovering the delights of the forest, or making a rare appearance there to re-familiarize themselves with its presence.

 

A little milder temperature today, but still damp and a bit windy. The sun that was present for part of the day earlier on, absented itself in the afternoon. The trails  remain steeped in clay muck, the result of the melt-and-thaw process of frosty nights and 'warmer' days. Jackie and Jillie had quite a bit of company on this circuit. Most of the dogs seem to appear out of nowhere, coming hurriedly along, long before their human companions appear. And they line up for cookies, big and small, various breeds, in a fairly orderly fashion.

 

There's an analogy there, not too difficult to identify.