It took a while coming, edging closer day by day from the longest day of the year toward the shortest day of the year. In a six-month period we moved from dusk falling after 9:00 p.m. in the summer months to the present, where we've lost over four hours of daylight hours as our planet spins slowly on its axle tilting our hemisphere away from the sun. Now the long, laborious route back to full-light days will commence as of tomorrow, when winter finally arrives.

So far it's been an odd winter, much milder than what we're accustomed to, and though there's been ample precipitation it's been mostly in the form of rain, not snow. We had the beginning of a respectable snowpack that accumulated from late November to early December, then when we settled into a mild patch of weather, rain began washing the snow away. Ground that had been settled into frost began defrosting and an unwelcome appearance of clay-muck eventuated.

Winter in this northern hemisphere must have cold temperatures and the lack of snow thus far heading into December is hugely unusual. I can recall only one winter many decades ago when a similar situation emerged and people who celebrate Christmas were bereft of the snow that helps make the event a magical time of year. Still, people have put up their decorations, lights are blinking as soon as dusk falls, and colourful displays mark the traditional season.

We can hope that we're finally moving a way from the unusually mild temperatures and we'll be receiving some of our usual seasonal snowstorms. But they'll be too late for the holiday season. Cold and sunny is what we're headed for, and that too is something we can appreciate. With a daytime high of -6C today, Jackie and Jillie needed their little rubber boots to protect their tender pads, and off we went to the ravine for our afternoon hike.

The conditions of the past several weeks have led to the trails being completely iced over. Not a problem on a plateau, but certainly challenging on ascents and descents. When Irving was climbing one of the hillside trails, several large dogs swarmed him expectantly, threw him off kilter and he slid backward. Without upward momentum it's difficult even with cleats, to climb over ice. So down he went, and came back up on an alternate route.

Once firmly in control on the elevation he was able to satisfy the cookie-crazed pups' expectations. We saw a surprisingly large number of people out today, given the cold and the walking conditions, not to mention that dusk was settling in by 3:30 p.m. Jackie and Jillie had quite the exciting experience themselves surrounded by a passel of dogs, familiar and unfamiliar.

The view from the forest interior up at the sky under these conditions where the deciduous trees are naked of foliage and stand like dark sentries reaching up to the sky that has been transformed from a pale ocean-blue to a darker version approaching blue velvet, with the bright disk of the moon floating above, wanly illuminating the world below.