I left early this morning for a walk preceded by a quick trip around the house to inspect for any storm or wind-related damage, and thankfully there was none. Our neighborhood looked, for the most part, to be unscathed by those howling winds which lasted nearly 24 hours, but two blocks away I saw a beautiful tree that had split down the middle, and branches were resting up against the back windows of the home. The fury of this recent wind whisked through the neighborhood and Council Point Park stripping the trees of their remaining foliage, leaving them bare and forlorn looking. The huge squirrels’ nests are now exposed and I marvel at how those massive twiggy nests remained intact after such gusty winds. I took along some critter treats and while the ducks were acting rather blasé this morning, the squirrels quickly scrambled to attention and scurried near the path where I was walking to ensure they were in my line of sight. I dipped deep into my pockets to produce some peanuts for them and tossed them out and immediately I had multiple takers, including one small fellow who scampered out from behind a bush. I thought of my grandmother when I arose this morning and later as I idly watched the squirrels’ antics. Wilhelmina Godard, née Klein was born on this day in 1906 and passed away in her 80th year. She was known as “Minnie” to friends and family and I called her “Nanny”. On her first trip to the U.S. back in the late 60s, she stayed at our house one entire Summer and was astonished to see our brown squirrels with their bushy tails … “your American squirrels” she called them. You see, in Toronto’s residential areas, as well as the parks, they had the much-smaller and sleeker black squirrels which I’ve been seeing here in our own neighborhoods the past few years. My grandmother could not believe how large our backyard fox squirrels were and then we told her that the neighbor a few yards away regularly shot and ate them. He and his wife were from the South and he proudly told us that “shooting the little varmints helped keep the squirrel population in check and the wife makes ‘em into a tasty squirrel pie” … (yep, turned my stomach just a tad too).