Pretty Snowfall

 Another day, just last week, we had a very gentle snowfall, with no wind at all.  The result was white accumulated on all the branches.

The White Birch out front.

Two distant Sugar Maples out on the golf course.

And one of those two maples.

The Redbud just outside the back window.  Yes we still have winter here~!

Heavy Frost

Another winter's day about two weeks ago we had a heavy frost.  It looked beautiful on all the twigs of the White Birch out front.  Enjoy!

In spite of this, we are working our way steadily toward spring.  Beautiful sunny day here today, temperature actually above freezing!

Red Squirrel Shenanigans

 Yesterday I watched two tiny Red Squirrels chase each other madly around a tree trunk.  Every now and then they'd stop and sit still for a moment before resuming their mad dash.  I think this has got to be a sign of spring!  Sorry I don't have a video!  Use your imagination!

Here they go, one after another.

Then a brief pause to breath.

And off they go again.

Til finally they stop on opposite sides of the tree and take a breather.  Our February entertainment!

Catching Up On Winter

 While we've been enjoying some summer time canoeing, it's still winter here!  We've had an interesting mix of snowfalls, but haven't had a thaw in weeks, unusual for this time of year.  The snow just accumulates and stays, now about 18" deep.

Near the beginning of the month we had a pretty gentle snowfall, leaving the branches coated in snowflakes.

I tried hard to get a close-up, but this was the best I could do with my iphone, shooting through the back window.

The view was totally white and our snowstick was just a lump of snow.

Then four days later the sun came out to a beautiful winter's day!

William

 Today is William's birthday.

He would have been 49.  We love him every day.

The French River Part III

 Dalles Rapid Is a serious bit of whitewater that canoeists would plan to portage, especially when there's a wide open area of bedrock to portage over, a relic of the lumbering days when they ran logs through this area.  We weren't going further downstream so we just had lunch and enjoyed ourselves for a couple of hours.

I got down really low on the shore and tried for the view a canoeist would have.  Looked pretty terrifying to me!

In fact there was a grave marker for Doug Smoot, who drowned when his motorboat got sucked in, and he wasn't wearing a life jacket.

It couldn't be a more typical place for pine trees and granite!

I did stop briefly for a picture of the old 'Alligator' boiler.  'Alligators' were steam-powered barges that pulled the logs rafts.

It was a long paddle back home, but we made it after an interesting day on the water.

That evening was a beautiful sunset.

And the next morning a beautiful sunrise.  And with that I headed home, and our winter revisiting of my canoe trips is over.  Hope you enjoyed it!

The French River Part II

 We decided just to explore around the lodge on day two, after the long drive plus a long paddle to get there on day one.  The lodge is surrounded by several very narrow bedrock channels, providing great things to see.

At this narrow gap in the bedrock you could literally hit the rock on both sides with your paddle.  The whiter rocks are evidence of a higher water flow; we were there in September.

Some gorgeously coloured maple leaves on small saplings.

And look at the fold in this bedrock!

I wandered a trail behind the lodge and found plenty of mushrooms, including these Death Angels, deadly poisonous.

You could see where vegetation was protected by the winter snowpack.  These White Pine branches spread out over the ground, suggesting protective snow cover about a foot deep.

On the next day we figured we'd better have a longer paddle, so we headed southward to find Dalles Rapid.  The White Pine were tall, with their branches all blown one direction.

At one stop we found a collection of shells on the rock, evidence of otters feeding.

Then we got to the rapids.  We stopped to explore, roaming over the bedrock.  This is probably a Class III rapid, certainly not anything any of us would be comfortable running!