Winter Shadows

It was so warm with the sun shining in my south-facing window yesterday that I left and moved to the north side of the house.  Thus I caught the long winter shadows that I rarely see, slanted from west to east across the golf course.

It had been a bright blue sky day with constant sunshine, a rare enough event in December.

But when evening came, just before sunset, the dark shadows were long and striking.  I thought the pattern of shadows intersecting each other was fascinating.

Winter Solstice

Today is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.  So starting tomorrow the days will be slightly longer, and in about 3 weeks you should be able to notice the difference, I know I can.  In fact it's surprising how quickly you'll notice.

And of course we all know what that brings.  As the days lengthen before we know it we'll be enjoying spring!  Yeah!

What always astonishes me is how long ago the ancients figured this out, with surprising accuracy.  When we visited Orkney we went into the famous Maeshowe chambered tomb.  You have to stoop to get through the 30 foot long entrance passageway only 3 feet high, before you arrive at the central chamber, which is about 15 feet square and 12+ feet high.  The size and quality of the stonework is such that this has been described as the most important Neolithic buildings in northwest Europe.

The relevant fact is that the entrance passage is aligned directly with the setting sun on the winter solstice.  How did they ever figure that out?  The return of the sun each year must have been an important fact of life!  In fact one author has suggested it is not a tomb at all, but was used as an astronomical observatory. 

Maeshowe predates both Stonehenge and the pyramids, built approximately 5000 years ago.  So we've been celebrating the winter solstice at least that long!

In any case, the winter solstice has provided an approximate date for numerous religious celebrations ranging from Christianity to the originally pagan festival of Yule.  People the world-wide celebrate the day when the days begin to get longer.

Christmas Preparations

Christmas is pretty quiet here, with our grandkids living out west, but we're slowly getting some favourite Christmas decorations we love put out to enjoy.  Still have a small tree to decorate, another of those tasks I find difficult in a wheelchair!

Our small group of nutcrackers greets you inside the front door.

An old Christmas tree music box.

And some big bright red ornaments in a big bowl.

Can you believe tomorrow is the winter solstice!  Yes, we'll have much more winter, but after tomorrow the days will begin to get longer!  Spring is just around the corner.

Winter Birds!

I've actually been worried about how few birds are passing by our feeders this winter, so I was delighted to see a number of birds fluttering around the feeders when I passed through the kitchen later in the morning.  There were several Chickadees and Goldfinch, and at least one each of White-breasted Nuthatch and Red-breasted Nuthatch.

My first good shot was of a Chickadee and a White-breasted Nuthatch.

The Nuthatch kept moving down and the Chickadee quickly flew away.  There's obviously a goldfinch on the opposite side of the feeder too.

The Goldfinch will occupy a perch and simply keep eating.  Chickadees pick up an individual seed and carry it away to hammer it open.

One flew in in spite of the Goldfinch sitting there,

but the Chickadee was soon just hanging off the bottom of the feeder.  Never-the-less, I am encouraged with the prospect of winter avian visitors.

A Shattering Experience!

At physio last week I was greeted by this friendly skeleton!  Well, the skeleton is there every week, but this time he had a friendly Santa hat on.  Enough to make me smile.

But as I ended my appointment and was getting my coat on, I wasn't smiling at all.  I was just inside the front door when an older lady drove up to park in one of the handicapped spaces right outside.  Except she must have stepped on the gas instead of the brake and crash!  She smashed right into the glass and the door frame shattering the glass which exploded everywhere, and bending the door frame.

Everyone in the clinic came running and an ambulance was called.  It appeared that no-one was hurt, which is the good side, but I fear that someone might lose their license.  In the meantime, I left in the opposite direction.  The physio clinic is attached to the medical clinic here, so I was able to leave by using their door, and my ride was waiting right outside.  It was only after I got home that I realized the police might have wanted to talk to me as a witness.

Beautiful Winter's Day

We got lots more snow overnight, but woke to beautiful sunshine, at least for awhile.  The forecast calls for slightly rising temperatures, a fair bit of sun tomorrow, and a nice winter week ahead.  Looking forward to it, since it's what the weather is supposed to be like at this time of year.

Sure provides for stark shadows, doesn't it!

The Storms Come and Go

The winter weather goes up and down as we know to expect.  We've now gone through a couple of warmer (4-5°) days leading to a big melt, and now the snow and colder temperatures are back!  Wind makes for bad driving (and missed caregiver visits), and today an actual forecast of a blizzard!

On two mornings the sun actually came out, and as the temperature climbed above freezing, the snow started to melt, or more accurately to 'sublimate', simply disappearing into the atmosphere.  You'll notice that the top of our snowstick has been partially exposed in the lower left.

With the sun out, the shadows were back, though they were shadows of fewer trees now that all the ash had been removed last summer.

Then this morning we woke to much colder temperatures and blowing snow.  You could hardly make out the houses across the street.  No caregivers today!

And the living room window, facing north, was plastered with snow, blown against the glass.  You may be able to see in the lower left hand corner that our snowstick has disappeared again.  Meanwhile I'm making the best of my winter hibernation, as I enjoy sitting by the window and dwelling in memories of the summer.

Freezing Rain

The temperatures rose yesterday and the snow began to melt.  Today we have a fine drizzle becoming rain.  It's a fine dance between the temperature and the rainfall, potentially quite treacherous.

Mrs. F.G. is in Owen Sound shipping off our parcel for the kids out west.  With Canada Post on strike everyone is using courier companies, which are therefore overwhelmingly busy.  The deadline is Friday, so we're a few days early, but we'll still be crossing our fingers.

Continuing Snow

The snow hasn't stopped since last Thursday, so the plows have been out a lot!  But then the sun came out yesterday and we had a beautiful 2 hours.  I got out to my Thursday lunch and quite enjoyed it, though they pulled the transport van off the road at 2 o'clock, so I came home early.

This is Wednesday, after 5 straight days with at least some snowfall.  The snow stick is under that hump of snow on the left, beside the deck.

But Friday morning was glorious!  Bright sun and blue skies, though snow returned by the afternoon.

In the original snowstorm the snow had been blowing from the west, so the trees still had stripes of white.

And the shadows are back, though we are missing several ash trees that were cut down in the summer.

Eagle Summit Nature Reserve

I learned just a few days ago that the Bruce Trail Conservancy is acquiring a property they are naming 'Eagle Summit'.  It's a prominent landmark along the escarpment where it dips down to the bottom of the Beaver Valley, featuring a high rocky lookout.  The viewpoint was once on the Bruce Trail, but landowner permission changed and now it's inaccessible.  However, I know the neighbouring landowners so one day nearly 10 years ago I hiked out there.  It will always be 'Vulture Rock' to me, for the number of vuItures I saw when I was out there.  

This is a view of the property from below.  It`s a prominent outcrop on the east side of the valley, just south of the village of Kimberley.  It's almost as prominent as the nearby and much better known Old Baldy, but there`s no trail out to these rocks.

Looking closely at the  highest point, it's a series of rock ledges, unlike the tall vertical cliffs of Old Baldy, but providing an even better view!

Just north of this property a huge rockfall occurred about 10 years ago, when one of the dolostone fissures gave way.  This is on Conservation Authority land.

Looking down on the rockfall from above you can see that the broken off pieces of rocks are white more than gray, and several were car-size chunks.

Standing in one place you can look north and south to get a spectacular view of the valley.  This is the view north with the bottom of the old Talisman ski runs just visible on the left, and the village of Kimberley along the road but hidden among trees, just left of centre..

And this is the view south (or southwest).  The slopes of the Beaver Valley Ski Club are obvious and you can just pick out the Bowles Hill Road, curving up the steep slope, to the left of the ski runs..

I was standing at Turkey Vulture height; they glided past or below me.  'Eagle Summit' is of course just a fund-raising name; I think it would have been better labelled 'Vulture Rock'!  

I Was Wrong!

 I'm not sure the meteorologists were exaggerating after all.  We haven't had any serious snow squalls, which reduce visibility to nil, but we have had a lot of snow!  Maybe 12" by now; at least our snowstick is almost covered!  It sure does leave a very pretty world, as well as the hum of snowblowers in my ears.

The view out the back just looks white.

The planters on the deck are deep under a blanket of snow.

There's almost nothing to see in a photo of the snowstick, just a mound of white and a shadow.

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The branches of the Redbud out the back window caught a surprising amount of snow.  Lots of brown seedpods.

Ah, but we're prepared.  With me in a wheelchair we use a snowblowing service, and here he is.  They also provide snow shovelling of the front walk, all for a price of course.  It's sunny out now, and the snowy world is very beautiful.

Snow Has Finally Arrived

The forecast was overwhelming, the most snow in years, as much as all last winter combined!  But meteorologists do tend to exaggerate.  We got about 2" so far but of course I may be wrong and it may accumulate over the next few days to reach the forecast potential of 75 cm!  In the meantime, here are a few paired pictures to show you how our world has changed.

The view out the back window.

Our trusty snowstick; he's probably shivering by now.

The Hellebore, looking right down in front of me.  All snow-free photos taken Wednesday.

Christmas Cards

 Do you still send Chris6tmas cards?  We may be old fashioned, but we still send out Christmas cards every year.  It provides a way to stay in touch with friends and relatives you hardly ever see - or in our case that we never see!  It always seems like a personal way to put some meaning into the holiday season.

This is the card I'm using this year.  It's by an indigenous artist, Alanah Morningstar Jewell, in her 'Winter Rest' series.  I purchased these from Ontario Nature, an organization that has provided a Christmas card for sale as long as I can remember.  I joined while I was still in high school, and now I'm a Life Member.

And a Happy Thanksgiving to me American readers!

The Rainy Days of November

November always seems to bring rain and cold.  I don't mind rain, though it keeps me inside, and I don't mind cold - but not cold and wet together!  I always looked forward to winter, once things are frozen, but of course now that I'm in a wheelchair I have to change my assessment of the weather - if the forecast turns out to be accurate!

And on top of the wet for the last five days, the forecast does show some of that white stuff for later in the week.  It's late for us, but I see by your blogs that places like Maryland, 500 km. to the south, already have snow.

Winter Birds?

Our bird feeders have now been loaded up with seed and the other day I spotted my first two winter birds at those feeders.  These are terrible pictures, but I'm hoping they presage a winter with lots of birds!

The first is a Chickadee with its characteristic black cap.  There were several, for just a few minutes.

Then a Red-breasted Nuthatch swooped in, hanging upside down as always.  But it perched upright briefly, and you can easily pick out the reddish breast.

I Can't Believe It!

I can't believe it but the weather is so mild here in late November that I rode downtown or home from downtown twice this week!  Usually we've had at least a couple of major snowfalls by this time, but not this year.  I'm hoping for a mild winter, even if the skiers want snow!

This was the harbour on Monday, my friends bench at the left under one of the few trees.  Can you spot the swans?  I don't think I've ever seen swans in this harbour before.

They weren't disturbed as I rode down the harbour-edge sidewalk.  I wonder if they'll hang around.

I got a good deal closer on this bright sunny day.  They raised their heads and as you can see by their orange beaks, these are Mute Swans.  They do tend to hang around rather than migrate.  At any rate, it was a remarkable 8°C that day.

Compare this to this week two years ago!

Our snow stick got totally covered this week that year.  I'm thanking my lucky stars for the mild winter so far this year and hoping it will continue!  And I still can't believe it!