Sunday Afternoon Drive, Part I

Yesterday morning was bright and sunny, so Mrs. F.G. suggested we go on a drive after church, so we did.  It was a glorious early spring day, though still cold.  Every spring we typically drive down to Lake Eugenia at least once.  Go  early and the old river channel has thawed but the lake is still frozen; go later and you see more birds migrating through.

We passed the Bighead River just out of Meaford, and I quickly remembered the limitations of shooting with a cell phone camera.

Not long after that we were heading up the abrupt hill of the Niagara Escarpment, source of so many of the waterfalls in the valley.  The snow drifting onto the road even just this much, can grab your tires quickly.

And if it's drifting this much, you really have to be careful!

We pulled into the old Pita Palace in Flesherton and were just a little shocked that it was gone - replaced by Harveys!  Thankfully we both enjoy their burgers, fries and onion rings, so we had a good (if not very healthy) lunch and headed for Eugenia.  We drove across the causeway, turned around and came back more slowly.  What you're seeing is the old river channel from the original days before the river valley was first flooded in about 1912.  The entire are will be water within a few weeks; 100 years ago it was farmland.

So what did we see?  You won't be able to see it, but out at the end of that triangular point of snow in the middle of the pictures is a swan and a goose or two.  You might be able to pick out a tiny white dot.

And right in the middle of this picture, on the end of that thin band of open water in the distance, are two Canada Geese.

The ducks in this picture, about eight or ten of them, are in the top right quarter of the photo.  Bufflehead I think.

Looking the opposite direction you get a very different picture.  Here the hundreds of stumps that remain are scattered across what will be the bottom of the lake.  In the distance is a beautiful paddling area, which we've enjoyed more than once.  Tomorrow, the rest of the drive.

Winter Just Doesn't Want to go Away!

We've had some warmer days and a little bit of melting.  The piles of snow out front that were 6 feet have now subsided to 4 feet, but it's the middle of March for Heaven's sake.  We don't need this!  The forecast does look promising, but we have to wait for next week first.  I'm beginning to feel cooped in.

This beautiful sunny day three weeks ago was the peak of our snowfall; the yellow chair was almost buried.

In fact both chairs had a heavy cap of snow.  But I thought maybe those chairs would give me the basis of a comparison as the melt progressed.  The melt has progressed very slowly (most days not at all), but here goes.

We had a fairly big melt at first, the snow just sinking down into itself.

When you get a big melt, the snow surface is left hard and crusty.  At times you can walk right across snow like this.  But there's still 16" of snow here.

A few days later it snowed again, raising the snow level back up and leaving a surface of powder snow.

Then it melted again, though just a little.

Over the last 2 or 3 days it melted down a little further.  Today is a bright sunny day and I'm sure the snow is going to melt  even further.

And just to remind you, in case your memory does not extend

this far, this was the garden last year on this date - dwarf Iris peaking up!

A Fluttering of Goldfinch!

 We have seen virtually no birds at our feeder all winter, so we were pleasantly surprised to see a great wild fluttering of Goldfinch out the window a week ago, and they were back today. There seemed to be at least 20 of them, coming and going quickly.  Goldfinch will normally sit at the feeder and eat seed after seed, so to see them coming and going so quickly was impressive!

When we first looked out the Goldfinch were coming and going everywhere!

They just stopped at the feeder for seconds, replaced by other presumably hungry birds.   We did see a Chickadee and a couple of Nuthatch among them.  Today we spotted a House Finch among them.

At least some of these birds were starting to look bright yellow, a sign that spring is indeed coming.

Look at the number on the ground in this photo.  Our view of the seed eating party under the feeder was cut off by a snow drift, but I still counted 13 birds in this photo.

Meanwhile, we have two days of melting going on before we dip back to freezing temperatures.  The snow is still four feet deep out the front window.

Canadian Patriotism

 I've been delighted to see the proliferation of Canadian flags down our street.  Neighbours have stuck them into snowbanks and are letting them blow in the breeze.  It certainly says something about Canadian patriotism.  In an abrupt change from 200 years of friendly history, we have the American president, DT, to thanks for this, and it's unprecedented.

Our family is not the type to go south for a holiday, winter was always just too much fun.  But we've travelled east and west more than most I suspect.  We've been through most of the northern states and always found everyone kind and friendly.  We've driven east through New York and New England on our way to the Maritimes, and home again the same way.  We've driven west through Chicago, all the way to Idaho and north on our trips to the west coast - stopping in Yellowstone along the way.  We've been to the tulip farms of the Skagit Valley in Washington and driven to Alaska.  

Having driven to both coasts a total of five times, we've developed a deep sense of pride in Canada, and we've always been welcomed in the U.S. 

The sudden change in American politics that has left us as enemies instead of friends is seriously puzzling and deeply upsetting.  It's hard to separate the official views from what individuals may feel, even though we know it's mainly DT and his cronies who feel this way.  However, I do fear most Canadians will be adopting something of an anti-American view because of this.  Don't take it personally, but we will no longer be friends in quite the way we were and that's a shame. 

This is our immediate neighbour's flag; stuck high in his snowbank.    

The tariffs DT says will start on Tuesday just seem nonsensical.  Our economies are already so integrated that America depends on our oil exports.  They've built refineries specifically to handle the type of crude we ship.  The auto industry is so inter-linked that it would be hard to separate it out, with parts shipped back and forth, and new auto plants built to specialize in building those parts.

I have to wonder who is advising DT.

But the comments about the 51st state are far more troubling.  And given how Trump has behaved the past week, they are much more troubling now.  They are an attack on a country that has been one of America's best allies, deeply insulting and aggressive.  Many Canadians are furious.  Then I could touch upon how he has treated Ukraine, but I won't.  I'm afraid most of us just can't believe it!

But the positive side of this is the sudden burst of Canadian patriotism I'm seeing.  The Facebook feed I'm getting is full of Canadian flags, often in front of the spectacular scenery we are so proud of.  'Buy Canadian' is sweeping the country, and that includes cancelling trips to the U.S. as well as trying not to buy anything from billionaires like Bezos!

I can only hope the turmoil the world is now in passes peacefully, though Canada may be only a small corner of the story.  

More on Snowshoeing

 There are different types of snowshoes, and you need to match the type with the snow conditions.  I've already shown you the large 'Huron' snowshoes.  Then there are the mid-size 'Bear Paw' snowshoes, and the small modern plastic ones.  These small snowshoes are really best for a packed trail, and the Bear Paws for mid-deep snow, but the big ones are best for truly deep snow. 

On organized snowshoe hikes I always found it a waste of effort to wear either of the larger snowshoes, but as long as I wasn't breaking trail, the small ones were fine.  They are a little more effort if you're the one breaking trail, but I never was 'cause I dragged along at the back!  On a field like this with only 3 or 4 inches of snow, they're great.

So usually I just wore the small ones to go walking in the nearby woods with Roxie.  They weight hardly anything and are easy to use.  If it's your first time, you should maybe try them first on a packed trail if you're worried.  With the big ones you do have to sort of lumber from side to side with each step.

These are a couple of other winter toys I used regularly.  I had a big (44" wide) snowblower that was attached to the front of our lawn tractor which I used to blow out our drive.  To be honest I loved doing that snowblowing.

And then I had a roof rake which I used to pull snow down off our roof where it drifted heavily on the lee side after a storm.  You just had to stand out of the way when the snow came down!

Memories of Snowshoeing

 After cross-country skiing, snowshoeing was my favourite winter activity when we lived in the valley.  It's such a neat way to walk in deeper snow.  If nothing else it keeps the snow away from the top of your boots.  It also leaves a really neat track behind you.

On this occasion I was using my traditional 40-year old 'Huron' snowshoes, large and wide with a tail at the back.  I bought these on our way to a trip in Algonquin Park, where we snowshoed in loose fluffy snow 4 feet deep!  We still sank in a foot even with these.  As you can see, the harness has been replaced, at least twice I think.

It was a glorious day in the woods, probably not deep enough to really require these large snowshoes, but deep enough to have fun using them.

It was a couple of days since a nice snowfall, so there was at least 6-8 inches of fresh powder.

It makes fascinating patterns clinging to the branches.

And it was definitely clinging to those branches!

I always wore mukluks to use snowshoes, particularly these older ones made with real gut rather than plastic!  The hard edges of heavier boots can damage the webbing.

Have You Ever Seen Hoarfrost Up Close?

 I love the distant views of hoarfrost in the treetops, but once I photographed it up close it was incredible!  And another idea is to aim directly at the sun, but position it behind a tree so you enhance the real sparkly effect.  What do you think?

These are three of my best sparkly photos.

And these my best close-ups.  Aren't those flat ice crystals amazing?