Winter Masterpieces

As winter disappears, making way for spring...

I want to remember the beauty of this past winter's gifts...

Amazing snow sculptures - created by blowing wind in "just the right" sticky conditions...

And giant icicles created by freeze and thaw - and an uninsulated roof!

Beautiful - and sometimes dangerous - art!

But my favourite winter "art" is colourful sky - when it surprises me at dawn and dusk... in an otherwise drab-coloured world.

Astounding beauty that feeds my soul!

Pure Winter Fun!

A week ago - on Family Day weekend - our whole family headed out into the country for an afternoon of cheese tasting and sledding fun.

We had heard that a small local artisan cheese factory called "Back Forty" was having an open house... They also have a hiking trail and a sledding hill.

A beautiful place, near a river. On a nearby sliver of open water, we noticed swans out swimming...

After eating our grilled cheese sandwiches - made with locally produced cheese and sour dough bread, we headed out to the sledding hill - where all (except Terry and me!) trekked up and sled or snowboarded down (again and again and again)...

The same winter fun I remember enjoying  as a child!

Then home... on snow-covered country roads! A perfect day!

Craving Colour

These days, I'm craving colour...

Small tasks - like organizing my coloured pencils - give me great satisfaction.

And I'm inspired to work on a bright, bold, colourful quilt! Haven't started it though. Still gathering ideas!

Snow "Mountain"

I don't walk around the neighborhood much these days - for fear of slipping and falling on ice or snow.

But I'm very curious about a new "mountain" I see in the distance - on college property not far away.

It's a "mountain" of snow, created by bulldozers piling up all the snow that has been cleared from college parking lots. It hasn't yet reached the size of the plastic dome covering the soccer field.

But last week's massive snowfall must have added significantly to its size.... And it may grow even larger. Winter isn't over yet!

Not sure when I'll get a close-up view... But, for those who might like to climb it - DON'T! It isn't safe!

It may look solid - but with weight and movement - and sunlight melting snow - it could cave in!

Winter World

My white winter world...

White indoors...

And out!

(And it continues to get whiter!)

I'm so thankful for COLOUR indoors!

Puzzle Done!

It took me a week to finish my jigsaw puzzle. 

It was s lot of fun!

I had to turn the card table around to finish the top.

Now I'm going to enjoy looking at it for a while...

Those bright colours cheer me up!

Black and White World

Now that there is snow on the ground, the world through my window is mostly black, white and grey...

It stays like that all winter long.

This is why I surround myself with bright colours indoors! And plants!

They feed my spirit until outdoor colours and flowers return again in spring.

Looking Back on February

In January, I started to make a pictorial diary - of weather, nature - and things I did.

That month I was preoccupied with how cold it was and how many days it snowed. On rare sunny days, I brightened up the picture by adding a large yellow sun.

In February, there are more days with sunshine! (23 out of 28 days!)

In the centre of my circular graph, where I note the temperature, some pink appeared in February - indicating above freezing temperatures: 1+ to 10+ degrees.

As I begin my March pictorial log, I'm looking forward to adding more warm weather, more wildlife ... and maybe even a few spring flowers!

Icy Fun!

Last Saturday was a perfect day for outdoor play, so Terry and I - and our youngest son's family - headed over to Jacques Cartier Park, across the river in Gatineau, Quebec, to the children's ice park that was built there for Ottawa's annual winter festival - Winterlude.

The big attraction was the tube ride down the ice slides. It was free... But wait time in line was an hour and a half! 

As a few of us held our group's place in line and waited, a few wandered off. 

Our granddaughter enjoyed a ride down the zip line (above) while grandpa and her dad threw soft snowballs at her!

I don't know how she mustered the courage! The structure to get up to the zip line was an obstacle course as well! At the top level (above) she is crossing a swinging canoe!

Grandpa checked out the maze and ground level obstacle course... And we all enjoyed watching (and at times participating in) impromptu tug-of-wars.

Our grandson watched ... then tried "snow climbing."

The weather was perfect for an outdoor winter "play day"!

Fun for everyone!

Midwinter Break from the Ordinary

A few weeks ago, the priest at our neighborhood Anglican Church sent out an email about a one-day Ottawa-wide church conference called You Are Leaven. I signed up to go.

I didn't know what to expect... but it "called my name"! I knew I needed this!

So out we drove into the country one Saturday, a few weeks ago... to a little church in Winchester, Ontario. 

(As an aside, for those who know the name, Winchester is the hometown of George Beverly Shea - a singer of my mother's generation. Throughout his lifetime he returned to a cottage in the area.)

The day's program was organized and led by instructors from the Anglican Studies Department at St. Paul University in Ottawa - where Terry studied counseling when we first moved to Ottawa.

The day was wonderful! There was art... ("doodling prayer")... Singing... Great food... An introduction to writing a "spiritual autobiography." Also an interesting discussion on change, and why it's sometimes hard.

Sometimes - especially in winter - I need to do something totally different... This was just what I needed! A week later, I was still basking in the glow!

Counting Down!

We all enjoy counting down to something. 

Ever since the first pandemic winter - when I felt so isolated, I have been keeping track of when the sun rises and sets - every day of the year - and taking joy in lengthening days.

Terry keeps tabs on the temperature. And yesterday - he informed me - was the halfway point in his "100 days of winter." 

Where we live, the average daytime temperature is 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) on December 1. Our average temperature drops - then rises again to 0 / 32 degrees on March 10.

Terry likes to count down these 100 days - it's his way of dealing with this season's colder days. 

On January 19, where we live, winter is halfway done! (And a meteorologist sees it the same way...!)

Let's all celebrate!

THAT Kind of SNOW!

Yesterday we awoke to snow on the ground - LOTS of it!

We didn't know when the city snow plows would make it down our little dead end street - so our son, who had appointments to keep - shovelled a path around the soccer dome - to make life easier for himself by taking the bus. (When a bus didn't come, he had to take Uber!)

Later he sent pictures from a pedestrian bridge at the college. The main road had been cleared...

But not everyone was able to get onto it!

Many of our neighbours hire plows to clear their driveways - and the plows were hard at work.

There was still some hand-shovelling to do... and an opportunity for neighbours to have a little chat!