ways of weathering the weather this week

On this morning the Deerfoot got the better of me and I made a mad exit off it which meant nixing my plan to head to the deep southern part of the city.  All was well when I left home but the mere minute after committing to the middle lane of the Deerfoot, the radio reported not all was well!  Fog!  Ice!  Accidents!  I needed to perform a "save the day" maneuver so white-knuckled it off the Deerfoot to where I could reach some place to walk.  I had no intentions of going back to the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary so soon after just being there, but I did safely end up there.   It was grey when I arrived and visibility was nil.  There were no morning sounds nor activity.  The pathways were packed ice, my skates would have been the ideal footwear.   This was definitely a not so sweet start to the day!  It would be an urban hike where the focus would be on what was right in front of me.  Hoar frost coated just about everything and it was a sweet sight to see the intricate formations.  Leaves were suspended inside the ice on the trails.  All footprints from people, animals, birds and ducks were perfectly formed and frozen.  After an hour, the sky began to clear and the Sanctuary came alive with sights and sounds!  The male Common Redpoll in the collage was one of a dozen that visited here this morning.  Others may not think them to be sweet but I do.  Another sweet thing was experiencing a "lifer" which was this Northern Goshawk.  I would have to say my "save the day" maneuver was successful in turning the not so sweet into the sweet!

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On this day I aimed east to enjoy a country drive and a hike around Wyndham Carseland Provincial Park.  The main purpose for heading to this location was to be a birder for a few hours.  It was to be a dismal grey day and on the warmer side.  I knew the birds would brighten the day and they did.  The trails were unevenly frozen and rough to walk on to begin with and as it warmed up I was then hiking in slush and mud.  The bird sightings and sounds were plentiful.  This Black Capped Chickadee captured my heart looking like a hot mess all fluffed up.  It was not windy, it was not cold, I could not figure out why it looked like it looked!  The middle top photo is a male Downy Woodpecker and to the right of it is a House   Finch.  In the bottom row are a male Common Redpoll, a Common Redpoll with its tail feathers open and beside it a House Sparrow.  I spotted this painted stone in the snow and it was not until I got home that I saw the small heart shaped rock at the bottom of it.  There was loads of happiness in my heart by the time I arrived back at my car!   

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What a week of weird weather!  The forecast for this day said "freezing fog"!  I knew I could find the beauty in this phenomenon if I could get somewhere safely and that meant not venturing too far from my front door.  Confluence Park offers forest bathing, meadow wandering, hill repeating and creekside meandering.   There was no problem with getting out the door in this weather because I knew there would be beauty to behold when everything that could, would be covered in a built up thick layer of hoar frost.  On such a dull damp dismal drizzly day, it was Mother Nature's delicate designs that drew me in!