transitioning from autumn to winter

Yet it feels like we are transitioning from winter to spring!  Over the past week as the days got shorter, the weather got warmer, the sun shone brightly and the snow continued to disappear.  I did manage to keep focused on staying in the cold winter white frame of mind! With warm temperatures forecasted and no snow predicted for the next several days in the city, I will continue to look for true winter in my mind!  

 

I arrived on this morning at Carburn Park during the morning golden glow.  The Park was alive with wildlife already in the midst of their routine. The first thing I did before getting into my Carburn Park routine, was to head to the river's edge to scope out the Bald Eagle activity. Do you see what I see?  One Bald Eagle is sitting on the old nest.  I reported back on November 9th, that the tree holding the new nest the pair were in the process of building had fallen due to beaver activity.  Other birders reported seeing the two Bald Eagles adding twigs to the old nest.  This old nest is their forever home!  

the Black-capped Chickadee is a bit more fluffed up against the cool morning

Trumpeter Swan

(two have been hanging out along the Bow River)

White-breasted Nuthatch

The resident Buck's morning routine was following the ladies around.  When I got home and looked at my photos, the first thing I thought was, keeping in the spirit of the season, his antlers need a decoration! 

The skating rink at Carburn Park is still closed.  The Parks People are doing their best to prepare it.  I do not see it opening soon given the daily about freezing temperatures.  

The Ice Trail at Bowness remains open!  I ventured back there for my second skate of this season.  Upon arrival, the Ice Man was completing his lap around the trail.  That meant I had a fresh clean canvas to etch away on.  I forgot how less work it is to skate on freshly flooded ice compared to what I skated on, on Monday.  

the fresh clean canvas

just having fun

my etchings on ice

The temperature is always colder along The Ice Trail as it parallels the Bow River. The area has a winter look and feel.  Since skating here on Friday, I now notice The Lagoon is open.  I will monitor the Parks' postings given the warm weather conditions, but soon I will go down to the The Lagoon.

When the true winter weather arrives, I will be ready!  My "Northern Lights" scarf measures just over two feet long.  I thought I would have enough left over yarn from knitting the "Northern Lights" mittens to complete a scarf but I misjudged.  I purchased another skein to knit another few inches and add tassels at both ends.  I needed to rest my pointer finger on my left hand as the tip of it is taking a toll from the point of the knitting needle.  Time to google what to do about this!  Do I need a thimble!   

Once my scarf is compete, I am ready to start another pair of mittens. I want to try a different pattern for the cuff and make it a tad shorter.  I have a little homework to do on this before I get started. 

⛸ 🖌  

I last spoke on the telephone with my friend a year ago and we last emailed a couple of days later on Christmas Day.  We had a plan to get together very early in the New Year after the hustle and bustle settled down.  We did not have that get together, she passed away on December 30th.  This will be the first Christmas without her.  I am not quite there in my head yet with this.  I felt I needed her by my side so invested lots of time remembering our friendship and the wonderful times we shared.  She loved to skate but had not in many years.  She still had her white figure skates. She always wanted to hear about my skating and wanted to see my photos and the short video clips.  Maybe this brought back memories for her of that feeling of gliding across the ice.  I always thought of her when I skated and still do. Sometimes I don't feel like I am skating alone. I created this watercolour painting with her in my mind! Her favourite colours were yellow and pink, bright cheerful shades that matched her personality. 

always near forever dear

The wooden skates always hung on her Christmas Tree, now they hang on mine! 

successes

Delightful 

Blissful

Joyful 

Gleeful

Cheerful

There is not much more I can say to express how it felt to lace up my skates and skate The Ice Trail for the first time this season!  I was a tad apprehensive until I completed the near to one kilometre loop then I was in my element, in my glory, where I belonged! The ice had not yet been swept nor flooded since the day prior.  My favourite time to skate is right after the Ice Man works his magic but I was absolutely fine to skate on it the way it was.  There were no cracks nor bumps nor hazards of any kind which made the conditions great for mid December.  I skated for an hour, that was enough for my first time out this season.  By the time I finished, I felt I was glowing from such fulfilment and the beginnings of frosty fringes were apparent.  I declare this outing a success in every way possible!  

 

You can be sure whenever there is an opportunity to be outside in the middle of the night to witness the Northern Lights, I will be ready with my "Northern Lights" mittens which I finished knitting. In fact, I won't be waiting for the Aurora Borealis to make an appearance, to wear them, I will be donning them immediately.  I see improvement over the first pair I knit, but there is still a long road ahead of me with much to learn and I am ready to venture down that road.  My initial thought was to knit a pair of child's mittens with the left over yarn but I believe I have enough to knit a scarf instead.  I am already on my third try at getting the scarf going. While it is an easy pattern, I faltered along the way, thankfully very early on.  While creating this blog post and using a free clipart of yarn and needles, of course I now need to make my own watercolour painting of my own knitting logo.  I declare knitting these mittens was a success and I will strive for success with the scarf. The scarf will be as long as the amount of left over yarn will make it.  (That's the same blanket in each photo, the mittens are in morning light and the scarf afternoon light. The true colour of the blanket is mid way between both.  The same can be said for the  mittens and scarf.)

all in a day's work December 14, 2024

After an amazing spirit of the season filled few days in Banff National Park, I made quick business of getting back on track once I returned to the city.  I left in spring like conditions and arrived back to the same.   Over the course of the week, ice became water and white became brown.  It's nature and no matter what, there is still beauty to behold!  This is what my "all in a day's work" looked like yet none of it was work but rather play! 

birding

I don't know if I should call it birding at this time of year when I do go out birding!  I spend more time admiring the scenery and looking for other wildlife than I do investing time in enjoying what birds there are.  They are scare these days except for the Geese and Mallards, they run in the hundreds.  The last time I was here the creek running towards the lagoon was frozen solid and covered in snow and rime ice.  It is running again offering up pretty refections.  

the coyote looked mangy

I hope this is its' "I just woke up" look! 

a took a double take when I saw this

female & male Hairy Woodpeckers

White-breasted Nuthatch

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Black-capped Chickadee

mooning

I made it an appoint to check for the last full moon of 2024, the Cold Moon!  With iffy sky conditions forecasted, I checked a few times over a couple of hours during the early morning also during the early evening.  

This shot was snapped on the morning of the 14th with a light layer of cloud cover and I thought this may be my full Cold Moon photo to keep.  I had hoped for a better picture.  

This was a short time later, not zoomed in and showing Jupiter beside the moon.  

This photo was captured early evening on December 14th. 

This is my official Full Cold Moon photograph.  

Throughout the afternoon and evening, I created this watercolour painting of the Full Cold Moon lighting up the sky and the Christmas Tree while snow flurries gently fall.  The snow flurries gently falling was wishful thinking!

knitting

Between waiting for layers of watercolour paint to dry, I got back to knitting my Northern Lights mittens.  I completed the first mitten and began the second.  I am so pleased with how the first mitten turned out, it looks much nicer than the first grey tweed pair I made.  I will have enough Northern Lights yarn left over, my plan is to knit a child's pair of mittens then drop them off someplace where a child's hands could use them. Using the circular needles rather than four needles makes all of the difference in the world.  I am surprised how fast they knit up.   My mind is already wandering off to thoughts of what else could I knit!

Banff National Park December 12, 2024

 

spirit of the season in snowy surroundings

I found what I was looking for!  I saw it! I felt it!

  I found the vision in my watercolour painting along the trail at Lake Louise! 

 This is it, the spirit of the season in snowy surroundings!  

It began to look magical the further west I drove this morning and when I arrived at Lake Louise, I felt that magic.  While the snow is not new, it still looked pristine. It was unusually quiet in the townsite and at the Lake itself, but this could be the calm before the storm. I had been monitoring the webcams so I knew I would not be skating, there would be no ice castle nor ice bar.  I was happy and content to be where the snow was!  

This will eventually be ready for skating. 

 Right now it looked like a mess of frozen slush.  

I always enjoy seeing the mounds of snow collected on rocks and wood 

in the water near the edge of the lake.  

The above photo is a close up of the wood & snow in the middle of the photo below.

The last time I hiked up to Fairview Lookout was in November of 2010. I was due for another visit so did that before walking along the Lake. The trail followed up through the forest where the trees were adorned with snow.  You can see the yellow trail marker near the bottom of the photo.

This is the view from Fairview Lookout! From here that skating surface looks so ready but distance makes it deceiving.  That’s the ski hill at middle right.  

After capturing my selfie shot, I enjoyed a snack and a hot beverage.

It was still very quiet when I arrived back down at the lake.  I saw workers beginning to prepare for where the ice bar will be built.  I saw blocks of snow off to the side that were being supported by large slabs of wood. No ice bar yet but I hoped to see ice climbers at the far end of Lake Louise.

Someone’s Snowman along the trail!

It measured about six inches high.

This is what it looks like when the child within comes out to play!

snowy crystal icy creations 

finding my muse after already creating the watercolour painting 

(painting is the Christmas ornament at beginning of the blog post)

the ice climber on the ledge near the top

I stayed on the main trail rather than walking on Lake Louise.  It looked rough with either frozen slush or soft ice.  While walking back, I met this outfit on their way out.  That would have been a bumpy ride for the guy being pulled in the bucket.  They were employees heading to the end where the horse drawn sleigh rides stop then turns around on the edge of the lake.  The area needed maintenance before the horses and sleigh dare venture onto the surface.

cross-country ski trail groomer

she was freshening up the track across the lake

down time at day’s end