A Very Weak Sun

After a terrific walk on Sunday that I posted about yesterday, Monday's perambulation was of the more miserable sort. Although the thermostat read warmer, the biting wind sure made it feel colder. Fair to say that the sun was weak.

Indeed, the day was dull.

Looking south from the trail bridge

Looking north from the trail bridge

As a bonus, I present another icicle photo from the much nicer previous day.

Blue Monday

Welcome to Blue Monday. No, I don't mean any ole blue Monday, I mean The Blue Monday. 

. . .  the folklore of calling the day Blue Monday came from a travel company, which encouraged people to take a holiday vacation during a normally quiet travel period. (Blue Monday 2026)

The third Monday of January has been referred to as Blue Monday, the bluest day of the year, by some since it was used as a marketing ploy by a travel company back in 2005. While there is no clinical evidence that this is the case, it does make some sense. To wit: the lights and festivities are long over while so many continue experience darkness and cold without much of a break from routine looming on the horizon, the single MLK day in the USA today notwithstanding. 

Yesterday's walk was anything but blue unless we are speaking of the very nice, blue sky. It was another cold and bright January day, but not as cold as my previous posting with temperatures not falling too very far below freezing.

We were passed by a number of snowmobiles on the Bridge Trail, but they came and went so fast that I couldn't extricate my phone in time to snap any pictures. I'd get the phone out too late and stuff it back in my pocket, but then another group would by, and I would miss again. Finally, I caught one when we off the trail but approaching it from underneath. I had no time to zoom, but at least I captured something, right where I wanted the snowmobile too — in the centre of the bridge.

A local FB group has been asking for ice photos. I found a few icicles on old buildings near downtown.

It was a good day, with no singing of the blues.

Après la Tempête

It wasn't the greatest storm ever, but it was great enough. So, what comes after the storm, après la tempête. Actually, it was all very normal out there. The roads were clear enough. Secondary roads like ours were snow-packed but drivable. Major throughfares were largely down to pavement.

I was slightly early to meet the photo boys for coffee, so I detoured up to the neighbourhood park. Unfortunately, not much snow was sticking to the trees, but there was a bit on some branches.

The same was true at Riverside Park, but there was some on the very distant trees by the boat house across the river. So, I stood on the road by the park, zoomed mightily, and got this.

I met with the lads for two hours, and then Sue and I went for a walk to our park after I returned to the fold.

Some good-hearted local denizen has blown a path though the drifts.
I don't know why the town won't do this for us, but
praise be for good-hearted neighbours

The temperature was hovering around -18C/0F. We just call it the Old Zero from being brought up in ancient, fahrenheit times. It's hard to explain to non-Canucks, but those are delightful walking conditions when it is bright and calm and when the snow is freshly fallen.

When we arrived back home, I took my first photo of the rising snow field on our front lawn. Many will recall that last year, the pile extended well beyond my 6' height. I don't have a reference marker, other than the stakes for the blower people, but it will do for now.

I haven't measured the two markers for the snow contractors,
but I think they are about 4' tall, and the snow in the
middle of the yard is approaching that height.

All Clear

Sue though she heard the snow guys just after one o'clock. I headed to the garage, hoping to clear the patch just in front before the blower got there. Alas, I was late.

He got pretty close to the door, so there wasn't much for me to clear.

Luckily, I did get my yearly shot of the blower in action. They more often than not come in the middle of the night or when I am not aware. The process is so quick that unless I happen to there with camera at the ready, they will be done and gone before I can react, even if I suddenly realize that they are there.

They took a little longer to get to the kids place, so we did a little messaging with them assuring them that the plow would be there soon. I often just speak my messages on the phone rather than type, especially if I am sitting down to watch tv. Note the spelling of plough/plow.

yes, the plough will come

That surprised me. While I use the British our and er endings, and while I dutifully double the consonants, I am a plow dude and not a plough guy. When I tried to explain this to the kids . . .  well you'll see.

I just noticed that when I dictated plow, I got the proper CANADIAN British version not the American version. But this time when telling you that I got the American version.

Poor spellcheck. Poor me. Poor little Canadians are we. 

I go out periodically to push the snow away from the garage and off the walk. I push it a little way down the driveway, for the plough/plow to blow off the driveway and onto the lawn. I took some night pictures that show the pile near the garage. I know it doesn't seem like that much, but recall that the driveway had already been cleared once already.

I did one final pushing at 11. Snow was no longer falling, and the driveway is clear this morning. They will return one more time if the town plows us in, but the plan to meet the boys for coffee this morning should come to fruition. I see that JJ gets another day off, and Danica doesn’t have classes on Fridays this semester. Shauna will still have her drive, but she'll be fine. 

When Johnny Met Susie

I had reason to delve into some old photos yesterday. This is from the day that Johnny first met Susie, or close enough although we sort of knew each other previously, but we travelled in different circles.

How odd that I am wearing sunglasses but that she is not although she does seem to be squinting. As you have witnessed, she usually wears sunglasses outside. Somewhere along our line of days, she became even more sensitive to light.

Update: Sue just informed me that when she was growing up, she always had to be sat with her back to the window during family dinners.

Fifty-nine years later, my sweet lady is yelling at me.

You see, it was time to dry out my hearing aids overnight, so I am having to recharge them this morning. Therefore, Sue must raise her voice considerably to be heard, and unless I am careful, I will raise my level too, just to hear myself. 

In other news, we are expecting a big snowfall today. Danica has opted to skip classes by not driving into the city. Shauna still drove the other way to work, but that is more or less along less-travelled rural roads, and she is also a more experienced driver and in a better car. We were to get our RSV shots this morning, but Sue has just called to cancel. Meanwhile, JJ will enjoy his day off as school buses have been cancelled.

This is what it looks like now, but it has just begun: front and back.

Spill the Tea

We live on the outskirts, if they can be called that, of our town, but we have now two cafés within walking distance of home. We are not connected to them the whole way by sidewalks, but we find out way to walk over there through the winter conditions from to time.

You are familiar with Dark & Deadly, at least you are if you have stopped your bus here at all in the past few years. It's the café with monsters that has now been open for a few years. While I haven't bothered shooting the monsters lately, I did bother to shoot Sue during our visit last week.

 Most of my photos of Sue seem to be across
the table in restaurants.

I rather like shooting Sue, which is fair enough because she frequently expresses a desire to shoot me, particularly when I spill or drop things in my ultra clumsy fashion.

A new café, Spill the Tea, has just opened in the Health Centre, which has also just opened recently. We trudged there yesterday through gale force winds, as revealed by the blowing flag. It was a bit of a tough walk, but we were drawn by the promise of yummy looking bagels, which aren't of offer at Dark & Deadly although yummy breakfast sandwiches are. We ended up ordering sundried tomato bagels. They were pretty darn good, and so was the coffee.

The sign in the hall and the view inside, which other than us was empty at the time. 

No monsters here. 

So here we are with a selfie and a Sue shot. It seems like 90% of my Sue photos are taken in restaurants. This is about as exciting as life gets on a dull, windy in the middle of January. 

By the way, did you know about the phrase, spill the tea? Milady informs me that it is now a euphemism for gossiping. Seems like a good name for a café and tea house.

Canadian, Eh

I wasn't going to bother posting today, but I thought this was a cute image.

This, about Canadian English, is truer than you might think, and for online spellchecks we usually have to choose between British and American. I tend to choose American, but then I have to verify when it tells me a spieling is wrong. Such spelling usually involves the doubling of consonants, as before an ing ending for example.

Photo Ops are sparse these days. This is a recent one, taken from the trail bridge before it traverses over the water. It is a colour photo btw; it has NOT been processed into b&w. Our Unmighty Mississippi River flows in the background.