Yesterday’s high was -5 Celsius. Minus 5. The high.
Oh, I know, I know, my fellow Canadians from about 150-200 kilometres inland all the way East to the Atlantic will be sneering. Minus 5, that’s easy. Minus 5 is when we take the coats off. Heck, even the sweaters.
But the brakes were frozen on my bike, and there were many, many icy patches along our little island’s dirt roads.
Riding across to the city harbour, our little ferry crunched its way through ice. That’s an inch or two of ice (loose, yes, broken up, but still, crunchy, resistant, frozen, ice) on top of the salt water. Cold.
But my, what a dramatic sunrise, all looming dark and glory combined. I suppressed the flash, which merely illuminated the foreground and completely missed my eye’s vision, and since I wasn’t using a tripod, there’s fuzziness. The colour, though, the dramatic contrast, the wintry stark shapes, they’re all as I saw them. Worth heading out in my slippers.
We have a Snowfall Warning in effect again today, my long day, so I’ll be watching the clouds, waiting to see if we get enough to cancel my evening class and get me home by the fire sooner. Again, the Eastern sneering, but we have hills and curves and minimal snow-clearing budgets along this Coast. And the University I teach at sprawls its way up a hill and requires student drivers to make sharp turns into its parking lots. Even the buses end up stopping at the bottom during serious snowfalls.
So we’ll see. Meantime, though, I’ll admit that it’s much prettier than the rain we’ll be complaining about next week. . . And I’m rather enjoying the chance to haul out the warm woolies. Duchesse isposting today about dressing for a Canadian winter. I’ve been enjoying the not-so-glam combo of grey cabled woolen tights and my Blundstones. Might even show you a photo later of the grey cashmere coat that makes me feel a bit better about it all. Time now, though, to go figure out what’s going to keep me warm today. What weather are you dressing for, wherever you are?
Those are gorgeous shots, but Brrrr! I can almost feel the cold from here.
We've been having unusually cold weather for this time of year, though nowhere near what you're experiencing. I may even light a fire tonight.
I want to sit by your fire too :-). I miss winter! It's never cold enough here for my taste, but at least it's sweater weather and cold enough for a fire.
I miss getting the recorded phone messages warning about snow falls and how I should prepare for them. No such calls here in L.A. It is in the 50's here in Valencia and I am actually wearing coats, sweaters and have the heat on. Lily is so cold she is in her crate( he will not love Chicago winters).
As always, your photos are beautiful and inspire a great deal of envy in me.;-)
xoxo
I've never experienced cold like that … I hope you got your early mark and went home for a cosy evening!
Excellent photos–you must be an earlier bird than I am.
That's what happens, we burrow into Blunnies and cashmere- and why not! We know the sundresses will come back eventually and there is a deep beauty in winter, too.
Pseu, Susan, Belette, and Tiffany: lovely to have you southerners make my cold feel legitimate, in contrast to my hardier fellow Canadians. . .
Terri: I have been an earlier bird than I wish lately — lovely to have you commenting.
Duchesse: Absolutely, and summer is all the more appreciated when winter is cold and dark.