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Showing posts from February, 2021

Snowy Speculations

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If I could paint, I would have tried to replicate the landscape very early this morning. Illuminated by the faintest hints of light and hours before sunrise, the cold, stark landscape lay completely still in its snowy blanket. Naked trees stood proudly and quietly against this backdrop, this palate of pure white an unforgiving place for any creature, big or small, to attempt to cross without drawing attention to its existence at this time. Even our ancient tire swing looked sleepy and droopy, suspended precariously close to the ground, as if the effort of hanging from a tree limb was too much for it. To the east, the only rays of light visible were the ones coming from the across the river, and even those seem hushed and muffled, like a child tired and murmuring not to wake them up just yet.  The young families down the road have gone all out with Christmas lights this year. Bright colours adorn the night skies and my neighbours even have a Christmas Cat and a Christmas Dinosaur that i

Hawks and Owls and Ice Rinks, Oh My!

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Hawks and Owls and Ice Rinks, Oh My! I often talk about our youngest daughter, who is a senior skater at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Skating Club. With the lockdown and closing of the local arenas, she found herself unable to skate for the first time in twelve years. So my husband decided to make a rink the old-fashioned way, without a plastic base or boards. This is risky as Niagara-on-the-Lake generally enjoys milder winters compared to surrounding cities because of our proximity to Lake Ontario which regulates our temperatures. Nevertheless he was determined. And so it began.  After compacting the snow into a rink formation, he spent the next several weeks getting up every few hours and flooding. After coming home from full days at work, he would rush out before the last of the daylight disappeared and flood until his hands froze, come in, and then do it again. Two red spotlights left over from Christmas illuminated his shape every night as he lugged the hose outside to the rink, only t