One year later

I started this blog in January 2013 with the intent of providing a place for family and friends to access what George and I were doing when we were travelling. The previous year we had spent two and a half months travelling in Europe and sent daily e-mails with pictures to share our adventures. My hope was that this would be a better way of communicating. To that goal, it has proved to be an improvement and also, in some ways, less effective. It has also resulted in unanticipated benefits.
The direct e-mail technique resulted in the anticipated audience receiving a message whether they were interested or not. The onus was then on them to open or delete. The blog technique leaves it up to the intended audience to choose whether or not to seek out the blog to read. Some of my friends have opted for the best of both worlds; they receive the blog directly to their e-mail. Some have it as one of their "bookmarks" and check it periodically.
One of the unanticipated benefits has been that total strangers have had access to my pictures and text. One individual contacted me re the trip to Merida, Mexico, as he were going there this year. Another wanted to share one of the pictures of the Interclub that I had posted. It is gratifying to think that others are reading my blog and find some benefit in it. Sometimes I find myself taking pictures specifically for the blog, trying to find ways to pinpoint something of interest or provide the most information in one picture. The other benefit has been a personal one: This blog has become an online diary for me and a repository for my pictures and memories of trips and day to day life at Long Point. Since using a digital camera I find that I print far fewer pictures and can be up to a year (maybe longer, in truth) behind in putting any in a photo album or framed and up on the wall. But I know that some of them, at least, are on the blog and hopefully will always be there. Sometimes when publishing a blog post, after checking that it looks OK (and there are not any glaring typos), I will visit some past posts and relive those trips again.
So I will continue to blog and it has evolved into something that is more for me than for anyone else though I do hope that others enjoy it too.
Christmas and New Years have passed, the first ones without George, so they were difficult, and the beach and Lake at Long Point have been changing as winter takes hold. The following pictures document some of those changes.

This was one of George's pictures. He was often up for the sunrise and would tell me
that I had missed a good one when I got up hours later. This was taken when Long
Point had it's first snow of the season, 3rd week in November. Unfortunately I seem
to be seeing more sunrises lately.

A foggy, snowy morning, later that week. Note that there is no ice buildup
yet at the edge of the lake.

In this shot the ice is beginning to build up along the lake edge. Early December.

Cold weather and high winds start the "ice mountain" formations.

There are ice caves.

There are collections of peaks.

Gradually, with each high wind day, they form into mountain ranges.
 This picture was taken after a mid December thaw. One of the ranges had been
broken away by the waves and the rest had shrunk a little.

Today, January 1, 2014, it is cold and still. There is one small range at the edge of where
the beach would end and a larger one further out. There is also ice forming out in the lake.

After Christmas, my sister made the comment that when she looks out the window she feels she should be able to see seals, it's that kind of landscape. It's beautiful and rugged, but makes you glad to be inside.

Happy New Year to all who read this.