December catch up.

 December seems to have whizzed by. Hopefully the rest of the winter, starting with a months "lockdown", will too.

This bird is a regular visitor. I am not sure what he is and have poured over the bird book trying to identify him.

When its windy he hangs in the updrafts

swiveling his head, searching for his next meal in the undergrowth along the lake bank.

When it's calmer he is on top of the pine tree, still searching.

Calm days have been rare, more often it has been windy and stormy,

pushing me to walk around the, more sheltered Silver Lake

and Lynn Valley

trails.

Canada Geese and Mallards are regulars and the occasional Buffle Head.

When I bought the house every wall was painted grey. Now it is "Coastal Colours"; sky, lake and beach colours.

While the house was being painted, I was painting Christmas cards

and baking shortbread (regular, maple, lemon and cranberry).

Rasta took to sleeping in his "cave" under the Christmas tree and investigating every new package that was delivered.

Rick and I delivered gifts to Chris and Jason, Toronto and picked up Nicola and Dave's, Si, Dan and Fi's, Mum and Dad's and mine. Then Nicola and I made a similar delivery to Mum and Dad's, Fort Erie. Such a strange Christmas but Christine helped us all get together with a Zoom call and Trivia Game after Christmas.

A White Christmas

Waiting patiently for his gift to be unwrapped

Thrilled with the cat treats Party Mix (thanks Chris)

and the wrapping paper nest.

Rick and I worked off our Salmon Wellington Christmas dinner by shoveling the driveway, building a truly ugly dalek/snowman

and walking the Lynn Valley Trail

where someone had hung

Christmas decorations to lure us along.

November catch up

 The return from Edmonton was uneventful and I was able to shorten my 14 day quarantine to just 4 days with a negative Covid 19 test.

At this time of year, George and I used to drag chairs out on to the beach to watch the sunsets. I can see them now from "the Edge"

 

Sometimes I need a blanket and cushion, to fend of the chill, but it's worth it.

A big wind storm blew away one of my decks and when Rick and I walked Long Point Beach we could see how close the water had come to the trees around my old place.

The same windstorm knocked over boats at the Port Dover marina. Photo by Mark.

Mark went down to check on his boat, that's her, with the blue stripe, safe and sound. Photo by Mark.

The gust of wind that did the damage was clocked at 135km/hr. Photo by Mark.

 

Ducks have been "rafting" in the lake.

Amassing to fly south. I believe these are Redhead ducks.

 

Snow

 

Then lovely again for Rick and I, then Nic and I, to walk around the vineyard at Burning Kiln

 

We also sat on the patio of Long Point EcoAdventures and ate and drank, warmed (and smoked) by a wood burning fire and enjoying our last chances to indulge in patio dining for a while.

 

On the way home we saw Santa, making the rounds, in Port Dover.

 

Rasta is always willing

to help with quilting.

Seen on the Lynn Valley Trail.

Then more snow.

The Girls do Coffee (which I have renamed The Ladies go Lingerie Shopping) design by Carolyn Stitch, is nearly finished.

Seagull and Schooner, design by Thor Hansen, is in process,

as is Lone Pine, designed by Nancy Jo Finout.

Banff, part 2

 

Monday morning it was crispy cold and bright blue skies.

 

We had asked for a late check out so Aimee, Mike and the kids went for a swim after breakfast and I walked Iggy and started packing up the car. We were checked out and in the car with 2 minutes to spare.

Because the drone video hadn't worked the previous day, we drove back down to the Bow River Falls to try again.

The kids climbed around and threw rocks again while their parents flew the drone.

Rather than drive back the way we had come we drove north to have some more mountain scenery before heading home.

Next stop was Lake Louise. The lake was frozen and people were skating on it.

Of course this meant that Mike took the kids to walk on the lake while

Aimee and I stayed on the path and wondered just how thick that ice was. It was like glass and you could see the rocks on the bottom of the lake clearly.

Unbelievably photogenic.

The kids and I walked around the lake, throwing ice on to it to see it smoothly slide across

While there was more drone flying until a woman told us it was illegal. Looking it up later we found out that drone flying is illegal in all national parks.

Family picture complete with Iggy this time.

Periodically we had to pick up Iggy because his feet got too cold and he would shake and look pathetic.

Proof I was there too

Lunch and then back in the car where I tried to take pictures out of the car window

that just don't do it justice, especially as it was getting dark.

Beside the road, a couple of

Big Horn Sheep

running to join the herd.

 

It was fully dark for the last couple of hours drive. We talked about coming back if I visit again in the spring and Aimee and Mike commented that they really don't take advantage of being relatively close to this magnificent scenery. Aimee had got better at flying the drone and enjoyed the editing process and adding music.

Avery's dragon

Maya's rug.