Winter has arrived in our backyard and we wanted to capture and share how the snow and ice in the Black Spruce and Birch trees looks before a wind comes along and blows it away. We’ve put away the vegetable garden and greenhouse several months ago - the beds now slumber underneath straw hay blankets, all awaiting Spring’s warmth again. Troopy is fast asleep (actually, he’s never fast as he’s a Japanese diesel, but that’s another story...) in his shop. We’ve got a light-sensitive outdoor light on the side of the shop that now, during the darkest winter months, never turns off... Gives you an idea of how dark it really is here all day! Kind of a twilight ambiance during the day, from about 10am until about 2:30, then it gets really dark again.
No aurora out tonight. We’re hoping to see a display soon. When the clouds clear and the stars come out it gets cold. The clouds act as a blanket - it warms 15 to 20 degrees when we get a cloud cover. None tonight - it’s -25 below now and getting colder. It’s a deep, singular cold, but beautiful in a wild way. We are lucky to live here and experience nature’s wildness and her extreme moods. This is a raw place. So often in milder climes we take for granted the power and majesty of real nature. Up here she’s humbling, to say the least. You take her for granted at your peril.
Until next time...
