Winter's reminder

I can't recall when Amy or I have had such a full weekend as this one was.  Socially speaking.  From Friday evening right through to early Sunday morning, with (thankfully) much of Sunday to recuperate, the boys delightfully absent.

When dawn arrived Sunday, however, it did so with the creaks, groans, and tell-tale fibrous pops that speak of a house forcibly adjusting to a rapid and drastic drop in temperature.  (It can be sort of unnerving because it often sounds like some guy randomly banging on your front door while making low, ominous howling noises.  Because, you know, it was windy too.)

We had gone to bed by about 2 AM Sunday morning with a clear sky and an unseasonably pleasant temperature right around the freezing point.  We woke up to heavy, blowing snow and about -22 Celsius (-8 F).

My brother came over in the early afternoon and took me, mostly on a whim, to pop some caps at the Wild West shooting range at West Edmonton Mall.  But, like any good ol' Alberta boys, we stopped for a burger and a couple of beers first.  Nothing quite like shooting a .45 calibre revolver with a very minor beer buzz.  I was feelin' lucky.  Punk.

When Buster drove me back home, he helped out with the worst of the snow clearing before taking off.  As you can see in the picture below, he likes to hover a couple inches off the ground while he shovels.  (Show off...)

But me, I prefer to remain a little more grounded while so engaged.

What with the harsh reminder of what is still quite a bit of winter ahead of us, I had to look more towards the micro than the macro to retrieve the beauty that can be salvaged from dang near any situation at all.

I found it staring right through the kitchen window into the backyard:

I call this next one: Fleur de lis.

You can call this one whatever you want.

More than 20 below and out in the blowing wind shovelling snow. 

Aye lads, 'twas a beautiful day indeed!

(More in the next post concerning the rest of the weekend.  And yes, there'll be plenty on the Friday evening Burns supper.)

Comments

[Mark]

If that's winter's reminder, then I'd hate to see what happened if you ignored it and it had to repeat itself. That wouldn't be pretty.

Your face was frozen into that smiling position, right? Jiminy, that's cold!

[Mark]

Love the frost pictures, by the way. Such beauty right there, overlooked every day.

[Dave]

Gorgeous frost pictures Simon!!

What a great brother... helping you out!

[Moksha Gren]

Truly lovely pictures, Si. It's wonderful how you keep finding the the silver lining to the bitter cold. And though I probably shouldn't enjoying mentioning this as much as I'm about to...being who I am, I feel the need to mention that the temperatures here in St Louis sprang up from their recent negative numbers to allow me to enjoy a sunny, little bike ride this weekend.

(sorry) ;)

Looking forward to the Burns supper details.

[Simon]

Post Addendum:

It was even colder this morning when we woke up. Temp sitting at -30°C with the wind chill pushing that down below -45°C. My truck didn't really want to start, but I coaxed her into turning over, good girl that she is.

Plus, when Amy went to drop Dex off at pre-school, there had been a water main break that caused a section of the church basement to flood (not the pre-school part), so school was cancelled for the day. One student brought cupcakes from his birthday on Sunday, so those went a small way to assuaging the disappointment. Then Amy got stuck in a snow drift in the parking lot when she tried to head home and relied on the good graces of two ladies who were also there to witness her misfortune.

Fun day, with more of the same forecast for most of this week.

Mark, yeah my face was partly frozen into that rictus of forced humour in the picture there. Fun is more a state of mind than a reality sometimes.

Dave, my brother being there REALLY sped up the shovelling thing. Thank goodness for the assistance!

Moksha, I'll try not to be envious of your delightfully temperate clime just now. If I wasn't so busy shaking from the cold I'd give you a stern fist-shaking. Burns supper was just fabulous (again), and I'll post those pics right quick.

[Moksha Gren]

I'll save you the effort and just read your shivering as rage thrown in my direction. It's the thought that counts anyway.

Sucks about all the cold related issues disrupting your day up there. It's so cold that even Edmonton was caught unprepared. That's scary, my friend.

[marian]

We had a few relatively "mild" days and then yesterday it drizzled in the evening, and then the temperature plunged, so every road and sidewalk in the city is hard glare ice. Fun trying to cross the parking lot and get into the building to work today! Your weather is swooping down upon us as I write...

[emilie b.]

Don't send that cold weather East, plz. We've been faring quite well in the last day or two, with nice slush weather announced for part of this week. As if spring was coming our way (although I know that's probably illusion, still).

Lovely frost pics. I really like the dark background.

[Terri]

We got that crappy blast of winter hell too. When it is -52 with the wind, it should be mandatory that we stay in bed and just hibernate.

[Moksha Gren]

You'll be pleased to know that St Louis just got slammed with about 8" of snow and a complete loss of that heat wave I was bragging about. I shoveled snow this morning and imagined you laughing at me from far away ;)