Leaves that had fallen off our giant hazelnut tree plugged up our eaves troughs forming in sub-zero temperatures an icy mess. Before more snow is falling, I need to clean the troughs. Climbing up and down the long ladder is not an easy task. Despite the gloves I am wearing my hands quickly become cold and numb. Standing on top of the ladder and shoveling down leaves and ice, my thoughts wander back in time. I see images in a nostalgic dream-like state of mind. Here are three photos. Enjoy.
Less than four weeks ago we swam in the Whatshan Lake and enjoyed a balmy 20 degrees C warm enough for a picnic in a multi-coloured fall setting. Walking now in sub-zero temperatures with a stiff wind blowing from the northeast makes us feel as if the warm spell happened sometime in the distant past. The first snow has fallen and will mostly stay unless there is some relief coming from the relatively mild Pacific Ocean. Below are a few impressions from a recent walk on the deserted Fauquier Golf Course. Enjoy.
In the previous post, I reported that on October 15, my wife and I went swimming in the nearby Whatshan Lake. In the meantime, we finally had some much-needed rain but the temperatures for this time of the year are still way above normal. My followers in their comments asked me when we would get our first frost. This question brought back some fond memories of my annual pilgrimage to the mountains. In the 1980s, I never climbed up to the 8200 ft McBride mountain alone. At least one of our five sons accompanied me. Our hike would take place near the end of August. Often the meadows of the lower valley were covered by a white blanket of frost. Fast forward to the presence. Heart Creek, our main source of water, almost ran dry this year. Our garden is still producing red beets and cherry tomatoes. Only yesterday I picked a basket full of these delicious fruits from the vine. This is just another piece of evidence of climate change. Quite frankly, as pleasant as an extended warm spell may be, it makes me quite a bit worried.
Our son Tony and I are on the plateau of McBride. (1986) The ridge behind us leads to the higher Mt. Hilda
My wife planted the tomatoes in the soil under the gravel. They enjoyed the extra heat from the rocks.
We have not seen any rain in the past couple of weeks, making it the driest fall in our region. Of course, the blue sky and bright sunshiny days are most welcome, especially now, as the trees are showing off their autumnal dresses. Recently, I discovered a snail climbing up the vinyl siding of our house. I took it and placed it on a rock to observe its behaviour. The firs reaction as expected was that it withdrew into its shell. In the meantime, I found another rock that looks like a massive mountain when shot from a close distance. When the snail figured it safe to crawl out of its shell, it accepted the challenge like a courageous mountain climber to cross the canyon between the two rocks. Enjoy.
The Peter and Gertrud Klopp Family 