Canada

Natural Splendour of the Arrow Lakes

/ Peter Klopp / 30 Comments

Wednesday’s Photos

Rain, Rain, and more Rain

This has so far been the mildest winter, since we moved here over forty years ago. In the early 1980′, we experienced massive snowfalls with snow piling up all the way to our kitchen window. In the extreme cold weather often lasting several weeks in a row, the lake would occasionally freeze over and our ferry barely managed to break the ice in the morning. It seems that such extreme weather is now part of the past. After a night of wet snow covering the ground with a white blanket, rain, quite heavy at times, returned to our area at the Arrow Lakes. When it let up a little, my wife and I went out for our daily walk equipped with our cameras hunting for rain drops. Here are the results. Enjoy!

Natural Splendour of the Arrow Lakes

/ Peter Klopp / 34 Comments

Wednesday’s Photos

Juniper Berries, Moss, and Oregon Grapes

Last week a major wind and rain storm was pounding the Southern Interior of BC knocking out a number of power stations and leaving thousands of households without electricity. With temperatures rising to 10 degrees C in some areas most of the snow has melted away in our valleys. When the sun came out last Thursday, January 15, my wife and I went to our favourite look-out to capture some of the plants covered with sparkling hoarfrost and dew drops. I brought so many photos home from the foray in the early morning light that I decided to break my 5-picture rule. I know you don’t mind. Enjoy.

Natural Splendour of the Arrow Lakes

/ Peter Klopp / 24 Comments

Wednesday’s Photos

Snow-capped Mountains and Not Much Snow Elsewhere

Another first in more than forty years: After a good dump of snow just in time for Christmas, we experienced nothing but mild weather in our Arrow Lakes valley, which made the snow quickly disappear on our highways and along the shoreline of our beloved lake. Then rain started to fall in the first week of January and more rain is in the forecast. This is highly unusual for the Interior of BC. We did not let the fog deter us from going for our daily walks. I tried to capture as much light and colour as possible under the overcast sky. Enjoy.

Natural Splendour of the Arrow Lakes

/ Peter Klopp / 36 Comments

Wednesday’s Photos

Happy New Year

My wife and I had a very peaceful and relaxing Christmas. Even though it was a bit lonely because our children could not travel and visit us due to the Covid-19 restrictions, we made the best of it by going out for our daily walks. You guessed it we also took our cameras along. On Christmas Eve our five sons, their spouses and our five grandchildren got together on a Zoom conference. While it was not like a real family reunion we enjoyed seeing each other and did some old-fashioned carolling. It felt good to take some time off from blogging although I was sometimes tempted to peek into the posts of all my blogging friends. Here are a few of my pictures I had taken on our walks in and around our little village. Enjoy.

Natural Splendour of the Arrow Lakes

/ Peter Klopp / 30 Comments

Wednesday’s Photos

Green is the Colour of Hope

As we are rapidly approaching Christmas, I would like to share a few photos with you where green and red are the dominant colours. Nature is at rest, all the flowers have disappeared from our fields, the bright and cheerful leaves have fallen to the ground, and here in our Northern climes, we are now looking at a bare landscape. Yet all our conifer trees except for the larches keep their verdant attire. For me, they are the symbol of hope in an over-commercialized world where nature is being exploited and trees are primarily viewed as material wealth. Old tradition has always kept nature in high esteem. Coming originally from Germany, I brought some of the Christmas customs to Canada that are not very well known here. One of them is the Advent wreath with its four candles symbolizing the four Sundays before Christmas. And a sprinkle of red provided by the rose hips goes well together with the green. This will be my last post in 2020. I will resume my blogging activity in the New Year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!