Happy Valentine's Day!

The front and back of the card that E shared with her classmates and friends today.

12 of 12 for 2012 February

For February's 12 pictures on the 12th of the month, I took a bunch of pictures out at the local ski hill where were spent the afternoon.  I am not actually sure why it is called "The Ski Hill" since I do not think anyone actually skis down it, but I do know the kids have fun out there on their snowmobiles and toboggans.

Starting at the top left going across and then down to the next row and across.
1.  Derrick jumping his sled
2.  Looking up the hill from the half way point
3.  Landing a jump
4.  The glacier we can see from town
5.  The mountains to the west of town
6.  Climbing on the sled
7.  The mountains to the east of town
8.  Another jump
9.  More climbing
10.  Another view of the east mountain range
11.  Taking off
12.  The view of the canal  from the top of the hill

Beautiful Sunrises

It is often overcast or foggy here, but this past week, we the weather has been a little nicer and we have been blessed with some beautiful sunrises.

Loved this lonely little cloud.

The view from our balcony looking out towards the canal.

The mountains to the east.

More Winter

  I had a chance to get out for a walk on the weekend and it was just so pretty to see all the snow on the trees and icicles on the side of the mountain, that I thought I would share some photos of it with you.

It Just Keeps Snowing.....

and snowing and snowing and snowing.  As the weatherman predicted, it did in fact snow all week.  I am sure that we received another 3 feet of snow this week alone!  The temperatures have been very mild this week though with it being a degree or two above freezing during the days.  Even with the temperature slightly above freezing it snows, big, heavy wet clumps of snow, and since there is so much snow on the ground, it stays and continues to pile up.

One of the residential streets in town.  See the peaks of the roofs and car ports.  That is one of the loaders they use in town to clear the snow.

Lovely two storey home for sale.  Complete with a car port out front.  Come on you know you want a vacation home.

This is why it is nice to have the car port attached to the house.

A closer view of the balcony and roof.  Can you see all the layers of snow up there?

I think even the little kids at school can slam dunk now.

Not much swinging happening these days though since the swings are buried.  That is the swing set in the lower left corner of the picture.

Baseball anyone?

Enjoying the snow!

Just a few pictures of "E" out enjoying all the snow we have!

At the top of the snow hill.

Sliding down.

Relaxing in her chair of snow.

Queen of the snow hill!

I took this just to show how high the snow hill is.  In the picture on the left you can see the stop sign in the lower right hand corner.  I know she looks very close to hydro wires, but it is deceiving.  At no time could she touch any of the wires, so it was completely safe.

Not quite cold enough.....

.........to photograph snowflakes!  Yes, even though we get plenty of snow here it is not not the right kind of snow to be able to take pictures of the individual snowflakes.  It is generally too warm here and the snow is clumpy or too crystalized.  It was a little cooler the other day, so I tried to take a snowflake picture, but as you can see the flakes are not quite right, it needed to be just a touch colder out.

I will try again to get the perfect snowflake, but in the meantime here is a link to some previous snowflake pictures.   You can see the difference the temperature makes on the formation of the flakes.

Winter

The rock face of the mountain in the winter.

Let it Snow, let it snow, let it snow

I know many of my friends in family in Ontario have been telling me how there is not snow and how winter has been so mild this year.  Temperature wise, it has been very mild here, with many days a degree or two above freezing, but the cumulative total for snowfall so far this year is over 18ft.  I thought I would share some of our snow with you, on the internet anyways.


A couple of buses that are no longer in service, so the snow has not been cleaned off of them.

Bill's Tires is not longer open either, so the lot has not been cleared either.  Check out the amount of snow sitting on the roof.

A few more of the building downtown.

A little garage or shed in town, you can just barely see the top of the doors.

The Health Centre

Another house in town.  I am pretty sure no one is living in there this winter.  The number that you see in the picture is on the car port.

This is very common it town with the A frame houses.  Since most of the roofs are steel, with the mild temperatures the snow tends to slide off, and we are now reaching the point where the snow on the ground and the snow sliding off the roof have met each other.  I do not think they will have much a view out their front window until spring.

Check out the snow on the trucks that have been parked for about a month, or maybe you cannot even find the trucks in the picture.

A summer and winter picture of the Arbourlight store.

 Another summer and winter picture of a place in town. 

Christmas Eve

I wanted to come back and post a few pictures from Christmas eve.  It is always such a magical time, and E always takes such care while preparing and setting out the special treats for Santa and his reindeer.

 Our Christmas tree

The bokeh tree

                       

The notes, milk and treats for Santa and his reindeer.

 The cupcake Christmas trees E made for the reindeer are mini ice cream cones turned up side down and covered with green frosting.  The orange on the trees are shredded carrots, as I hear it is a favourite among the reindeer.  There is also a little note explaining to Santa which plate is for him and which is for the reindeer.