NOTE: These photos are NOT taken in black and white or colour corrected!

The entire weekend was foggy, chilly and hoary. I prefer a blue sky, but it was beautiful, especially today. Yesterday (Saturday), the view was completely obscured by fog. I kept expecting monsters to emerge out of the mist. On that basis alone, I decided against walking into the ravine. Today, the fog mostly lifted, affording a much clearer view of monsters on the horizon, and so I ventured out.

Everything was pillowed in white and each branch sprouted a different configuration of frost. But then, suddenly, an orange slice, impaled on a twig! It was so lovely, so vividly, ludicrously orange against the bleached background. Unfortunately, the photo wasn’t as crisp as I had hoped.

On the way back, a random turkey leg. Not nearly as vivid, but just as much of a surprise.

11:10 to 12:20/-7C

It went back into the deep freeze after I returned to work on January 3, and since then no walking. Until today. What a beautiful afternoon! 6C, with a fiercely blue sky.

I drove to Whitemud Ravine north through muddy, wet streets. The hill by the stairs was dotted with many colourful tobogganists, in varying stages of screams (of delight, mostly). I don’t think I recall the hill being used for this purpose, but last year was so much warmer, there might not have been enough snow.

The ravine was full of river valley enjoyists – on foot, toboggan, snowboards, skidoos (on the river) and cross country skis (on the creek). Spectacular walk, but I missed my walking buddy Tom who is studying. I also found myself seriously out of breath on the stairs. Shame on me. I’ve lost considerable ground in the last few months. Hopefully this weather will stick and I’ll be better at getting outside.

6C/2:00-3:30

It’s been a heck of a December. It was unseasonably cold for the first two and a half weeks, without mercy. And by unseasonably cold I mean holy christ cold. Poor Maggie would freeze almost instantly, especially in the mornings. Her arthritis is not compatible with frigid temperatures. On several occasions, we had to rescue her from the yard, and lift her up the three steps to the deck. Since then it’s been relatively mild, up and down, or in other words, seasonable. It snowed on Christmas and the blue sky returned, so it was a quintessentially gorgeous, picture perfect Christmas day. Cold (about -15C), but pretty.

Today, I went for an hour’s walk in Whitemud Ravine. I am sooo out of shape. Not out of breath (yet), but I could feel my leg muscles straining on the hills. Yuck. I miss the body that was. The strength that was. I hope to walk more the rest of this week, and into 2017. It’s now 20+ years of walking in Edmonton’s river valley and ravines, with the last few years being a bit of a geographical struggle. At least I have that 1996 to 2011 memory of a time when I priorized my life differently. Some things have been out of my control (especially the location), but I’ve still made counter-productive choices along the way, and no doubt will continue to make them, but hopefully I can strike a new balance. That’s my resolution for 2017. Health. Relocation. And to wear fewer clothes from Reitman’s. Is that too much to ask?

Noon-1:30PM/-2C

Right now, it’s Sunday evening, the wind is blowing, the snow is falling and it’s bitterly cold. But not as cold as it will be tomorrow, and for the rest of the foreseeable future. We’ve gotten off easy this fall, October snow notwithstanding. Since then, it’s been brown, cloudy, often foggy and relatively mild. This morning, blue sky and +1. Now, it’s a hellscape. I might be exaggerating a bit, but not by much. I could be out in it, but my brother in law is going to the Oilers game with Tom, not me. So I’m safe and warm inside, watching Krampus and eating butter tarts.

Yesterday, knowing what was about to descend on the city of Edmonton, I went for a walk in Whitemud Ravine via the powerline. The walking has really fallen off. As per usual, no reason. Just busy. Also, it’s dark now and the choices are limited. It was wonderful in the ravine. Just a light skiff of snow. Most of the creek is frozen over, but only just recently.

Whatever was going on yesterday in the ravine is now moot.

We are boned.

	Mon 5 Dec	Tue 6 Dec	Wed 7 Dec	Thu 8 Dec	Fri 9 Dec	Sat 10 Dec
	-15°C 60% Chance of flurries	-19°C 30% Chance of flurries	-20°C   Sunny	-19°C   Sunny	-22°C 60% Chance of flurries	-24°C 30% Chance of flurries

3C (yesterday)

The snow is long gone. It was fully gone a week after it snowed in early October, and since then, we’ve had pretty nice weather. Double digits this last week, and on Thursday it was 19C. Today, rain. Lots of rain. On Friday, however, Tom and I made our way to downtown via the river valley. It was monochromatic and quiet. We lost a couple of the best weeks of fall to a premature snow and now, it’s long past peak – the woods settled contentedly into the sepias and browns of late autumn. Beautiful, in its own whispered way.

The walk on Friday was about 45 minutes, followed by a bit of wayward wandering downtown. It’s supposed to be 16C on Tuesday, so I’ll try to walk home, or some version thereof.

Friday 13C/Sunday (today) 7C

Went for a quicky yesterday morning which turned into a longy…as these things happen. Actually, it was only about an hour but I went longer than I intended – up to the pond along the powerline. It snowed again on Friday (Oct 14), and I wanted to get out and experience the beautiful, if somewhat premature winter landscape before it melted back into fall. If it does.

As expected, it was beautiful. The creek wasn’t frozen but had a slight skim of ice on top, like the pond. On the water, just a lone mallard and a common goldeneye giving itself a vigorous cleaning. At least I think that’s what she was doing with her leg up in the air. Maybe her foot was just cold. Who knows ducks? Also, I saw a flock of snow geese flying in v-formation above me. I thought they were regular Canada geese, but they did have an odd sound. Only when I enlarged the picture could I see their snowy feathers. I’m lucky to see to have seen them.

10:30-noon/1C (Saturday)