Into the car by 7:30 on a Saturday morning and it's -21 degrees Celsius. Muttering swear words under my breath I wait for the car to warm up before driving. As I drive, my breath comes out and hits the windshield, condensing first then freezing and blocking my view. So I have to pull over and wait for the windshield to warm up a little more.
Finally, I can see again and I'm off to capture what I hope will be some good photos. Click on the photos to get a better look.
My last stop was back in Bedford, right where the Sackville River empties into the Basin, a favourite spot for a number of ducks, seagulls, and other water birds. I've been in and out of the car a few times and each time, my fingers, despite being encased in gloves, freeze. I caught a glimpse of what appears to be a loon or merganser, too far away to tell, but then a large white bird comes into view. One of the swans!
I don't know which swan this is, as we've had a few living in Bedford over the years, including a mating pair. A few years ago the male died and the following spring the female built a nest anyway. She had no mate, so local folks were concerned that the energy she would expend building the nest and laying (infertile)eggs would hasten her own death. Each time she attempted to rebuild the nest, it was dismantled until she finally stopped. She's been around ever since. I check on her during warmer months but on my training rides last summer around the area she normally resides I never saw her. Is this her? I don't know. But I was so pleased to see this creature this morning I knew coming out so early and in such evil cold was worth it.
S.
7 comments:
Cool....steam coming off of the ocean.
It was -12 celcius (10F) yesterday to a high of -9 celcius (16F). That's much too cold for being this far south.
Beautiful photos and the swan was surely worth the frostbite. Thanks for posting them.
Beautiful! Thanks for braving the weather to share. I think we need to move to Alaska to get warm.
Very nice pics! Maybe someone should teach that swan how to go south for winter! :)
Nice pics. Try to stay warm.
Wowee...took a bit of a blog reading break for a week-ish and now paying the price of "catch up"!
I don't know how to tell you this but directly: You're weather pattern/chill in the air makes me want to exclaim loudly a southern USA saying, "It's colder than an well digger's arse out there!"
And finally, I always love reading your research/medical information posts...you offer great links and analogies that even a lesion head such as myself can comprehend! THANKS...
Linda D. in Seattle
Thanks, everybody....frostbite didn't get me, thankfully.
The temp went up to plus 7 yesterday after 16 cm of snow the day before and then rain on top of that. We've hit every season in the past two days.
Linda,
I'm all about making things easy to understand for all us lesion heads....
S.
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