What if it doesn't snow on Christmas, how will Santa use his sleigh?

 It rained today.

+3°C, maybe even +4°C in the afternoon - ice cream weather!

And Advent is coming and maybe Santa will require Advil?

Actually with global heating, and children not believing in flying reindeer I have been looking into alternatives for several years - see past blogs usually written in December. So I am early in my plans, eh!

Here are the local conditions, west and east:

Note that even water is scarce, making it difficult for beaver and otter to make deliveries.

There are several hazards to navigation:

Thin ice, moving ice -

But then I saw the solution to several of my problems:

So, folks, be of good cheer - this is not a "Black Friday" after all!

WOB

Gordon Lightfoot revisited

 After 4 days of snow I returned to the home of "Bitter Green" - they called her.

I am trying to duplicate the places where I took the photos for "Gales" of November.

 

 He looks cold. And then came the ship wreck.

Hypothermia sets in quickly when the body cools below 35°C - imagine water temperature of 3°C for this polar dip.

After the dip the temperature of the water, Davis Straits was revealed to be

3°C plus

I did not want to boil the water. I took photos instead, wisely!

Old Bird

Teeth of November

 Mike, I was on my way over to rephotograph "Gordon Lightfoot" when ...

I got side-tracked.

And my young man's thoughts turned to 

summer time and picnics and the "livin is easy".

But then a little "white on white":

And I still had not reached "Gord", when the teeth of November "bit" me:

The broken ice sounded like bells.

Mike I did make it but the photo op will have to be  another day.

WOB

When the gales of November came early

 A friend of mine is a Gordon Lightfoot fan. He wanted to see the monument in Tudhope Park when he contracted Covid. He recovered but was not able to make the visit. So this is dedicated from one "bird" to another.

The approach with the 3bronzes:

"Black Day in July is on the left side:

The main monument is at the end of the Barnfield peninsula:

Most of his songs appear among the leaves:

There is a "key" nearby to help identify the connections:

The final element is recalled each November:

There is a bell rung for each life lost.

We just had our first snowfall of the season. And we also had a touch from the last huricane of 2022, Nicole. This is a reminder that Mother Nature's laws supersede those of Queen's Park,  Parliament Hill, Washington, Berlin, Moscow - you name it.

Wise Old Bird

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy
With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early

 

Lyrics 

It's beginning to look a lot like ...

 On Thursday we had +23°C - but maybe it was a swansong to Fall?

Look, look, look and see:

That is getting close to home.

But it would be easier to see on a dark background - I thought she would take off her fleece.

But Vicki is too talented!

We'll soon be able to do white water canoeing -

Chilly  WOB