February 1, 2026
This past week has had temperatures consistently cold, with some skiffs of new snow falling, and some bright, blue-sky days. I know there are a lot of folk who do not enjoy winter, but I love, love, love it! There is so much beauty in a white landscape, even at night with that full Snow Moon shining bluish-white light across the snow. The days are getting longer, the sun is higher in the sky, and today we are half way between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox.
Cold mornings are a good time for whole grain banana pancakes on the cast iron griddle. It's a good way to use up those bananas that get past their best.
It is breeding season for the canids, and often on our hikes we get a strong whiff of fox. Here is Foxy investigating the 'treat rock'.
The wolves and coyotes have been travelling through, and it is easy to distinguish their tracks from the fox, as their tracks are bigger, they detour many times to lift their leg on any protruding thing sticking up out of the snow, and they don't use our trails much.
A fox tends to just carry on, more or less in a straight line. Our local foxes consistently use our snowshoe trails. We surmise that it is more energy efficient for them to use the trails, instead of plunging through the deepening snow.
Some smaller critter was out and about...a mouse, hopping along, dragging it's tail behind.
The usual winter birds are here, an Hairy woodpecker and
You are right, winter is a wonderful time of year. So many people kvetch about it, but make no effort to enjoy it. This is Ontario, after all.
ReplyDeleteI just tell people "If you choose not to find joy in the snow, you will have less joy in your life but still the same amount of snow"
DeleteI do get somewhat irked with the nay-sayers....!! I see so much beauty around. I love to watch the changes. Nature is not static. One can see and feel the change in the strength of the sun's light and radiation, as the earth, spinning on it's axis, circling the sun, tilts back toward the spring Equinox.
DeleteSpinning! If I ever get my front room painted and things put away, i will definitely start spinning again. Love your Fair Isle mitten. Maybe that should be my next knitting project.
ReplyDeleteActually the mittens are knit from bits and bobs of leftover sock wool, but now you mention it, they do look a bit Fair Isle-ish.
DeleteI'd love to see pics of your wheel...???
I was hoping to get out to the spinning classes in Wilno, but the weather has just been to unpredictable for my driving confidence. My poor old wheel sits hibernating in the back room. It's a brilliant sunny day. The old rodent needs to be kicked to the curb, hahaha. February is always a brute in this part of the province.
ReplyDeletewhoops, forgot this thought. I don;t hate winter. This January has been a bit tough with some mobility issues so I did a lot of grumbling. This week is looking beautiful so I'll be spending as much time in the out of doors as I can!
DeleteThere are spinning classes in Wilno?? My class is in Barry's Bay. Have finally visited Mad Knits. So glad she is staying open there now.
DeleteMobility is an issue, becoming more so as we age. I can't walk or SS as far as I used to, comfortably. Garden work is going to be a bigger challenge this summer.
PS: there is going to be a public 'spin in' in BB on the 14th.
I'm happy to hear Teresa is keeping her shop there. I used to go out to her place in the bush. It was a brute of a drive! We haven't been out to BB in awhile. We need to go for a drive SOON.
DeleteI love winter too, but we don't have much snow in Georiga. This year there were two events and they both skipped us here in Newnan. I love the bare tree branches lifting to the ash colored skies.
ReplyDeleteWon't your spring bulbs be poking up now?
DeleteYou always have such an interesting range of observations, but it being now just past half-way between the winter solstice and the spring equinox struck me as very encouraging!
ReplyDeleteThe sun is higher in the sky, and there is a different look and feel to the solar radiation.
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