It's Snowing!

It's Snowing!

And that leaves me with an inexplicable desire to skip around the kitchen table singing jingle bells! (I used to do that!!) When I was a little kid I truly believed that singing Christmas songs/playing Christmas music would make it snow more. Since winter is my favourite season I can't wait for mountains of snow so I can take my snowshoes and x-country skis out of hibernation!

In the meantime enjoy these links to some Christmas music. The Youtube video is for the delightful pop song "Peppermint Winter" by Owl City. The second Youtube video is just for my older sister, one of her favourite Christmas songs.  For those who don't like pop music so much follow this link to a collection of Sufjan Steven's Christmas music. There you can find such delightful songs as "What Child is this Anyway" and "That was the worst Christmas Ever" alongside such Christmas classics as "O Come O Come Immanuel" and "Once in Royal David's City." His sound is unique so if you are unfamiliar with it just check it out!

Or send me a link to your favourite Christmas music so I can enjoy!

Moonbow?- A Beautiful Sight

There was a beautiful rainbow coloured ring surrounding the moon tonight. I noticed it when I came home from skating. I tried to take some photos but alas my photography skills leave much to be desired. The lack of a camera that is good in low light conditions and lack of tripod may also have had something to do with it.

This pic I found on Google images best represents what I saw, Lovely!

My favourite photo of the night wasn't a total loss. It doesn't do my night sky justice but I kinda find it  reminiscent of an impressionist painting.

Upon further review I was surprised to find one of my pictures did at least hint of the rainbow colours that were visible in the night sky. Hah! who need a fancy camera or tripod now! A steady hand and a vehicle side mirror will do in a pinch.



I really shouldn't call it a moonbow. A quick wikipedia search told me the technical term is a 22° halo or moonring. Follow the links if you want more info but the accompanying articles are a little sparse.

Interestingly enough folklore says that it is a sign of a coming winter storm and that if I counted the stars within the ring that would be the number of days before the impending storm. With the kind of winter we have been having one can only wish. Whether or not that is true time will only tell but for some reason all this talk of moons has Cat Steven's "Moonshadow" stuck in my head. This song always reminds me of a funny university memory. I had a friend who wanted to start a band. She thought this would be an excellent song to add to our repertoire which also included Amazing Grace. She played the ukelele and had found a violinist, pianist and vocalist, she wanted me to be the star clarinetist and figured we should call ourselves Death Tongue. Clearly we were destined for greatness.

Hope you enjoy the following YouTube link and your own moongazing.

p.s. I looked at a bunch of youtube vids for this song and though the sound quality isn't as good as some of the other ones I loved this clip for the fantastic 70's attire!

Paddling and Pictures

I went for an evening/sunset paddle with my brother the other day.
It was gorgeous and the waves were marvelous providing us with alot of fun.
As the sun began to sink down into the lake I marveled at the beauty and wished to capture the moment with my camera.

I failed miserably. Although my photos are still nice they don't even come close to the dramatic beauty I encountered. I wanted to get a photo that fully captured the turquoise and mauve of the water along with the fuschia, pinks and purples of the setting sun, preferably with the flock of herring gulls flying across the view. In theory this would have been possible, and perhaps if I was a better photographer, or if I had a different camera.... however it is incredibly difficult to fiddle with settings on your camera while continuing to stay afloat in your kayak. As I was taking pictures every now and then a wave would decide to crest right into my kayak as if to remind me that I was indeed on a large lake with 0.5-1m swells. (I only had a 1/2 skirt on the kayak so yes, I got wet.) I tried to snap a few photos between paddling but eventually gave up, a pic couldn't adequately capture the moment anyways.

My bro paddling

They say a picture is worth a thousand words but even a thousand pictures can't adequately sum up a memory.