Icing-sugared trees

On Tuesday evening, we had a lovely gentle snowfall of rather wet snow that stuck to the trees, not quite like hoarfrost, but pretty all the same. Shadow and I went for a walk to take pictures before the sun melted it all. As it's been a while since I've posted any wintry beauty, I thought I'd indulge today, and put some pretty snow at the top of my moodlings against our gorgeous winter blue sky. Enjoy!

December wonderland

The first weekend of December brought us a lot of lovely, light, fluffy snowfall that left us with plenty of shoveling to do! On my way home from the dentist this morning, I ran around with my camera because I think the snow is simply beautiful. Don't you?

A marshmallow world

It's a marshmallow world in the winter
when the snow comes to cover the ground
It's a time for play, it's a whipped cream day.
I wait for it the whole year round...

-- It's a Marshmallow World 

by Lou Sigman, 1949

It seems unfair to me that the song above is only played at Christmas time when it doesn't even make mention of Christmas. What it actually talks about is a day like today, when I woke up to see light fluffy snow "in the arms of the evergreen tree" and more sparkly stuff floating down, turning every upraised branch into a series of cotton puff balls.

Shadow and I walked for almost two hours, revelling in the beauty of the day. The white trees contrasted with the grey sky, and every bush was like a fairyland of crystal and lace. God's artistry is so incredibly beautiful, a little bit of heaven here and now.

A whipped cream day, indeed. For my readers who rarely see snow, here are the best of my pictures, which can't begin to do the day justice. Enjoy!

A pre-Christmas mountain trip

Christmas lights in Jasper

For a few days before Christmas, our little family went to Jasper, Alberta, to enjoy fresh mountain air and a wee winter break. It was cold but gorgeous. We arrived to moonlit mountains and, after checking into our hotel, immediately went stargazing near Patricia Lake, where we experienced not the sound of music, but the sound of wapiti calling in the woods surrounding the lake -- a strange, sometimes grating or whooshing, sometimes thumping sound.

Lee and Christina got in a bit of skiing while the rest of us took a walk with a friend around Lake Beauvert. We hit the best pizzeria in Jasper for lunch, did a bit of shopping, and took a wonderful winter nap before a marvellous meal at L&W Greek restaurant. Returning to the hotel, we took a dip in the hot tub and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

My favourite moments of the trip were the next day at Pyramid Lake, 

where we skated on the ice loop,

Julia tried some woodblock curling

and we had a crazy game of 3-on-3 boot hockey. 

After a late lunch, a few of us walked up Maligne Canyon to see the ice falls, which is something I've always wanted to do.

We cooked supper in our kitchenette and hurried to down town Jasper on foot to see Star Wars, but arrived just as the manager of the movie theatre was posting a SOLD OUT sign. Oh well. Back in our room we saw the movie Philomena instead, an amazing story of loss and forgiveness.

It was a beautiful break, and continues to be a relaxing holiday.

A wintry walk

On Sunday, Lee and I took a lovely stroll around what we call the "Emily Murphy loop," though others might call it the "River Valley Road run."

We parked at Emily Murphy Park, south of the river near the U of A,

and walked the shady side first...

Someone decorated part of the path beside the water... two more baubles further along...

We're heading toward the Legislature and the High Level Bridge...

I've always wanted to walk on the LRT Bridge, 

named after Dudley B. Menzies, 

a man who did a lot for Edmonton...

View to the west... 

The "Pearl," Edmonton's newest high rise accommodation

stands head and shoulders above the others 

along the river's edge...

(at the moment, the top of my blog has a better picture)

View to the east...

you can almost see the red supports 

for the bridge being built to replace 

the old Walterdale Bridge...

We didn't pass too many people on our walk...

Edmontonians seem to have gotten used to staying home

because of our recent cold snap...

but it was a pretty pleasant walk -- only -12 C (10 F)

with almost no windchill...

I love these spiral ramps on the ends of the Menzies bridge,

and now I can say I've walked them both!

The sunny side of the river, near Victoria Oval...

The view from Groat Bridge,

looking back to the High Level --

our loop is almost complete...

We stood and looked at the snowy river for a long while

trying to decipher what the coyotes had been doing...

were they chasing a deer, or just trying to figure out 

how to get across the open water to the other side??

Shadow has a frosty beard,

and we've had a pretty good walk.

Time for some R&R in one of his favourite places.

Stay warm, my friends.

Anticipation

I took my camera with me on my walk to church this morning, intending to capture some wonderful snow pictures. I'll post them tomorrow, because this little fellow deserves a moodling all to himself. He was out on the sidewalk his dad was clearing, pedalling back and forth, anticipating Spring. I asked his dad's permission to take his picture, and the little guy turned his bike around and posed for me. I was still grinning when I met my family at church!

A winter wallop

"Winter wallop hits Alberta" says my news website. In my Edmonton neighbourhood, it's a pretty gentle wallop... the snow is drifting down gently, with just a light breeze to stir it around. If it gets windy, it will be another story entirely.

It's been a while since we've had a good dump like this. The year my eldest was born, we got seventy cm (almost 3 feet) in the month of January, and I was back in my pre-pregnancy jeans in two weeks after all that shovelling. Today's snowstorm reminds me of that January.

I have a bad cold today, but I had to go out and enjoy the snow, snow, snow, snow, SNOW! (Sung in four parts in my head by Danny Kaye, Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen in White Christmas.) I wanted to take pictures for my warmer climate friends to enjoy.

It's not often we get so much snow that it's higher than our doorsills.

It's hard to imagine the summer garden...

Only intrepid nuthatches and chickadees have been to the feeders this morning, but they've had to shovel snow to get at the seed!

There was a bit of a drift by the gate, but otherwise it was an even snowfall, a good fifteen to twenty cm everywhere, and it's still coming down.

I'm always amazed at how a snowfall like this makes the world white and shades of grey, though you can see a bit of a brownish tinge on the clematis vine.

The snow in the park is knee deep, and the branches of the Mugo pines are loaded. The kids will have to dig out their forts under the branches.

At this point, I decided to make a good old-fashioned snow angel. I put my camera in my pocket and fell backward into the snow, pouf! It was deeper than I expected, and I had to thrash around (and fill my pockets with snow) to get up again.

A very satisfying snowfall, all in all. The world is quiet and clean, there's not a lot of traffic moving around, and it's good to have a cozy home waiting for me, once I get this all shovelled!