A favourite place

There continues to be a common theme to my photos these days - sigh ... snow. However, this image shows a good side of winter : ) Had a wonderful day out in the mountains two days ago, 26 December 2013, thanks to friends Cathy and Terry! I so rarely get to the mountains, especially during the winter months, so it was a real treat to go with them to the Smith Dorrien/Spray Trail area of Kananaskis. This gravel road south of Canmore passes through the heart of the scenic Smith-Dorrien Valley, one of the wildest areas of Kananaskis Country. Thanks so much, guys! When we stop at this particular spot, I can never resist taking a photo or two. My friends had really, really hoped to find a Moose (or two), as they do come down to the road - and lick the salt off some of the vehicles that are pulled over or in parking lots. Though we did see a few tracks and a few cars with lick marks, there was no sign of a Moose anywhere. That is, until we had just started our drive back to the city. Out came a single Moose from the trees, to our delight. And then, as so often seems to happen when you've just spotted something, along came a vehicle in the other direction, making the Moose hurry across the road and disappear into the trees on the other side. No photos : ( It never fails to amaze me how this happens - there is no traffic on the road, just this one vehicle that appears out of nowhere. Most of the day was overcast, but the sun did come out when we were in this area.

Yesterday, there was a Flash Freeze Watch issued for the Calgary area, and the Audubon Christmas Bird Count in the Nanton area (way south of Calgary) was postponed from today till 5th January 2014. This is one of my favourite Counts, so I'm happy that it was just postponed, not cancelled, for this year. We had more snow last night, but I don't know if a Flash Freeze actually happened anywhere. Apparently, a "flash freeze" is a rain event that occurs with temperatures above freezing followed by a cold front that brings a sudden drop in temperature. This morning, it's -21C (windchill -28C).