The beauty of winter

Around 1:30 this morning, when I had just finished editing photos to post today, I checked on the temperature. It was -25C, with a windchill of -34C! Last night, the forecast for today said -4C for this afternoon, but right now, at 9:30 am, it it still -24C, windchill -33C.

I'm glad of a warm image to post in between two cold photos taken yesterday, 11 February 2018, when I joined several friends for a cold, afternoon walk at Griffith Woods. One reason I decided to go was so that I could take a few photos to check a camera that I had collected the day before, after being 'repaired'. Long story, which I will have to add later today, if I decide to finally go for a drive this afternoon. I haven't driven anywhere out of the city since 17 December, when my daughter and I went SE of the city for our "Christmas" together. All the settings on my returned camera had been changed and I didn't notice that it was no longer on a 4:3 ratio. Hence two wide images today.

Much later: as for my camera issue, mentioned above, I had bought a Panasonic FZ1000 over a year ago, so that I would have a back-up camera to my old FZ200, ready for my trip with friends to Trinidad & Tobago in March 2017. I didn't get the chance to try out the FZ1000 for many weeks, as I was so busy preparing for my trip. When I finally did take a few test photos, I discovered that on Playback, the camera would show a photo or two and then jump one. It kept doing this throughout the Playback. All the photos were there when I downloaded them to my computer, but I couldn't see every photo in Playback, unless I changed the direction and tried again, which was a perfect nuisance. As soon as I discovered this fault, I went back to the store and asked what would need to be done. I was told that the camera would have to be sent for repair, but I could not risk not getting the camera back in time for my trip. Anyway, finally in December, I took the camera back for the store to send it off for repair. The young guy didn't send a copy of the receipt, etc. with the camera and next thing I know is that I get a phone call saying that the repair estimate was $700+!! What! The camera was still under warranty, but the repair place didn't know this because the receipt wasn't sent. Two or three weeks later, I got a call to say that the camera was ready for pick-up. I was so glad to get it back, but that feeling was very short-lived when I discovered that Playback was still skipping images!! So what happens now? I guess they will want to send it off again. Various friends have the FZ1000 and love it - I really like the colour and image quality, but this whole fault and repair problem is giving me stress that I definitely don't need.

I ended up going for a drive SW of the city, to my 'usual' area, partly just to get a change of scenery. Almost no wildlife to be seen, other than a Raven, a Magpie, a Rough-legged Hawk perched at the top of a tall tree, and a couple of small, unidentified birds that flew across the road ahead of me. Still, I did take a handful of winter scenic shots and a couple of barns/sheds.

To drown my sorrows over not being able to find any owls of any kind, I decided to call in at a small cafe/restaurant in the area and brought home a bowl of delicious chili with garlic bread. Made an enjoyable ending to my afternoon drive.