Equinox Thaw

The difference a day can make over the weekend of the Spring Equinox: snow and sledding on Saturday followed by a nice warm thaw on Sunday.

The sledding hill, Cole Harbour Common Cole Harbour Common: equinox thaw

Warm enough for the cat to hang out on the deck, even. (She’s spent all winter meowing at the door to go out and then running away from the cold when we open it. Not today.)

Martha on the deck

Horse Drama

I dare say Lubalin’s 15,000 pound horse is the best dramatic setting of an Internet text since how is babby formed:

(You know, on a second watch of “15000 pound horse” my sympathies have kinda switched from Abby to the unnamed horse owner, because she did break her toes, came to Abby for commiseration, and got a cold fact-check instead. Not that she was right about the horse’s mass or for blowing up at Abby, but I can see why she got angry.)

Backlit

Unreasonably proud of self for successfully changing the brake lamp bulb on my FIAT 500 (with some help from Peter and Paul):

Fiat 500 rear light assembly

Turns out the whole rear light assembly comes right off after loosening two screws in the trunk area, then four more screws pop out the bulb mount, and the running/brake light is a double-filament bulb, C$6.49 for a 2-pack at Canadian Tire. (Good thing it was a 2-pack because the first bulb’s running light filament burned out instantly on activation and I had to pull the whole assembly back out and install the second bulb, which worked fine.)

Shubie Park

Some shots from around Shubie Park on a relatively nice warm day (a few degrees above freezing) in Dartmouth, NS.

Shubie Park Shubie Park Shubie Park Shubie Park

It’s a fairly extensive park and the only real reminder you have that you’re in an urban area is the drone of cars on the nearby highway — and the big IKEA sign in Dartmouth Crossing occasionally visible through the trees. We really only saw parts of the trail system along the way to the campground play area; next time we might explore other parts of the park a bit more.

Perseverance

Perseverance lands on Mars.

This is for the Mars 2020 mission, an update from previous rover Curiosity 8 years ago.

Snow Tubular

Snow

About 15cm of snow on Friday meant nice conditions for snow tubing over the weekend, much to Ezra’s delight.

The sledding hill The sledding hill The sledding hill The sledding hill

Been cold enough since to keep most of the snow on the ground, too, which makes for some picturesque winter views all day from the deck.

Winter Morning

More photos of this winter season.

Last Moon, First Sun

Moon

Caught the last full moon of 2020 as it rose, big and orange, over the hills of Nova Scotia a couple days before the New Year. (I’m cheating a bit here, this was actually a waning gibbous moon the day after the last full moon.)

First Sunrise of 2021

Then I was up early after New Year to catch the first sunrise of the year, shining red through the bare winter trees and glinting off the water of the Atlantic Ocean on the horizon.

It’s now 2021, the year of Johnny Mnemonic.

Cold Outdoors

Snowy days mean building snowpersons in the backyard and tubing down a snowy hill.

Ezra and Snowperson Ezra goes Snow Tubing

In Cole Harbour Heritage Park, a stream fed by a hundred different culverts winds through fir trees and mossy rocks to drain out to the harbour.

Cole Harbour Heritage Park

Back on the Old Lawrencetown Road Trail, the marsh is lit gold and amber by a fading winter sun.

Old Lawrencetown Road Trail

On the sandy paths through the snow-dusted dunes of Rainbow Haven Beach Ezra picks a blade of dry grass to be his magic wand. He zaps me. He zaps the moon.

Rainbow Haven Beach
Rainbow Haven Beach

Along the Salt Marsh Trail a freezing wind cuts across the harbour, and a sunset pierces the clouds with crepuscular beams as a muddy tide rushes under the bridges.

Salt Marsh Trail

Thus ends 2020. Maybe in 2021 we’ll get to the ends of some of these trails, too.