March 26, 2008

We're finally getting a whiff of Spring here.

I took this photo of the construction site early in the morning when the light was low and golden. It was still minus 12C that morning but the sun was strong.

This is a slightly different view of the site, showing the progress that is being made. I'm still surprised that they are using 2x4 construction in the walls, but then, I don't know what they are using for floors.

All winter, they've been plowing some of the paths off to one side. Now we have to walk through mud.

This also shows me that when people pave where people have worn a path, they often make a more "artistic" path and don't go where people (and plows) naturally tend go. Of course, they may have just wanted to make the path cross the street at right angles to make it safer.

This photo shows how much the snow has melted under its own steam, so-to-speak. Plows and shovels don't go into this centre island and so any snow that fell on it, stays on it. At one point, you couldn't see the top of the stylized "N" that holds the Nepean bell but now you can see quite a lot of it.

This is the snow bank near the Centrepointe Theatre, which faces roughly west. It hadn't started to melt yesterday morning when I took this picture but it is dripping today!

January 6, 2008

We are having a January thaw. It looks to last several days but I am sure it won't make much of a dent in all that snow we have had. The temperature was slightly above freezing yesterday and currently stands at 4C (39F). Monday it is supposed to be 10C (50F). That's jean jacket weather!

Mostly what a January thaw does is make things mucky for walking, although thankfully not life-threatening.

Unless you fall down and drown in this enormous puddle. I was happy to see that when I walked by it two hours later on the way home, the drain had been opened and it had (mostly) drained. It was about ankle deep prior to that.

This tiny mitten was there yesterday and since it was still there today, I took its picture. Someone had placed it on the top of the snow bank, to wait for its owner (or owner's parent) to return. I often wonder what the story was, when I pass these little vignettes. Did the child cry later when its hand got cold? Did the parent only notice when they got home? Do they walk here every day and so will they retrieve the mitt?

On the bike path behind the transit station, I noticed a tiny movement and as I focussed in on it, I saw it was a vole out eating some grass that had been exposed by the snow plow. As I hurried toward him taking out my camera, he scampered into a hole in the snow bank.

I drew up beside the hole and as I peered in, I realized he was still there at the entrance, holding his breath and waiting for me to go away. I snapped a photo and then stepped closer to take another and he vanished. It would have been better with a flash but you can't have everything.