Goodbye 2018!! Hello 2019!!

A selection of my favourite pictures of 2018.

 Yes, the sky really was that blue!

 

 Ice build-up on the shore

Ice pancakes in the harbour.

Towering hemlock

Jolly Rogers

Lichen on tree trunk

Lichen on rock

Ornamental grass

 Eastern Swallowtail

 First colour

Rainbow

  Sugar Maple

 Snowy Owl

Sunrise

More Sunrise Shots

I still have a few photos of that spectacular sunrise last week left, so here they are.  Tomorrow some favourite photos of 2018 as we leave it behind and move into 2019.

Some of these shots look like paintings to me, but they're just as they came out of the iphone camera.

Green, White, Green, White

We've had a sequence of warmer and colder days, with alternate snow and thaw conditions.  The result has been a view out back tha goes from green to white to green to white again!

 Dec. 21

 Dec. 24

 Dec. 26

 Dec. 28

Dec. 29

Sunrise

A week or so ago we had another spectacular sunrise, in fact this one was more spectacular than ever.  Again Mrs. F.G. came to my rescue and did the honours.  one of the best ever!

Meaford's Stained Glass Windows

The other day I posted some pictures of stained glass windows from the Anglican church.  I wasn't even aware of anything special, but I know now they'd be worth another visit.  Al Bossence was right when he said the third window was different, showing kings and queens rather than religious figures.

This is the window in question, not the usual religious painting, but apparently made up of fragments.  I don't know if they're kings and queens, but they are probably knights, landowners and crusaders if not.

After my visit I looked up 'Meaford Stained Glass Windows' and learned more.  Rev. Appleyard. Rector of this church, served overseas during WWII as an army chaplain.  On his travels across southern England he noticed fragments of broken stained glass around the churches and cathedrals.  He gathered larger fragments and got permission from the churches to use them to create new windows, which he brought to North America as a memorial to Canadian soldiers who served in the war.

There are four such windows, obviously a good reason for another visit and another blog post.  Hope you're having a good Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone.  We're off to a Christmas Eve service.  And we did get our white Christmas.

Churches at Christmas

There is so much I could write about churches, especially those in small rural communities (where the congregation is a sea of white hair), but most of those stories will have to wait.  This week however, our local Anglican church put on both a small community breakfast and a large community dinner - admission just by donation.

The Anglican church in Meaford is a beautiful small stone church with a beautiful interior, complete to the wooden beam roof.  Wanting to expand its outreach effort in the community, this church called for volnteers, and among them found an outstanding chef.  The project of community breakfasts and dinners evolved naturally from there.

I just remembered to take a picture of our breakfasts  while there still some food left on our plates.  It was truly excellent, and the dinner was even better.  The whole effort reminded me of the important social role churches play in small towns where many seniors live alone.

I always enjoy stained glass windows, and those here were no exception.  In fact they are well known for one specific reason, and visitors come to see them quite regularly.  Can you tell which one is different among these three, and why/

Protect the Children!!

We've just learned that our town, ever thoughtful about the safety of our children, is fencing off those dangerous places that might put our children at risk, the playgrounds in town.  We can all breath a little easier now that those dangerous slides, climbers and swings will be out of bounds for the winter.

You can see the protective fencing in the background.  Perhaps the children can play in the rolling waves of Georgian Bay instead, only 75 feet away (and unfenced).

I haven't seen it yet, but I'm told they have also fenced off the dangerous toboggan hill a few blocks away, though the children will still be able to play there in the summer.  On the other hand, by the looks of the above picture, we'll have both a green Christmas and a green winter!

Red Sky in the Morning

Twice in the last three days we've had a spectacular sunrise.   I'm trapped in bed, but my assistant photographer, Mrs. F.G., has enthusiastically stepped up to the plate.  Here is Tuesday's view from the front porch.

It didn't turn out to be a sailor's warning; the weather didn't change.  Maybe it was a warning of the Winter solstice tomorrow, a delightful day when the days start getting longer.

More Northern Lights

A few more shots from Owen Sound's Festival of Northern Lights.  The Nativity Scene is in Harrison Park, along with those blurry hockey hockey players and flying geese.

 Mary and Joseph and the baby

 The angel appears in the sky

 And the wisemen arrive from the east

But the main original light display is downtown, on both sides of the river for one central block.

This display has many more caricatures  in lights, to the point where it is

 a much more motley collection of northern lights.

 You need to look closely to pick out individual figures like this dragon, one of my favourite.

 The lights are very popular locally, with a lot of commercial sponsors and volunteers contributing each year.  The display continues to grow as a result.

And a couple of blurry patterns for your viewing pleasure.

No comments on the challenges of night photography!