To Serve and Support

We help one another as best we can.

I have already described how Danica helped us with the microwave, but a few days later, it was time to take the old one to the curb to be hauled away. With both my back and wrist acting up, Shauna took her turn to help when she came by to do the lifting.

A day later, I did my bit by picking up Jonathan to take him to work. He usually calls upon me on Wednesdays for his 4 o’clock shift when no one in his two families is available.

It was 7:30 in the evening when I got another and unexpected call from JJ imploring me to drive him home after work. 

He has seldom asked me to drive him home as there are cars and drivers available in both of his domiciles. Flukishly, all 4 possible drivers were otherwise engaged, and it would be quite a hike in the dark and frigid temperatures! and he wasn’t particularly well dressed for the weather.

I told him I could be there in 10 minutes, and I made zt after changing into outside pants, donning my winter garb and backing the car out of the garage.

A day later, Danica sent this text: "Hey guys, I’m on break at work from 4:45-5. I’m just getting over my cold and I could really use something hot to drink right now. I was wondering if you guys would be able to bring me some tea in a travel mug? Preferably with honey, some milk and 2 Splenda? In a travel mug that shuts somehow as I can’t have open drinks."

Sue made two drinks: the one requested and also a hot lemon and honey beverage that might soothe a sore throat. We use it fairly frequently.

We there in about 15 minutes, hot drinks in hand. I stopped by the door, Sue got out with the drinks, and handed them to Danica who was waiting just inside the door.

And now I recall that it was only a few years ago that I would get up at 6 on a Sunday morning to drive Danica to work, so her mother could sleep in.

Although, “they also serve who only stand and wait,” I am pleased that Sue and I are not merely just waiting on the sidelines and can still help out in our own ways.

"They also serve who only stand and wait" is the final line of John Milton's 17th-century poem "On His Blindness" (Sonnet 19). It signifies that individuals who cannot act actively due to limitations—such as blindness, illness, or waiting—still serve God or a greater purpose through patience, faith, and resignation to their circumstances.

Off the Beaten Path

Sue's prompt for the day was Off the Beaten Path. Since we already had to go up the highway, we eschewed the actual highway and opted for the back roads. It wasn't a long journey in either case, for rural roads are plentiful as soon as we are outside of this town,

Are soon as we swung onto Drummond, we spotted a snowmobile trail leading who knows where. Sue hopped out to get a picture while a stayed in the car on the road to the right  

As it turns out, she didn't use that one for her post, but I think it is a good one to share here.

While I was parked, a snowplow approached (you can see some snow blowing around in the distance, above). I was beside myself with anticipation for showing you all a rural Canadian snowplow in operation. I shot a sequence through the car window, but I liked the two closest photos the best.

How great! Sue got a photo, and so did I. We continued along that road to where the trail crosses Drummond. This is the same trail that we walk in town, the one with the bridge. It is part of the OVRT (Ottawa Valley Recreational Trail).

The 296km Ottawa Valley Recreational Trail is a multi-use corridor stretching from near Smiths Falls to just shy of Mattawa, passing through Lanark County, Renfrew County and Papineau-Cameron Township.

Below, we both are out of the car and photographing each other as well as other things. I think I neglected to mention that it was another bitterly cold day (the old zero, haha), especially on our naked photo hands.

the plow is approaching in the distance

Sue's photo looks south along the trail. Our town, Carleton Place, would be a little farther along. For her post, Sue picked a photo similar to this one, but she chose a landscape (horizontal) orientation while I preferred her portrait (vertical) orientation.

Meanwhile the plow had turned around. Since I already had plow photos from our first stop, I opted for a short video clip this time. (I can't tell how this will display until I hit Publish, so I am not sure exactly what you see, but the video should be there somewhere. lol)

The Darn Dam

As I mentioned yesterday, I did not expect to post today, but having snapped two very new photos for me, I might as well do my thing and drop them here.

I have obeyed the Please Do Not Trespass sign behind the apartment building for two decades, but I ignored the sign yesterday. As a result, I saw the dam from a different perspective than ever before. I will add that it was an extremely cold day when intelligent people would have stayed home if they could. 

And that is all that I have to say today.

Miscellaneous Winter Photos

People were wondering how Sue would fare in her quest for her seasonal photo. In her 4th return to the bridge to photograph the downriver view, which is more or less eastward, the conditions were right, and she nailed it.

That is pretty grand, and she will return there in the other seasons to try to capture the same scene. But she did get another great photo — below.

I do not have any photos of a similar ilk, but I do have two from town hall that are very Canadian, eh.

While Sue was taking her wonderful photos, I was having coffee with the boys. An old neighbour walked by. As we talked, I grabbed his photo to show Sue. Al is 92 years young. He was having coffee with friends after playing the dobro guitar at the seniors centre. Back when I was trying to learn the fiddle, I jammed with Al a few times, or tried to.

As is out custom, we took a couple of selfies as we roam about.

The previous selfie was quite obviously a car coffee. So, I took one more photo of the tree in front of us by the river. There was just enough snow on the branches to make it more interesting than usual. 

If I may show one more while I am at it, because I probably won't have anything to post tomorrow, here is the scene from my den as I have gazed out on many a January morning. So often there is another thin layering of snow on the cars from overnight. While we haven't gotten too many huge dumpings, it all mounts up over time as you see on the roofs and beside the driveway.

It remains cold, but that is typical January weather. February will soon be here, but it usually isn't much better except maybe near the end of the month.

Winter PIcs

If you haven't seen photos of the storm in Toronto, I'll post just one from X.

Environment Canada confirms that the 46 cm at YYZ is highest daily snowfall on record and Jan. 2026 snowfall total of 88.2 cm is snowiest January and snowiest month since records began in 1937!

For once, we got off relatively easy here, but there was enough to bring out the plows. This is what I saw from my den window in the morning.

I think I have posted this guy twice already, so I will try to refrain from going on and on all winter, but it is such a joyful sight in the morning, well worth the $500 (with tax) charge (for a short driveway). In fact, it is a necessary expense at this point in our lives — one of the costs of being a senior.

That's about it for the most recent storm, but I'll post a few other winter photos that I have previously overlooked, starting with these two shots from the nearby, frozen pond. We tend to often revert to minimalism in winter.

Fox tracks?

Determination

The old mansion and reflection on that very cold day by the bridge.

Speaking of the bridge, Sue keeps dragging me down there to look for a composition for the four seasonal photos that she'll need to post this year. I don't think she's found the right one yet, and I believe that her winter photo needs to be posted on Wednesday. 

The Warming of the Cockles

We were watching tv after supper when we heard a beeping. As the scene changed, we realized that the beeping was occurring in our house and not in the story.

It was the microwave. After more frantic beeping, the poor thing gave up the ghost.

That was on Wednesday, so on Thursday we nosed about online to see what we could see, but it was a bit confusing.

We recalled that Danica has an employee discount from her parttime job at Canadian Tire, which is a good Canadian store with which to deal. That store, by the way, sells much more than tires.

Danica decided that she would pick us up at 1 o'clock or so on Friday and take us where we needed to go. She drove over here but switched to our car where she felt that grampa, with the bad back, would be more comfortable.

First things first, though. We went to the Blue Spoon Atelier for scones and coffee.

Sue and I had scouted the microwaves at Canadian Tire in the morning, so Danica, with a little assist from me as the ladies are very concerned about my back issues, got the appliance loaded onto a cart, and we were soon paid and, on our way.

Danica soon had the microwave set up and working.

Here's the thing. Sue and I could have managed on our own although with some difficulty, but the kid stepped in and willingly took the lead role for the afternoon.

After that, she sat and talked with us for quite some time.

Danica is a really good kid that reminds me of Sue, who has always been the type to reach out and be generous and helpful and an all-round good person who both likes and is liked by people.

She warms my cockles, I tells ya.

The phrase "cockles of the heart" refers to the core of one's being, often used to express feelings of contentment or warmth. It is derived from the resemblance of the closed shell of a cockle to a heart, suggesting a metaphorical connection between the heart and the emotional state. The idiom has been used since at least the 17th century, with the expression "warm the cockles of the heart" meaning to evoke feelings of happiness or joy.

Why There is No Ice

Yesterday's post prompted a very good question. In effect: "Why isn't the river frozen at -30℃?

The Quick Answer: Because the water is flowing very fast.

The longer answer is that the river does freeze where the river flows slowly. In point of fact, about two miles upstream, they can drive their trucks onto the river and set up their huts for ice fishing. You can see ice huts in the distance in this ↓ picture that I took way back in 2013.

To further explain, I grabbed and annotated a map view from GMaps.

I took yesterday's photo (first one today too) from Bridge Flows Fast, pointing toward the top of the map, looking downstream (the direction that the water flows).

The second photo with the ice huts was taken from the bottom red rectangle at Hay's Shore. The width of the river results in a slow flow, so the water freezes. It is wide enough here that we call in Mississippi Lake.

As the river narrows, the rate of flow increases. The middle red rectangle is approximately where the conditions change from ice to water, somewhere in Riverside Park from where I post a lot of photos over the course of the year. This ↓ photo from December shows mostly ice, but there are a few spots of water. Shortly after this, if we were to get nearer the bridge (off the photo to the right), there would be no ice but open water. The line where it changes from ice to water is variable, depending on how cold it is. I imagine the ice extends quite a long way right about now.