tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044218.post-41472879399491970432007-01-03T10:04:00.000-05:002007-01-03T10:38:12.241-05:00We have had no snow in Muskoka this Christmas. This is very rare. Our first Muskoka Christmas, it was -40 degrees. I can't remember if this was Fahrenheit or Celsius, but at that temperature, the difference is so slight as to be irrelevant. The oil in our car froze. The air stung our cheeks red and snatched at breath turning it instantly to ice on thick scarves and parka hoods. All was deep winter blue by day and star pricked silky black by night.<br /><br />According to weather experts, in the last forty years in Canada, thirty-eight have been warmer than usual and only two colder. This lends some startling statistical support to the general sense we all have that winters are not what they used to be.<br /><br />This morning I gasped with delight at these pictures from Norway taken by a friend of a friend, Ruth Elizabeth, a woman of spirit and creativity. They caused me to praise God for Beauty and to be a bit wistful about old Muskoka winters. The titles are mine, the phrase 'The Blue Hour' belongs to Ruth Elizabeth.<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015822563212307154" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 354px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" height="270" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_lMJrxw2B9zM/RZvIC9ioqtI/AAAAAAAAAAc/sAluX9FICRA/s320/The+Blue+Hour.bmp" width="213" border="0" /><br /><br /><div align="center"><strong>The Blue Hour</strong></div><div align="center"><strong></strong></div><br /><br /><a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_lMJrxw2B9zM/RZvHp9ioqsI/AAAAAAAAAAU/OmPauG4yJkE/s1600-h/Skyscape+in+winter.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015822133715577538" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_lMJrxw2B9zM/RZvHp9ioqsI/AAAAAAAAAAU/OmPauG4yJkE/s320/Skyscape+in+winter.bmp" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center"><strong>Skyscape</strong></div><br /><div><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5015821553894992562" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_lMJrxw2B9zM/RZvHINioqrI/AAAAAAAAAAM/YdaI2mxAvvM/s320/Moon+in+the+Morning.bmp" border="0" /><br /><div align="center"><strong>Moon in the Morning</strong></div><div align="center"></div><div align="left">I feel poetry rising.<br /></div>Conniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17232289847990430112noreply@blogger.com