Hivernal hues

You can never get cabin fever if you get out and enjoy winter, at all times of the day and night.

Photo developments

Came across this old-fashioned contact sheet recently.

Hard to believe that at one time this was a fixture before the photo industry developed.

The dawn of a new year

Happy New Year and Bonne Année!

Settling in

We know that Old Man Winter has arrived when the frost and snow begin to cover everything, such as bales in a field, spiky leftovers from summer and a lone tree that survived a clear-cutting operation.

Bright lights of a small town

The town of Alexandria puts on a free light show during the festive season in its park.

Every colour in the spectrum is used, as well as imaginative use of logs. Those carolers are whimsical, but critics may say that the performance is wooden.

Not big on sharing

Birds of a feather are not always good at sharing, particularly when the seed is running low, and the number of feeding spots is limited. It can create some peak-to-peak confrontations and leaving some hanging in midair.

The colours of the moon

I shot this in colour but it came out in black and white. Or, put in another way, the moon was dancing on a frozen patch of water, and it was in fact a high-contrast composition. Or, a most astute observer may note that the image does in fact attempt to capture the period of transition between the liquidity and sombreness of Autumn and the cold and rigidity of Winter. But who cares? The cats loved it!

Going, going....

Memories of fall will soon be just that -- memories -- as Old Man Winter is just around the corner.

But -- touch wood -- we still have some sweater weather left before we are obliged to batten down the hatches.

Breakfast guests

The snow brought, among other things, a flock of evening grosbeaks to the feeder.

Lyrical trip

Just like that song, when we were walking in Memphis, W.C . Handy (the statue) was looking down over us, we were walking on Beale, we walked through the gates of Graceland and there was some gospel in the air. The firearms sign was a bit of a jolt, though.

Birds in the hand

During our trip through Algonquin Park, we encountered these gray jays, which have become accustomed to eating out of the hands of visitors.

I do not know who was more thrilled -- the birds who got a free meal, or Ronna who wanted to share all our worldly goods with the friendly creatures. But both emitted noises of delight.

Southern comfort

We just got back from a great week in Tennessee, where we enjoyed that proverbial Southern hospitality, great barbecue, an installment of the famed Grand Ole Opry radio show, and a new appreciation of the Civil War. And that was just the beginning!

At the Ryman Auditorium, we posed with a statue of Minnie Pearl, with her famous price tag, and enjoyed a typical country show -- one moment we were laughing at a beer-swiggin' song, and the next we were almost sobbing when violonists played the mournful Ashokan Farewell, better known as the theme from The Civil War TV series.

Tennessee is stepped in history, much of it tragic. We visited Franklin, a tiny community where on November 30, 1864, one of the bloodliest battles of the Civil War was waged. Bullet holes remain embedded in buildings at Carter House. At Carnton Plantation, the McGavock family's fields became a Confederate Cemetery.

But the visit was far from grim. Stay tuned.

Juggling acts

The Festival de la poutine in Drummondville is all about juggling, on so many levels.

There is entertainment provided by some stilted performers, and in the case of the Poutine Chronicles correspondent, the responsibility of sampling wares and taking notes at the same time, without a net.

Populist pawns

In Drummondville, the locals can make some really big moves on large-scale chess boards.

I guess you must be cconfident, because if you tank here, you do it big-time.

Exchange

At the Festival de la poutine in Drummondville, Ronna had a chance to offer cooking tips to famed Montréal chef Martin Picard, who co-hosts the Wild Chef on the Food Network. Actually, she was complimenting him on his lobster poutine, and his hair.