Winter is Over ! Is it?

We didn’t get out a whole lot this winter.  It was a weird winter.  Lots of storms and ice and rain and bleh weather……….. Winter is my least favourite season and I want it gone !

And if you can believe it, 2 1/2 hours north of us, in Algonquin Park, they received another 8 cm of snow this week !

I decided to do a compilation of a few blogs I wrote over the winter, condensing some highlights all in one spot.  If you want to see further info on any, or all, of the following short stories, please refer to the original Blog !

We did get out some this winter, touring around here and there.  Mostly in Prince Edward County,  Presquile Provincial Park and our local area.  Maple in the County was another event we attended.  It was a weekend event but we went on Sunday because it poured rain all day Saturday.  Sunday was still kind of crappy weather off and on but we didn’t want to miss it.

We, of course, went to the Old Church Theatre a lot for entertainment, companionship and beer and to our usual rounds of clubs and activities that we like to do.

All in all it was OKAY but honestly let’s get on with Spring and Summer.   We start to travel again in May so we need nice weather !

Here are a few highlights from our winter ………….

 

Amherst Island in December 2018 – beautiful day.  We went to see the Snowy Owls because the island was invaded by them.  We probably saw approximately 35-40 owls in the same area.  Plus a sheep farm and I do love sheep.  And NO snow…..in December !

I really like Black and White and seeing how this guy was basically black and white, it worked out perfectly

 

 

Bancroft Area January 2019 – we took a drive up north to try to find the Elk, which was not accomplished.  However, we did do a bit of hiking and saw some nice winter areas.  We have always loved the Chutes so we hiked down a snowy, icy trail to take a look.

The Chutes

 

Entertainment – I love music and concerts, particularly in small venues and we have some great venues in this area.  We go to the Old Church Theatre quite a bit and we saw several concerts there and we also ventured over to Picton to the old Regent Theatre to see Finger Eleven and I Mother Earth.  And we headed to Tweed to the Arts Centre there to see a show.  The Tweed Arts Centre is actually located in the hamlet of Actinolite and is in an old church.

 

We belong to a few clubs and one of them is the Brighton Photo Club.  We do day trips with other members and one day we went to the National Air Force Museum of Canada at 8 Wing Trenton and our goal was to photograph geometric designs.  I love and usually only do wildlife photography with landscapes, bugs and flowers thrown in……..so………this was a creative challenge for me.  But it was a great day and I think I got a couple of unique shots.  Please don’t ask what they are!  lol

My Geometric something or other !

 

We also went to Signal Brewery’s Maple Frolic Craft Beer Festival which was awesome !  I hope they do it again next year.  This is one of my favourite breweries.  The Festival was all outside and they had tents set up for different breweries, wineries and one distillery.  Also pancake breakfasts and dog sled rides.  It was a fun day and they had campfires that we could sit around and partake of our beer and/or food, as they had various food booths set up too.  A great day and the weather was cold and sunny.

 

Maple in the Country – spent an entire day in the County enjoying maple syrup with pancakes, maple syrup in our beer and many other activities and stops.

 

StrangeBrew Brewery

 

We went a couple of different times to Presquile Provincial Park and it was quite beautiful out by Lake Ontario.  And we saw some wildlife !  That always makes my day.

We also took a couple of other drives along Lake Ontario and here are a few more photos.

We also attended a presentation on the Avro Arrow.  If you don’t know what it is, please read below and google for more information.  It’s a unique and yet sad piece of Canadian history that should not be forgotten.

In the 1950’s A.V. Roe Canada (Avro) designed and built the CF-105 Arrow.  It was a supersonic interceptor jet aircraft and was one of the most advanced aircraft of its era.  In February 1959,  Prime Minister John Diefenbaker abruptly cancelled the project resulting in the loss of at least 25,000 direct and indirect jobs.  For more detailed info on the aircraft itself, click this link please……. Avro Arrow

Photo Nat Photo Show  –  Last but not least we were part of a photo show (along with several others) at the Quinte Mall in February for one of our photo clubs, Photo-Nat photo club.  Clint and I both had 10 photos each in the display.  This was not for competition, it is strictly a yearly membership drive.  Showcasing what we do at our club and hoping for more members.

Here are just a few of my photos below that I had displayed; they were all matted and framed of course.

The bears we saw in Algonquin Park in June 2018.  A mom bear and four cubs, which is unusual.  The moose in the woods is the one that followed us last October in Algonquin Park.  The other moose is from about 2 years ago in Algonquin Park.  And of course the lone tree is from Amherst Island.

It was a quiet winter for us so I was also working on some back country camping stories from years gone by to keep my Blog going and pass the time.  I hope you give them a read.

So that is all, hope everyone had a good winter and I can’t wait to get back out and on the road to do more photography and touristy stuff.  Thanks for reading !