1st Annual Shotski Festival

 We had our 1st Annual Shotski Festival on Saturday on Four Mile Bay of Trout Lake. Lots of curling, laughs and good times were had by all.

 Here the boys are right in to the winter vodka shotski - Skol!

Warm fire on the lake and lots of ice candles to light the way.

Ice Candles

The weather is perfect for making ice candles, so that's what I'm doing leading up to our first annual Shotski Festival on Trout Lake this coming Saturday. I'm hoping to have in excess of 25 of theses babies ready by then as well as a few Swedish candles.

Oblivion

I took this photo in the late 70s somewhere on the highway between Sturgeon Falls and Field. Note the moose head on the wall on the right and the Oblivion sign above the doorway. I wonder if it's still standing.

Trees

The moss on these trees on Sunny's and my bush trail is not on the north side of the trees - here the moss is on the south side of the trees.

Ice Candle

Here's one of a dozen ice candles I made recently. Hope they don't melt too much this weekend during our January thaw.

Cold and snow

Winter here in the near North

Winter

1/3 of the way through winter

Wood Stove

When the temperature is minus stupid cold, the only place to be is inside in front of the wood stove.

Brrrrrrrr

This is what it looks like from our beach when it's -30C with a windchill of -40C. Sure am glad I'm not a brass monkey!

Winter Birch

Winter has moved in to our part of the world where the bush will be mostly black and white for months.

Beach View

Even beach views in Northern Ontario in late November can look like sunny Caribbean beach views.

Parkview

The infamous Parkview Hotel, one of my all time fave dives!

Reflection

November is a dark drab month, so here's a photo from a warmer time of the year. This is on the voyageur route somewhere between North Bay and Mattawa.

Rememberance Day

North Bay, Ontario

Tamarack

This tamarack tree I rescued years ago from a ditch at the side of the road sure stands out at this time of year.

Autumn

All the planters have been emptied. The remaining plants that are alive won't be for long due to the deep freeze that's coming tonight. I didn't want the pots to freeze and crack, so I emptied them while the temperature was above 0C.

Rough

With the cold weather approaching, I'm thinking it's going to be a bit rough spending the winter in this house in a small village in the Merrickville area southwest of Ottawa.

Abandoned

There are lots of abandoned items in the bush around old farms. I wonder how long this wagon has been sitting here.