Have a look at this picture and see if you can answer the question in the headline…
No, I did not acquire shares in UHaul, although maybe I should have considered it when I first started traveling and moving around.
Yes, another housemove is dawning! I have been doing the count in my head, and this will be housemove # 25, when I include all moves since I was born in the previous century… So the theme of these coming weeks will be packing, cleaning and moving.
Built in 1890…
This time, we will stay in our current area and it will be a move with a more permanent character. We managed to obtain a wonderful century home in the town of St Thomas, Ontario. A stone’s throw from where we are now and a mere 10 minutes from Port Stanley, the original dream town, where so many of my footsteps lie.
Our new abode, or should I say: our old abode, was built in 1890. It has a lot of character and I am in the process of researching to whom it has been a home in the past 134 years… I have found a lot of people already, one of whom was a locally well-known baseball player by the name of Joseph Howkins… The search continues and I will keep you posted on my blog of further progress. For now, here is a picture we found from 1932. The house still basically looks the same, barring some minor changes! I hope this will be a location where we can truly shoot some roots into the earth of this wonderful area.
Photographic artistry
So, since my new paintings ( 5 of which are stewing, but not ready yet) are not even close to being finished, I figured I might as well let you share in some of my photographic artistry. It’s not the same as original paintings, but I feel they are deserving of a spot in this post. Even if I say so myself 🙂 Click the photographs to see them at a larger size. If you are attracted to one in particular, keep in mind that I do take orders for art prints on canvas. Prices vary depending on the desired size. The processing time is usually less than two weeks.
A real winter storm
Often enough, the weather people send us into a frenzy with warnings of a terrible storm, with or without snow. Often enough, these barely deserve the title ‘storm’. At least, that is my opinion. Maybe I am biased, because I have been through some serious cyclones and blizzards in the past. Maybe the warnings stem from the libellous nature of Northamerican society. God forbid that people would point an accusing finger at them for not reporting about a possible bad weather front…. Who knows! Not me…
But… lo and behold, this January they were right on the money when they predicted a strong windstorm with frigid temperatures and snow. My hopes were validated and of course I had to be right in the middle of it, despite almost getting frostbite on my fingers and frozen UV filters… But who cares about that when a storm is almost blowing you over! It makes me feel so alive and in the thick of things. Love it. Enjoy the picture show below!
Icycle phenomenon
One of the most extraordinatory vistas in Port Stanley was the transformation of the access gates to the pier (closed in winter) after being battered for 24 hours. The gates turned into what I described as ‘The Cathedral’. It was only the second year that this rare phenomenon happened. The wind whipped up the Lake Erie waves to 3-5 meters heigh and due to the low temperatures, the water was like a bucket with ice-cubes. The spray froze instantly on anything it hit and made the gates into a veritable piece of art. Despite the cold, the vista drew many visitors after the storm calmed down a bit. Some of us crazy photographers, of course, ventured out when it was blowing full force, trying to capture the atmosphere of the day. Here are some impressions…
Port Bruce iceberg
Not all of the little beach villages in our area were similarly hit. Those that do not have breakers in the lake, or that were at just a different angle of the incoming winds, did not produce as many ice formations. However, two weeks after the storm, I still found a huge block of ice at the Lighthouse of Port Bruce. Had the weather not had been so truly wild that day in January, I would have driven over – it must have been wild over here as well!
So, this ends my tale of an extraordinary storm. If you want to survive Canadian winters, you need special events like this to keep the blood flowing. It certainly enticed me to bundle up and venture out with my camera gear!