The prognosticators said that we would be getting several days of freezing rain, but so far our temperatures have risen to 6C (43F) and there hasn’t been any rain, freezing or otherwise.
It has been a much different story in the mountains and particularly through the mountain passes, but here we have still been getting a bit of sunny brightness …
… which has been a very nice thing.
The snow in the mountains brings lots of happiness to skiers and skaters and down here, well, we get to avoid snowploughs and icy roads!
Brian at Bushboy’s World is running a monthly challenge where he asks you to post the last photo on your SD card.
The rules are simple: 1. Post the last photo on your SD card or last photo on your phone for December. 2. No editing – who cares if it is out of focus, not framed as you would like or the subject matter didn’t cooperate. 3. You don’t have to have any explanations, just the photo will do 4. Create a Pingback to this post or link in the comments 5. Tag “The Last Photo.”
I haven’t joined this challenge before but thought it would be fun. So herewith is my last photo of 2025, completely unedited, a fiery red sunset that is illuminating some wispy clouds through the bare winter branches.
If you’re a shutterbug I hope you join in. Thanks to Jude at Cornwall in Colours who brought this challenge to my attention.
Often, when sun arrives in the Okanagan Valley in December or January, it’s accompanied by cooler temperatures. At -3C (27F) it was definitely chilly compared to what we had just had the day before with 6C (43F), but having the clear weather was still nice.
There was a cloudless sky although the wind was coming out of the north and rather brisk.
These two ducks definitely weren’t bothered, though. They had found themselves a nicely protected spot where the wind wasn’t much of an issue.
I surprised this overwintering robin from his spot among a number of other robins in their home inside a dense thicket next to the trail. They’re rarely seen – usually only heard – in winter but very occasionally I’ll see one.
The last leg of my walk took me along one of the downtown’s main streets as the light began to fade and shoppers decided to start heading home. I headed home, too, where I found some hot chocolate.
As I’ve noted here before, Penticton is situated between two lakes – one at the south end and the other at the north – and is one of only two communities in the world that is so established. The other is Interlaken, Switzerland. For a change of pace I recently decided to take a walk along Skaha which is at the south end.
There was some serious wind coming out of the south causing choppy waters and lots of scudding cloud …
No swimming today!
… but then I realised that we now officially have winter!
The solstice doesn’t just mean that we’re headed in the right (springy!) direction again, it also means that we first have to get through winter.
Skaha Lake marina awaits spring.
And then I remind myself that I’m no longer in Yellowknife where today’s high will be -31C (-24F). I don’t have to wear a parka, shovel snow, slog through snow banks, walk to work in the dark, dark, dark of winter or defrost my eyelashes when I step inside. We have about four to eight more weeks of very mild winter before we will again begin to see the first signs of spring, so what is there to complain about?
In the Net! - Pictures and Stories of Life 