New Years Eve found me back out at the cottage. I headed back to Edmonton on December 29th. I had a bunch of errands to look after on December 30th... some banking, some groceries, some plumbing supplies, and some prescriptions. On December 31st I headed back out to the cottage. Hailey stayed home in the city as she had to work on both December 31 and January 2. Margarit and the other two girls had remained out at the cottage.
Normally New Years Eve out at Nordegg is a lot of fun. The local Community Association puts on a big fireworks display and has a bunch of events including tobogganing, an outside hockey game, a bonfire, and a potluck dinner. This year everything was cancelled, thanks once again to Covid. The fireworks display went ahead, but that was a drive-in event with people only allowed to watch from the road in their cars. The girls and I were all in bed asleep before the clock struck midnight.
On my drive out on New Years Eve there was fresh snow through most of the boreal foothills and front ranges, pretty much all the way to Coliseum Mountain. The roads were mostly clear and dry but there was three or four inches of fresh snow. Once I passed the shoulder of Coliseum Mountain, near Nordegg, the snow ended and there was only the old snow from before Christmas. There was still a bare spot on our driveway where my truck had been previously parked.
On New Years Day, after sleeping in late, I took a drive up to Abraham Lake. The temperature was very mild, and peaked at around +7C, but like usual, it was very windy. I watched a small car pull over and stop along the side of the road near Windy Point. When the driver opened the door, it was nearly ripped out of her hands. A bunch of papers and stuff were sucked out of the car, and the wind took them down the highway, probably to Saskatchewan by now...! But, sometime in the past few days the lake froze over. It was still open when I last took a drive on Christmas Eve. And Margarit was up this way a few days ago and said the water was still open then too. But now there is a thin layer of snow free ice entirely covering the lake. So, photography of the ice bubbles will be possible going forward, at least when the wind cooperates.
There were a lot of people out in the mountains on New Year's Day. The David Thompson Highway carried a steady stream of cars. Any stopping spot that was sheltered from the wind was packed with parked cars, in some places as many as two dozen. It seems everyone is a little cooped up and looking to get some space and fresh air.
Photography with a large format camera was impossible. So I headed back east hoping to find a sheltered area with less wind. I headed south on the Trunk Road and took a shot of the burned area near the Industrial Park. I shot it with both my 4x5 and my 8x10 view cameras. First day of the year and I already have my first shots in both formats under my belt...!
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