Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Saturday’s Solitude. #33
Good morning everyone! It is a beautiful, sunny morning here, although it is a bit on the chilly side. But really, it is not that cold, however, it certainly felt cold when I went out with food for the birds this morning. And the birds agree with me. All of them are fluffed out and sitting down covering their little feet to keep them warm. Kind of unusual for this temp, which is 12F (-11C), but it is a very frosty morning which means the humidity is high and that always makes it feel colder than it really is. It is one of those slow moving kind of days for me, so I am behind schedule in everything I am doing this morning.
Mind you, it is a rather loose schedule, but it still helps. Until I get one of these kind of days. Oh well. Here we are only a month into winter, and it has been a mild winter so far, but I am already waiting for those nice warm summer days. I do have a long wait however, but I like to dream a little. Going out to a nice quiet picnic area beside a small lake, and we have thousands of those lakes up this way. A nice warm day with the sun shining brightly.
Just a light breeze blowing making small wavelets on the surface of the lake. There is one lake with a beautiful little picnic area that is quite popular during the summer. However, there are plenty of times when there are only a few people enjoying the location. So it remains quiet, calm and peaceful. In one spot there is a long “finger” of granite jutting out into the lake for about 30 feet (about 9meters). It starts off about 6 feet (nearly 2 meters) wide and narrows to just a point. On one side the water is shallow, the other side goes deep very quickly.
The lake is surrounded by granite rock, which is basically all we have up this way. Plus the surrounding forest is mainly jack pine and white spruce, although black spruce, birch and aspen are also around. There is always a pair of loons that nest on the lake and their calls echo the full length and breadth of the lake, and likely carry for a long distance beyond. Gulls will sometimes fly overhead and mallards will swim along the shore. The forest abounds with many species of songbirds, each one singing joyfully from their perches.
Picnic tables are nicely positioned beside or under the shade of the pines. It is a great place to go and relax and just enjoy the beauty of the outdoors, while still being able to drive right to the spot. The beauty of summer. Winter can also have some great beauty, but it is usually too cold to really enjoy it. I know some people enjoy the cold, for a short time anyway. I do enjoy each season as it comes along, but I still prefer summer best of all. Solitude, each season provides it’s own version. Thank you for reading this today, have a wonderful weekend and God bless!
Steve and Muffin. (the top featured image is the entrance to the picnic area)
©2021 Steve McLeod.
Steve`s Country 
That lake looks delightful. Do you get many mosquitoes?
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Some years they can be bad, but during the day there usually isn’t any around to bother. Later evening is a different story, or cloudy days sometimes.
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Okay
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Bon week-end en espérant que le soleil durera, chers Steve and Muffin- amitiés 🙂
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Merci Francefougere! I hope your weekend is a beautiful one!😀😺🌞☕☕
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Picnicking at 12⁰F! My wife wears her down coat at 49⁰F! 😄 But I would love to come picnicking with you some winter. May not happen in this life, though.
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I have actually gone picnicking at that temperature, but that lake would look a lot different right now than the nice summer pictures I showed. I have gone picnicking every month but Nov and Dec., though not every year. I like summer and fall picnics best.
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I’m with you; I prefer summer, by quite a large margin…
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Yes indeed, no contest!
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Your photos. Steve, are beautiful but look like the summer. Here in the far north, we have had snow on the ground since the 3rd week in September and just finished with more than a month of a high of -20 F to -40 F. It has warmed up to 2 F and has been snowing about 18 inches in the last 5 days. It feels balmy compared to the extreme cold. Enjoy the weekend and the birds!
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Those are summer photos, it would be frozen with lots of snow right now. That was just a dream of summer picnics that I have had at that lake. I’m glad it has warmed up a bit for you. It has been very mild for us so far, heading to 38F tomorrow and staying around the freezing point for 2 more days before heading back down a bit. We don’t have much snow, much like last year, which isn’t good, we need a lot more to get things back to normal or it will be another dry year coming up. Thanks, enjoy your weekend also!
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Thoroughly enjoyed your pics ! You can’t beat sitting along a river or lake ! 🙂😻🎄😴
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That is so true, thanks so much Sharon!😀😻🌙🎄
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Lovely summer pics, Steve! Our temps are more normal for the season this week. This morning we have 35 F. I doubt we will see any snow this year. 😎😺❄️ ☃️🍳 🧈 🥞☕️☕️
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Thanks Eugenia! Wow, no snow! We actually don’t have much. We have had 16 inches so far, but some has melted so it’s only 10 inches on the ground. But most of our snow usually comes after Christmas anyway and hopefully we get more than last year or it will be dry again next summer.😀😺🌞☕☕It’s 38 here right now.
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Crazy weather! 🤓
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Yep, so true, we’re back up to 40 tomorrow the forecast says.
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