Monday 2 January 2012

Freezing-Over of the Ottawa River


Every year, I note when the Ottawa River, which I can see from my window of my home in the country, freezes over. This year, because we had unseasonably warm weather, the river froze over later than usual, not until the very end of December. I went for a walk on New Year's Day and took a few photos of the river. It looks like a wide white field, and it was particularly moody-looking because there was a hazy mist over the opposite shore, rendering the Laurentian Hills almost invisible.


By comparison, I took this picture nearly 2 weeks earlier, on December 21 (Winter Solstice) from the same place. As you can see, there was no sign of ice 2 weeks ago and the water was wide open. Also, the Laurentians could be seen on the opposite shore. 


The ice would definitely not be safe to walk on right now. I could see a channel of open water way out in the middle. But it was very beautiful to look at from my vantage point on top of the hill looking down. I love the stark contrast of black trees against the blue-y white of the river. Very quiet and mysterious.

3 comments:

Knatolee said...

Very pretty photos! Our laneway is certainly frozen over today... what a deathtrap!

Elaine said...

Beautiful photographs. Like you, I love the tracery of trees, in all their winter glory, set against the snow. Pure magic. Our weather is just wild, wet, and very windy.

Ronna said...

Great pix. So moody. (Happy new year!)