We got blasted with three days of freezing rain as much of Canada did last week. We lost power for only about 6 hours on the 22nd so many lost power for so much longer days and days in fact. I felt terrible about all those dealing with the -22 temps. I suppose being in a newer area with few large trees spared us from long outages. The damage to trees in our city and surrounding cities was and is devastating to see.
The ice did create some incredible sights.
Waking up to our neighbours tree bending over was heart breaking, it is a pyramidal oak about 22 ft tall and it has really taken a beating.
My little birch was bent over like a wheeping willow thankfully it is looking much better now and sustained only a little damage.
So much thick ice for all the poor trees. It was no fun cleaning off 2" of ice off our sidewalks but it had to be done. I saw people skating down sidewalks with ice skates.
Thankfully we have a gas stove so we were able to make some coffee and a little breakfast. We headed out to survey the damage and try to find good coffee and salt, good coffee we found but salt was sold out everywhere, of course.
Thankfully everything went on and power was on in time for Christmas eve and we enjoyed a nice visit from family.
Once that power came on we got the gas fireplace up and running , some people were able to run their gas fireplaces during the power outage but we for some reason couldn't.
When the sun finally came out a couple of days later it made for a beautiful sight, the trees looked like they were made of glass.
Then the snow came , not great for our travels but it was short lived and we travelled and got to see more family out of town , it was amazing to see how some areas were covered in ice and others did't get any.
Can you see the ice layer and then the fresh snow layer on the branches...crazy. The ice all melted away a couple of days ago and now our trees are recovering and mostly standing upright again.
Sadly and suddenly we lost my grandfather my Opa on the 27th of December at 101.5 years of age. He had had a bad fall at home in his apartment a week or so before and was in the hospital and was doing all right but his heart was functioning at only 10%( for a long while now) and there was fluid around his lungs and it was just too much and sadly he passed away. He was more than ready to go and we have all been ready in theory but I don't think any of us thought it was going to happen any time soon , the news truly was shocking, I suppose it always is.
Sorry to end on sad news but this was my Christmas this year. All in all we had a nice Christmas got to spend time with family and friends and we are all safe warm and happy and looking forward to New Years eve and a fresh start for 2014....I hope you had a wonderful Christmas...
