Early 2026
Tag: Lake Windermere
Winding Down
Finally a good layer of ice on the lake. Providing there is no snow tonight, Cooper and I will be heading down for a skate. We will have a few pucks to toss back and forth. We might even take the net. You learn fast if you miss it you have to skate a long ways to retrieve the puck.
It’s good to feel the cooler temps.
Ice-Out on Lake Windermere
Incredibly mild weather for December. +6°c, rain and a stiff south wind. The ice on about half of Lake Windermere has gone out. In the sixty, some odd, years I have been observing the lake I cannot remember it doing so in December.
The ice was late forming this winter with only a thin skim by the end of November. I am usually skating on the lake by the end of November. This year I went for a swim instead.
In the early 2000’s, when I was with the newspaper, I can remember writing an editorial mid December to be careful on the lake ice as it could be unsafe. It had been mild that year. The point of the article was to warn tourists and second home owners to be mindful as they may have been used to driving on it in December. The way it looks this year the tourists and vacation home owners could be putting their jet boats back in for the Christmas holidays.
The lake in winter has always been a special place for me. Skating, skiing, driving and fishing. There is nothing like being out there in the cold and quiet. Whenever I have had to endure pain I’ve always thought of the lake and the silent white surroundings while standing in the middle to get me through. It is what I imagine heaven to look like. It truly is a remarkable place.
We are expecting more warm weather. If so I can only guess the rest of the ice will break up and flow down the Columbia.
If my old friend Ray was still alive, he passed a few years ago at 103, I’d ask him if he’d ever seen this before. I would bet he would say no and be equally surprised. As I’m sure my Dad would have been. Christ, I’m an old-timer now and I’ve never seen Lake Windermere open in December.
A Cold Warm
Rain in the valley bottom. I was sure the lake was going to go back out. It hung in there but the ice is thin.
Lisa and I headed into the mountains yesterday. when we started heading up the rain turned to snow and covered the trees and turned it into a winter wonderland. Willow chased snowballs and looked a little like a snowball herself.
Today I went back up and the snow had turned back to rain. The snow covered trees had shed their layer of white. It was foggy as temperatures adjusted. It has been a very mild winter so far.
We headed for the lake and ran into a flock of waxwings looking happy. Somewhere along the way Willow decided to roll in what I believe was goose shit. The warm weather has revealed smells for her to discover.
Back when I was a kid if our dog rolled in something they weren’t allowed in the house. They had to stay outside day and night until they were deemed fit to come back inside. I mentioned this to Lisa but she didn’t think this would be fair to Willow. Instead she said I should give her a bath and told me Willow’s shampoo is in the left drawer of the bathroom cabinet.
The bathroom cabinet is under the sink. It has 2 drawers and 3 cupboards. I realized then, as it had never occurred to me, Willow and I share one small drawer in the bathroom. Shampoo, tick repellant, cider vinegar for skunk smell and a couple razors. The rest of the cabinet is for Lisa’s stuff. I mentioned this to her and she said, you two are low maintenance.
It’s bound to get cold sometime. I wish it would hurry up. This mild wet weather always makes a body feel cold. A warm cold.
Return
Willow and I were first in the mountains then down the lake, on the west side, anticipating the return of the galactic centre. Willow barked at the coyotes yipping. An owl started up somewhere behind us, then was quiet, maybe busy filling it’s belly with an unlucky vole.
The Milky Way curved from north to south. The stinger of Scorpius glowed red, a smear of greenish northern lights, turning magenta over the Giant Chief Nutmuq¢in.
An imagined glacier under foot. Even Willow bought into my tall tail, and gave me the cautious look of, let’s not fall through. You worry to much old hound, just the same, there is coffee an’ a muffin waiting. Plus we had our proof, spring is really on its way.
The Plunge
A great day for the Polar Bear Plunge. Everyone had a great time. It was Hunter, Eddie, and Scarlett’s first time plunging through the ice into the frigid waters of Lake Windermere.
The crowds and participants just keep getting bigger each year, and why not, it is great fun and quite invigorating.
Here are a few pics of The Walrus Water Society 2025.
Dream
Dug the garlic today. About 120 heads of purple hardneck. I laid it out to dry and damned if we didn’t have a hard rain. Granted it didn’t last long. It was marvellous to feel. It was like the earth lapped it up. The birds even came out and seemed to rejoice in the damp, warm air.
The garden is doing what it can. Picked a bunch of peas. Not easy. The wind has blown most of the vines off the fences, making one pick through the tangle. I know I’m missing as many I’m picking. Willow helped out picking, but she ate the ones she picked not contributing to the bucket. Once and awhile I’d give her a pod I’d eaten the peas out of. She would nosh it around and spit it out, giving me a dirty look. She will eat the pea pods as long as they have peas in them, take the peas out and try to pawn them off and she will let you know you are a cheat.
The mosquitoes have been atrocious. The garden is almost unbearable. At night we usually have at least a few driving us crazy. The buggers having followed us through the door. Sometimes I hear Willows jaws clack as she tries biting them out of the air. They are tough to get in the pitch black.
The fire in the Palliser River area is getting bigger. It has burned a lot of country that Lisa and I love. It will be something to see when we can get out there.
It is a long weekend and the tourists are unrelenting. Hordes all trying to do everything at once. I am not sure if they even notice the smoke obscuring the mountains or the sun that rises and sets blood red, on fire through a thickening haze.
Humans are something. I dreamt that the town and hills surrounding the lake were on fire, like they will be one day, while the long grass, trees and homes burned, the tourists in their wake boats just kept jetting around the lake, pulling water skiers and surfers, kids on tubes, loud music from big thumping speakers, laughter, cocktails, bikinis and sunglasses, sunblock and beer bottle empties thrown overboard. Making sure they are draining their tanks, getting their kicks before the lake starts to boil.
Just a bad dream. Exacerbated by the heat, smoke and pesky mosquitoes.
Smoke
Lisa and I along with hounds Willow and Lola went for an early morning walk down the lake. It is a place we don’t go often.
The banks above the lake are dry. Plenty of dead grasses and broken branches. Many years ago people would go here to party, cutting down trees and lighting large fires, driving motorcycles and cars tearing up the earth. I was only there once when that was going on. I was young, but remember it well and I hated it. I still get the same feeling thinking about it all these years later.
These hills are now protected or they would be ruined like every other place around the lake other than the Akisqnuk Nation land.
This morning we watched sparrow hawks, swans, swallows and juncos fly above the fields. The dogs had a good swim once we reached the lake. The smoke cast a soft light, the mountains shrouded, out of reach, the lake almost calm.
It was a good morning walk. The dogs were slower going home.
Skating
There is nothing like a fine day of skating. And to enjoy it with grandchildren makes the day even more satisfying.
A Few Pictures
Palliser Pass 