Okay, so that whole birdie thing was not expected - right?  Yeah, me too - totally didn't see that one coming!

PS:  Just have to let you know, that on that very same day, we saw ANOTHER rare sighting of a Brambling - a rare Russian vagrant - in a different part of the city and then, in yet another part of the city we photographed Snow Owls "having a go" at each other.  Sorry, I wasn't able to grab the camera quick enough for a pic. of the Brambling, but thought I'd let you get a peek at the Owl.

(by CH-R)

 



 

No 2:

 

There's never any sense to celebrating a birthday half heartedly!  My actual bucket list thing to do for this month turns out to be SNOW-SHOEING!  WhooHoo.

 

"Really?  I thought she was supposed to do something crazy?"

 

Well, it turns out that snow-shoeing, is simply hiking in the outback on snow trails, with shoes that make it relatively easy and safe to do so.  As we love hiking the forests during summer, it seems only logical that we should hike the trails in snow, before there comes a time that we consider leaving.  Below is a little info about snow-shoes...

 

"The origin and age of snowshoes are not precisely known, although historians believe they were invented from 4,000 to 6,000 years ago, probably starting in Central Asia." (wikipedia - snowshoeing)

 

"A snowshoe is footwear for walking over the snow. Snowshoes work by distributing the weight of the person over a larger area so that the person's foot does not sink completely into the snow, a quality called "flotation". (wikipedia - snowshoeing)

"In the past, snowshoes were essential tools for fur traders, trappers and anyone whose life or living depended on the ability to get around in areas of deep and frequent snowfall..." (wikipedia - snowshoeing)

And, here's a little info from me:-

This is what trying to get into the snow-shoe it looks like...

On steep powder snow slopes, it's not quite as simple as I thought!

 

Restaurant on the trail around the lake - Grouse Mountain.

 

These beautiful carvings all over Grouse Mountain - This one carved into a tree. - Just LOVE them!

 

 

No 3:

 

And finally...

 

what would a hike be, if you didn't have a picnic?  One of the things I love most about my family, is the fun and spontaneous things we do.  My wonderful husband carried our picnic up the mountain in his backpack and then, at the end of walk, we sat down to my first ever, birthday-in-the-snow picnic!