North on Kootenay Lake

A beautiful day for a leisurely afternoon in Kaslo, complete with a fine lunch at the Rosewood with Mary and  Walter. Don’t let those fine blue skies mislead, though: the sudden disappearance of the past weeks’ lowering clouds has let the relative warmth dissipate, too, and this was the coldest day of the whole near-month I’ve been in Canada, barely above freezing even mid-afternoon.

The chill kept the birds reclusive, with the notable exception of this cute little Northern Pygmy-Owl, perched on  wire just south of Kaslo, alert to any possibility of a mousecicle.