The Mist

... looking over the bridge at the mist ...

In Calgary we have Chinooks, blizzards, rain, hail, sleet, howling winds, summer calm ... but rarely mist.

There is not much use taking a camera out in the mist, I was told.

No colour, no definition, not light sparkling off of the water.

Still, when it is early morning and there is mist, instead of crawling back under the covers and staying home, I grabbed my camera and went for the same morning walk again.

... just before the street lamps are turned off in the morning ...

 Misty weather with high humidity and no rain is practically unknown to a Calgarian.   

 I have many coats but not one dedicated to rain.  I have a long coat that goes to my ankles and is insulated for walking in weather that is 40 below.  I

 don’t wear this coat if I am going up and down a lot of stairs for I step on the front hem on each riser, or drag is on the stair behind me if I am going down.

 

The main use of an ankle length coat is to  keep biting cold off of my legs – from where the hem ends to where the boot begins. 

I can’t use it to drive a car since when my foot shifts from the clutch to the brake I mix together the mud, snow and water on the bottom of the car, painting the me of my coat with a boot in the process of shifting from first to second.

... the light of a street lamp breaks through to reflect on the water ....

There could be a whole essay about the coats in my closet – one for each of Calgary’s mini climates.  

But  I don’t have a coat for the rain, though I notice that since I retired I look for something that will be good to use for walking in the mist.  

Until I find the right thing to wear I am going to do as they do in London:  use an umbrella.

... a nesting duck ...

After my last walk, Kelvin asked me if the birds were nesting.

I had to think about that.

Yes.  They must be, for this duck is always sitting here and since it is misty,  my picture doesn't let you know that she is in the middle of an island in the wet pond -- and hasn't moved for days.

Arta