“Is it fall yet?”
Check the temperature, decide to wear shorts and sandals because it’s 25ºC. “Not even close, hurrah for lingering late-summer weather!”
A week later…
“Is it fall yet?”
Check the temperature, go get the winter coat out of the closet, grab a hat and gloves as well. “Huh… It’s gone, I guess?”
This is exactly what happened between September and early November—the weather was summery and gorgeous until it wasn’t, and apparently, the decision was made overnight. I’m not sure who is responsible for it but I’d like to write a formal complaint.
There are years when I spend two months filling my memory card with pictures of hundreds of gorgeous colourful trees taken in parks all over the city.
And there is this year, where over the course of a week, I tried to capture the essence of fall at its sudden peak. It was so late in the season that I struggle with the lack of light and the 6 p.m. sunset. Yet, it was now or never. Fall wasn’t going to wait for me—I knew that a few days of cold temperatures, wind and rain would close the temporary exhibition for good.
It did.
After yet another storm last week, Ottawa officially recorded the rainiest year ever—over 1,000 millimetres since January 1. Goodbye, leaves!
And then, daylight saving time ended and we turned clocks backward an hour, officially starting this time of the year when it’s dark, damp and pretty damn depressing. Goodbye, late-evening fall light!
I’m still holding on to the huge leaf Mark found the other day, as a reminder it’s not winter yet.


































I was totally getting ready to be jealous of the fact that you still had fall, and then I actually read your post 😉
We had a gorgeous fall, and I missed most of it since I was sick. It went by so fast, we have already had over 50cm of snow!!! Winter is early this year…
I just… I can’t do winter. I hate winter. Go ahead, take that Canadian passport from me, I don’t care 😆
No wonder I felt cold last night. This morning the CBC reported:
“On Thursday morning, Regina hit –27.7 C and broke the record for coldest temperature occurring on Nov. 9.
That’s quite the difference from Nov. 9, 2016, when the Queen City broke warm temperature records, hitting 21.7 C”
Oh well, the good news is that you won’t have to cool the beer down and you will have to drink it all because it will eventually freeze solid. You can still barbecue by the garage door. I remember a guy from work work who didn’t hook his up right and when flames started coming out of the tank he panicked and tipped it over. His garage burned down and he lost his eyebrows and singed his hair.
It is not winter for me until the snow comes and stays. Every day without snow is one less day of winter. Last year it didn’t come and stay until Christmas day. This year it came on Nov 1. I am still hoping that it will all melt away because it will be above zero next week but because of La Nina I am probably out of luck.
I didn’t get as many good fall pictures this year either. There is a special tree on one of the islands in Wascana Lake in Regina that I watch every fall. It usually turns a bright red like the ones in your pictures. This year it didn’t change much beyond yellow.
I am glad that Saskatchewan, along with Hawaii and Arizona, doesn’t do Daylight Savings Time. When I lived in Alberta It took me a long time to adjust to the time changes. I was tired for weeks after the fall back change.
I just changed my internet plan with SaskTel. I was paying $64.94 (GST and PST inc.) per month for infiNET (fibre optics) High Speed Plus at 8 Mbps download speed. I signed up for a new plan, infiNET Mach 1, for $71.45 (GST and PST inc.) per month at 175 Mbps download speed for a 2 yr plan. This is $40.00 per month off as the regular rate for175 Mbps is $117.54 per month (GST and PST inc.). How much does your ISP charge in Ottawa.
Everybody here is talking about SaskTel with envy, so I think you get a much cheaper service than us. We have Bell and it’s hard to tell you how much we pay because it’s bundled with phone services… but well over $100.
I find it very cool that you have a “special tree”. I can relate to this: there is one, lone tree in the Experimental Farm I absolutely love!
It’s snowing a bit tonight… I’m not ready for winter. I think I’ll never be Canadian enough to enjoy cold temperatures. This is just not my nature :-/
Always waiting for my yearly fall colors in Ottawa fix. Always gorgeous!
How about a piece of windchill now?
I’m coming from a 5 a 7, and we literally froze in the street. Minus 8, felt like minus hundred… I had a headache just to be outside. How did it happen??
Same here (minus the 5-à-7… petite coquine, va! :lol:). I just… it’s a nightmare, isn’t it?
I miss Fall !!! Not loving the colder temperatures, but eh c’est la vie !
Did you get more fall colours outside of Ottawa? Must have been nice in your area!