Did Someone Say Winter?

While most of our friends and family across Canada suffered the brutal cold of some major snowfalls and frigid negative temperatures we were literally basking in the warmth of one of the warmest November weekends on record.

The Knowlton kite enthusiast seen in this picture taken on Saturday in late November had no troubles dealing with the scraping of snow and ice from his windows like his friends in Alberta but instead was concerned with the weak warm winds which were blowing from the South and were unable to lift his kite to the sky!

My goodness...the trials and tribulations we have to deal with here in Knowlton!

The fields beside the daycare center and the Brome Duck Farm and near the new Brome Center were actually turning green with the warm sunnt weather! It was one of those weekends where we are glad that there are not more people who know about the good life of the Eastern Townships!

Is there somthing wrong with this picture? Yes! There is more snow in British Columbia than we have here in Knowlton...but this is not a problem but merely more proof that those Coastal residents are finally getting paid back for living in Lotus Land and they can't keep bragging about the great days living on Salt Spring Island with impunity!

Here in Knowlton, around town there were people who had decided that this was the weekend to turn on the decorations and get the Christmas season started. Hmmmm....the warm weather almost made us want to start turning on our swimming pool pumps not think of winter!

The diminishing sunlight means that at 4 o'clock the shadows start to fall on the fields and this can make for some dramatic pictures like this one as the grassy fields, usually covered with snow at this time of year.

While many residents strolled among the region with coats wide open and feeling no need for mittens there were some weekend residents who had decided that this was the weekend for setting up the Christmas decorations. Throught the village, the sights of people plugging in plastic snowmen and TV commercials for Christmas featuring songs and visions of snowy skating rinks seem to seem almost alien as Lac Brome enjoyed another unusually warm weekend. While the upcoming Knowlton Santa Clause Parade is starting to dance in our dreams it was simply incredible to see that there was almost no sense of winter in the village!

Of course, the store window displays highlighted Christmas and there were the Christmas Sales banners hung with due care and decorations being put up but even as tourists walking up the Lakeside Hill tried to toss their scarves in the spirit of the season it was obvious that the weather was doing strange things!

Across Canada it seemed that winter had struck with the gale force arctic fury that is typical of a Canadian winter but we were enjoying such mild temperatures that it was almost t-shirt weather. Of course we all know the weather will change and this temporary respite from the cool Siberian Highs has been a real enjoyment.

This dark and dreary picture might be somthing that we are used to seeing here in Quebec during the winter and for those wanting to do winter camping or backpacking in the Eastern Townships but it is actually a rare picture submitted from a visitor to DestinationKnowlton.com living in usually warm Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. This picture was taken on November 26th, 2006!

We love to see pictures like this and please don't mind us if we brag about our warm temperatures...while you were suffering from unusually cold temperatures we were enjoying some incredible temperatures...and we'll take it! While the rest of Canada was freezing in the sweeping Artic air crashing down from Nunavut we were deciding wether we should mix ourselves a hot chocolate or a cold beer...with the temperatures being so warm many of us, as we decorated our Christmas trees, chose the beer!

While the rest of Canada froze their asses we spent one of the most memorable weekends enjoying the mellow life in Knowlton. A walk beside the ColdBrook found this lovely creature, a cat with fluffy reddish fur, purring and walking along the banks of the river and reminding us of the fact that we're so lucky to live in southern Quebec since the rest of Canada is suffering under a full fledged winter attack!

Check out the latest pictures taken from the warm fall of 2006.