Beside the Ottawa again

Our snowshoeing group returned to the south bank of the Ottawa this morning, walking down the hill to the trail from Rothwell Heights. When we came to the "water's edge," so to speak, Anne-Ute (from Germany) said, incredulously, "Is that the river?" Having been assured by me that it was, she took this picture of me at the boat launch ramp, with the Quebec bank in the distance.

Further along the trail was an attractive line of sumac bushes, their black branches and dark red drupes silhouetted against the whiteness of the river and the greyness of the sky. Staghorn sumacs such as these are a traditionally very useful plant.