Winter sun going down

On a summer evening, if you're looking down the final stretch of the Rideau River before it pours over the Rideau Falls into the Ottawa, the sun goes down behind the Gatineau Hills at Camp Fortune, and the coloured sunset is reflected in the water between the Minto Bridges and the falls.

However, if you're on the New Edinburgh bank of the river in winter, the sun sets in a more southwesterly part of the sky, silhouetting the towers on Parliament Hill, and doesn't reflect in the river because there isn't any water visible, but it does light up the surface of the snow.

On our way back from a longish walk around Rockcliffe Park this afternoon the pathway beside the river at the St. Patrick Bridge looked irresistible, side-lit by low sunbeams through the evergreens, so instead of heading down the road, we came home the longer way round. I couldn't capture its appeal on my camera which had run out of power, too cold for the batteries to last, so had to take this picture using my cellphone.

We're unlikely to see the sun again tomorrow because a "major winter storm" is forecast, due to last all day.