Eventually, the snow all melted away thanks to an unseasonal thaw where we saw temperatures rise to 26 C for a week or longer. There was another reason for my lack of photography. My Nikon D80 died at Christmas. After much soul searching, I upgraded to a Nikon D90 and a new 85 mm Macro lens. While I was playing with and learning about the new camera I relied on my Fuji FinePix 18 as back-up. During this time, I visited Don in Mayo, PQ just after the heavy snowfall and before the great thaw of 2012. That is next.