Tuesday 29 September 2015

Me and my shadow

Yesterday we flew back from Germany. From the wake-up call to bed was more than 23 hours. Our visits with friends and relatives - old and new - were very pleasant, even if brief. As they say, good fences make good neighbours! (But 8 hour flight back was a tad long,)

Here was the take-off from Amsterdam:

I hear some whinning about house prices dropping if a wind turbine were built in the neighbourhood. I personally am more concerned about nuclear reactors built for profit and not maintained.

Wind turbines can be situated so that they do not intrude. And quality turbines do not make much noise - just the sound of the wind in the forest. More noise means loss of energy..How many can you count? The towers, I think, are 50m tall and the vanes or sails are 27m long.

Now the other event of Monday in Europe - still Sunday for parts of North America - was the total
lunar eclipse.  In Germany Michael saw it.
Jens got up in the cold dawn, too
And it was cold where Al was
 And also here
I was too late.

However, from the airplane I saw this Monday night:



So sometimes it pays - no it does not - Hope everyone is well, wob

Wednesday 23 September 2015

They don't all look like this!

I think I am about to fly but I may have to keep jumping since I do not have a seat!

Thought about some other frequent fliers:



Just keep trying!


Hope to be back next week - W O B

Tuesday 22 September 2015

missing doors!

There has been a complaint! Not enough doors. Well I respect my fan base. So here are some arty as well as practical doors:




And some real doors:



This door actually opens ip but I did not photograph the shelves inside:

This is Mary's favourite "art" door in front of a shop door. The artists showed once again how creative they are. There are many more and I strongly recommend getting outin the next few days and making your own personal choices.

W O B

Monday 21 September 2015

Natural Art

I went into Scout Valley late this afternoon looking for dragonflies. And while I did find some - took more than 20 shots, 10 of which are interesting - I decided to portray other aspects on a late summer's day.

My first visitor was this locus/grass hopper.


The next is an apple tree, 1 of several, probably dating back to pre 1920. My sister Anne ponted out to me on Saturday how few kinds of apples are now available in the stores. Sad that so many good varieties have been subdivisioned.

From the apples on the ground I think these are "transparents".

And now some flowers:


The lighting was good so I tried it out on a tree trunk:
Almost black and white.

I have search for that white spider without success - but there are many other spiders. This one was hanging in the middle of the path so I went around it:

Maybe 5-6mm?

And finally some colour:


I called this last image: Summer Backdrop for Autumn.

This is a day to give thanks for the time and ability to see.  wob

Orillia art

As a "permanent" tourist here in Orillia one/I certainly soon begins to appreciate the living historical artistic roots which include the Anishinaabe as well as the Group of 7/Carmichael and Music/Glenn Gould 
and Gordon Lightfoot
Every year(?) there has been a theme - at least since I moved here in 2010. Guitar, Boat, Chair, Letter, and this year Door - I am missing one.
Last year there were the letters "READ" in front of the library so I was curious yesterday to see what might be there (I actually had already been there but had no photo):


 Some themes from other years were also "hanging around" -
Accompanying each year's theme are banners. Here are a couple from this year:
There are dozens of doors - dozens of every theme expressing imagination. The sailboats really inspired artists:



The chairs seemed to find afinity with Leacock - here are some at his boat house and home:



Hope this starts your week with some smiles and inspiration.

W O B

Sunday 20 September 2015

When all else fails, read the instructions!

OK, I am great! Even at 4AM I can function - i.e., read the handbook and change a new camera setting, ISO100 to ISO1600. And it apparently worked, too.

This is what ISO100 showed my sleepy eyes:

Not much. However, I could see the streamers and I knew Al would be getting an alert. So indoors, lights on and read! New tiny button appeared with the designation, "ISO"! This is getting serious:

Too bad about the light polution.


That is the Big Dipper rising between  the 2 trees with Mizar-Alcor
 just off the top right of the willow left of the flag.

wob

Luck is being prepared

Mariposa claims Leacock made the quote in the previous blog. However, if you google you will find that everyone and their uncle has said it. Even I claim it as my work ethic - so there!

This was just a few minutes ago and it is now 4:35 AM - maybe living here prepared me for the adventure? It was 9C in my "bear" feet and, yes, I was coughing. Tough life but I do not have to go to work today.

W O B

Friday 18 September 2015

"The harder I work the luckier I seem to be!"

Could not resist another "literary entry".

This black-capped Chickadee chose to pose in the scrub forest on the moraine above Line 15, Scout Valley. I did nothing to coax it and was rewarded with an interesting eye-to-eye encounter.


I was fortunate  with another shot of a Meadow Hawk with prey - have never seen this before:



Have a good weekend - wob

Who has seen the wind

W.O. Mitchell wrote this novel in 1947. About 20 years later I read it. I do not recall the story but I was fascinated by the idea of seeing the invisible and have tried to capture this in my photography, in this blog music through dance.

And with the Mariposa Festival held next door every July I have chosen 2 events. The first from July 2015:





That is from the outside, from the kayak. But what is it like to see the music in the air?  My first impressions were from 2011:










Hope you have enjoyed this experiment - wob