Up the creek - no paddle needed

We're experiencing a vacationer's dream summer - hot, dry, sunny weather. Other than a quick downpour from a thunderstorm yesterday it has been bone dry for weeks, with temperatures in the 32-35C/90-95F range.

This evening I went to see just what the effect has been on a little nearby creek - judge for yourself.

Looking back at the bridge from the middle of the creek

Looking 'upstream'

There's no more debris floating by for these branches to grab

The wildflowers haven't been affected. yet

Although these were more plentiful in previous years

Here and there were pools of now stilled water 

 It remains to be seen whether these pools will also dry completely before the rains replenish the creek. In the meantime, vacationers aren't complaining.

He restores my soul

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
   He leads me beside still waters.

3 He restores my soul.
   He leads me in paths of righteousness
   for his name's sake.

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
   I will fear no evil,
   for you are with me;
   your rod and your staff,
   they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me
   in the presence of my enemies;
   you anoint my head with oil;
   my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
   all the days of my life,
   and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
   forever.


(18-55mm  f11  1/40 sec  ISO200)

The day you gave us, Lord, is ended

The day you gave us, Lord, is ended,
the darkness falls at your request.
To you our morning hymns ascended;
your praise shall sanctify our rest.

John Ellerton (b. London, England, 1826; d. Torquay, Devonshire, England, 1893)

Looking on the bright side

"You know it's going to be a long day when you yell 'Seriously?!?' at your alarm clock." (author unknown)

Ah, the benefits of airline deregulation. When I was young, people flew at a decent time. But now, to get a good airfare, it's the early bird who catches the plane. And so the alarm clock rudely jolted us out of bed, prematurely, so we could get our daughters to the airport by 04:00 am (!!) for a 06:00 am flight. It was early, but on the bright side there was no traffic (everyone else had wisely chosen to stay in bed) - the usual 45 minute trip was done in under 25.

There was another bright side to this equation. I'm rarely up to witness a sunrise but since I'd already paid the price, I was treated to the following, which in my estimation was adequate compensation.

When the playing's done

Our son, daughter-in-law, and 2 year old grandson escaped winter's (rather loose) grip to come and visit us for a couple of weeks. Of course that entails visits to any place with slides and swings and things like that. Amidst the countless captures of family (naturally) there were also the occasional moments to capture a very brief moment of solitude:

(18-55mm  f5.6  1/50 sec  ISO200)

Now I couldn't let this opportunity pass without letting you have a peek at who's driving the daily agenda around here:

(70-200mm  f5.6  1/160 sec  ISO200)

A momentary pause

Hello faithful bloggers,

Our winter abode in the subtropics has become a magnet for friends and family. Our popularity has risen in direct proportion to the local temperature. I have surfaced briefly to let you know I'm still here. While I have still found opportunities to make photos, opportunities to visit and post have been limited. I do hope to visit you over the next few days before our next guests arrive and I fade from blogland like the sun at the end of the day.

Winter Wonderland III

I've seen from news reports that winter has arrived across much of the North American continent. I mean really arrived, which those of you driving in it daily don't need to be reminded of. While we were back home in the north over the Christmas season we were fortunate not to have to drive in any adverse weather. In addition, I was able to go out several times to capture the beauty of the creation enhanced by a dusting of snow, before real winter had arrived.

Join me as I traipse through a secluded wonderland not far from home.

This is the creek that flows below the waterfalls I posted recently and which you might have visited with me last spring

A small creek which tumbles from the hill on the other side yields these ice formations

A few hundred yards downstream we come across another waterfall - don't get too near the edge - it's a bit slippery

The snow-covered ice that's formed across the rocks reminds me of cauliflower

At this point it hasn't been cold enough long enough for the ice to completely conceal the stream

The stream disappears around a bend below this waterfall. We have to scramble through the forest, away from the waterfall, and find our way down a side gully to find the stream again. The sides of the gully are coated with ice built up by dripping water - winter must have surprised these plants

Another few yards through the underbrush and we see the stream as it tumbles around the corner. From here it disappears to our left but the steep gully side means we'll have to bid it adieu, and we'll make our way back

 And throughout our trek Sasha has been patiently accompanying us - whenever the camera bag is unzipped she knows it's time for a rest in the snow. But she doesn't mind - she's in her element

Change of mind

I was going to continue posting a few more photos of my recent winter wanderings, but I changed my mind (I've rescheduled them). After we walked around the harbour this afternoon, I decided to return later to add to my stock of sunset shots. I did get a few but I changed my mind about posting any tonight (I've rescheduled those too). Although dusk was rapidly approaching, there was still enough light to capture some of the colour around the harbour. My son had sent some photos of the freezing rain and snow they've had over the last 2 days - I thought he could use a little more colour in his life right now.

Our internet connection here is something I could only dream about a week ago. I'm slowly catching up on responding to your comments and coming round to visit you.

(18-55mm  f11  3 different exposures each 2 stops apart  ISO100)

Osmosis

I was awakened prematurely this morning by my wife who told me that I had to get up and see a beautiful sunrise (thank goodness we're in the middle of the winter when the sun rises at what I consider to be a more 'normal' hour). As I jumped into my clothes she reminded me that I had requested her to wake me the next time there was a gorgeous sunrise. She had even brought the camera up with her.

I made some shots out of an upstairs window and then went down and stepped out onto the front porch, sans winter coat, into the -21C / -6F early morning. Within a few minutes I realized further shots would suffer from severe camera shake brought on by hypothermia. So inside I dashed for a coat and toque. I stayed out to get more shots until my fingers were so numb I couldn't operate the camera any longer.

I've never impressed on my wife any of the unwritten rules of photography e.g. carpe diem (see #2 here) but I think the 'learning by osmosis' concept has been at work in our home. She had already made a number of shots of the sunrise in its early stages whilst I was still lost somewhere in dreamland.

Here's a bit of the sequence we were privileged to witness and capture this morning. I hope your new year is off to a similarly auspicious start.

(if patience is truly a virtue then I'm in line to be a saint - this 'only' took 4 hours to post. Starting next week, I hope to be blogging at the speed of light, relatively speaking)

click on photos for a better view

(Belated) Phriday Phun

Well, the phun was all had on Phriday - it's just that I didn't get phinished with the photos until past midnight (EST) - although it's still Phriday to the west of us. (Scott started the Phun Phriday posting - you may want to check him out).

We visited Fishermen's Village in Punta Gorda this afternoon. While my wife browsed through the many shops there, Sasha and I dragged ourselves away and scouted the surroundings for some photo ops.

You wouldn't think that a place that bills itself as 'Fishermen's Village' would post signs like the one in this photo, would you ? Perhaps that's false advertising aka 'bait and switch'. I mean, what's a fisherman to do ?

Now being from up north I happen to know that Santa gets around via sleigh, but I've wondered how he does that in Florida where snow is as rare as a politician (anywhere) that can balance a budget. I discovered his secret and I'll share it with you here. Shhh - don't tell the kids.

Well, after all that time wandering around in the sun, I couldn't tell if my eyes or my camera were playing tricks on me in this last shot.

I hope your Phriday was phun too.

We're all kids at heart when ...

... there's a fireworks display. I saw evidence of that tonight when I waited patiently for the show to start. I'd forgotten that the Coconut Festival (I think that's the local version of a Winter Festival without the winter) was on this weekend and one of the features was a fireworks display. Last night I got my reminder when we watched it from a mile away, on our front lawn. I immediately made a note in our daytimer so I wouldn't miss it tonight.

I arrived in plenty of time to get a good spot and get set up. And I watched as young and old arrived with eager anticipation. And we weren't disappointed ! Despite the residue falling on my head and all around me, since I was downwind from the launch site, I stayed focused on capturing my first fireworks shots. There was much clapping and cheering from old and young alike when the grand finale was over. For those few moments, we were all kids again !

(all shots made with an 18-55mm lens, at f11, shutter speed of 6 seconds, ISO100)

click on image for a better view

On the road again ...

I'm quite fond of driving and don't find it a daunting task to spend a couple of days on the road. I'm the one behind the wheel on our road trips because (according to my wife) I make a bad passenger. I consider a road trip successful if it's uneventful i.e. no traffic surprises, no weather surprises, and no bedbugs ! And I'm always thankful that our guardian angel flies as fast as we do.

We were again blessed with beautiful fall scenery as we travelled south through the country from New York State to Florida. Here and there my trusty Canon was able to slow (most of) the pixels down from 120kph / 75mph to give you a glimpse.

(I used an 18-55mm lens, kept the aperture at f5.6 and ISO at 200 with various shutter speeds)

Coming to an end

There's a trite but true saying that all good things must come to an end, and so it is with the spectacle of autumn's magnificent colours. I'm sure that there are still places where the rain and strong winds haven't left barren limbs reaching for a gray sky, but those are disappearing quickly. I had a last opportunity to load up a memory card with autumn memories this past weekend. Accompanied by one of my daughters, who has recently taken up photography, and 3 canine friends, we braved sullen skies and a steady drizzle to make a trek into the woods.

The leaves will continue to fall and carpet the ground until a hard frost is followed by the first snowfall which in turn will cover everything under a soft blanket. Then life will slow down and rest for several months, until the cycle begins again. And we can be as assured of that as of His faithfulness.

Reflective moments

The weather folks have forecasted 4 days of rain, starting tomorrow. While I'm not opposed to making photos in rainy weather (in fact rainy days can present excellent and interesting photo ops), I had a specific spot in mind early this evening that would be much less inviting if the chest-high grass was dripping wet.

And so, Sasha and I spent a quiet hour and a half watching the sun set and the full moon rise, during which time I tripped the shutter on a few occasions. Oh, yes, I did capture the sunset - which would be difficult over the next four days - but I'll save it for Sunset Sunday.

Note: I've been making some visits to you kind folks who leave comments here when my internet connection permits; I haven't been able to visit all of you (yet) but I'm plodding along. Within a few weeks I hope to be down south where I'll get to enjoy blinding (well, by comparison) internet speed :-)

(images for these 2 shots were made with an 18-55mm lens, at f16, ISO200 and shutter speeds ranging from 1/2 to 13 secs; Photomatix was used to render the HDR images)

The world through rose-coloured glasses

First off, a Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow bloggers here in Canada. May we never take for granted all that we're blessed with in this great country.

Today I had the opportunity to see first hand what the world might look like when seen through rose-coloured glasses. A few of us went for a walk down a small dirt road which wanders through the woods just a few miles from our home. As I was remarking on the fall colours (first photo), one of my daughters suggested I look at them through her sunglasses. After recovering from optic overload I decided to shoot the same scene through her sunglasses (second photo).

(both photos made with an 18-55mm lens at f8.0, ISO200 and shutter speeds of 1/50 and 1/25 sec respectively)