A Rideau sunset

On my recent visit to the nearby Rideau Canal, Sasha and I spent some time near the lower end of the locks - I'll post a few shots made there in the near future. Time was moving on and I didn't want to miss the golden hour. Sasha unfortunately isn't as spry as she once was (who among us is) and I wanted to be in place to capture the sunset. So she had to forgo her stop-and-sniff-every-ten-feet routine as we marched (relatively) briskly westward above the locks to a headland jutting out into the lake formed by the dam.

Usually at this time of evening, the mosquitoes lurk in the bushes waiting to extract their pint of blood (well up here they extract by the litre), however, they were dissuaded by the fairly stiff breeze. Yes, I was counting my blessings. Nor was I disappointed by the golden hour.

[Scott is the founder of the Sunset Sunday theme - check out his blog for more awesome sunsets]

(btw - it is Sunday already; I think this is the earliest I've ever posted a Sunset Sunday shot)

By the By

We have the good fortune of living within a 15-minute drive of a marvel of human engineering and persistence. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is the Rideau Canal - 2012 marks its 180th year of operation, albeit in a much different role than what its builders intended.

Yesterday didn't look promising to venture out on a photoshoot - it was quite blustery and dark skies threatened rain. However, the western horizon offered a glimmer of hope in the early evening as the sun's rays broke out here and there among the scudding clouds. In fact, the evening turned out to be perfect for capturing some of the charms of this place and I hope to share some over the coming days.

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)

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.

Forever Young ...

(click on the play button below the photo)

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
...
(from Flanders Fields by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, Royal Canadian Army - 3 May 1915)

"As for man, his days are like grass, As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. But truly the wind passes over it and it is gone, And its place knows it no more." (Psalm 103:15, 16)

“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38)

Sunset at the harbour

"Inspirational Blog Award"

I very recently received this award from Amelia at Amelia's De-ssert and there are a few ‘rules’ attached, which include answering some questions about myself. Now if you like dessert (ok, put up your hand all those who can honestly say they don’t !) then you need to check out her blog. Not only will you see photos of mouth-watering treats but she’ll also give you the recipes. And she posts some great photos to go along with her witty anecdotes. Thank you, Amelia !

Here goes:

1. What makes you laugh, smile or giggle?

A humorous situation in real life, a funny story about our human foibles, a great cartoon (I’m partial to Dilbert), and of course Foghorn Leghorn TV cartoons !

2. What are your dreams for your future?

See (and hopefully photograph) more of this beautiful creation and meet people in far off places – it reinforces my view that we all have the same desires and needs.
Enjoy watching my grandchildren grow up.

3. If you are going on a cruise, where would it be and why?

Unfortunately the idea of a cruise doesn’t appeal to me. I’d feel too regimented – I want to be free to explore a place on my own for as long as I want (or can) without being part of a crowd and being compelled to return to ship.

4. Where would you spend your vacation and with whom?

My wife and I have discussed a possible vacation with Ireland as a potential destination. Wales, England and Scotland also beckon. Given unlimited funds I’d like to take my whole family somewhere exotic (and warm, of course). There’s a lot to be said about sharing an experience like that.

5. If given another life, what life would you choose ? Your life now or your past?

Of course there are very good experiences in the past that would be good to relive, but I’m happy with the circumstances I find myself in.

6. Is there something that you wished before when you were young but you didn't get?

At a young age I wished to become a pilot. At a later time I got as far as completing ground school but life events took over and I pursued a completely different career.

7. Have you been in a situation where you might have given up but you still chose to move on?

I took a number of assignments in my career that I wasn’t too sure I could successfully handle going in, including a couple of relocations. Being somewhat of an obstinate sort I couldn’t let failure prevail. I know that I had a lot of help, especially from above – any success was definitely not attributable to me alone.

8. Is there someone in your life who has been your source of strength and inspiration?

Yes, my wife has stood beside me all these years.

Now for the hard part: I also have lots of favourite bloggers but the ‘rules’ say I can only choose eight for this award. I realize that not all of you do the blogging award thing – I will not be offended in any way if that’s your preference. Hopefully anyone visiting here will come and visit you:

1) Marty at Marty

2) Darlene at My Life For A Year

3) Leslie at Let A Joy Keep You

4) Cloudia at Comfort Spiral

5) Lisa at Lisa Gordon Photography

6) Betty at Cut and Dry

7) Elizabeth at Magical Moments

8) Dawn at Just~One~Life

Of course, in keeping with with Scott's Sunset Sunday theme, I also wanted to show you what the sunset at the harbour looked like last evening.

(10-22mm  f14  several different exposures  ISO100)

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)

All earth to Him her homage brings

1 The ends of all the earth shall hear
And turn unto the Lord in fear;
All kindreds of the earth shall own
And worship Him as God alone.

Refrain:
All earth to Him her homage brings,
The Lord of lords, the King of kings.

2 For His the kingdom, His of right,
He rules the nations by his might;
All earth to Him her homage brings
The Lord of lords, the King of kings. [Refrain]

3 Both rich and poor both bond and free,
Shall worship Him with bended knee,
And children's children shall proclaim
The glorious honor of His Name. [Refrain]

Composer: William H. Doane, 1834-1915

Perishable moments

Perishability in a photograph is important in a picture.  If a photograph looks perishable we say, "Gee, I'm glad I have that moment."  John Loengard

(HDR - 3 shots - 10-22mm  f22  1/6 - 1/100 sec  ISO200)

(SOOC -no editing - 10-22mm  f16  3.2 sec  ISO200; same place 35 min. later)

Time out

"Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn."  (Elizabeth Lawrence)

So we went out early this evening to a part of the picturesque Rideau Canal to do just that. We met a young lad out for a stroll with his dog, and both of them were obviously enjoying one of the few remaining warm evenings of this beautiful Indian summer. A short while later we came across a father who'd taken his young son and daughter to go fishing off a bridge across the nearby Rideau River (coincidentally I was on this bridge exactly a year ago). It seemed like we each had left something much less important undone.

(18-55mm  f9.0  1/5 sec  ISO200)

click on image for a better view

Savour the season

"Come said the wind to
the leaves one day,
Come o'er the meadows
and we will play.
Put on your dresses
scarlet and gold,
For summer is gone
and the days grow cold."
(A Childrens' Song of the 1880's)

"A tangerine and russet cascade
Of kaleidoscopic leaves
Creates a tapestry of autumn magic
Upon the emerald carpet of fading summer."
(Judith A. Lindberg, Shades of Autumn)

You might want to listen to this while you view the photos ...

click on images for a better view

Back to the future

My plan to go out and shoot some more autumn colours has been temporarily shelved. Our weather has taken on a decidedly autumn character - cold, blustery winds, rain, and sullen gray skies. So I decided to peruse my archives and came across this shot to mark Sunset Sunday, taken on the other side of summer.

(10-22mm  f8.0 1/30 sec  ISO200)

For more marvelous sunsets, visit Scott's blog.

Dry enough for you ?

On my way to Ottawa today, I made a mental note of this creek which I'd passed before but hadn't had time to make some shots of. Later this afternoon I found myself standing on the mostly dry bed of this creek. A small trickle still meandered along the solid rock bed, and here and there stood small pools of water in which I saw a few minnows. It's hard to believe that in the spring time this creek becomes a fast-flowing river - I've never seen it like this before.

[no, my internet issues are not resolved; last evening it was virtually unusable. I'm told that technicians ARE investigating. In the meantime I've stayed up rather late to post a few shots. We'll see if they load. tonight.]

(these shots were made with a 10-22mm lens at f22, ISO200, and a shutter speed of 1/4 or 1/3 sec. HDR processing was done using Photomatix).

click on photos for a better view

Country evening

Although it missed Florida, we got out of Irene's path and made it back to a more temperate climate this week. Our hopes are that at worst Irene's fury will be spent at sea and that the eastern seaboard will be spared significant damage.

In contrast to the wild images coming out of the Bahamas, Sasha and I went out for a short ride last evening in the tranquility of the countryside near our home.

(all shots made with a 10-22mm lens, at either f11 or f14, ISO200, and shutter speeds ranging from 1/2 to 6 seconds)

Never enough ?

I won't talk your ear off with the story behind this photo. Suffice to say that when I look at it, some of the frustration of dealing with my ISP melts into the background and becomes insignificant in the grand scheme of things. I hope you're not tired of sunsets.

A new week is starting and I'm girding myself to resume battle with my ISP. I have been misled, given empty promises, waylaid with weasel words, and treated like a bad fungal outbreak. Till now, I haven't identified the ISP but now I will - Xplornet.com. Perhaps they're your ISP and you've received good service from them. You are fortunate. If you are contemplating using them as your ISP, I strongly suggest you look at other alternatives - I am. I will attempt to visit you again, although it may take most of the week.

Thank you for continuing to visit here, and leaving your comments.

(10-22mm  f8.0  1/40 sec  ISO200)

Indecision

We had one of those weather days where it wasn't sure whether to rain, shine, be cold, be warm, and almost everything in between (except SNOW !). Our temperatures jumped around from 13C/55F to 24C/75F and back and forth between these points. The sun shone brilliantly, if briefly, through the odd patch of blue. We had dark, threatening skies which morphed into dull grey skies which then unloaded on us. Let me show you instead of blathering on.

(I won't regale you with more tales of my internet woes. Suffice to say that upload 'speeds' are 6x faster than download speeds, and for the technically inclined, a simple ping consumes 129 ms ! I believe that my dial-up service of 5 years ago ran faster.)

(10-22mm  f11  1/400 sec  ISO200)

 (10-22mm  f11  1/640 sec  ISO200)

 (10-22mm  f8.0  1/25 sec  ISO200)

Sunday reward

We've had a dearth of sunsets here lately, and as I've noticed from some blogs I was able to visit, we're not alone in this. Seems the April showers baton was handed off to May, and although May did produce the promised flowers, you had to act quickly to grab the opportunity to shoot them. I lingered awhile this past week when I visited the village of Merrickville since it was one of those infrequent days without rain, and I was rewarded with this sunset.

(18-55mm  f9.0  1/50 sec  ISO200)

click on photo for a larger view

If you're also a fan of sunsets, be sure to visit Scott's Sunset Sunday post.

Tips

I always appreciate a good tip, especially one that pans out. Well, I received one a couple of days ago from my daughter-in-law, Nadine, who said she'd found a very scenic hike through quiet woods, along a serene - in places - river, and overlooking a beautiful waterfalls (actually she only told me about the waterfalls, but that was enough ...).

The first (dry) opportunity to check it out came this afternoon, and I was not disappointed. Sasha and I spent the better part of 2 hours there, taking it in and making some shots. I'll share them over the next few days and you can let me know if this was a good tip.

(10-22mm  f11  1/30 sec  ISO200)

No, these aren't the falls - they're rapids just above the falls.

(70-200mm  f18  1/25 sec  ISO100)

Evening postcard

I slipped over to Merrickville this evening to wander around the Rideau Canal and catch the spring colours. I thought I'd send you a postcard.

(18-55mm  f8.0  1/125 sec  ISO200)

Easter 2011

I hope you all had a joyous Easter. I trust that the lyrics in this song only serve to bring you back to another time, and that none of them were applicable today.

(70-200mm  f14  1/125 sec  ISO400)

And although I missed the stroke of midnight, I'll post this for Sunset Sunday.

(10-22mm  f18  1/25 sec  ISO100)