Making lemonade

After sifting through several series of photos I'd made over the past week or two, I was going to post some cheerful spring photos, made while the sky was blue, the sun was shining, and temperatures were approaching the high 70s F (mid 20s C). Today we woke up to a different season - gray overcast skies, a howling north wind driving the rain horizontally, and a temperature of 39F (4C).

Our grandson is staying for the weekend while his parents enjoy a quick getaway. Plans for outdoor time had to be shelved, but the weather certainly doesn't put a damper on a 3-year old's ability to have fun. And what better fun than to see what's in the toy box and get down to some serious playing ...

Welcome Home (?)

I believe it's not only the fog that comes on little cat feet.

After a long but safe and uneventful journey back to the north country, during which we watched the season roll back from summer to early spring, we were surprised this morning to find ourselves back in the middle of winter. Perhaps it was karma at work, since we thought we had escaped that season. We were somewhat unprepared - mentally - to move back that far on the calendar. The rain that started last night quietly turned into the proverbial white stuff as the overnight temperature approached the freezing point.

The only member of the household who could truly appreciate the vagaries of nature was Sasha - she was back in her element.

(all shots made with a 10-22mm lens at f7.1, ISO200, and shutter speeds from 1/250 to 1/100 sec)

Contrasts

I've mentioned in earlier posts that we lived out west near Calgary, Alberta for about 15 years where on more than one occasion the weather changed from the depths of winter freezing (-30C/-22F) to balmy (21C/70F) in the span of a day. That welcome weather contrast was due to a phenomenon known as a chinook (an Indian word meaning 'snow eater').

I think our children back home would welcome a chinook today. We received a couple of photos from one of my daughters this morning - their first, and early, taste of the season to come. I put a couple of photos of what we've had to 'endure' this week beside hers. Perhaps I'll wait a few days before I mention this post to them. (Well, maybe not).

Note: I experimented last week with a new view offered by Blogger. While I liked the many different ways photos and posts could be presented, many people found it difficult to post comments, and I haven't been able to see some of the information widgets. For now I'm reverting to my old (and familiar) template.

When wrong feels right

I guess weathermen (weatherpersons ? ok, meteorologists) are somewhat like economists - they quite often have a gloomy forecast and we love it when they're wrong ! Well, ours turned out to be quite wrong today. for the most part.

Yesterday's forecast calling for another rainy day went out the window already early this morning. The sun shone through some broken cloud cover and the temperature soared to 30C/86F, a tad (that's a technical term in meteorology meaning we were way off) warmer than the predicted high of 20C/68F ! We weren't complaining - even though my wife had chosen today for us to repaint the living room.

Now I suppose the weather people could claim a moral victory of sorts - we did catch a 15-minute thunderstorm this afternoon, and another this evening. And as you can see from this photo, our little 'creek' - which is dry about 9 months of the year - was still flowing with runoff from April's abundant showers.

I don't like to wish anybody ill, but I sure hope these weather gurus are wrong for the remainder of the week.

(10-22mm  f11  1/60 sec  ISO200)

(Day 346) Messengers in the sky

There are a lot of things I'm not, and one of those is a meteorologist. My forecasting 'expertise' is limited to knowing a few phrases such as 'red sky at night, sailor's delight' and 'red sky in the morning, sailors take warning'. If there's no red sky at all, I have to turn on the TV or radio to find out.

Real weather forecasters of course have all sorts of modern technical tools to help them make their predictions. But in the days before all this wonderful technology, observant people would watch the sky for signs of pending weather, hence the origin of these folk wisdoms. This afternoon, armed with the knowledge of a pending cold front, we went for a walk with friends while the weather was still cooperative. One of the first signs we noticed of a 'change in the air' was the rapid change from a bright blue sky to the cloud formation below. We managed to get our walk in before these clouds gave way to much darker clouds, accompanied by a driving rain, gusty winds, and much cooler weather.

I did a little research early this evening, and I think these are altocumulus clouds (remember what I'm not). I stand to be corrected by a real expert out there. At any rate, I find clouds to be fascinating harbingers of weather to come.

(10-22mm  f11  1/1000 sec  ISO200)

click on photo to enlarge

I'm trying to regularly participate in Scott's Sunset Sunday so here's one of the sunset photos I made on our recent dinner cruise:

(10-22mm  f16  1/13 sec  ISO200)

(Day 307) Looks like we're in for stormy weather

Since I've never been in Florida at this time of year, I'm really not sure what sort of weather to expect. I do expect it to be a little warmer than back in Ontario. The weatherman here had told us to expect rain this afternoon, however, other than some dark clouds passing to the south of us, we were blessed with continuous sunshine. After dinner we decided to head down to the water to a place called Glover Bight. We were hoping to catch the sunset, and I think a lot of people had the same idea.

I'm sure that the sun did set, but we, along with many others, did not witness it at Glover Bight. Clouds covered the western part of the sky. Further over, to the south, were banks of rather ominous-looking clouds. I think we discovered where the rain was waiting that the weatherman had forecast.

(18-55mm  f11  1/20 sec  ISO200)

(18-55mm  f11  1/80 sec  ISO200)

ps - these clouds delivered the weatherman's promise a short while after we got back

(Day 124) Take cover

The weatherman had predicted some thunderstorms for this afternoon. However, they were also predicted for yesterday and nothing happened - and you know how quickly we can become inured to predictions that don't come true. But as I was waiting for my vehicle to come out of the shop this afternoon I looked up and saw quite a threatening sky. There were a few sporadic flashes of lightning and it rained briefly but then nothing further.

However, as I left town I noticed that wipers on some of the approaching cars were still going furiously, even though it was only dripping a little. I found a place to pull over and took some shots of the ominous-looking sky. Within a few minutes I found out why those wipers were going fast as I came into the heavy, lashing rain, accompanied by frequent lightning flashes. And even though it was 3:00 in the afternoon, it felt like 9:00 in the evening. I'm glad I wasn't caught out in the open.

(18-55mm  f11  1/30 sec  ISO200)

(70-200mm  f11  1/400 sec  ISO200)

(70-200mm  f5.6  1/400 sec  ISO800)

taken through the windshield (I was stopped)

(Day 100 !!) Ominous or hopeful ?

Supposedly, the world is made up of 2 kinds of people - the half-full glass kind and the half-empty glass kind. Also known as optimists and pessimists, or maybe idealists and realists. Seems a bit of a cut and dried division but I guess we all sometimes like to pigeon-hole people. In that case I like to think I belong to the first group.

The sky late today seemed to me to have some elements of both. The dark clouds looked ominous (the forecasters are calling for showers tonight) and yet there also are rays of sunshine - perhaps they will prevail, the clouds will pass, and we'll have a beautiful spring day tomorrow. I'm going to go with that. What do you think ?

(70-200mm  f32  1/320 sec  ISO800)

(Day 36) Against the wind ...

The wind was howling off the gulf onto the beach today creating mini dust storms of piercing sand. The effect on our legs was as if they were being rubbed by sandpaper. The wind brought on thick clouds, dark with rain. It wasn't a day to take a sight-seeing flight - even the birds were grounded.

(70-200mm @ f11 1/400 sec ISO200)

(Day 34) Hurricane-proof (?)

Solid concrete legs supporting a fishing pier stand side-by-side as a small wave makes its way toward shore. I don't know how long it's stood here or whether it replaced a wooden one, but with the history of hurricanes in this area, I wonder how long it can withstand the beatings it will surely face again, with waves that would dwarf the one pictured here.

(70-200mm @ f11 1/200 sec ISO200)

(Day 33) Liquid sunshine

A little rain every now and then brings a welcome relief from hot and dry conditions. True statement most times, except when you're on vacation. Ah well, we all have to learn to live with what we're presented with weatherwise, since we're not in any position to do anything about it (which is a good thing since mankind would launch wars over the weather otherwise).

(70-200mm @ f8.0 1/6 sec ISO200)