(Day 291) Between friends

It's not a well-known fact that America's largest trade partner is Canada. Billions of dollars worth of goods cross the border between the 2 countries each month. And Americans and Canadians seem to like each other's countries too -  in July alone this year, 1.7 million Americans visited Canada, while 3.8 million Canadians visited the United States. The border between the 2 countries is the longest undefended one in the world - 8,891 kilometres (5,525 mi), including 2,475 kilometres (1,538 mi) with Alaska, although there is, of course, significant border security. Almost 200 years have passed since a shot was fired in anger across the border.

We are fortunate to live within a 20-minute drive of the border. Since I was near the St. Lawrence River today, I went to see one of the border crossings.

(70-200mm  f22  1/25 sec  ISO200)

(70-200mm  f22  1/13 sec  ISO200)

(Day 290) "Major Tom to ground control ..."

Sunday Oct. 17, 2010

"... here am I sitting in my tin can, far above the Moon; Planet Earth is blue, and Saturn's rings are now in view ..." (with apologies to David Bowie).

I thought I'd show you an astronomical photo, or should that be astronomy ? Actually I had a little more phun today - I know, it's supposed to be reserved for phridays, but I've missed so many I'm making up for lost time.

Yesterday I told you about the great day I had enjoying the beauty of the creation. Well to top it off, the Creator also painted this masterpiece when I was on my way home last evening. Sasha didn't mind that I stopped once more to capture it, and since today is Sunset Sunday the timing couldn't have been better.

(10-22mm  f8  1/3 sec  ISO800)

(70-200mm  f8  1/160 sec  ISO200)

(Day 289) Fall extravaganza

Sat. Oct. 16, 2010

I was on a high today, well, at least all afternoon and I'm still coming down. Ok, don't worry - it was a legal high and it didn't involve drugs of any sort. I had the afternoon all to myself and decided to revisit a place where we got rained out earlier this year - Jones Falls on the Rideau Waterway.

Now I thought that the fall colours were coming to an end because the trees around here have been shedding their leaves and are almost barren. However, I was in for a wonderful surprise. You might see some sunbeams in a few photos - they were beaming down on me all afternoon. As I meandered through the woods and along the locks and little lakes, I said a little thank you to the Creator for putting on such a show for us. Perhaps if more people could/would take the time to get out and enjoy what's been made especially for us, we'd have less time and inclination to go fight each other.

I won't tell you how many photos I made but it's the reason I'm late posting tonight - I've been going through them and having to make choices. I whittled and whittled some more and I narrowed it down to the ones I posted below. In the interest of time I'm not going to post my camera settings for each photo - I used 3 lenses: 10-22mm, 18-55mm and 70-200mm and used a fairly small aperture for a larger depth of field in most cases, and I stuck to my usual ISO200.

(Day 288) Phun with oil and water

Well, I couldn't let Scott have all the phun today. I haven't participated in too many Phun Phridays, mainly because I keep forgetting - I had an image ready 2 weeks ago and I plum forgot. But I'll save it for the next time I remember.

I went to my son's house today to make some photos of the renovations - remember those ? (I promise to post some as soon as he's seen them.) They moved back to their home last weekend - like all renovations this one took twice as long and cost twice as much as initially planned/hoped for. While I was making some photos there I thought about some ideas I'd read about that might be used for a phun shot. This was my take when I got home:

(60mm  f14  2 sec ISO200)

(Day 287) Fleeting moments

There's an acre or two of bush a couple of hundred yards in front of our house - mostly lilacs guarded by some nasty little bushes with sharp spines, and interspersed with a few tall ash trees. Hidden within are the remains of what must have been an apple orchard many years ago. It's the haunt of wildflowers (2nd photo) in early spring, but I hadn't thrashed about in there since.

Who knows how long ago these apple trees were thriving - they can live to be 80 years old, like some people. And yet, this is what they look like today - a reminder that despite a long life we too are but a fleeting moment in time. Carpe diem !

(60mm  f14  1/2 sec  ISO200)

(60mm  f25  1.3 sec  ISO200)