Category Archives: About Me

Playing With Geese

Posted on by
6

….more like playing with my camera

Usually when I approach birds of any kind they tend to fly away. I was hoping that my new zoom lens would allow me to get closer without actually having to physically approach my subjects.

A few day ago, when I left the dog at home, I walked into the Col. Sam Smith Park hoping to find some birds to capture with my camera. Despite the bitter cold, I found a gaggle of geese along the first beach as I entered the naturalized area of the park. To my surprise the geese did not fly away. Instead a couple of them walked towards me as if looking for something. I don’t know if it was curiosity on their part or if they were looking for a handout.

At one point they got so close to me that I found myself actually backing away from them. One thing I know about geese and swans is that they can be rather nasty and they will bite if they feel threatened. Clearly these two weren’t threatened by me or this big black contraption hanging from my neck.

I’m pretty pleased with the photos I managed to get. In fact, I didn’t have the zoom lens with me. I used the macro lens. These birds were way to close to me for the zoom lens anyway, unless I wanted pictures of their eyes.  I’m sure that an expert could find plenty wrong with them. The day was overcast, Canada Geese don’t have a lot of colour and the beach we were standing on was also void of a lot of colour. Consequently there’s not a lot of contrast and everything seems a little muted. None the less, it is what it is and I finally got a close-up even without my zoom lens.

P1020968

WPC – Wish

Posted on by
12

….this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge is wish

I wish I could see my son and daughter-in-law in London, England.

img_8598

I wish I was feeling better so I could spend some time with my granddaughter this week.

p1020577

I wish my husband would get over his cold so we can spend some quality time together and have the family over.

img_0004

I wish for a smooth transition when my 90 year old father moves in with us in May.

SONY DSC

I wish to travel back to Europe, maybe even with my Dad. It would be nice for him to see his brother one more time. I would love to go back to Venice.

I wish I could stop procrastinating and do some more art. I miss it.

Finally I wish it were warmer and I was on the beach at the cottage.

p1010410

 

Another Bitter Cold Day

Posted on by
7

….but lovely enough for taking photos

My husband has been suffering all week with a miserable cold and sinus infection, so when the dog barked non-stop to go outside and no one moved from their cozy chair in front of the TV I knew that I would be the designated dog walker for the day.

If I had to go outside I might as well take my camera and make the best of it. I bundled up, knowing that the temperature had plummeted to well below freezing and I tucked my camera inside my coat.

Now taking photos with a dog at the end of a leash is not easy but I did manage to take a few interesting shots close to home. I’m still experimenting with my macro lens and sometimes it’s very hit or miss but with a digital camera it really doesn’t matter. There’s no waiting for film to be developed and you can see immediately if the shot worked or not. In the photos below it’s difficult to see but I started tracking a couple of geese but as I got closer they flew down to the water.

Later in the day I had to pick up a library book so I drove and left the dog at home. I decided to park the car by Sam Smith Park after getting my book in hopes of getting a few more shots.  The lake side was ice free but on the pond there was a thin sheet of ice across most of the pond. P1020948P1020951P1020952P1020969P1020971P1020972P1020981

After an hour or so of hunting around for interesting shots my fingers started to freeze. This is the one downside of taking photos on such a cold day. Wearing mittens is impractical and my leather gloves are fine when I’m moving a lot but they don’t do a very good job of keeping the cold out when you’re standing around, fiddling with dials on your camera. Keeping the camera inside my coat helped preserve the battery somewhat. Batteries don’t like the cold either.

Do you have any tips for taking photos on freezing cold days? I’d love to hear about them.

From Record Breaking Highs in February to Bone Chilling Temps in March

Posted on by
2

….it was too good to be true….winter is still with us

In February we set records for the warmest February ever in Toronto and southern Ontario. People were wearing spring jackets, tee shirts and some brave souls wore shorts. In Toronto all the snow had melted but north of the city there was lots of snow and skiers were enjoying spring skiing conditions.

Every year our physical education teacher organizes two cross country ski trips for our grade 4 and grade 5 students. It is usually the only time I go skiing but I love it, so when I was asked if I wanted to go again to supervise the students I jumped at the chance. The first group went on the 22nd of February and the second group went the next day. Both days were exceptionally warm, 15 degrees celsius. Luckily Hardwood Hills had a lot of snow this winter so the base was good and the conditions were excellent.

I went on the second day so I was warned that I wouldn’t need heavy clothing. I packed three tops and extra socks. I’m glad I did because every time I came inside I had to change my top and socks because I was soaked through from perspiration. Many of the kids skied  with only their tee shirts on. It was a beautiful day and the more I skied the more confident I became. My goal was to not fall. I’m happy to report that I met that goal and I skied the equivalent of 13 000 steps and 50 flights of stairs.

March 1st didn’t enter like a lion but by the evening the temperatures had plummeted from double digits above zero to minus zero in a matter of hours. Today and yesterday the temperatures went even lower to minus 13 celsius. The good news is that warmer temperatures are forecast for this coming week. The ice that formed along the water’s edge will give you some idea of just how cold the last few days have been.

Computer Woes

Posted on by
4

….it’s been a strange couple of weeks

You may have noticed that I haven’t posted anything in over a week. I took my computer to the Apple store to see if there was anything that could be done to fix the lack of speed and the freezing problems that I had to endure. This is how the journey began. I say journey because after the initial visit I returned at least four more times and spent countless hours on the phone with Apple Support.

None of this is a criticism of Apple. I’ve always loved their products and their service is very professional and friendly. The staff at the store and on the phone spent at least  8 hours with me and it was all free of charge.

After the first visit it was decided that a cable would be replaced, the hard drive would be wiped clean and the newest operating system would be installed. This should have fixed the slowness and freezing problems. My job was to back up the hard drive. When I went home I had to find the external hard drive that I bought three years ago. Just as I was about to give up I found the never opened box in a most unlikely place. I quickly opened the package and plugged it into my laptop and the process began. Four hours later the job was done.

The next day I returned to the store and left my computer with the technician but the job wouldn’t be done until the next day. It was odd not having my computer that night. I even returned to the store close to closing on the off chance that it was ready. No such luck!.

The next day after work I went back to the mall to pick up my computer. Now I had to transfer all my data back into the computer. I thought I knew how but soon after starting the process I ran into difficulty. One more night without my computer.

On the following day I made another visit. This time I had to wait to see a technician. I walked around the mall and grabbed a coffee and a bite to eat. After an hour and a half of waiting my issue was resolved. Well, at least I thought it was resolved. Before I left the technician explained all the steps I had to take to complete the transferring process and then how to log back on.

Once home, I started the transferring process right away so I wouldn’t forget the steps and then I waited for the data to be brought back over to my newly refurbished  and improved laptop. Success! Not so fast.

After the data was returned, I tried to log back on and this is where a whole new set of problems started. I typed in my password, pushed the return button and waited. All I got was the spinning wheel and it didn’t stop. I phoned Apple support. They guided me through a recovery process which would take a few hours and they told me if that didn’t work I needed to go back to the store.

Of course, it didn’t work, and I went back to the store again. This time I stayed there for four hours. I was the last person to leave. To the credit of the three technicians who tried to help me, they were determined to find a solution to my problem. I was so afraid that I had lost all my photos (over 4000), even though I had them backed up. In the end they put a screen shot on the laptop so that I could see  the steps I needed to take when I went home and they they arranged for Apple Support to call me next day to make sure I was able to carry out the steps.

I wish I could say that was the end of it but it wasn’t. When Apple Support called they were given permission to visit my computer so that they could see my screen and together we tried numerous other options. I’m happy to report that we were able to retrieve all my data. When I saw my original desktop screen saver come up and all my folders I was relieved. I’m not sure if the slowness issue has been resolved but right now I don’t care. I’m just happy to be able to write on my blog again.

The reality is that my computer is almost five years old. I know that I’ll need to buy a new one in the near future but I was hoping to put it off for at least a few more months. Hopefully, all this effort will have been worthwhile. I certainly learned a lot about computers over this past week.

Time to catch up and share some more stories, art and photos.

Cheers!

 

Playing With the Camera and Getting my Steps In

Posted on by
16

….losing the lens cap and having to retrace my steps helped my reach my walking goal 

Despite having the special attachment on my lens cap that fastens itself to the camera body I still managed to lose it. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your perspective, I didn’t notice that the cap was missing until I was almost all the way home. I started to retrace my steps but since I was close to the house I decided to pick up Frances and take her for her walk. At least this way I was multi-tasking and hopefully I could get in enough steps to make her happy and find my lens cap.

Luckily I did find the cap close to a park bench where I had taken a moment to try to figure out why my camera wasn’t working. I guess I was so excited when I was able to shoot some more photos that I didn’t notice that the cap was no longer attached to the camera body.

Frances seemed content to turn around and go back home at this point and I knew that I was going to be close to my 10 000 step goal for the day and it was still morning.

Here are a few of the shots I took yesterday. It was a beautiful sunny morning.

Shopping, Shopping and More Shopping

Posted on by
14

….after our long walk this morning we decided to go out and buy food for the weekend

Not any old food, mind you. We were shopping for food for our family get together on Sunday. Four of us are driving to Hamilton to celebrate Family Day at G’s and B’s home (parents of Winnie). I suggested that we do a pot luck lunch and everyone quickly agreed.

Our contribution is going to be a charcuterie platter and then some smoked pork chops, German style (Kassler rippchen). To get all the ingredients we needed we drove out to Mississauga and went to the Brandt Meat store. What a treat for all the senses.

We left with 5 different meats and three cheeses for the platter, 8 smoked pork chops and meatloaf for tonight’s dinner. As we got back into the car we decided that potato salad would be a nice addition to the chops so I went back inside and bought a few containers of ready to eat salad.

Hard to imagine that I couldn’t find everything that we needed in this one amazing store but we did need milk, cream, fruit, vegetables and dog food so we made another stop at our go to No Frills grocery story just down the road from our home. I love the produce aisles in this store. It is so bright and colourful and everything is very fresh.

After we loaded up the car with more groceries than we had planned to buy my husband thought of another thing we forgot to pick up. Batteries. Instead of going back into the same store he suggested that I go over to the Dollarama which was next door.

Here’s another store that appeals to the eyes. Bright and colourful and kind on the pocketbook. The line-up was pretty long so I decided to take a quick look around and took a few more photos of some of the merchandise. You can tell that St. Patrick’s Day and Easter are just around the corner.

The teacher in me wanted to buy numerous items for my classes but I resisted temptation. Besides my husband was waiting in the car and if I had returned with anything but batteries he would have given me a questioning gaze.

As soon as we got home we put away the groceries and I started dinner. For those of you who know me well I did it voluntarily and without any coercion from my husband. Once in awhile I still like to cook.

Hope you’re all having a fantastic weekend. Mine is just beginning. Hopefully I’ll have more photos and stories about our Family Day get together tomorrow.

Cheers!