An Impressive Restoration

Sue has a photo, about 1" x 2" in a tiny frame. It shows Sue's grandmother adjusting Sue's mother in the stroller. Pearl's twin brother sits in the adjacent seat, and Sue's Aunt Elsie is about to take the twins on a stroll. It was Aunt Elsie who somehow had the photo restored — poorly restored — long ago. I assume that she also had a larger copy made and gave this smaller one to Sue. It sat in a kind of oval frame, which is why the corners look as they do.

In addition to the print being tiny, not much larger than how it appears above, neither the photo nor scan was of high quality. In point of fact, I had already improved the tonality a bit, but I didn't keep a copy of the lighter, original version.

Some time ago, I enlarged and adjusted the image as best I could, but one has to work with the pixels (dots) that are there, and, unfortunately, poor Uncle Syd's facial features were blank, so there was nothing there to enhance. Below, is the result after doing what I could using manual methods as well as calling upon AI to fill in the corners. It is better but a little disappointing.

There was nothing else that I could do, so I just filed it until this weekend, which is when I came across a tutorial using Adobe's latest and greatest AI tool, called Gemini 3 (with Nano Banana Pro), and I kid you not about the Nano Banana Pro part. 

I went back to the original scan, not my adjusted version, and asked Gemini to Restore and Remove. I was almost stunned by the result. The tonality is so much better, and the noise is gone.

Unfortunately, grandma and the dog were also gone, so I tried one more time with just the command to Restore and omit Remove. Presto! Grandma and the dog were back, and Uncle Syd was miraculously given facial features. One doesn't know how accurate Syd's face might be, but Sue thought it looked plausible. Of course, Sue's mother's face was also enhanced very nicely from the original scan.

I remain pretty impressed by the results including the next photo, below. I won't show multiple versions of this one, but it was the faces that were significantly improved.

Sue holds her mother's hand (left), her best friend doing the same with her mother.
People did dress up to go out in those days, circa 1950.
Sue's mom likely made the outfits for both girls.

Unfortunately, when I tried to process one more photo, Adobe informed me that I had reached my limit and had used all of my free trials for Gemini 3. You see, this heavy-duty AI-ing must go to Adobe's mega computers, so they charge extra for the service.

I did not wish to add to my monthly subscription at this time, but there might come a day that I do because the results are pretty impressive. Meanwhile, I can still do some AI processing on my device but not with the Nano Banana Pro version.

Saturday Smiles

How about some Saturday Smiles whether they be comedically funny or just pleasing?

I came across some posts that really did make me laugh out loud, especially the first but also the next two.

This got me too.

Then this.

On a cold morning, we just undertook the relatively short walk to the near coffee shop where we both enjoyed the apple and caramel flavoured coffee. You never know about flavoured coffee, but we both enjoyed this drink although you'd be excused for thinking otherwise when you see my face. However, I think our misguided effort to attempt Sue's Whimsical photo prompt ↓ for the day is, indeed, pretty funny in its own way.

In the Dark & Deadly Coffee Shop

Finally, I am hopeful that these next and final images will evoke warm and pleasurable smiles. Both are Sue's prompt results. The first photo was Sue's response to A Character with a Treat. The second was her interpretation of Whimsical that she, for some vague reason, thought was better than my grimace, above.

I hope that at least one of the images caused you to smile. If not, well Happy Weekend anyway, you old grump.  😁

Ice and Moon

Last week, I showed a picture of ice on the river. This week, we saw that ice was overtaking the pond. There is an unfrozen section near the intake where the ducks can swim and forage. A significantly smaller portion will remain open all winter. The ducks do have a free-flowing river nearby just beyond the trees in the background, however, so not to worry.

I called Sue over to my den just before we went down for supper last night to see the the Cold Supermoon shining brightly over the opposite houses. I thought the scene looked appealing along with the snow and lights, especially the Christmas lights. Out came the phone.

Dis 'n Dat

This ↓ was posted on BlueSky by a reporter that I follow. The other place he refers to X. He is talking about the difference between the two platforms. 

The difference between here and there is when you answer a question here it goes well and when you answer one there you almost always regret that you had any confidence in people. 

And when it goes so well, you just keep answering questions and feel better about the hearts and souls of ppl. 

Nice.

I concur with the difference between Blue and X. I use BlueSky to follow certain subjects, people and events. I do not use it or any social media to engage although I chip in a comment on the rare occasion.

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I am inserting this at the last minute before publishing. It’s another BlueSky post, this from an American who is now a Canadian citizen.

Every day, I ask myself the same unanswerable question: How could Americans be so fucking stupid?

This is a clown government. It doesn't pretend to be serious. It's guerrilla theatre, staged by idiots. It tears down, it never builds up.

And you fucking voted for it.

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I have to think a little bit about some jokes before I get them. I appreciate the cleverness once the penny drops.

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A  photo from a dull and snowy walk in the neighbourhood park. We seem to be experiencing many such days. 

It Only Looks Like Halloween

This, on Bluesky, made me laugh. 

Who among us hasn’t strolled into Monday morning and said, “Fuck it, I’ll take one preventative MRI, please.”

We walked downtown in the -6C/21F cold and came across a scene for the Love is not the Answer movie that they are making. If you recall, or even if you don't recall from last week, it will feature Pamela Anderson and be directed by Michael Cera. I think the pumpkins are a pretty fair clue that is set for a future Thanksgiving release. Indeed, there is a Halloween banner that is not visible in any of my three photos. We've had a number of Hallmark movies filmed hereabouts, but this is not to be one of that ilk, apparently.

Across the street.

There was much standing and waiting by helper staff on our side of the street, with nothing actively transpiring. We boldly walked through the set and received a few friendly greetings.

I did not envy any of those involved on this very nippy day.

Elf or Viking

I rather amuse my wife at times. Yesterday, for example, she burst out laughing when she looked at me after I got up from our tv lunch. Since laughter is the best medicine, I now share with you what she saw. Go ahead and laugh; I have no shame. She said I looked like an elf with those things on my ears  

One of my weird realities is that in certain positions, my hearing aids weigh heavily on me. In point of fact, my ears can get rather sore. Thus, Sue has provided me with little pads that she uses to apply makeup. They soften the impact. 

Usually, one ear bothers me more than the other, but yesterday, I couldn’t determine which ear was worse. I kept switching the one pad back and forth but then realized that I could do both ears at once.

Sue said I looked like an elf. Then, she dug out a Christmas elf hat to complete the look. What do you think?

That evening, we attended a little camera club meetup. After showing my elfin selfies to Bob, he thought he could present me better. He snuck a shot and did this with AI.

I think I look better as a Viking than I do as an elf, but I think elfin me is more amusing. Whatcha think?

November Remnants

As you know, we walk almost daily, snapping photos willy nilly — not really, but we do snap a lot. Some pictures don't make it into my almost daily posts, so here are a few of those November photos that were overlooked at the time.

On the very first of November, we were in the Blue Spoon Atelier when I became absorbed by the man who, in turn, was totally absorbed in his phone, presumably in a video, probably a movie. On first glance, it seemed as though he might be deep in meditation, but of course, there are ear buds.

A few days later, while walking in the park and photographing tamarack trees, we spied this single mallard and his reflection, with his reflection also being in the golden glow of reflected tamaracks. I tend to feel sorry for animals on their own. I guess there are loners in every species. While I am a bit of a loner, I have almost always had a friend or three, including family, of course.

Going in sequential order, next comes a sunset view from the bedroom, followed by a similar view from another time that is a little out of sequence. Thank goodness for the wire removal feature in Photoshop.

After a light snow, I captured fallen leaves in a property just a few doors up on another of our trudges. I think I moved the leaf to the bench in the first photo, but they were as they fell on the driveway in the second photo. Oops, the photos got reversed.

Another fallen leaf on another day: just a maple leaf on snow — very Canadian, eh?

The next photo was very cool to me. Snow remains almost only in the shadow of the bridge railing. I am sure that this effect is abetted by people tending to walk along the edges, just as we see the couple doing in the photo. 

Finally, there are the Christmas lights. Our neighbour has his tiny front yard so full that it is difficult to get a good picture, but I tried to isolate a little patch of the display in this photo — a small train in front with other things behind.

What will we see in December?