I Lied: Tamaracks, Fog and Frost

I was quietly and innocently working on my morning sudoku when Sue burst into my room without a by-your-leave and proceeded to turn out the light and open the blinds.

As soon as I saw outside, I remembered that I had seen fog on the prior evening and had made a determination to get out there and take some photos because the softening effect of fog is greatly desired by photographers. Specifically, I had thought of the birches across the river at Riverside Park and how they might look in the soft fog. But first we drove to the neighbourhood park where lay the tamaracks that I said that I was done with for the year in yesterday's post. I lied but not intentionally.

Who knew that there would be both fog and hoar frost?  Not me: so, it was necessary to take one more peek at the near tamarack trees before heading off to the farther Riverside Park.

Hoar frost is a deposit of ice crystals that forms on objects exposed to the air, such as grass blades and tree branches. It occurs when water vapor condenses directly into ice at temperatures below freezing, typically under clear and cold conditions. The term "hoar" comes from old English, referring to the frost's appearance, which resembles white hair or a beard. Hoar frost is often more photogenic and rare compared to regular frost, making it a beautiful natural phenomenon. 

The fog is more noticeable than the frost in these photos because the frost just looks like snow in the distance. It's still pretty though, especially in the fog.

Wider views of the pond and park.

It turns out that we have to be close to truly appreciate the frost as we see in this photo of a berry tree.

And then we were off to Riverside Park, and when we get there tomorrow, I'll talk about why these conditions were not actually all that good for photography.

The Tamaracks Make Their Final Appearance of 2025

When I was displaying the tamarack trees in their glorious autumn colour not so long ago, someone asked when the leaves would turn green again. Of course, they won't. Although they are coniferous trees, they also behave like deciduous ones, dropping their leaves in autumn and growing new ones when spring rolls around. I thought I should show this by returning to the park where I hoping to see the trees with reduced foliage and the nearby ground around littered with fallen needles.

The tamarack trees in another spot — on the left of the path — were totally denuded with their needle leaves almost carpeting the path. 

Since we are here, back with the tamaracks, I will use this as an opportunity to show one more photo that I missed posting previously. It was the day after the big snowfall, just 10 days ago. 

Bonus: you haven't seen one of these most glorious selfies for awhile, and I know you miss us terribly. lol

A Photo Process

As you know, Sue follows a photo prompt daily. I do not. I am not clever enough to come up with ideas, so I just follow my own photography nose and click if something catches my interest.

But our local FB group does put out challenges, and I, occasionally, very occasionally, feel a pricking, not in my thumbs but in my conscience, so I partake in some small way.

The current challenge: red and round.

When we passed a store window with red Christmas balls, it was too easy to pass up. I knew that it wouldn't be a commendable photo by any means, but it should show my cooperative spirit. I also wondered what I could do in post.

Here's the original: cropped and straightened a bit because I can't take a level photo to save my life, but that is all. It is banal, as I knew that it would be. Of course, there would be reflections —the passing car and building from across the street, but that is partly why I wanted to take the photo.

I wanted to see how well Lightroom's new reflection removal algorithm would work. The next photo shows the reflections all gone. All you can see, beyond the window display, is the interior. I simply clicked Remove Reflections, and it did just that.

Of course, I didn't want to see the interior either, so I then sent the photo from Lightroom to Photoshop, and I asked Photoshop to remove the background. I thought it would just erase the interior background and that I would need to replace it with something Christmassy, in a subsequent step. Surprisingly, however, the program did that on its own, somehow knowing that a woodsy winter scene would be just dandy. I suppose that I could have asked for a different background, this this one was good enough.

I thought that I was done and so I posted all three ↑ photos, to the group. Later, however, I decided to play a bit more, so I sent the photo along to ON1 Effects where I applied some filters and added a border.

I am not fooled. I didn't start with a great photo, and it is far from great at the end of my process, but it kept me busy for a while, and it's not absolutely terrible.

A Big Bang

A enormous bang sounded somewhere to my left. I wondered if Sue had fallen down or dropped something very heavy. 

When I looked in that direction, I saw that the door of my adjacent pop fridge was ajar.

I soon discovered that the pop can in the freezer had exploded. Indeed, it was ripped asunder with its frozen contents plastered around the interior of the fridge  

That's the sort of thing that can happen when you leave pop in the freezer for 10 hours.

I am sure that inquiring minds would like to know why I had pop in the freezer.

Well, I am going to tell you, even if your mind isn't of an inquiring bent.

Late morning, I saw that I had no pop in the fridge. I put cans on the shelf as one does but also decided that I should cool off a few cans faster in the freezer because I greatly prefer my Diet Coke very cold. In point of fact, if it were to have little ice crystals, that would be hunky dory.

Knowing that I have a mind like a sieve, I asked Alexa to remind me to remove the cans in 90 minutes. I subsequently impressed myself greatly when I remembered to take the pop out about 30 seconds before Alexa's reminder. I thought, what a clever boy am I.

I drank and enjoyed my nice, cold Diet Coke.

Unfortunately, I totally forgot that I had actually placed 2 cans in yon freezer and only taken 1 out.

I am not so clever after all.

Two Lights and Two Pots

Let us begin with a picture of these planters by the garage and from there work backward and then forward again.

First, you must picture the planters a day earlier: bare and frozen. Sue habitually adorns these baskets for the Christmas season as you see in the photo, but you just can't stick things in frozen soil, or at least not soft things.

To thaw them out on the previous day, I had lifted the planters onto a makeshift table, inserted them into plastic garbage bags, and carried them into the warm house. 

It wasn't a hard thing to do, but my back being what it is started to stiffen and spasm by that evening. Of course it did.

That night was also the night of my great fall, as described in yesterday’s post, when I landed rather heavily and bruised my unfortunate rump. 

With me being effectively out of commission the next day, Sue, herself, moved the thawed pots back outside and decorated them as you saw in the photo with nary a concomitant ache. She did this while manly me was nursing my hurts in my easy chair upstairs. It's doesn't actually feed my male ego, I tell ya.

We don't decorate for Christas much outside by stringing lights or erecting ornaments, but addition to the pots, we do insert a light over the garage that makes a rather nice night display.

We have a similar light inside the porch, so the place looks pretty festive without a whole lot of effort — just two lightbulbs and two flowerpots.

Another Nighttime Tumble

Sue heard a crash at 3AM and hurried to the bathroom to find AC lying on the floor with his head on the heater that he had knocked over. 

It was pretty well a repeat of what happened just a few months ago. I had been feeling very unsteady and reached to stabilize myself on the counter, but I toppled over instead.

Like the last time, I was pretty helpless. Sue instructed me to just lie there while she got a pillow, but I wasn't computing very well and, somehow, managed to pull myself up against the counter. But then I was stuck and could barely even lift my head for quite some time. Well, it seemed like a long time, but it probably was no more than 10 or 15 minutes.

We have a walker in the basement for an expected surgery that never eventuated. Sue brought it upstairs, and with supreme care and effort, I made it to the bed. 

I think that this fall occurred because back pain drugs were affecting me. If I had been more coherent in the middle of the night, I would have recognized that as soon as I got up. All I had to do was lie back down and let the dizziness pass.

Instead of using what little brain that the divine has granted me, I proceeded to the bathroom and ended up landing very hard on the left side of my rump. I can tell you that I am pretty sore there in the aftermath in addition to dealing with my already aching back  

Back in bed, I pretty well fell right back to sleep, but poor Sue had quite a time settling down after being well-shaken from her deep slumber  

No, I didn't go to the doctor. I did that last time in August. They checked me out thoroughly and found no cause for alarm. While this sort of thing isn't exactly common, it is not all that unusual either.

I shall have to be more aware and vigilant in my nocturnal ambulating. When I fell, I seemed to come alarmingly close to hitting my head on the corner of a little cabinet. Indeed, my fall actually jarred the cabinet a little, but I managed to avoid severe damage. If I am not more careful, I might not be so lucky next time.

Caturday 85: A Poinsettia for Lacey's Podium

Sue and I are pretty much joined at the hip, but she did run a few errands on her own yesterday whilst I rested my wonky back at home. Among a few other things, including coffee, she returned with a poinsettia for Lacey’s podium.

That one ⬆️ was taken in my iPhone's macro mode. For this one ⬇️ I used one of the special portrait modes. 

The Calandiva plant was still holding up well enough, but the plan has been to place a poinsettia plant there for Christmas. I know that it is early, but the plant was inexpensive, and poinsettias do tend to last for a long time, so there we are.