Foggy Monday

There are other things to post this week, so I sit here on Monday unsure when y'all will see this. But it doesn't really matter because it is not time sensitive, not like birthdays or medical issues.

When I awoke a little after 6 and saw that it was foggy, I eschewed my start-of-the-morning coffee. Instead I dressed, nabbed my heavy hooded sweater on the way because it was a chilly 15C/59F out there, dropped the Montreal Canadiens tea towel in the doorway (to be explicated below) on my den floor, went downstairs, and drove to the neighbourhood park.

Those with an interest in photography will try to explore fog if possible, and I was hoping for something good. While, I did not exactly get anything very good in the dull, low contrast park, I did get some photos that are not normally available. Fog is probably best when the sunlight begins to filter through in the morning, but the clouds blocked the sun on this day.

I am always on the lookout for benches, so my first photo was of the bench by the pond with a tree in the foggy beyond. A guy walked into the photo. While I was a little late to get him in the perfect spot on the other side of the tree, he does add a little point of interest. He was walking briskly in summer attire on a cool morning. Now, it strikes me that it would be a better photo with the foreground bench cropped out, and maybe I will still do that sometime.

I did not really want to photograph a suburban house on the edge of the park, but the scene was framed nicely by the branches and the path formed a leading line, so I clicked.

Next came the little footbridge. I've got some pretty fair photos of the bridge from the other side in winter, and it did give me a focal point on this day.

Against my better judgment, I took a photo of the pond. It is really just a drainage pond without a very good outlet, so it gets quite scummy at times, and I generally try to avoid it when it gets to that state. My iPhone was imploring me to clean the lens, assuming that the lens was dirty because it couldn't focus well in the fog. This was the only time of the morning that it issued the warning.

Now to explain the Tea Towel on the Floor.

I have the Montreal Canadiens tea towel as a team thing; it goes with my Canadiens beer pop fridge and the team blanket. It hangs on the back of the door, so I seldom see it, but I know that it is there and occasionally use it as a notification for Sue by tossing it on the floor of my den right by the door. When she wakes and finds me missing, she might be prone to worry, so this flags her attention, and she knows that I am not really MIA. I used to go out often in the early morning, but that was mostly when we had old phones, if any at all, that could not track each other. These days, I cannot get away with much and have been forced to drop the myriads of ladies that I used to visit. Too bad for me.

Caturday 95: Sabine has been Mono-tized

Visiting the kids' house for some reason or other one day when all the humans were away, I managed a few photos of Sabine. I converted this batch, all from the same position on the arm of the couch, to b&w (ie: mono-tized, please forgive me).

Happy Caturday, even though cats don't often appear to be anything but grumpy. I understand; people often assume the same about me. 😎😇

Last First Day

I am going to add this at the top, just telling you that
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My birthday (there it is again, sorry) coincided with Jonathan's first day back to school This was also his last first day back to school in his life, at least regular school. Who knows what the future holds?

It would have been prudent to get a photo of the boy setting off on his Last First Day, but alas! no one in the family did. His girlfriend's mother did get ↓ this. I have already cropped it and eliminated the digital date display, but what can you do with a blurry photo?

I knew that I could replace the background, and in recognition of a return to school, I would ask AI for shelves loaded with books.

But could AI make JJ less blurry? I know that it is beyond normal photo editing, but I thought that I would try by asking AI to bring the subject into focus (I forget the exact words).

The Result was surprisingly good. While the hair is a little fuller and the eyebrows darker, the face is definitely recognizable as Jonathan.

I also made a mono conversion because I like to do that.

I think that Shauna may compose a new, genuine photo and designate it as first day back, and I'll probably update you if she does. However, this suits me in the meantime. AI did what I don't think any human could do, and it did a pretty good job, really. I don't think his grandchildren will know the difference.

My 79th

I confused some of you yesterday. I knew that I would. I celebrated my 79th birthday, which means that I began my 80th year, but I am not 80 quite yet. Of course, I have the pics to drop, but I shall try to make the dropping minimal by much combining, as in this first diptych. which I will elucidate below..

We had done so much celebrating already that there seemed little else that we could do. But we like our turkey bacon club sandwiches and we like walking at Riverside Park. While sandwiches in the car are more of a cold  weather treat, we were able to mitigate against rain which has fallen most abundantly recently. After the repast, the weather was good enough for a stroll during which Sue took this photo of me taking a photo.

Of course, there was pizza pie and birthday pie (in lieu of cake), and gifts. On the left I hold my apple pie, and on the right I am sitting on my new office chair and holding a bag of spring bulbs that JJ has promised to plant for us this autumn.

Danica dropped by long enough to say hello, and JJ appeared late after his shift at the grocery store. The photo of Jonathan was both over-exposed and blurry, so I am substituting an older photo, but I will get back to him in another post. The snap of Sue was similarly poor, but at least I have her up above from our morning lunch outing.

I had a good visit with Sabine and got a picture with Sha.

They weren't there, but in the morning I did receive a greeting from PJ, our other child who lives in Vancouver. They are presently in Italy with her choir and where they have swum in the Mediterranean Sea. We share the same birthday, 31 years apart.

 

Then and Now

It's finally here. I begin my 80th orbit around the sun today.

I look a bit different than I did about 77 years ago. You've seen this photo before, but it suits me to post it again today. I was cute then.

I think that was from 1963 when I was 16. Not too bad looking even then.

I had the boys take this one yesterday when they treated me to birthday lunch. As you can plainly see, I am no longer cute or good looking, and where the heck did my hair go? Isn't it awful what time does to a boy an old man? I converted it to b&w to go with the previous photos. I will probably keep the colour version on hand to include in some possibly far-off Orphan Photo post 

Tonight we'll head over to Sha's for birthday pizza. As you already know, Danica is unavailable. Jonathan will also be working for most of the evening, but we'll probably see him in passing. We'll do something or other today, even if it is just a coffee in the park.

Plugged

Walking with Sue these days requires an adjustment that may necessitate milady walking on the curbside. On one recent stroll in order to avoid having her walk on the outside, we deliberately chose a counter clockwise route, so that she could speak to my good ear.

If you don't already know that I have quite a hearing loss, I am, hereby, informing you that I am only about 50%. With hearing aids, I get by although discriminating some words can occasionally be problematic. I always choose to turn on the captions when I am watching tv. I started with the British programs and now employ captioning ubiquitously.

Unfortunately, I have run into an additional problem. To wit: my left ear feels plugged, and the volume that I am getting is greatly diminished with or without the hearing aid. I had the hearing aid checked and was told that it is in good working order. Then, I went to the doctor to check for fluid. I had fluid on my right ear earlier this year, and it took me three weeks of treatment for the ear to drain.

But no! they say that it isn't fluid buildup this time around. The doc feels that it has to do with allergies. I am to use a nasal spray daily and take an antihistamine tablet, but that hasn't worked yet. She feels that I may have to continue to follow the protocol until the first frost.

Oh good grief! The first frost is still three weeks off, and that is if the average holds. 

The extra kicker is that is has usually been my left ear that is my better ear, but now I would say that it is working at, perhaps, 25% efficiency or less as I rely on my weaker right ear.

As you might imagine, there has been a lot of repeating of whatever is being said. It is aggravating for all parties but perhaps more so for the speaker. What I discovered a long time ago is that people are used to speaking at a certain level. Even when someone knows that I have a hearing problem, and I have just asked for something to be repeated, their very next communication will frequently revert to their lifelong normal. It's just natural.

I try not to have Sue repeat everything. Sometimes, I make a judgement about whether or not something sounds important for me to hear, and I may choose to just let the sentence slide away into the ether.

As soon as I leave you, I will apply the nasal spray and take my antihistamine and hope, likely against hope. My wish is that I don't have to wait for three weeks or more until the first frost for relief. And what if it that doesn't solve the issue? What then?

Early Birthday Scones with Danica

Danica went back to the city yesterday but not before meeting with us. Since she won't be attending my boisterous and rollicking birthday party, she joined us at Blue Spoon for scones. I think it was very nice of her to think to make special time for her grandfather in her busy life.

Sue took a photo of us. Her half was so cute and mine was so uncute that I cropped it.

This is or will be her gift to me. I had mentioned to Sue that I would like a Carlton U sweat or tee shirt, and she has passed that on. Since Danica will be working in that store, starting today, she can pick out something using her discount.

When I struggled to get the three of us in one selfie while we were sitting around the table, a nice lady offered her services. I had been hoping that would happen.

I really appreciate that Danica made the time for me.