Saturday Trip

On Saturday, Shauna and I drove 2.5 hours to visit my ex-brother-in-law, Brian, at his very rural abode. I hadn’t seen him for 8 years, mostly because of the ex designation and all of the concomitant complications therewith. As is evident by all of the green on the map, there are a lot of trees to pass by on the route from us in Carleton Place (right part of map) to Brian's (orange marker in Kawartha Lakes). Shauna took the somewhat quicker dark blue route, but Sue and I would often drive one of the two light blue routes when we had oodles of time at our disposal  

It was good to meet with Brian after so long and also good to see the property once again, for we have spent many happy recreational weeks there in the past. Of course, I had to take pictures. It was a terrible day or time of day for photos, but after 8 years it was a necessity.

First: people and dogs. There have always been dogs, but these two were new to me, and we got along well. Griz, the one on the left, both top and bottom, expected me to go on a woodsy walk with him (bottom left), but that was not to be. Leesi (bottom right) was the more touch-friendly one of the two.

In two of the above photos, we were standing in a lavender patch. Brian has created a lavender garden, actually two, over the past three years. It's a pretty impressive feat in the geographic conditions (soil and climate) that he has to deal with.  He has taken some marvellous photos in sunrise light, and maybe I will find and post one at the bottom,  but I did what I could on that day. The photo at the bottom left of the collage is of the secondary lavender bed.

Another thing that Brian has just begun is the raising of honey bees, The two 'hives' are in the left in the next composite. In the centre, I managed to snap a not-too-terrible pic of one of the flitting bees in the lavender. The photo on the right has nothing to do with lavender or bees but is the part of the river where we used to swim. We'd do down the bank on the bottom left of the image. The slope has become steeper over the years because it is the nip slope of the meander, so the river will cut in that direction (toward the camera). As always, this and all photos are embiggable with a click.

Photography is all about the light, and Brian certainly caught the light in the next photos, the first on one of the smokey days. The sun could not rise in a more opportune location.

Oops, I forgot to post this, Over the years, I enjoyed taking many photos of this old barn, and now I have been able to add one more to the collection.

The Big Squeeze

I have previously mentioned this oddity in passing, but this time I decided to take a picture\ of the drops that I use for my dry eyes (blepharitis),

NOT MY EYE but my drops 🥸😁😉

Blepharitis is a common, chronic inflammation of the eyelids, typically caused by clogged
oil glands at the base of the eyelashes or an overgrowth of harmless bacteria.

Symptoms include red, itchy, swollen eyelids, flaky skin, crusted lashes,

and a gritty burning sensation.

The two bottles contain the same volume — 10ml for an exorbitant price  — but they are manufactured differently, which I find extremely odd.

The right  model requires a squeeze worthy of Charles Atlas to extricate a drop. On the other hand the one on the left pours copious gushers with the lightest of touches.

When I spend a month squeezing hard on the right bottle and then switch to the free-flowing model, conditioned reflex tends to take over, and I swear that I squeeze half the bottle out on my first few applications before I adjust.

I cannot fathom why they manufacture two different bottles, but I think I would prefer the easy-flow version as long as they would stick to it and not continually switching it up. It is very easy to confuse me, and people need to take my muddled brain into account.

Wildflower Time

On a recent trail walk when we were near the bridge, I looked down to spy quite a field of Queen Anne's Lace somewhat in the middle distance near where we sometimes park our car, but didn’t on that day.

That led me to look around, and when I saw more flowers near WalMart in a field by the ditch, I decided to stop. It was windy, so I decided to go with the flow (haha, literally) and shoot in Live mode and later convert to gifs.

More Queen Anne's Lace (aka Wild Carrot)

Even more of The Queen mixed with golden rod (solidago)

The invasive Purple Loosestrife

The Queen was dominant, however

I did take a still photo of a plant that was new to me. It looked a lot like Bee Balm. Sure enough, when I got home I did identify it, or Apple did, as Wild Bergamot or Wild Bee Balm. I hadn't noticed this plant before, and I think there was only only one clump, but there should me more because it is quite pretty. I think it would even look good in a rough, not too pristine, garden. I have planted Bee Balm in the distant past. 

That evening, I found two varieties of thistles in the park.

Perennial Sow Thistle

Spear Thistle

Candidly at Coffee

Keeping it short today. Had coffee with the boys yesterday. Nick had things to say.

The guy on the next table was all-in with technology: ear buds, phone, tablet, and a nifty stand for the tablet. He kept himself occupied for a long time.

Somebody might think that I like taking candid people photos.

From a Different Point of View

I purchased this light, tiny phone holder for Sue for Mother's Day.

It is self-described as a Geometrical Pocket Tripod PROv2 - Card-Size Stand, for iPhone. We hadn't used it as of yesterday, but as we exited the car for a walk in the park. I decided to take it with us to try to capture a different look — for selfies, if nothing else. It's a marvellously engineered little device that can fit in a wallet as seen below and open as a phone holder as seen above.

But is is tiny and light and it was windy out, so it wasn't easy, but here we are on the park path. I think I look ginormously tall.

We tried sitting on a bench, and we got this ↓ because it focused on the grass instead of us.

One more try after me trying to set the focus by bending my ancient body as near to ground level as I could to poke my finger in the preferred focal point, which happened to be Beloved's face. BTW, both bench pics had to be straightened and cropped.

We have another holding device or two that may be easier to use than this one, so we'll likely try again at some point,

Totally off topic, here is Sue's latest jigsaw.

Soccer Surprise

We don't subscribe to a sports package. During winter I surreptitiously find a stream for my hockey games, but I don't watch other sports except tennis in summer when I follow three events: Wimbledon in June, Canadian Open (properly called the National Bank Open) in August, and the US Open in September.

The bonus this year, was that the sports channel that I subscribed to for Wimbledon was also the one carrying FIFA. After I watched a game or two, especially involving Canada, I told Sue that she might like watching soccer. While we do watch tennis together, she wants nothing to do with hockey on tv although she did enjoy watching Jonathan's games live when he was playing.  

It eventuated that she did like watching FIFA and was frequently much more vocal than I with many an imploring, "Shoot, shoot, shoot!" 

Because of my ancestry I had to cheer for England once Canada was eliminated, and they did win the bronze, which was good enough. Then, I had to cheer for Spain in the final because they don't like Trump and also because Argentina's star player does. Spain finally scored a goal and won, and the pathetic, childlike president tried to get into the celebratory team photos. He did manage to insert himself into a few, but for their part, the Spaniards photoshopped him out.

It was a great event. I wonder if I might be able to view any European soccer while I have the subscription.

Orphan Photos 5: Old Men

These photos are not quite true orphans because I haven't forgotten them at all. I have been just posting other things. I like these candid photos of old fellas, particularly the third one.

One day, I spotted this old gent sitting outside a cafe. He was across the street, but I zoomed as best I could and even then, cropped somewhat afterward. What is he musing over? Is it a past loss, or is it perhaps that he's just waiting for someone to fetch his coffee?

Eventually, I saw another way to edit the photo. I can't make up my mind.

On a walk in the neighbourhood park, I couldn't resist shooting this old guy with the grand beard mowing his back lawn. While I like the previous two photos, I like this one even more.

In the coffee shop, I spotted two old goats having a stare-down.