Cycle Sunday

It had been a week since our last cycle, and the boys were asking, so we planned to go out on Sunday morning. Alas! due to fluctuating circumstances, they couldn't make it. This allowed Sue and me to range a little farther than we had, but not really too far, and I think we could take the boys there. In fact, I think they would like that ride.

We cycled south to the other pond. Although a little farther and past a busier street, it is a larger pond that doesn't seem to get scummy. We were able to ride the trail that encircles the pond.

As you can glimpse, above, there was an good sky, so once we had completed the circuit, I went back to the beginning to try to get a photo. I found out that the sky was tough to photograph, but, quite delightfully, I encountered another photographer. He had his long lens and was trying to capture butterflies and birds. Indeed, he spotted a monarch butterfly and then an egret while we chatted briefly. I didn't see either, but I took a photo of him with pond and sky in the background.

Then, I decided that a different crop with some of the background being replaced might make a good photo. I will let you judge.

On a quiet nearby street, we cycled past a big truck parked on the side of the road. I haven't taken a truck photo for a certain Flickr meme for some time, so I clicked.

I almost forgot to mention the two plants that I stopped to look at along the pond trail. The iPhone was unable to help me identify this whiteish plant . . .  or maybe it did when it said thistle because there are some dried thistle heads within. Yeah, that must be it. I almost didn't notice the globes because I was focussed on the white foliage.

This one is, apparently, a woodland sunflower.

Along with the ride and pond themselves, the photographer, plants and truck also made it a good morning cycle.

That ↑ was to be it, but then I decided to find my pond photos from 2022 when I visited on a few mornings to capture the early light.

One morning, I swung the camera to the right of the pond and captured the lights and sunrise over the highway. Yes, this is a smallish pond with much around it on three sides. It is also nice that the moon showed up.

I don't get photos like that now because I don't make it a point to get out in good light with my little iPhone.

Our Saturday Shoot

Our Saturday shoot involved an umbrella. We went to the park and came away with two photos.

Actually, we came away with many photos of many poses after many clicks, but these are the two that I like best.

When we were finally done, Sue asked if I would like to walk in the park. I replied that I would but that I needed coffee after all of that setting up and shooting. We drove to Tims and back with the coffee, and then we walked our little walk. Afterward, we sat on a bench, and I gathered a few candids of passersby.

The boy in the first photo is carrying a fishing rod, and so is the lady in the second photo. They were on their way to the dock or near to it which was not very far off to the right of the photos. I think the framing, composition and posture is best in the middle photo.

 As usual, I enjoyed taking the candid photos after the fiddling and fiddling over trying to compose photos and worrying about minutia such as which way to tip the umbrella.

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
Blogger is preventing me from commenting
on your posts.

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.