Bleak November

When the trees are bare and the weather is cold and dull, November is the bleakest of months. Sometimes, it snows by month's end, and can be a very welcome bright lift. Mind you, we will then moan and groan about snow for months on end.

However, as I write this on the 18th, it hasn't been like that often this year and certainly not yesterday, the 19th. Mind you we do appreciate this nicer-than-usual November, but it was messing with my desired bleakness theme. However, when Monday was more overcast than it has been, I decided to make some photos that would explore the bleak motif. Even though the temperature was still rather pleasant, at least it wasn't very sunny, so I gave it a try. 

Off to the trail went we, and here are my shots, converted to mono in order to eliminate any remaining colour. 

Beyond the bend in those ↑ photos I waded off the trail onto a little path beyond the bramble. My outfit really stands out, but I am trusting that the overall bleakness is evident.

photo by Sue, editing by AC

I did some more editing, taking the first photo up there at the top, cropping it a bit, and making it rain.

I think November looks plenty bleak now.

Where's the Bacon

After our search for a place to for coffee and food ended at the third restaurant yesterday, we talked and gabbed for awhile. Then, we settled into perusing our menus.

When it was Sue's turn to order, she chose bacon and eggs. After specifying her preferred toast option and  how she wanted her eggs – poached hard – she then said, "No meat."

The server regarded her in puzzlement. I regarded her in puzzlement. The fly on the window regarded her in puzzlement. A pigeon came and sat by the window with a look of puzzlement. The cook came out of the kitchen frowning with puzzlement. Drivers on the highway narrowly averted accidents as they looked toward the restaurant in puzzlement  

Sue was wondering why all the puzzled expressions  

Finally, the light dawned.

She had ordered bacon and eggs with no bacon.

And that is what she got a few minutes later  

And she also got laughed at – just a little.

Town Realities

We set a coffee date with Bob and Bard this Monday morning but small town realities struck us unexpectedly.

It shouldn't have been unexpected, but then this is no longer a small town, so it kind of was.

So, what happened, Mr Anvilcloud?

Well, we got to the coffee shop near us, but it was closed – because it is Monday, doncha see. We are familiar with most stores on Main being closed on Mondays, but this was a cafe and not on Main. And as I have already mentioned, we are no longer a small town – a town yes, but small no.

Without thinking we headed to Freska where we usually meet for breakfast. Yes, Bob was keen on more than just coffee, so I agreed.

Guess what: Closed.

Being somewhat determined, we next chose The Gourmet on the highway through town, and, as the saying goes, the third time did turn out to be a charm. I think they stay open to try to capture passing traffic and also to pick up folk such as us desperate townies. This was not a franchise place, but many new stores and eateries that are springing up along or near the highway are franchises, and of course they open, even on Mondays.

It remains to be seen whether the locally operated, in-town businesses will adapt or whether the old, town ways will prevail and then we shall see if those places willsurvive.

From One Parking Lot to Another

After having coffee with the photo boys at Tim Horton's on Thursday, there was a big Tim's truck in the parking lot. Nick told me to take a photo. Being an obedient and easily led sort of bloke, I did.

Pretty awful eh?

Can one make a silk purse out of a sow's ear? Well I tried, and with a combination of my own manual work in Photoshop and the program's ability to generate a vacant parking lot, this is the result. My usual warning applies, however. Do not look at the details closely, for I am not a details sorta guy. 

As long as I don't get too picky about the little things, I kinda like it. 

 

On the Diagonal

Sue's prompt was Diagonal, and I thought of the boom (that's what I am calling it) in the river near town hall. So, down we went. She took her picture and I took mine. Mine was insipid, so I converted it to b&w in post but let the boom keep its yellow colour. This is called selective colour. It is frowned up by elite photographers, but I am not elite, and I don't care.

We went over to the other side to photograph the boom looking back toward town hall. I didn't like the light and didn't even click. But if you see the steeple on the right up there ↑, I figured that has diagonals, so I clicked. In the end I also used selective colour.

Then we went on a little walk by the back b ridges. When I got out of the car, I liked the backlight on the thistlely thingies (by all means comment with a proper name). Converting to mono also seemed to be just the ticket.

Around the bend I spotted a tree with some leaves and a carpet below. One doesn't not convert such a scene to b&w.

So, my camera is pretty well on the shelf (ie kitchen table) these days, so I am taking phone photos when the spirit moves me. Then, I play a bit in post to try to make something out of them although the last photo did not require much play. This is far from best photographic practice, but it is what it is.

Upwardly and Crookedly

On a windy and chilly day, we opted to return to the somewhat sheltered trail near the arena. While a few trees had kept a few leaves, I was more attracted to this uphill view with the blue sky beyond and leaves on the ground, so I pulled out my phone.

After taking that shot, I thought I needed more sky since I was pointing upslope.

I think the second version works better as it also catches more verticality of the trees.

When I stoop down to get close to the ground, I invariably take a crooked image that I then must straighten in post. It was true for both photos but particularly the second where I got down a little lower than in the first photo. It is not an easy position for an old fella, and the result tends to be a little wonky. While I was able to straighten the picture in post, I also lost the tops of the trees.

About Your Comments

First to all of you picky prom-dress pedants, red was close enough for me, but yeah you're right, fuchsia was correct, or the "tertiary red purple" sector on the colour wheel to be ... ahem ... precise. 🥸😎😊

I am but a lowly, male person after all, so please forgive me my colour theory trespasses. 😉

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I also thought I would post to all in response to a comment by Prof Pipe Tobacco because it does require a little bit of explication.

He wondered if the prom was for grade 13 grads or for anyone. It is for grads, but read on.

We used to have a grade 13 in Ontario but in no other province. In theory, grade 13 was considered to be roughly equivalent to first year university.

It was most certainly a tough year when I graduated in 1966 for every grade 13 subject required an exam set by the department of education in Toronto — one exam for all students across the province, no matter your teacher or location. This single, end-of-year exam was worth 66% of our final grade if I recall correctly. A year or two previously, the exam had been all of the final grade — 100% of it. Yikes! By the way: not only would your teacher not set the exam, but the person who graded it would be someone doing a 9 to 5, summer job, sitting at a desk in Toronto: presumably a teacher, but not your teacher.

By the time that Shauna was in grade 13, the departmental exams were kaput, and each teacher set their own. I think that was 1991 for her but had already been the case for many years. Our younger daughter, Allyson, six years later, did not officially go through grade 13, but in a sense she really did. They just called those same courses OAC credits: Ontario Academic Credits.

I taught a World Issues course in geography in about my final 10 years of teaching until I retired in 2001. However, by the time I retired, OAC/grade 13 was being phased out. If I had taught for a few more years, the World Issues course would have then been taught in grade 12 or, perhaps, not at all. I will have to ask the kids if it still exists, but I somehow doubt it.

It is worth noting that after this extra year was eliminated in Ontario high schools, Ontario universities also added an extra year to get a general Bachelors degree. Since then it required four years as opposed to three to qualify for a BA or BSc. Up until then, grade 13 had been considered to be the equivalent of a university year.

I took an honours BA, and that had always been a four year degree path, or at least the equivalent 40 credits. I actually completed my course credits in three years: not because I was clever but because my university followed a trimester system back then. I kept going through the summers and finished my BA requirements in three years concluding in 1969. I then took an extra year in a College of Education attached to a different university. I think education streams are now done concurrently with other course work and not as an additional year.

That's another thing to ask Danica after asking about World Issues. Oh, and I do want to know if any Ontario universities use the trimester system? I am not talking about taking summer credits but doing an official third and full-fledged semester in summer.