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.

Four Yards from Our Back Window on a Rainy Saturday Morning

I was wandering about the house on a rainy Saturday morning. When I looked out the back window, I thought, "Why not?" 

Consequently I photographed four yards although the first is a soccer field, or I guess football pitch would be more proper. Kids play soccer over there four nights a week in summer in any and every kind of weather. The neighbouring school kids also make some use of it during recess.

Every now and then , however, and only they can explain why but won't, the seagulls gather for a morning breakfast. I removed the screening (it is easy to do) and grabbed the photo.

That is a fun sight, but the neighbour's yard to the north is quite another sight to behold. We had high hopes for a for a more kempt view this summer when she trimmed and mowed in May, but now the yard is reverting to nature. This contravenes town bylaws, and we could report her, but we won't. It is fenced off, and we can only see it from that one window.

The other adjacent neighbour — to the south — has her own issues.  She diligently weeded her little flower garden but didn't plant flowers, and then she left the pail of weeds as an accent point. Maybe it is meant to be an art installation? At least the grass is mowed. Her front yard is mowed too, but it is because her good neighbour takes care of that — the old fella next door, whom you all know and love.

Our backyard is a little better. We and JJ replenished the mulch this year. Sue keeps it pretty well weeded, and she tops up the birdbath regularly. Meanwhile, the treebush on the left and the lilac bush in the centre are nice enough to look at. Every year, the Joe Pye plant, on the right between the yellow and blue lawn chairs, grows from nothing to almost fence height. It will bloom soon enough, and eventually, the bees will descend in droves to feast on its sweet nectar. 

The visible flower pots are all fake flowers because the backyard gets the hot sun for much i the day, and it isn't fun to spend much time labouring out there. It looks nice enough, and the real flowers are out front for the world to gaze upon. Meanwhile, we can just manage see common orange daylilies in the background by the fence and mostly hidden by the bushes. Blondi from Saskatchewan, if you're reading, that is one spot of three spots where I planted your cosmos seeds. Sadly, nothing has come up in any spot.

==========================

UPDATE

Amazingly, north neighbour had a man over to tend to the back weeds, just yesterday. This is a good thing, but look.

In their great wisdom, they left patches of growth in the back corners. But what ar those patches? They are . . . 

WEEDS

JUST WEEDS

They chose to leave patches of weeds as a landscaping choice. It beggars the imagination, I tells ya. Just . . . 

!!WEEDS!!

🫨😬🙀🫪

Fish and Milkweed

I know that Sue and I seem to indulge in many outings and treats, but they are mostly just coffee. Only on occasion does the treat involve a scone or perhaps a turkey-bacon-club sandwich in the car in winter. I had a hankering for a bit more than that, so we took a little drive to Generations on the Lake in Lake Park for their Friday, fish n chip special.

For some reason neither of us got a picture of the meal, but I did take my necessary photo of Sue at the table.

She thought we should take a selfie with at least some of the outdoor background. You know that I hate taking selfies, but I screwed my courage to the sticking point and fired anyway, hero that I am.

After lunch we waddled down to the lake, but there is not much of a gap through the trees and bushes by the water, so I took a photo looking back at the inn instead. The dining room is the low part of the structure at the front, which of course is really the back of the house. 

The meal necessitated a walk, but that came later after we hade been home for awhile to let the meal settle. By the pond, the milkweed was opening.

The next milkweed plant was still just in bud. I got really close for this macro. 

I noticed a few bullrushes for the first time this summer, but I think you may call them cattails.

It was one of those halcyon summer days with close to perfect weather.