Wall-Eyed

Sue's photo prompt for yesterday involved walls, so we went downtown where there is known to be a wall or two. I thought that I would do something similar to Sue and look for walls with doorways or windows that might emphasize simple shapes and textures. I envisaged converting them to contrasty b&w and really enhancing the gritty texture of walls in edit. I thought that I would render all of the photos in similar fashion. However, when it came down to it, I didn't do anything like that once I had the photos in front of me on the computer  

This wall is a soft, muted green. I made the wall longer that it really was on the right to place the door off-centre in a pano-style photo. I rather like the simplicity, but I do realize that many viewers would see nothing in this or the other photos.

I photographed the door in the wall of a craft brewery in town, keeping it soft and actually de-emphasizing texture, and I deliberately employed some extra warping in post enhancing the fact that it was somewhat warped already, or it looked a bit that way in the original photo.

This is an almost unused door in townhall. This photo is, in fact, b&w but with some tonality as well.

An old wall with windows that I processed with a very soft look despite it being b&w, which I originally intended to make gritty. It looks a bit like a drawing. I liked that at first but not so much now although it looks still looks pretty good when it fills my big computer screen.

I might as well add a few others from the day. They are a little different than the ones above. The first has wide-angle distortion, which I don't mind every now and then.

Lots of everything in this next shot. Something about it appeals to me. Once again, it is not for everyone.

Fresh paint needed on this add-on behind a house.

My Silly Little Life

Just now, in the early morning, I asked Sue if she were cooking something, knowing that, of course, she were not. It was my way of telling her that I was experiencing an episode of phantosmia.

For those who don’t know: “Phantosmia is an olfactory hallucination—the perception of a smell that is not present, often described as foul, burned, or chemical. It is often temporary, lasting a few weeks or months…”

That’s what Google AI says, but I can report that I was hallucinating a pleasant odour in this case: like something pleasant cooking on the stove although I cannot say what. Sue asked if it were like bread baking, but it wasn’t quite that.

My first experience with phnatosmia that I can recall was of gasoline due to the medication that I was taking: medication that I stopped taking promptly, I hasten to add. But occasionally, I sometimes seem to smell other odours. They are not always necessarily pleasant, but it is nice when they are.

These episodes of phantosmia are not frequent, and I do not know what causes them. It’s odd that I would experience something in the early morning, which, of course, has dissipated in the time that is has taken me to type this silly report of something that occurs in my silly little life. 

Saturday Photos on Sunday

Quite unexpectedly, Saturday turned out to be a successful day for photography although it took quite a bit of editing to obtain results that I liked.

I recently posted a quick pic of geese in the field beyond. On Saturday morning, the poor things were back. I put a little more effort into editing this one. For one thing, it was a big crop even after shooting at full telephoto. Then, I used an upscale algorithm in photoshop to make it bigger again.

Later, while walking downtown, we checked out the site where we might find snowdrops in a sheltered spot with a warm south-facing wall behind. Due to their spot, they can bloom pretty early, and we were happy to see that they were out. In the past, I have brought my macro lens, a tripod, and even a stool to sit on to try to get down to their level. This is a mere phone photo with lots of editing to try to minimize the rough and distracting background. It's tough photography, but it has become a rite of spring in the past few years.

Leaving the tiny patch of snowdrops, I took a picture of reflections in the river as we walked past. It's quite abstract.

We walked on to the Blue Spoon Atelier where we purchase the blueberry scones that I go on about. Alas, other people have also discovered them, and they were all gone. Not to be defeated, we bought cheddar cheese with caramelized onion scones, two delicious chocolate chip cookies, and one sourdough loaf. No, those scones were not as good as the blueberry ones, but we didn't suffer too much.

As a lagniappe, I present the fun Canadian Resistance Army - Not Your 51st State. Enjoy.

New and Old Photos

Red asked if this picture of JJ and me were backward. The answer is yes. It happens sometimes on certain selfies. I did notice but not before I posted. I think I may have fixed that from happening again, but we shall see.

But now that it has been mentioned . . .  Ta Da.

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Milady and I trend rather heavily toward the British tv that we find on Britbox and Acorn, more Britbox than Acorn. However, we are currently quite into The Pitt. We consumed the first season relatively quickly and are presently galloping our way through the second season. We both approve with definite thumbs up. 

Update: Apparently, we are now caught up with the series and must wait for one drop per week. This is very disappointing. 

By the same token we have lukewarm feelings about Scarpetta. Given the source novels and the star power actors, we were rather disappointed. The show was over-written and over-acted, which made it quite uncomfortable at times. I think that The Brits have perfected the mystery genre. They get on with telling the story, which is interesting enough on its own merit without reverting to hyperbolic acting. It's not that I wouldn't watch a second season of Scarpetta if it were offered, but it wouldn't be at the top of my list.

I recently uncovered in my files a newspaper page that I scanned quite some time ago when it was already yellowed with age, so I removed some of the yellow. Here's how my grad photo appeared in the local newspaper. 

Fourth in second row in case there is any doubt.

You see that were living in Guelph at the time, so I was included in the newspaper, but we only lived there together for s year while I was attending university. From Guelph, we moved to London where I spent a year at Althouse College of Education, University of Western Ontario. Then, we moved to Sarnia where I taught for thirty years and lived for 34 years.

Speaking of Guelph, Sue brought home this photo of Sue from her visit with Heather. We were entering the house where we had a basement apartment. It was the day of our wedding, which took place at 11am. After the ceremony, we had a luncheon reception at the church in Toronto before driving the hour to Guelph. We didn’t take too long to get organized before travelling on to Stratford where we spent our first night. I don't know why we don't seem to have this photo in our own collection, or we haven't until now.

Spring hath not Sprung

It's especially true in this vernal equinox morning.

I had been yearning for blueberry scones at the Blue Spoon Atelier downtown, but we will likely stay home where Sue is attending to her knitting. 

She was counting the stitches. She missed one of 97 in that row.

Meanwhile, the geese hunker down in the field opposite as if quietly resigned their fate.

And I also reluctantly accept my scone-less fate. Dangitall.

Licensed

Before we even left the house, we learned that Jonathan had passed his driver's test. We do have a graduated license plan here, so I don't have his road permissions all straight in my head, but I think he's able to drive around town on his own and on secondary highways as long as he has a fully licensed driver riding shotgun. Later in the process, there will be another test to pass.

The drive into Ottawa was interesting. The highway was clear on a sunny day, but once we hit the city, we had to approach intersections with caution because we could hardly see the snow-blasted traffic lights from Tuesday's big blow. Here's one picture but some lights were even more snowed than this one. 

Once we arrived, the food was good, and my almost-79-year-old wife was looking pretty good too.

The Snow and the Driving Lesson

We had plans to head into Ottawa yesterday, but the likelihood of a fierce wind blowing newly fallen snow onto a rural highway dissuaded us. So, the trip and lunch are on the agenda today. But I must say that it looked pretty yesterday morning when I first looked out.

The bright snow at the bottom was on the window ledge.
I included it deliberately.

But it was not fun to be out there, and we weren’t about to go for walk in the frigid gale.

I keep wondering when the final shovelling session
will occur, but it probably won't be for awhile yet.

The day before, Jonathan had asked if I were available for a driving lesson. Sue requested that I take some photos of the event, so I sent a few back to her to composite for me. She sent many layouts, but I will limit myself to only including four of them here. Some versions are whimsical. Well, maybe they all are whimsical to some degree. 

When we say "driving lesson" we mean that I will mostly just sit there in silent mode while he wanders about the streets and into parking lots to practise parking.

Before I leave, I present a selfie with the boy.