Wednesday Wanderings

An odd thing happened on Wednesday. I went grocery shopping before my weekly physio* because the appointment was later than usual. Because the coin-operated gate-lift at the hospital parking lot sometimes needs about 6 coins to make sure that 3 work, I asked for 10 loonies ($ coins) to be included in my $20 cashback request.

The cashier was forced to call the head cashier to receive approval to do that because it was a special request. Say what?! Anyway, the request was granted, but the parking lot gates were up anyway, so I didn't need the coins. It was either weather-related, or they are getting complaints from people having much trouble getting out of the parking lot. Indeed, on my previous visit, I had been behind a fellow who had to keep searching frantically through this vehicle to find alternative coins. It is a most exasperating thing.

Later in the day, we went for our almost-daily walk. We chose a trail that that we haven’t used for a long time. It trail is also used by snowmobiles, so it was pretty packed down and relatively walkable. Relatively. We don't go far on these walks, maybe the equivalent of a block and back, partly due to bodily conditions and partly due to weather conditions. It was both cold and windy on Wednesday as we are in what is traditionally the coldest part of winter.

This is what it looked like, at least what it looked like converted to mono. Here's the original, followed by two of the same with AI additions. (Oops reverse order the the first being last, but I am not going to fiddle with them.)

It's a deer back there in case you can't tell at this resolution.

Indeed the trail is used by snowmobilers. There just weren't any at that time.

The plain trail without embellishments.

I stopped for this photo of a farm through a gap in the trees. Ideally, the front bushes would be in much better focus, but you shall soon see why they aren't. I do like the composition.

Sue's photo, below, shows where I was situated to take the above photo. There was such a gap from me to the bushes and then from the bushes to the buildings, that the camera was unable to get it all in focus. To overcome that I would have needed to take at least two photos and stack them in Photoshop.  And I also would have also needed to use a tripod. Already porting a big camera and walking-cane on a cold, blustery day, I can tell you that I was not about to try to carry a tripod as well. Anyway, here is Sue's photo.

I have another Sue photo to present, and it’s a good one. As has been discussed before, Sue goes to bed earlier than I and also sleeps in later.** What she typically sees when she does arise is moi at the computer. We keep our house on the cool side, so I am usually wearing a sweater. In the colder mornings, particularly, I more often than not also have my hood up.

She conceived the photo following a prompt about using the computer as a light source and then thought to relate it to what she sees first thing almost every morning. I think it's fab photo despite the decrepit subject matter.

One more thing: the banks of snow between the road and sidewalk were cleared on Wednesday night whilst we slept. It only took five days, and that is not bad because ours isn’t the only street in town, and it is a mighty big job to clear those banks. A blower blows the snow into a truck. When the truck is full, it leaves to dump the snow in the river, and another truck takes its place. And so on and so forth.

* I am afraid that I have not made much progress with physio. Sometimes, it is 2 steps back after 1 step forward. The trouble it that I will soon come to the end of my sessions as this hospital's mandate does not include perpetual care. To be continued . . . 

** Sue wishes that she didn't have to sleep for 10 hours to feel refreshed, while I wish that I could sleep for more than 5 or 6 hours and, therefore, feel refreshed. In fact that night, I did have a pretty good 6 hours, and they happened to be a quality 6 hours, which is certainly not always the case. Sometimes, I have only a poor 5 hours, which do not leave me brimming with vigour and vitality.