Posting the Unposted

Some photos get left behind in my Blogger folder because they didn't quite fit with what I wanted to post whatever I wanted to post at the time. I have decided to gather them and drop them here today in one fell swoop.

Let me begin with the Blue Spoon Atelier, a little cafe in a downtown corner. They have yummy goodies, among which are blueberry scones, and they are my faves.

I took a short solo spin on Sunday whilst Sue was otherwise engaged. I drove along a rural road just outside of town where I have often found great colour, but I was much too late for photo ops this year. I turned along another road and saw some colour down a path beyond a fence, but you can see the plethora of leaves covering the ground. A nice enough pic though.

I've had this selfie in the queue since September.

This is a downtown barbershop that I photographed, mainly for the odd wicker loveseat out front. To add interest, I converted the image to mono but left colour in the open sign and in the barber pole. It was only later that I realized that I should have also coloured the reflection of the pole. I miss a lot of details. 

I seem to remember a time when barbers were scarce, but they've made a comeback, and we have a number of them in town, but I just hand my clippers to Sue for my needs because barbers give no discount to those of us with little hair.

There is a deteriorating clock tower on the old federal building. I had never photographed it from this angle from a side street. The daytime moon was a bonus. I wish that the clock and tower could be maintained in some way. Even if the clock itself were to be beyond repair, perhaps general further deterioration could be halted.

There was an old sap bucket for sale when we went to Wheelers. I may or may not have posted a colour version when I reported on that outing.

All of the above photos were taken recently, but sometimes I reedit old photos and stick them in my Blogger folder. I found this tractor from 2017, believe it or not. I was never thrilled with the photo, but putting a blight radial blur around it made it more interesting to me.

Finally, there are the blue jays from October 2018. These are somewhat poignant to me because it was our last holiday at Sue's sister's cottage due to changing family dynamics. Shauna has offered to drive me there for a daytrip  to visit my former brother-in-law. That is very kind of her, but I have declined her offer for now, largely because I am not sure that I want to be there without Sue or her sister, Heather. My happy memories involve being there with both of them.

That was all brought up by a FB reminder of this photo.

Both Heather and I took numerous photos of the bluejays from sets that Heather would design on different days. I would set up my camera, take a number of exposures with jays in different places around the feeder. Because the camera remained on a tripod, I was able to easily blend several photos together.

While I am here, reflecting on the time there, below are two more photos of other setups that Heather created.

I think that takes care of most of the loose odds and ends for now.

There is still Colour

It is a good thing that different trees turn at different times and that at least some colour exists for much of October. I took photos from the main bridge, this time looking downstream. The first two of of the former Boulton Brown and the third of St James Anglican church. I posted another of the church not long ago, but this is from a somewhat different angle to get more of the orange leaves in the photo.

I don't know how many more autumn photos there will be, but here are two from our earlier walk at Blakeney Rapids that I didn't get around to posting earlier. The first pic is of a boulder: part of the Shield rock that comes to the surface here. It accommodates the autumn leaves well.

I trust that will not be the end of colour photos because once November comes, it will start looking pretty doggone bleak around here. It's getting iffy though. A certain rural road that I chanced along yesterday was pretty well done with colour. Sigh.

A Week of Change

In my wildest dreams, I never thought that I would become a mere phone photographer, but that it what has happened this year. To begin the process, I inherited Sue’s 13 when she upgraded to a 16. The 13 was superior to my previous 10, so I began using it almost exclusively for its easy portability, and I found that I could achieve acceptable results: acceptable for this point in my life anyway.

But I too frequently found myself asking Sue to use her phone’s telephoto capabilities to take this or that photo for me. I didn’t like doing that and tried not to do it too often. I began to desire having my own new toy phone, but I decided that it was prudent to wait for the iPhone17s to hit the market.

It finally came, and you have seen a few photos already before I had to shut it down for a few days.

I'll repeat myself from a previous post a bit for a moment, but I think I need to. 

The phone purchase was planned, but what wasn’t planned was also switching internet and phone providers. I'm pretty sure that I have said this already, but I am pretty good at resisting cold calls, but I listened to this one by Bell Canada, and I bit.

Unfortunately, they came to install the internet on the same day that the phone came. I got my new phone up and running, but then I was suddenly left with the prospect of also setting up a new internet hookup. Once they got the fiber into the house after a struggle, they attached the box and then said goodbye. It was up to us to flip the switch and then do the rest. We got it going, but, as I have previously posted, we did have to get the kids’ dad to come over and help us set up the tv and devices such as the thermostat, the garage door, and Alexis. Phew!

So that was that and I have really told that before, but then on Wednesday the new SIM cards came for the phones, and there were hitches. The rep who sold us the plan came to help us set up the phones the next day. What an ordeal! We walked through the process twice, but neither one worked on Bell's end. Somehow, I broke Ma Bell, which is not something that every low-level dude can brag about. The rep returned on Friday, and we finally got it sorted. Said rep was very nice, patient, and helpful. He worked with us until all was copacetic, but we were quite flummoxed and anxious for a few days.

So there we have it: new phone, new internet, new phone plan all in one week. It was hard on old brains, you know. 

What with running out of data with the former cellular network and then not being able to hook up with the new Bell network, I found myself almost photo-less for a few days — a shocker, I know.

At one point, I did find the opportunity to take this photo of the across-the-street neighbours' first Halloween display piece. I had trouble sleeping that night, and got up to take this photo from my den. I am rather pleased with how well it turned out considering my unfortunate, distant vantage point.

You may now expect my regular barrage of photos to resume. No doubt  that makes you delirious with joy.

 

Caturday 83: Lacey's Penultimate Day

They say that the best camera is the one you have with you. When she saw me communing with Lacey on the penultimate day of her life, Sue's tablet was closest to hand. She picked it up and took these photos, and I am glad that she did.

What I did not include in this post were the photos of her swollen mouth that made her look like something that she wasn’t except for those last few days. I am thankful, however, that the worst came upon her seemingly suddenly and not for very long. She could, albeit with a struggle near the end, still manage to consume her treats, and that helped me to feel just a wee bit less distraught about what was transpiring.  

I know that I’ve already uttered by grief over Lacey's parting, but I had to post these photos. I think there will likely be one more posting of Lacey, for I think there remain a few other photos that I haven’t yet revealed. Then, I expect Caturday to become very infrequent.

Only One Photo

Our walk was nothing to shout about yesterday, especially since we didn't take any photos, which really does not seem proper.

Indian Summer is a term that no one seems to use anymore. I guess it is frowned upon now for racial reasons, but Second Summer just doesn't do it. Does it?

Google Calendar sends me notices that we started up the furnace on this or that date in previous years, but we are hanging in there rather easily halfway through this October. In both 2020 and 2022, we had capitulated and turned the heat on by now.

I peered up from my chair yesterday morning near 7:30 and saw an orange glow, so I grabbed my phone and took this photo. In post, I chose to crop into panorama mode and the render the houses as silhouettes.

That was the only photo of the day because our phone is in transition from one carrier to the next, and, without going into detail, using data on outdoor photos would have been problematic. I expect that be be sorted out later today. 

Thanksgiving Day at the Rapids

As you well know by now, we enjoyed our wonderful but non-traditional Thanksgiving meal on the previous day, but the actual day was beautiful, and I think we observed it well. The beauty was found in both the glorious weather and in the remaining colour. 

We drove up to Blakeney Rapids, a small conservation area about 15 minutes north of us, where rocks jut out of what is almost a distributary off the main channel of the local Mississippi River. We are close to the Canadian Shield in much of Eastern Ontario, and it comes to the surface here.

It has been a droughtish summer. While there are always boulders here, they looked more prominent and ubiquitous yesterday in the lower-than-usual water. 

That ↑ sight greets us from near the parking lot, but then there are woodsy and somewhat rocky trails to hike through to the main channel of the river. We crossed this ↓ footbridge. There are others on the more circuitous route, but this is the only one that we crossed on the more direct path.

The trail had its share of inclines, branches and boulders, but a number of people, including us, were out enjoying the paths.

We found two cute benches opposite each other on one part of the trail, and I photographed one of them. They were both very low to the ground, so not really helpful to septuagenarians who are getting rather close to becoming octogenarians.

However, the bench situation changed when we came to the end of the trail where it overlooks the main channel of the unmighty Mississippi. They had built a nice bench on the Precambrian bedrock since we were last there. 

We took a selfie on the bench. Oddly enough, the picture-in-picture feature is still not in the phone's camera options but still just part of the Facebook app — I think only the Messenger part, to be specific. I find this rather odd, but, once taken, we can save it to the regular camera roll. Go figure, eh.

Back at the beginning, we sat on a bench for awhile before turning back home. Thanks to my new phone, I was able to take a telephoto picture of the distant bank. Getting a zoom was the main reason why I spent my children's inheritance on an iPhone17 Pro. Good phones ain't cheap me dearies.

Finally, Sue noticed an unusual tree to our left and asked me to pose for a possible photo for her group if it were to become suitable for a prompt someday.

And that, mes amis, concludes Thanksgiving for another year. It was a good one, and I am thankful to have been there for it and in decent health along with my mate who is also in good health. As a plus, our tiny family had also managed to come together for a few hours on the previous day.

Our Day-Early Thanksgiving

Our little family observed Thanksgiving on the day before the official date. One makes accommodations when the kids split their time between two households and especially when the other grandmother plans a big, traditional gathering and dinner out of town.

Sue and I did one of our customary morning strolls and spent most of the afternoon at home before heading over to Sha's around 5 o'clock.

We took one more photo from the bridge looking upriver as Sue continues to look for the best conditions to complete her four seasonal photos from the same spot. This was my version but not too dissimilar from hers.

I've been playing around with selfies more than usual with the new phone. I'll explain more about it all someday.

With an orange-themed week coming up, Sue took this one of me, but she never knows ahead of time what all parts of the prompt might be, so I don't yet know if she'll actually use it for her group.

At the official get-together later, I grabbed a typical shot of JJ absorbed with his phone.

Sha took this selfie with my camera after I showed her how it worked. Once again, I'll save the explanation for a later date.

Everyone had a turn with my phone, and Dani took this one of me in portrait mode.

And Sue took one of Dani and me sitting side by side.

There wasn’t much else, apart from delish lasagna and apple pie although Jonathan's girlfriend did drop by, and he then became quite happy to get away from his phone.

Oh, two more: both are selfies. I had only known about Christmas crackers until then, but Sha found Thanksgiving crackers, which were basically just like the Christmas ones.

We can't be the only family that does crackers. Do you?

Light and Reflections

Somewhat unusually, we found ourselves downtown by the bridge on Saturday evening. Sue was looking for an upriver photo, but what we found was incredible colour along with reflections in the placid river right by the bridge, all brought about by the light of a nearly setting sun.

Downhill is actually a dull beige and not this vibrant colour, but it was, indeed, orange in the sunset light of that night, and the reflections were also terrific.

The old Bolton Brown Mill, now condos, were also reflecting well, just a little to the left of townhall. 

Then, I concentrated on photographing  just reflections. Later, on the computer  I inverted them. I think seeing townhall this way is pretty darn cool. I have tried to do this inversion with other reflections in the past, but this one and the next, worked really well, or so I think.

Just, or mainly just, the reflected spire and flag look impressionistic to me.

Away from the water and reflections, the low sun lit up the steeple  quite wonderfully as we saw the spire peeking above the trees from where we stood on the bridge.

They say that photography is all about the light, and, quite unexpectedly, we stumbled upon it on Saturday evening.

Picking up the Pies

With it being Thanksgiving weekend, I made my habitual foray into the hamlet of Ashton yesterday to pick up two apple pies at the Ashton United Church. Although they usually hold this bake sale three times a year. it had been my first pickup since last Thanksgiving. For logistical reasons, they didn't run the sale last Christmas, and for weightloss reasons, I didn't make an order at Easter. While I am still  👀 my weight, I am no longer trying to shed more pounds, so I was very pleased to make this little pilgrimage once again.

As you are about to see, it was an overcast day, but some colour remained on some trees, so, of course I took a few photos. 

I hadn't taken this route into Ashton for some time, so the greeting on the silo was new to me. The steeple of the church where we obtain the pies is to the left in the distance.

I have shown pictures of the church more than once in the past, so I didn't photograph it yesterday. However, I did click on a little cluster of colour off to the right of the above photo. While the image could have used somewhat better light, I still found the colours to be very pleasant to view in person. I hope that  the pleasing, subtle colour comes across in the image as well.

I made a little detour on the way home to photograph trees beyond a cornfield in still overcast but still pleasant appearance.

I dropped the pies off at home and hit the stores for new phone accoutrements. I needed a new connector to use the phone in the car as well as new ear buds because my old ones won't work on the new device. I think I have endured 4 different apple connections over the years, and my supply of old cables and connectors continues to grow.

I also picked up a bottle of red for the festive weekend. It's a Canadian wine that makes a statement apropos to the unfortunate political climate: Don't Poke the Bear. I wonder if there is an Elbows Up wine as well.

I'm All Balled Up

Before we get onto the pre-written post, below, let me tell you about the latest — which fits pretty well with being :all balled up.”

Yesterday, my new phone came. That was planned.

What hadn’t been planned was both phones and internet getting a new consolidated provider. It was a last-minute decision from a cold call at our door. I am pretty resistant to sales pitches at my door, but I succumbed. 

Both the new phone and the new internet came on the same day which was a bit overwhelming. First, I had to get the new phone up to speed, which was relatively easy. Then, the technician came to get the fiber line into the house. He had trouble, and the job extended into hours, but he got it done, 

But the rest was up to us to configure or pay $150 for him to do it. This wasn't his fault. It's just how it is done. That "balled us up" a bit, but we managed to get it up and running. But I still have the old internet too, and I think some devices are on the new system while some remain on the old. My ex-BiL is very good at this sort of thing, so he will come by sometimes this weekend to help us get all sorted and “unballed up.”

"I'm All Balled Up." I said it one morning as I was changing back into my daywear lounge pants. They are the same as my nightwear lounge pants, except I wear black during the day and shades of blue at night. This colour scheme wasn't planned; it just happened. It helps me keep the two usages separate.

Digression aside, I was struggling to get my right foot through because the pant had become all knotted or tangled down by my foot. That is when I said it to myself: "I'm all balled up." 

I surprised myself, for this phrase is not part of my normal usage. However, I know where it came from although I hadn't heard it for decades. It was something that my dad would say when he got things confused. Maybe he would get his times wrong or some fact.

I looked it up for clarification. This is what Merriam-Webster had to say:

ball up
verb: balled up; balling up; balls up

transitive verb: to make a mess of : confuse, muddle

intransitive verb: : to become badly muddled or confused

I was also curious about the origin. According to dictionary.com: "This term may come from the fact that when a horse is driven over soft or partly thawed snow, the snow becomes packed into icy balls on its hoofs, making it stumble."

However, it also suggests that another meaning is possible: "that it alludes to the vulgar term balls for testicles." Apparently, that usage may have become common with American troops in WWI. I guess an alternative in that sense would be, cock up. 

It's earlier usage, however, seems to have been somewhat common with America colleges students.

The phrase "I'm all balled up" originated in American college slang of the 1850s, where it initially meant failing an examination or becoming thoroughly confused. While the precise source of the word choice remains obscure, possible connections include the image of a snarled ball of yarn or string, the act of crumpling paper into a ball, or a horse's feet getting clogged with snowballs in winter.

Dad wasn't a college student of any era, and he wasn't a soldier either. He never would have used it in the vulgar sense; nor would I although I wouldn't be quite as averse as he. He would just being using it as a synonym for confused — as was I.

So there we are. I'm am almost sure that I haven't used the phrase or even thought about it for a long time, but, suddenly, the words were back — as was dad . . . if you know what I mean.

Critters Encountered

The furnace battle continues. Partway through the night I moved from the bed to my chair in the den. Fortunately, I was able to get back to sleep, and I am grateful for that  But when I did wake up again at almost 7:30, I saw that Sue had covered herself with the second blanket. Since she runs very hot, this was quite a testament to how cold the night became. But we won and are so proud of our ancient selves for our steadfast resolve in this epic struggle, especially with the notorious Jack Frost joining the fray last night  

From various walks at various times, we've collected a few critter photos. There are a couple of cats too, but we will perhaps save them for a Caturday. We have two herons, both photographed by Sue from a distance, the first from the downtown bridge, the second from the trail near us. The second was photographed first, but Blogger was being Blogger.  (In point of fact, all of these were by Sue, who uses her nifty iPhone telephoto capabilities.)

The squirrel was posing in the park.

Woody the woodpecker was hanging out along the trail where someone has left a little collection of birdhouses. There was also a nuthatch and a chickadee flatting about, but they as I said were flitting and not posing. Apparently the woodpecker found this birdhouse good enough to eat. What a tasty treat!

I find the birdhouses to be a most pleasant addition, and I think the birds do to.