Point Form: From Shorts to Afghans

•  I came across a new term from Jenn at Crumbly Acres:  Shoulder Season. I'd never heard that term, but it speaks to the reality that although the days warm up nicely, the nights also cool down. There's more to it, below.

It's called shoulder season because spring and fall act as the "shoulders" on either side of the "head" or peak season (summer or winter), referring to a period of lower travel demand situated between high and low demand periods. The term also suggests the milder weather in these transitional months, when one might wear just a light jacket over their shoulders. 

• As soon as I got into the car to head to the store, my sunglasses fell apart. I headed off regardless, but immediately and forthwith, the rearview camera monitor fell off the dashboard. It's not as traumatic as it seems because it is a freestanding add-on to our old Honda and not set in the dashboard. I was able to secure it back in place once I arrived at the grocery store. However, one has to wonder if this falling apartedness is somehow a a portent.
  

• In the grocery store, I purchased cat food, which is not unusual. What was unusual was the purchase of dry cat food from there. For more than 6 years, I have been purchasing a certain dry food from a certain pet store. But Lacey recently stopped eating that not-inexpensive item. Go figure. 

• In the grocery store, I became a typically miffed old codger because they had changed the order of things. They do it just to torment us, you know. Not only that, but they have stopped stocking the specific mouthwash that we use. Life is hard. Thoughts and prayers please.

• Some of you wish to see inside the Wool Growers Coop, and in the fulness of time ye shall. But you may be disappointed. Primarily, what you will see will be hundreds of bales of wool all wrapped and packaged for shipping. Still, it is interesting enough in there, and I shall comply with your wishes . . . when the spirit moves.

• Speaking of wool, I've been asked if the recent picture of Sue crocheting was current or from last year. Indeed, it is current. And since you have expressed curiosity about this new project, I shall show you what I can at some point, maybe even tomorrow.

• What else? Oh yes, a dear reader has mentioned that she can knit but not crochet. With Sue it is more or less opposite. It is also true, that to a large degree she has taught herself how to crochet by following step-by-step, video tutorials for making her last half dozen or so afghans. This particular kit, she ordered from Mary Maxim, and she has become adept enough to follow the pattern sans tutorial. She's clever that way. I know that you all wonder what a clever woman is doing with the likes of AC. It's a mystery, I tells ya.

The New Medical Centre Plus Autumn Colour

I dropped Sue off at the coffee shop for a date with a friend. My intention was to also get a coffee and then take it for walk around that corner to check out the new medical centre that will be ready for occupancy in a few weeks. It will house all of the town’s doctors as well as some other medical related offices.

I used the wide angle to capture what I could, I should have done better, but I was running out of room 

For a comparison, I drove over to our somewhat shabby and small current medical centre. 

Another pathetic photo on my part, but it was cold and windy,
and it is is a rather unimpressive  building.

That's quite a contrast, but it's just where Sue and I go to meet our doctor. There are also other doctors scattered about in town, but come mid-October, they will all be located in that impressive new building.

While at the new centre I spotted some changing vegetation off to my left. The photo developed much hazier than what I saw with my eyes, but I like it well enough.

That inspired me to drive about just a little bit more to see if I could find any more colour to photograph. I was in the car, so the photos would be different than the ones we see on our walks. This next photo is quite close to us but where there is less development.

Tree by the cornfield with a communication tower in the distance.

I really wasn't having much luck finding photos, so I drove up to the cemetery where I found this scene, looking along a line of tombstones with a couple of colourful trees at the end of view.

If you don't mind, I am going to tack on two more early autumn photos from our walk yesterday. The first is a view across the river from a narrow gap in the bramble on our side.

I went a little off trail for this photo while Sue waited on the trail.

Caturday 90: AI Cats in Boxes

I re-edited an old photo from Rideau Antiques. I liked the boxes. As far as boxes go it was a nice setup. But the boxes were missing cats. I picked five places to include cats and asked Photoshop AI to give me cats. For each position, I was given 3 choices. They are below. I think it works pretty well.

When this photo got noticed by a certain algorithm on Flickr, it got more than 4000 views and 140 faves as opposed to my usual 100/10 ratio, or something approximating that.

Colour on Main

Colour is appearing downtown, some of it natural although I am thinking mostly of displays. To begin, however, here is some gentle colour appearing near the bridge. There is more vibrant colour farther down, but I like the beginnings of yellowing in this composition under a pretty nice sky with some reflections below.

Downtown, I spotted an amazing-looking woman under a newly erected autumnal arch.

She let me sit beside her, and I was beside both her and myself with happiness.

Two other displays.

This ↓ is the opposite of colourful, but what an idea! Todd was affixing old images of main street to a plain electrical box. As you can see, he had already completed the side facing the camera.

Soon, he was almost finished the front too.

Oh My Goodness! Look what JJ did in Meta AI after I posted the Sue pic (up above) in family chat: Sue with two Lacey lookalikes. 

Not to be outdone, Danica added another. 

Aren’t we a silly bunch?

A Polarizing Figure

I already had this post, below, in the queue, when, oddly enough, the topic of JK Rowling popped up at the family dinner table last week. Let me note, in passing, that I do not follow JKR at all on social media, but I do very much like her Cormoran Strike novels. Someone I do follow, however, linked to the following piece, and I thought it worthwhile to post here.

Before reposting, however, let me say that JK Rowling is despised by many who think, quite mistakenly in my opinion, think that she is anti-transgender. She wrote a list of questions in a tweet to one of her haters and challenged them to state where she was wrong. This is the link, but I've copied and pasted it below.

As another man who once worked with me declares himself saddened by my beliefs on gender and sex, I thought it might be useful to compile a list for handy reference. Which of the following do you imagine makes actors and directors who aren’t involved with the HBO reboot of Harry Potter so miserable?

• Is it my belief that women and girls should have their own public changing rooms and bathrooms?
• That women should retain female-only rape crisis centres?
• That men don’t belong in women’s sport?
• That female prisoners shouldn’t be incarcerated with violent men and male sex offenders?
• That women should remain a protected class in law, because they have sex-specific needs and issues?
• That language should reflect reality rather than ideological jargon, especially in a medical context?
• That women shouldn’t be harassed, persecuted or fired for refusing to pretend humans can change sex?
• That women should not be threatened with violence and rape when they assert their rights?
• That freedom of speech and belief are essential to a pluralistic democratic society?
• That troubled minors, especially those who are gay, autistic and trauma-experienced, should be given mental health support instead of irreversible surgeries and drug treatments on non-existent evidence of benefit?
• That gay people shouldn’t be pressured to include the opposite sex in their dating pools, nor should they be smeared as ‘genital fetishists’ when they don’t?
• That cross-dressing heterosexual male fetishists aren’t actually oppressed, but having the time of their lives piggybacking off gender identity ideology?
• That said ideology, and the privileged, blinkered fools pushing it because they suffer zero consequences themselves, have done more damage to the political left’s credibility than Trump and Farage could have achieved in a century?

Let me have your thoughts.

In the meantime, I will share one of my opinions on this difficult issue. Labelling people is unhelpful. JKR is routinely labelled as a TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist). I don't know if she fits the definition or not. I certainly don't think being pro-women's rights makes one exclusionary. 

The problem is labels; they can almost become a smear. Once one is labelled, lines are drawn, and it may become very difficult to discuss the issues. How would we discuss any of the above items when someone is chanting "TERF, TERF, TERF" in an accusatory tone?

There does not have to be two exclusionary camps, both claiming virtuosity. There can be gradations of how people stand on different aspects of the issues. I might firmly agree with some of her points but waffle a little on others. Like JKR, I don't like to see women who have trained hard in a sport to be upstaged by a trans person who went through puberty as a male and thereby accrued some physical advantages. On the other hand, I, am quite happy to be served by a trans cashier at the checkout, and I beleive that JKR would concur.

Point Form: From Sleep to Wool

• I have set my sleep goal at 6.5 hours. I finally just reached it again on one glorious night — barely, but sill. It had been 18 sleeps since since I last achieved that lofty goal. In 6 of those 18 nights, I didn't even manage 5 hours although I usually came close. On only 2 nights did I sleep for even 6 hours: one night exactly 6, the other a remarkable 6:05. I must add that I had a rather good period of about 10 days before those almost 3 weeks in which I sometimes slept for 7 or more hours. I had thought that I had turned the corner, but was disappointed to subsequently learn otherwise. 

• The drought continues. From the trail bridge, we saw a man walking his dog on the river. You would be swept away from that spot in the spring. I told my friend, Nick, about this opportunity. He is nimble enough to get down there and find interesting photos if he chooses. It's best that both both Bob and I remain on good paths.

• Speaking of the lithe, fit Nick, oddly enough, he is the one of the three photography amigos who has had the closest brush with his mortality, but he is now as fit as a proverbial fiddle, and it is Bob and I who creak about. Nick reminds me of my ex brother-in-law, who has had two life-saving heart operations but is now physically active and goes through his days without much pain or discomfort.
  
  
• About once per week, we walk from Junction Park around to Tims where we pick up coffee. We then continue our walk past the police and firehall around to the the other end of Junction Park. On our way, we pass by the junction model reconstruction. It has appeared in my blogs in the past but not lately, so here it is. It's a monument to our history, but there are no more trains, either north-south nor east-west. At one point in time, you could travel to the Atlantic or Pacific by rail from this town.

The play structure is way in the background. That is where we start and end our walk,
and it is there where we sit to drink our coffee.

• We pass another building near the beginning of this walk (I am going back and forth in this post): the Wool Growers Co-Op. It is the wool grading station for all of Canada. Someday, I will take you inside again, as I have done in the past.

• Speaking of wool, Sue has begun her typical and next winter afghan project. Once September hit, she was ready to tend to her knitting.  I know it's crocheting, but knitting sounds and reads better, especially along with "tends to __"

Phone Portraits

On our coffee meetup, I showed Nick and Bob what an iPhone could do right on the spot while taking a portrait. There are several light modes (for want of a better term) that the photographer can call upon.

I took a photo of Bob to demonstrate. This is how his portrait came straight from the phone with no post editing, except for a slight crop if I recall. Keep in mind that we were in a lighted and busy coffee shop. One crazy thing is that you cannot apply this effect in post (or at least I haven't figured out how),  but only as you take the picture.

Bob liked it well enough that he asked me to send it to him. I did, and he used it on his Facebook profile straightaway.

I then used a different setting for Nick. I do admit to doing a little post editing on this one. I cropped, removed some light spots on the edges, and gritted up his face just a little. But the basic image was what the phone initially developed.

It's amazing really: no studio lighting, just quick shots in an uninspiring coffee shop.

I've done this with Lacey too. She doesn't get on the chair with me often, but she recently did, looking for treats and not my companionship. I took a photo to mark the occasion.

That ↑ was the plain photo, but as she lingered, I took two more photos using those interesting light modes.

Whether you like the photos or not, I find it pretty impressive what a phone can do with a quick press of the shutter. It sure has little to do with the photographer's skill. It's called computational photography that goes beyond recording light and colour on a pixel. 

Computational photography uses software, digital sensors, optics, and smart lights to digitally capture and process the world, enhancing images beyond what traditional optical processes can achieve. By leveraging algorithms, this technology produces features like high-dynamic-range (HDR) imaging, portrait mode, night mode, and even augmented reality (AR) filters by combining multiple exposures or using artificial intelligence (AI) to understand and reconstruct scenes in new ways. 

I do not know what versions of the iPhone can do this. I am using an iPhone 13.

 

O-Kee-Lee

I have taken you to various parks, trails and woodlands, all within our town, over the summer, but we had yet to visit O-Kee-Lee. I don't know if I should call it a park or a woodland or what. It is a small woodsy area with path going through it. The woods off the trails are very scrubby, but we can find a few interesting photos along the paths. As you know, I like woodsy trails and the shapes of trees, so here we go.

A winding path shortly after we entered with a bit of autumn colour just beginning to emerge in the distance.

Not very far in I found a little patch of changing leaves with tree trunks looming in the background.

As I have said, I am quite drawn to shapes of tree trunks and branches.

More shapes near the end of the first and main path.

Looking upward and to the side from close to the same spot as above,  I love the gnarly shapes high up there.

I think my final photo is my favourite of the day with that splash of red framed by other tree trunks.

Friday at Riverside

Friday was one of those very wonderful autumn or late summer days that we value so much after a very hot summer and before a long, cold winter. There was the right amount of sun, breeze and temperature. The day took us to Riverside Park where we sat on a park bench as much as we walked.

The first thing we noted after parking were the reflections in the almost still water under the clear, blue sky.

Two geese assumed statuary positions.

Autumn orange was beginning its ascendancy.

We sat on a bench and looked at the students on their lunch hour on a bench under the changing tree (above). Farther down (below) a group of girls sat on the deck of the boat launch. Do these students know how lucky they are to have such a schoolyard on such a glorious day?

It was a grand day and time for another selfie. We had gone  few days without, after all.

Hi there

Caturday 89: Seeking the Sun

For months, Lacey has spent little time on either the bed or the bureau beyond, by the window. But come cooler weather, the afternoon sun beckons to warm the old bones. Although it isn't yet winter, thank goodness, the summer heat is gone, and this late summer/early autumn has been quite cool. Oddly enough, the forecast for at least the first half of fall predicts that it will be somewhat warmer than normal. I have also read that after that, winter may then come earlier than usual. Go figure.

In any case, here is the dear, old thing, being in places that she doesn't bother with in summer. I wanted a picture of her napping because that is what she does. Of course, she was uncooperative as soon as she sensed my presence.

Oh wait! I eventually did catch her napping.

Now onto the bureau where there are things to be seen, so we don't usually sleep up there. We look, but we seldom nap.

About Charlie

I wrote this pithy piece yesterday morning after Leroy posting something else. Then, so much was written yesterday that I thought that I shouldn’t bother adding my tiny voice a day late. But we all say things a bit differently, so I decided go ahead and post.  

What about Charlie? Of course, he shouldn't have been murdered, and I deplore the conditions in my second favourite country that led to his shooting. Of course, I do.

However, there are shootings that I feel much worse about. On the same day, three teens were critically wounded in a shooting at a suburban Denver high school. I feel worse about that. I also feel worse about the recent shooting at Annunciation. I feel worse about so many more murders.

I don't feel quite as badly as maybe I should about Charlie who, apparently, found shootings to be acceptable on some level. He said it after all: "It's worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year, so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.

So, no! I don’t feel the same amount of regret. Not even close. 

Point Form: From Ties to Interrobangs

• Speaking of ties, as we were recently, I recall the sudden switch sometime in the mid-80s. We had always worn ties from when I started teaching in 1971 until then, but suddenly, they were being left in the cupboard. It was an impromptu and unspoken adaptation by almost all the staff that stuns me in its rapidity and totality as I look back on it.
  
  
• When I shopped this week, bathroom cleaner was on the list. I swear that perusing those shelves is what took me the most time — so many brands and varieties within those brands. So confusing.
  
  
• Speaking of groceries, our cost us 56₵ this week. That is because I used points to cover the first $120. Not ever carrying change, I pulled out my debit card for the extra 56₵. I was being thoughtful by not using my credit card, which is how I accumulated those points. 
  
  
• Either I or the cashier didn't pack very well. When Sue unpacked, she was rather put out to see heavy objects over top of the soft burger buns. There were also broken eggs, which is an absolute first in all of my years of bringing home the groceries. I think it was the cashier's doing and not mine, but I can't swear to it.
  
  
• We had the fam over for supper that night. What used to be a standard weekly practice has become only a occasional event with everyone diverging off in various and myriad directions. It was just grilled burgers, but there won't be too much more grilling before winter: some perhaps, but not much.
  
  
• Danica brought us up to speed after her first full week of university. She's adapting to the commute, and she reports that after being a trifle late on the first morning, she was overly early on the next day. Of course, she could use that time productively. We shall see.
  
  
• I mowed the lawn on the weekend. The grass still wasn't growing due to the drought, but of course we had enough rain to cause the weeds to spring forth with vim, vigour and vitality. Apparently, it will continue to be our job to maintain our shared lawn, most of which is on our neighbour's side. The present owner seems nice enough, but she has shown little inclination to roll up her gardening sleeves. 
  
  
• There is something wrong with my body since my trip to the ER. I am having a pretty good sweat on most nights. At least I am not soaking through completely so I don’t always have to change my top. But something isn’t right. In a few moments, I will be taking the last of my antibiotic pills, so what next?
  
  
• There was quite a thick fog early one morning. Once upon a time, I would have been out there making photos, but I have been there and done that, so I remained in my unmotivated chair reading blog posts and playing my usual morning puzzle games. What has become of me‽
  
  
• At least I know what an interrobang ( ‽ ) is and when to use it. ↑

Roy Brown Park

Roy Brown is the WWI pilot from Carleton Place who has been credited with shooting down the infamous Red Baron. There is a mural honouring him in town as well as a statue of his likeness. I have posted of these before, but there is also a recreational area named after him. We haven't visited that park for a long time, but we recently decided that we should.

It is yet another area with woodsy trails. I applied filters to try to jazz up this photo. I don't like it now, but it does reveal some of the path and woodland.

In one spot, I found a length of trail where someone had laid down rocks as if it were an entrance of some sort. I found this a very odd placement. It was like a shortcut where the trail bent around. We followed the broader main trail.

Odd Path, Not Taken

It was also odd to find a plaque commemorating a WWI battle deep in the woods, but it makes some sense, given the park's name. You probably can't read it, but it notes that five men from Carleton Place were lost in the Battle of the Somme. Terrible business.

I had forgotten about this footbridge over the rocks that must mark the path of the wash in a heavy rain or spring runoff. I took the photo because it reminds us all how close we are to bedrock in this region. It's just below the surface.

I was excited to come to the pond but startled to see it empty after our drougtish summer.

That was the end of the walk, well not the walk because we still had to find our way back to the beginning, but it was the end of my photos.

Speaking of going back to the beginning, I had taken this photo back just before we entered the park. Two kids were snuggled up on the bench. I suspect that at least one of the them was skipping classes from the high school on the other side of the park. Or perhaps one or both were on their spare. It was sharp-eyed Sue who noticed that there were only two legs for the two bodies.

Neckties Be Gone

When I was watching the tennis match on Sunday, it struck me that no one wears ties anymore, even when they are wearing suits. Well, the orange one did of course, but otherwise,  even the exalted big wigs who presented the trophies wore no ties under their finely-tailored suit jackets.

Speaking of the orange one, what a gall to hold up the event for more than a half hour while spectators were searched. At Wimbledon, even royalty does not hold up the game.

Meanwhile, I have some more walkie pics. Of course I do. I'll probably cut back on these sometime, but autumn approaches, and there is change in the air: leaves drop, and colours pop.

These are from the part of the trail that we accessed from the arena sometime last week. Sue has fits trying to get me to fake smile for the birdie, but every now and then something happens that causes a genuine smile. It’s usually me doing something silly with the camera or at least the camera doing something silly while I hold it. Whatever it was in this case, it caused much mirth. The colour was off and showed my face as very red which it wasn’t, so a mono conversion was my solution. 

There are several mini paths off the main trail toward the river. We often bypass them, but we meandered down a few on that day. I like this photo of all of the little trees with their slender vertical trunks.

It feels too early, but autumn colour is beginning to appear.

I have one more photo from a different walk, in which we spotted a Great Blue Heron, near where we saw the Green Heron a week or so ago.