Happy Halloween

Our neighbour across the street has erected quite a display. He's got a lot of stuff over there and some of it is big stuff, and it is in a little space that is also not very well lighted. Those conditions don't make for easy photography, but one must do one's best to rise to the occasion. These characters probably all have names, but I don't what they are, and I don't care much.

A tall guy and his cute, little puppy.

This scarecrow guy is even taller than the previous fellow. Erecting him must have been quite a feat. I have two shots. The second reveals how difficult it is in the dark when objects don't have their own lighting. I had to use my photoshop skills to get the Grim Reaper at the bottom left to be visible in the photo.

A genuine Hell's Angel maybe. 

This final bloke has no self-lighting, and I couldn't manage a decent photo in the dark. So, I took a daytime photo and tried to make it look like a night scene. I added lighting bolts in the process, but I think he is feeling a little down in the mouth.

I did shoot a few others, but I think these will suffice for this year.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween ↑ is not an image but just text done in Blogger with its fonts and colour choices
Gravitas One font

Hanging Tough

The flowerpots are now enduring frost on a nightly bases, but all eight out front are still hanging tough. Here are the five that have been gathered to the very front where passersby can still enjoy them. 

When we drove through Tims for coffee, I couldn't help but roll down my window to photograph this lone tree, standing tough, proud and still beautiful. That is Wool Grading Station in the background; I am reminded that I promised that I would to take you there some day.

We took our coffee to Riverside Park and sipped it while walking along the path. I doffed my gloves and laid my cane down quite a few times for pics, including these two of yon hedge framed by park trees. The hedge is hanging tough and looking good.

I waited for the boys on their school lunch break to clear the photo, but I think I prefer them in there. Whatcha think?

By the by, we will curse the hedge come winter, for as nice as it looks now, from this vantage point, it will obstruct the view of the river from our preferred winter coffee spot near the boat launch. I am not sure why they didn't trim it this year although it does look rather good at the moment.

Back toward the other end of the park, we could see the stand of birches across the river. They are fighting to hang onto their leaves, some trees toughing it out better than others. I am sure that I have taken this shot in almost every autumn, and the birches look good in winter too. That assumes that I can access the park as winter proceeds, for they do not plow the pathway for some reason.

I hope the flora hangs tough for just a little longer.

Walking in the Light

It had been awhile since we trekked in the woods on the northern edge of town. I really like it in there, but we tend to lose out bearings a little bit, and we can't seem to find a way to track little walks like that in either GMaps or Apple Maps. Fortunately, it isn't exactly a vast forest, so we couldn't get too lost for too long.

Most leaves were down, and I thought that I would report on that, but it was sunny, so the leaves that remained were looking quite splendid, like this stand of orange in the distance beyond the mostly leafless trees in the intervening space.

It turns out that the two other photos that I liked best were of the same subject as each other but shot at different focal lengths and then also cropped differently in edit. I don't crop in square ratio often, but it seemed to work just right in the first photo. The second was a telephoto zoom with a somewhat unusual, narrow, vertical crop.

The light made the difference in these photos, compared to the ones that I posted recently.

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By the way, my dad was born on this day in 1912. I like to mention him in passing. Although he passed in 1999, he hasn't died his third death yet.

"The three deaths" can refer to several concepts: a philosophical idea about finality, Leo Tolstoy's short story, or a documentary about Marisela Escobedo. The most widely discussed concept is the philosophical one, where a person's three deaths are the physical death, the death of their memory, and the final death when their name is forgotten forever.

Possibly 1982 

Point Form: Cream Pie and Even a Brownie

• October 23, 2025 was National Boston Cream Pie Day in the USA; there are a lot of weird days down there. I may have only had this dubious delicacy once, and I had never heard of it until our Sunday School class went out for a restaurant lunch. I could have been 9 years old, or maybe 8 or 10. A friend raved about Boston Cream pie, so I looked forward it. Disappointingly, it turned out to be cake and not pie at all. This was a  major blow to a young boy who had only known apple pie in his brief life, and this was most definitely not that. 

• When I wrote, above, that there are multiple American observance days on every calendar day, here is the October 24 list, which, for all I know, may not even be exhaustive: National Bologna Day, Black Thursday, Food Day, Global Champagne Day, National Good & Plenty Day, and National Tripe Day. 
  
  
• Locally, at the grocery store, we were rather shocked to see a bag of hard boiled eggs on offer. Yup! Cooked, de-shelled, and in a bag. So you don’t have to go to the bother of boiling them, don't you know.
  
  
• This ↓ seems to happen an awful lot: hypocritical right-wingers getting caught with their pants down as it were. While I am sure all political persuasions have their evil-doers, as far as I can tell most don't feign virtue in the very sin in which they wallow.

• When this camera image appeared on some feed or other, I grabbed it, for it was the first camera that I ever used. It was my mother's camera, but I remember purchasing a roll of film.

• Then I found myself looking back into my old photo album, and I believe that this was from the very first film that I ever purchased and shot in May 1960 when I was still just 12 years old. My friends (Neil, Peter, Nelson and Brian from left to right) and I visited the little airfield where mostly 2 and 4-seater Cessna's flew. Nelson was my bestie, and we renewed acquaintances in our 50s after living thousands of miles apart. For whatever reason, we later drifted apart again. My apartment dwelling isn't shown, but it was very close to the farthest apartment in the left background and just around the corner from it.

I leave you with this deep thought.

Three Walkies

I already revealed two pics from the evening when I went downtown without Sue: the ones in which I went a little wild with my Halloween-style post-processing. This was another, more or less, straight photo from that night. Many little trees along Bridge St are lit in orange; this was one of them with hints of others in the distance.

The next day, on a neighbourhood stroll, this time with wifey Susie, the sun was brilliantly lighting a red bush with an orange tree behind. The green grass in front looks good too.

Unfortunately, yesterday gave us a taste of what is coming — bleak, colourless November. The sky was overcast, and much of the colour was down in Hackberry Park.

Around the corner, however, there was a little more colour, as well as a bit more light, but it is still clear that we are trending toward bleak.

I'll toss this next and last photo in because I have it, and I don't know what else to do with it. I did the final bbq on Saturday afternoon, and I seized the opportunity to photograph the interesting changing of the leaves on our lilac bush in which sections have turned very orange while most of the leaves remain green or close to it. We don't recall seeing it go quite this way in previous years. Of course, in my case, I don't recall much at all. 

Too Long of a Queue

I get so many posts in my blogger queue that some photos get lost, but I want to show these photos of McArthur Mill at some point. When that will be as I compose this piece, I know not because I am typing this probably weeks before I will post it. (Update: true.)

While my world shouldn't require more photos of the venerable McArthur Mill, I couldn't resist these on a bright day when the low, calm water revealed reflections that I had never before noticed to this extent. So here they are without more fanfare.

Sue, bless her photographic heart, took this shot of me, possibly taking the above photo.

Halloween Lemonade

I had a disappointing walk downtown last evening. I thought that with only a week to go until Halloween, the place would be duly decorated, but alas, it wasn't. There is a nice old mansion downtown that has become a multi-dwelling place. You know the type. I took a picture and used AI to change the setting and then add howling wolves and a ghost.

That's almost all there is. I did shoot a few store windows looking in vain for Halloween subjects, but they were totally uninspiring, so I trashed them when I got back home. However, upon leaving, I found a house on a side street with some typical Halloween stuff outside. It still left me feeling blah when I looked on the computer, so I made some additions up top.

The night seemed to hand me lemons, so I endeavoured to make Halloween Lemonade.

Point Form: Ladders and Barges

• We capitulated yesterday morning and turned the furnace on. The indoor temperature was only 16.5C/61.7F, which is not exactly toasty. When I checked the forecast, the very warmest temperature of the week was predicted to be only 12C/54F, so what we had to do was pretty obvious. We didn’t come close to our Nov 01 record that we set in 2019.
  
  
• I have posted many times over the years how Sue's and my sleep habits are so very different. When daughter recently dropped by to see the old folk, Sue happened to mention that her watch was now advising her to get ready for bed at 7:30. Meanwhile, my watch was telling me that 12:30 would be good. Wifey and I are not the same, not anymore.
  
  
• Halloween decorations are appearing. I will post more pics as time transpires, but here is neighbour getting his display set up one afternoon. Apparently, he hit the jackpot by getting several gigantic and expensive pieces all together at one bargain bin price, for there are more than are shown here,

• Oh good grief! Near the end of my coffee date with the boys, I looked up toward the counter, and I saw butt crack, maybe two inches of it. A guy was leaning over the counter, a middle-aged guy no less, although I would say younger middle age. Why a guy that age would choose to belt his pants low across his posterior is beyond me. Not only that, but he had to be wearing bikini briefs, assuming that he was wearing underwear at all, because I saw no sign of it, and I was certainly seeing further down than I cared to. When he straightened up, his shirt fell to cover him, so I assume that’s he was unaware of what he was flashing. If he is going to wear his pants like that, he needs a longer shirt. I was tempted to take a photo to show him what he was exposing. But I didn't. Should I have?
  
  
• You have seen many night pics of our lighted bridge over the past few years. When I spied a work barge at the foot of the bridge, I shouted down and asked what they were doing. They were replacing the lights. The lighted display has been very uneven. I wonder if it will look better now.

• I think that is all for this point form sort of post, but I will leave you with this one other photo from Thanksgiving weekend that I didn't post at the time although I did post a similar one then in landscape orientation.

Dem Ole Hymns

I was driving the short distance across town to meet the photoboys for coffee when for some very odd reason a bit of an old hymn, At Calvary,  pinged my brain. 

I have told this next bit before, but, although I am an atheist,  much of the music that lives inside my head are the hymns that I grew up with, and I still love to sing them. The car is a good place for my bellowing because no one else's ears gets subjected to my voice.

This old  fella quit church more than 40 years ago, but I surprised myself by singing two complete verses as well as the chorus. I had time to repeat the hymn three times, or maybe four, before I arrived at my destination, and I enjoyed myself thoroughly.

That evening, when I thought of posting about this odd proclivity of mine, I decided to track down a version of At Calvary on YouTube and settled on a choir version rather than one from a smaller gospel group. The kids sing well and their Christian commitment was evident, but I began to experience a bit of a creepy feeling, which probably isn't the precise phrase that I am searching for.

There was a time when I sang, or tried to sing, in our church choir, and, like these kids, I sang with feeling and fervour. So, I could relate to them. Indeed, I was once who they are now, albeit with less talent.

So why that uneasy feeling?

I don't know if I can explain it well, but I'll take a stab at it.

It might have something to do with their aura of absolute certainty. I also experienced this when I was their age, so I feel as though I can put myself in their choir loft. The trouble is that these children know nothing yet but are singing their devout religious proclamations with such conviction. They are following the religion that they have been taught with blessed assurance and without question. That makes me a bit uneasy.

It also disturbs me that this is the choir of a Christian school. Their parents have effectively removed them from society or part of it. They've put them in an institution where they will follow their parents' faith without question. I have a strong suspicion that they will be taught that evolutionary science is wrong and that the earth was created only a few thousand years ago.

I fear that in addition to having such assured faith, they will have minds that are closed to verifiable truth and science as well as to people who may be different. What will they think of those with alternate sexual orientations, for example? Culturally and politically, will they disdain liberal values as that terrible thing called woke, whatever that abused term means any more?

While I hope that some of the choir finds its way into free and critical thinking that seeks and evaluates evidence, I despair that most of these kids will never open their minds to embrace evidence and inclusion.

But dangnabbitall, I still like to sang dem ole hymns ah da church. 

Sue Pics and John Pics

I met with the boys for coffee yesterday. The orange tree that I saw from the window called to me, so I grabbed a photo upon leaving. Notice that the other trees are still green or yellowing slightly. Meanwhile, many trees are bare, but not in this scene.

After I got home, Sue and I went for a walk downtown where I dropped into I'll FixIt to have  a screen protector placed on my new phone. At just over $30 with tax, I think it's a good investment, and if I crack it they will replace it gratis. 

Speaking of downtown, She has completed her set of seasonal photos from the bridge. Earlier, I showed the boys this collage on my phone, and they liked it. One of them thought we should print it. 

For next year's seasonal sequence, Sue is thinking that she might shoot from the other side of the bridge and focus on the church that I have shown you a few times recently. I am sure she will use a composition that will be different than those in this current collage of hers. I think this diptych is really good with the black background and orange borders.

What I was interested in trying yesterday was a faux long exposure using Live View on the phone. It worked as I wished by smoothing out the ripples in the water. You can see the ripples in the normal, subsequent image although I was concentrating on the sky then. 

I took one more photo from the same spot to capture the clouds that don't appear in the previous photo. I just tilted the camera up.

I am finding phone photography different, especially on the new phone, but learning new things at 78 is likely a good thing. Or at least trying to learn.

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.