No Summer Flowers

Now that spring is fleeing, we returned one more time to the crocus lawn by the abandoned building. As we suspected, except for a feel rather bedraggled and droopy tulips, the spring bulbs are done. We wondered if summer flowers might emerge in due course, but it doesn't seem likely. Grass is already in the ascendancy in the flowerbed.

I don't think I have shown the  building this year, so here it is along with a lilac bush, which I think is the last blooming thing that we shall see there this year. Soon the lilacs will also fade away until next year, but if all goes well, we will visit the crocuses, squill, tulips and lilacs again next year,.

I included the lilacs in another photo, looking back to the former machine shop. You have see already this building this spring, but not from this direction.

We walked around back. This is what the little building looks like back there, assuming that you can spot it amidst the foliage.

At that point the river rages on the other side of me. I experimented with another GIF. I may be getting the hang of this GIF thing. I'll try not to overdo gifting you these GIFs but just include them occasionally.

Caturday 91: AI Reveals Kitty

Whatever one thinks of AI, it is here for better or worse. I have found it very helpful in some searches. It also assists me to so some things faster in photo editing — things that I could once do manually (or in theory I could) but I can do faster and better with AI. For example: if I want to brighten a person just a little, I can do it more efficiently with AI, which can select and mask the person, so that I can then do what I wish: ie brighten. While I, supposedly, could always do that before, selecting manually was both time-consuming but also not as accurate.

As is my wont, I got carried away with the background info in the first ↑ paragraph, so onto my little presentation for the day.

While I was lingering (not malingering) up in my den with my wonky back, Sue was attending to the planters — getting them ready for the bedding annuals that we shall soon purchase. She happened to look up into the tree where she spied a very pretty kittycat that had navigated itself to a spot where the young robins like to hang out.

Puss was partly hidden, and I wondered if AI might reveal him or her. I used the remove tool in Lightroom to get rid of the branch, and it filled in a good approximation of the rest of the cat.

I was happy with it but then thought that the new eye (left to us) could be better. I experimented with various fixes but eventually just cloned and flipped the right eye.

Trying to improve the little eye with my human brain and hands took much, much longer that it took AI to make the cat. I had to work through various processes until I eventually decided to simply clone and flip the right eye. 

The lesson, or one lesson, might be that humans and artificial intelligence work best together.

Happy Caturday! It's been awhile since Lacey left us, but we do remember.

Keyboarding in Seniordumb

In the past, I have noted and posted that I am seemingly unable to type the word, morning, correctly. It happens just about each and every time, but of course, I got it in the first try in this sentence. Of course I did. My attempted morning may, sometimes, be so off that I might flummox online spellcheck which cannot think of what in tarnation this poor fellow is trying to type.

There are other keyboarding issues. For one thing, I often get two consecutive letters in the wrong order. The word, from, is a good example. It usually comes out as form. Of course, I got also that correct this time, just when I am trying to make a point. Muts instead of must is another example. There are many more, but I am sure that you get the point.

Another common typo comes in consecutive words. Too often I put the space in the wrong place — lik ethis. It can be frustrating. 

In part, I blame my different keyboards. My current computer keyboard is not the standard PC layout: more like a hybrid Apple keyboard. Although I've been using it for almost two years, I still reach wrongly for those darn cursor keys. They are just off a little bit form (you see, I just did it again and not on purpose) the standard layout. I too often hit the down arrow when I want the left arrow and so on and so forth.

It doesn't help that my tablet keyboard is yet another creature entirely. So where does muscle and brain memory come into play?

I have thought of giving up this computer keyboard and purchasing a new standard Windows one, but that seems rather frivolous. This was supposed to be my ultimate keyboard because it even lights up. But then there is also that slightly off and provoking CAPLOCKS thing. Oops.

Although I like to blame the keyboard, there are brian (oops again, I mean brain) issues too. I just had to fix an already posted blog in which I called a plant, St Anne's Lace when it should have been Queen Anne's Lace. I had proofread that peice (piece) too. My only defence is that there is a reel called St Anne's. It's a fiddle classic.

I love the tune and could more or less (emphasis on less) play it at one time but probably definitely not at that speed.

It Hit Me

They hit me unexpectedly: the feels, I mean.

Danica is preparing to move into her own room in a townhouse in Ottawa with three other girls for her second year of university. She commuted during her freshman year, but since her car has been demolished, she has no alternative but to live close to the university. This really had been her plan all along, but there is no alternative now.

You know a milestone event is coming, but sometimes the reality just hits you out of the blue. The fact of the matter is that Danica will be leaving home.

The reality whammed me right between my metaphorical eyes. which I confess leaked, just a little. When the younguns leave, they leave, and nothing will ever be quite the same.

When Shauna left all those decades ago, it hit me more suddenly and even harder than this at the very last minute. We had taken her to get her room set up on the previous day and then brought her back home. Her friend pulled up in the driveway to take her away from home on the next morning. Suddenly, I was sobbing.

My psyche was better prepared for the second child to leave. I knew what to expect, and I dealt with it much better.

But now, Danica, my first grandchild, will be going: not until August and not far, but she will be leaving home, and nothing will ever be quite the same.

It's not the final step of her growing and going, but it is a seminal one. 

Orphan Photos

On rare 😁 occasions, I take snapshots when I am out and about. Sometimes, I don't get around to posting them because they didn't fit my musing at the time. I think these random orphans deserve their day in the sun.

This is the back of an original log house that now serves as a home for the chamber of commence. When we go downtown, we usually park behind it. Every now and then I take another photo even though I have shot the cabin many times before. I like the textures.

Abstract reflections at Riverside Park.

The sun caught a spent Queen Anne's Lace from last year. I thought it was worth a click.

Sue sitting on bench along the trial while I hunted for blossoms to photograph.

After I joined Sue on the bench, I saw that a couple was approaching with their dogs. I held the phone on my lap and waited for them to walk into the frame. I was rewarded with four smiling faces and also received some sloppy wet licks. I like this candid shot very much.

I have more orphan photos, some of which go back a little farther in time. We shall see what we shall see.

Ponds

The pond in the neighbourhood park does not usually teem with life. Why would it with a river just on the other side?

But the heron was there for our first sighting of the year. It was at a distance, but I zoomed the phone and managed to capture something.

I swear that we were being polite and considerate, but it flew off anyway.

A little later we saw a pair of mallards swimming by the reeds. Cute, eh?

Speaking of ponds, we came across another one near the lilacs last week, with a cute, little cottage on the edge. It's a very marshy area, so it would be mosquito and blackfly heaven hell in there. In fact, the blackflies just came out to harass us on the weekend. We live in town, so they are not too bad here, but they will be brutal in the countryside right about now.

Just to see what would happen, I asked Gemini to render it as an impressionistic painting.

Gemini gave me a small, low res image. I expect that the paid version would be of higher res. I think it is more interesting than the actual photo in this instance, but neither version is zackly a stunnah. The light was a little too stark on that bright day, but it will have to do because I don't plan on returning for a good light picture.

Portrait Mode at D&D

On a chilly and rainy Sunday, we drove the very short distance to Dark & Deadly where Sue used her gift card for free drinks. Grampa thanks Danica for Sue's Mother's Day gift. :)

For the first time, on this particular day, the coffee was poured for us and served in real mugs. I think they were poured because our order required an infusion of chocolate. 

Speaking of mugs, I couldn't help but play with the iPhone. Even though the shots were of mugs and not a person, I nevertheless, decided to use portrait mode to see how they would turn out. We can access interesting special light modes that way.

There was a new greeter whom I could see perfectly from my seat next to the door. I took three different photos using different light modes and combined them later.

While I wanted to show the three versions next to one another for comparison purposes, the one on white just didn't fit. So . . . 

Finally, I thought the colour version needed to be featured.

We can do interesting lighting with the iPhone that we cannot do with a camera, or not without a  lot of time and equipment.

Blossom Time

Not only is it lilac time, but trees and bushes are also in flower. I showed you Nick's flowering tree a few days ago but have managed to press the shutter for a few others since then. We found this ↓ one in the country very near the lilac acreage that I posted about two days ago.

There is a row of trees that bloom briefly by St James Park. I photographed them well with my Canon a number of years ago, but their duration is brief, so I have missed them ever since then. This is my first attempt of this row with just the phone.

Another shot from right under the row.

Sue away from the tree row but in the same park and under the blossoms of another tree and beside the tulips. 

A very colourful tree beyond a fence, near the OVR Trail.

The best photo of the bunch, in my most humble opinion, is this ↓ one, taken next day in our neighbourhood park.

The First Coffee Walk

Readers probably don't recall the coffee walk that we might take every week or so last summer and fall. We would park near the Wool Growers Coop, amble from there over to Tims, order a coffee, and then take it around to the Junction where we would sit to drink our coffee.

Yesterday was the day do make that walk for the first time since probably around mid October. We started farther back today, near the market, which is approximately located near that low-rise apartment building in the background near the path, below.

We stopped to take a picture by the sign, something that had always intended to do last year but in the evening once the lights came on. Unfortunately, with autumn gaining ground, they took the display down before we got around to it.

We tottered toward and then past the Wool Growers ↓ where we used to begin our stroll.  Tims is past the Coop around to the left.

We made it and went in to order our coffees to go: 2 large, double cream. Thank you, Mam, here is $4.83.

We approached the Junction . . .

. . . and landed by the kids play structure. Unfortunately, there were no kids yesterday, but there was a selfie to be had, so all was not lost.

It was good to walk that walk again.

🎵 And the seasons, they go round and round. 🎶

Lilacs

Our backyard lilac bush exploded this week ↑ so we thought that we should drive down to Franktown to explore their acres of wild lilacs. This weekend will be their Lilac Festival, but unfortunately, the lilacs are lagging a bit down there and will probably require another few days before they bloom in profusion.

There were some wonderful patches, which Sue enjoyed.

I played with a Live Photo of the above snap and turned it into a gif.

I took far photos, and Sue took close ones, and hers worked a lot better.

Not Anymore

It is dandelion season, and this is our neighbour's half of our little shared lawn. We don't have much lawn on our side.

Sue and I are both beginning our 80th orbit this year to become true octogenarians next year, or so we trust. We've taken care of both lawns for almost 20 years, but Not Anymore: it's time to let those dandelions run riot unless neighbour wants to deal with her own weeds. I will still mow, as I did yesterday, but after many years, we have given up on the dandelions. Fortunately, they make a nice showing, even though they are not exactly beneficial for the grass.

Suddenly, Eastern Ontario is blossoming in a short but wonderful season. Flowering tress are decorating the town in many places, and while I might look for better photos, this is the tree in front of my friend's house. I happened to be there so I took a shot and processed it with a very soft look.

As I sit in my chair this morning, the sun is reflecting almost too strongly off my monitor. It promises to be a nice day, a little on the cool side, but that’s alright. 

Before the Mill

I took you to our viewing of the new Tri Century Mill complex yesterday —  new in its present form — but it wasn't our first stop on Monday. I wrote about the mill first, before this post, because in my tiny mind, it seemed to be very connected to our anniversary weekend, but I think this first photo op was also pretty darn good.

Before we got to yesterday's mill, we had to pass the old garden and the river. We had gone to the river to satisfy Sue's need for her photo of the day. Her theme was swell, and she thought that she might be able to use the swelling waves in that section of the river. I am not sure if she did or not.

First things first, however: we stopped to examine the remnants of the garden by the abandoned shop, the shop that I think had been an antique store. Whoever ran that shop had, apparently loved spring flowers. That is where I find crocuses and scillia every spring. Indeed I posted of them several times in April.

We wondered if anything else had come up and were delighted to find both tulips and grape hyacinths. Isn't that wonderful for the bulbs to come up year after year, long after after the humans have moved on?

Anyway, I have a few photos in passing, first, the whole patch and then a couple of closer shots.

The river lies on just the other side of the building, so we moved down the slope, and Sue did her thing.

I composited two other Sue photos into one. It's fun to play.

We continued our stroll around by the mill. We went in, and you know that story already, but both the mill and the flowers on the so-far warmest day of the year completed our anniversary weekend very well indeed.

Anniversary Surprise

Yesterday continued the long weekend, so we are permitted to count it as part of our anniversary although it was a day after the most-blessed event. ;)

On a lovely and perhaps too-warm day, we went for our usual walk — this time by the back bridges and the spot where we previously found the croci and the scillia. But we'll leave those findings for another time — tomorrow most likely.

When we walked by the former McArthur Mill that is becoming quite a refurbished complex, we noticed that the door was open. We wandered in.

We asked if we could look around and actually ended up receiving a lengthy guided tour. First, however, just beyond the doorway, we came upon the area that will be a cafe.

The actual coffee bar will be just behind me.

Complete with a grand piano, it will be quite the treat, and they are building a patio as well. I stepped onto the unfinished platform and took a picture of the view.

Then, we got a guided tour of the rest of the building. Delightfully, there is all sorts of stonework and woodwork exposed. The floors are all semi-original. By that I mean that they were not the very original floors to the mill, but when the originals dilapidated a long time ago when the mill was still running in full vigour, they built a new floor over top of the very original.

The owner-developer took us into all sorts of rooms: hotel on the right side if you go back to the first 

photo and residences on the left. We viewed so many rooms on both sides that I can't tell you which was which. I can tell you that the hotel side is already functioning, for we saw various unmade beds on a Monday morning. I think this ↓ was an apartment. Just look at those windows and the view. Can you imagine having your morning coffee by those windows?

We were told that the river could be seen from every window. This ↓ window, also has a view of the giant chimney, whish will remain in place, and you can see a bit of the river on the bottom right. They will use the base of that chimney for a wood-fired oven by the patio.

What can I add? We stumbled onto an unexpected treat and really appreciated and enjoyed our tour. The developer generously took his time with us on a beautiful Queen Victoria Day.

We are looking forward to stopping by the cafe, which should be open for business in  month or so.