Dad's Forget-Me-Nots

I probably don't tell this story every year, but I am pretty sure that I have told it in many years. So, what's one more year, eh?

Every year we get a nice crop of myosotis both in the front and back yard. They are a reminder of Dad and how he transplanted them from his garden to ours back in 1983. For 22 years in that house they reseeded themselves and brought us joy. Dad died in 1999, but his forget-me-nots came back year after year.

When we moved 7 hours away from that house across province to the Ottawa area, we brought some plants with us. Actually, I think they were most likely seeds and not plants, but I'm a little fuzzy on that point.

Thirteen year after the move and 25 years after the initial planting we still get a nice spring showing. Some years I take pictures, probably most years.

I took this one out front the other morning, hand-held with my macro lens. I thought that liked it at the time, and I actually did, but I don't anymore. It's not well enough focused, and the surrounding green is a little too garish for my taste.

They say that you should always walk away from a photo once you are done with editing. I guess I should have done it in this case, but I will present it anyway. Let's be honest after all; I have more failures that successes.

The dad-blasted (sorry Dad) wind picked up again, but I headed to the more protected backyard to try a few more shots. For one thing, I had promised to show my tripod setup for these low flowers.

I can spread the legs and move the centre post so that I can get very low shots. Here's what it looked like in this case.

I got a little confused and tried to take several different shots, each with a different focal point, and then stitch them together in post. I didn't do as well as I would have liked. I needed more shots to get the overall focus better. As you can see there was also some wind and/or camera movement, but it's a somewhat interesting result anyway. Maybe I will try again.

Then, I took it off the tripod, set the camera on auto focus and fired down into a cluster. Once again, it's not perfect, but I like it best of the three. There's something to be said, at least sometimes, for not being locked down on a tripod.

Finally! More Tulip Photos

When I posted  Spring Flowers Outdoors, I ad only one tulip to share: the first of the garden. But 9 days later they were all in full bloom and even beginning to wane. Sadly.

I wanted to get more shots, but I kept being thwarted by wind. Almost every time I looked out the window, it seemed to be blowing rather strongly although I did manage to get this photo a few days later.

That was taken with my macro lens and on a tripod. In post I worked to get a bright, airy feeling.

But then, due to the wretched wind,  I went a whole week without taken another photo. Finally, the wind yesterday morning was much lighter: present but not howling at least.

So, I made the most of the opportunity and took some more photos. Although I also experimented with the macro lens, these were all taken handheld with a moderate telephoto lens (70-300mm). Both the telephoto plus the handholding gave my cranky body a bit of a break. Rather than crawling through to garden, I was able to more or less keep to the sides.

All of these photos are shot with at least some degree of backlight. When I looked with the sun behind me and facing the flowers, it just didn't look good, and I didn't take any shots. They are also all taken with a wide aperture (f2.8) to keep the background soft and blurry.

These are all cropped in post, sometimes heavily and edited with the light and sunny look in mind.

I decided to add one more, this one from the macro lens but still sans tripod. Both the blur and bokeh are somewhat better with this lens for what it's worth.

Pains and Grumps for Gramps

I'm pretty well an even keel sort of guy. I don't usually get too high or too low. I don't do grumpy very often, and often when I do, I realize that I am just plain tuckered out, and a little rest will help a lot.

But I got kind of grumpy for awhile the other morning. The accumulation of little ailments was getting on my nerves.

I had gone out to coffee with a friend, but the place was very noisy, which makes it kind of difficult for a guy with hearing aids. Sometimes, you just pick up too much background noise and too little of what you really want to hear. Hearing aids are better than they used to be for this, but they weren't cutting it on that morning.

Later I found myself kind of hobbling across a parking lot to the grocery store. My right foot with missing cartilage plus bone chips can be aggravating, but sometimes it's worse than others. I had been to exercise class on the previous day, and some of the push off movements seemed to aggravate the condition. I really want to do this class, and the thought that I might have to quit quite provoked me.

Then there is the shoulder, the right one, which is getting more problematic. I tried to make a big turn with the steering wheel, and Ouch! I can barely sleep on my right side anymore, and I am a side sleeper — when I sleep, that is. And then I tried to back out of a parking space, but my neck mightily resisted the necessary swivelling which used to be so easy.

There are too many other things that I've had to give up, like cycling (more or less anyway). And there was fiddling, which I enjoyed but fingers and shoulders ended that activity prematurely. Back longer ago, tennis was brought to a halt by back problems. Even further in the past when I was still youngish, jogging was  kiboshed due to plantar fasciitis. Lately, even walking with that sore foot is not exactly a picnic, and walking is supposed to be a basic thing that most people can do.

Now, I know that this all sounds like a pity party, but I'm just listing things (and I didn't even get to my knees), some of which also got me down a bit that morning.

But being grumpy is no fun for anybody, so I managed to talk myself out of it in fairly short order.

After all, at 71 as far as I know, other than hearing loss and osteoarthritis, I am relatively healthy. Yeah, the osteo limits me, but I think I can push on for the most part. I can still amble around the neighbourhood even if I am not exactly zippy. I also think I can continue exercise class although I may have to modify some of the movements, like some of the sidestepping  because I find it takes a lot to push off with that bad ankle.

This seniors exercise class that we attend is actually quite good. It's surprising how much of a workout you can get just more or less staying on the spot and keeping your arms and legs moving. In fact, I work up quite a sweat.

I have found a somewhat similar workout on YT. It's not as long or as vigourous as what we do in class but it's not a bad start, and it lasts for about 15 minutes which is a good basic length of time for a bit of a cardio workout. It is supposedly equivalent to walking a mile and at a decent pace too.

Here it is, just for the record.

Town Pics

Some recent photos just around town.

Trees line the riverbank at Riverside Park.

I always appreciate this house and property when I chance to drive by and took a nice snowy, Christmas photo a few years ago. In addition to the house itself, I like the fence, blossoming tree, and spring flowers at this time of year.

Near the property (above) I went onto the old railway bridge and took a shot looking downstream toward little Gillies bridge. We have three automobile bridges in town, but this is a small and very lightly used one. The water runs fast here but slows down significantly on the other side of that bridge.

Near Gillies Bridge (in fact you can see the building in the distant left, above)  there is an old and presently unoccupied building. I am not sure of its name or history, and despite its location, it was not a mill (like the building seen on the right, above).

While driving to the coffee shop to meet a friend, I passed by a house with a flowerbed out front and thought it might make a decent picture with the fence in the background, so I pulled over and took a quick shot.

Friday Fences

On Flickr, some people do a Fence Friday thing and tag it with HFF for Happy Fence Friday. While I don't necessarily make a habit of it, I want to play sometimes, so last evening I went out looking for a fence to shoot.

I had passed this property earlier in the day and thought it would make a good subject, particularly with that blossoming tree. And it does, even though there was no direct light on the place when I got there. I thought using the fence as a strong line would be a good composition, and I like it well enough.

I tried it in horizontal mode too, but I think I prefer the vertical, above.

The next part was unplanned, but we then drove about a bit. We don't have to drive far to be in the country here, and I found a few fence photo ops with some backlight. Not particularly compelling shots, but something for the HFF arsenal.

Danica's Photos and Video

On Mothers Day at the park, Danica grabbed my camera and started shooting every which way. I saved some of the shots.

The best were of Jonathan.

This is my fave, which I thought should be converted to b&w. It's at an angle that would be difficult if not impossible for most adults to take.

Danica's Video: We have a family supper on Mondays. While the adults were chatting post meal, Danica made this video with her iPhone in just a few minutes. I have no idea how one does that. It's a little lost on a computer screen but looks fab on the phone. (Never mind. I see that it enlarges to full screen very well.)

Mothers

It was Mothers Day, and I had prepared quite a bit, but come the morning I thought I should post something on FB too. I thought of a strip of photos showing my mother, the mother of my children, and the mother of my grandchildren. After a search through my photos, this is what I came up with.

Left to Right: (1) my mother and me, (2) the mother of my children + Shauna,
(3) the mother of my grandchildren + Danica, (4) the mother of my grandchildren + Jonathan

We did all get together in the afternoon with a plan to grab some fries from a chip truck for a late lunch at the park. We set up the chairs, and Danica and I headed out to get fries. There are only two chip trucks open at this time of year. Except for some odd reason neither were open on this gorgeous Mothers Day afternoon. So we scrambled off to the coffee shop for bagels and coffee.

Despite the scramble we eventually had a good sit and natter at the park, and later we did find that the new ice cream vendor at the park was open.

When photos were called for, I looked for a spot with some shade cover because I have more pictures spoiled by bright sunlight, especially dappled sunlight, than I care to count.

We began with Sha and the kids.

Then we added grandma.

Sue always wears sunglasses, except maybe on moonless nights, but every now and then I remember to ask her to remove them. I wish I would always remember.