A Mel Movie

Believe it or not, this is Mel Gibson on our town's main street last weekend.

It really is Mel, dressed for a movie part.

Yes indeedy: movies are shot in our area. Mostly of the Hallmark genre, but I know nothing about this one (see addendum for update). They mostly take place in the town to the north of us, Almonte (with a silent e). However, scenes are frequently shot in our town too.

Aside from Gibson, other actors of apparent note (although they are unknown to me) are Walton Groggins, Walton Boyd Crowder, Venus Van Dam, Wade (somebody or somebody wade), and  Steve Nash.

Apparently, this is Walton Boyd, and he is somebody that some know, but I pretty much live in the dark . . . in my ark. He does look vaguely familiar, however.

A scene from the shooting.

They had a very cold day for it, and apparently, bystander photography was strictly prohibited during the shoot.

Addendum: A tiny bit of sleuthing has revealed to me that the film is to be called Fatman, at least it is the working title.

Fatman centers on a rowdy, unorthodox Santa Claus (Gibson) who is fighting his business decline. Meanwhile, Billy, a neglected and precocious 12 year old, hires a hit man to kill Santa after receiving a lump of coal in his stocking. It was written and will be directed by brothers Ian and Eshom Nelms, whose credits include Small Town Crime, Waffle Street and Lost on Purpose. https://deadline.com/2019/05/mel-gibson-santa-claus-casting-fatman-movie-1202609900/

Tunnel Vision

Sometimes, I get exasperated with myself because I tend to miss details. Well, I exasperate myself for other reasons too, but my lack of attention to detail sometimes drives me crazy. And others too, I suspect.

Take this photo, for example.



I had three photos to work with, and I somehow used the one photo twice and completely missed another. You see, the first two Jonathan's (from left to right) are the same. They are different sizes as a result of my cutting and pasting, but they are exactly the same photo.

I didn't see this when I made the compositie. I didn't see it when I posted it here. And I didn't see it when I first uploaded it to Flickr just to put in the queue for the time being to make live later. And I didn't see it when I looked at it a second time in my Flickr queue.

Finally, before making it live, I had another look. And only then did I see it.

How can someone be so unobservant?

Drives me crazy.

I am glad, however, that I noticed the problem before it went live on Flickr. My plan was to post it for the theme, Happy Slider Sunday, where people post their more processed or manipulated photos. Stitching three photos together counts in my book.

Back to the drawing board, or I should say Photoshop, to try to right my wrongs.

Here we are.

Aside from correcting that dadblasted mistake, I like this shot better because I managed to space out the 3 JJs better.

But really, AC, get your um stuff together. Yeah, stuff: that's it.

Another Game Another Goal

Way to go, JJ. Two goals in two games. I think you are liking the switch from defence to forward.

Yet, once again, I missed it. He scored the second goal of the game. For both of the goals that sandwiched his, I was able to capture a shot of the puck going in the net. But I missed JJ's shot although when you get to the second photo, below, you will be able to see the puck behind the goalie.

This was just prior to the goal (in white). I don't know whether he had just shot the puck or whether he got the puck later.

Even in celebration, he is blurry, just like last game (he's behind the net).

He had other good moments.

The best was a sequence where he and a teammate skated all of the way up the ice together and scored. It was the teammate who had the puck, but the fact that they went up ice together is great.

The beginning of the rush. JJ is in the middle of the frame.

After a long skate, you can see the puck leaving the stick.

Eyes glued, following the shot. I love it when I can get expressions like that; it doesn't happen all that often.

Celebration! I got expressions again, and even better ones. I think this is the photo of the game.

Cold Winter Photos

As I have opined previously, and probably on several previouslies (yes, spellchecker, I do know), outdoor winter photography is problematic. When conditions are most beatiful after a freshly fallen, pristine snow, it might be difficult to get around. Otherwise, it may be too cold, too windy, too cloudy and dull, or even too slushy. Therefore, aside from that New Years Eve shoot (here and here), I hadn't been out at all.

JJ's hockey games have kept me somewhat amused, and there are little family gatherings.

But it's not the same.

In the event, I ventured out on Friday morning despite or perhaps even to spite the very cold temperatures that were well below freezing. I bundled up, and because it was bright enough and calm enough, I was quite comfy womfy out there.

I had hoped that there was enough of a spray by the rapids in town to result in picturesque freezing on the trees, but that wasn't the case.

However, as I drove around, I spotted a bench in Hackberry Park with a glimpse of the falls from the dam in the distance,

I took a shot under the old railway bridge, which would have been to my back in the previous photo,  back toward Hackberry Park again, and you can still faintly glimpse the falls in the distance.

Oh, I almost forgot that I did also took a photo of the relic waterwheel apparatus by the former McArthur mill.

With nothing else catching my eye down below, I ascended the trail, of which the bridge is a part, and took a photo looking upriver toward townhall with its spire and clock. Another former mill, Boulton Brown, now condos, is on the left.

It took some post processing work to get the most out the above photo, but as a result, it became my photo of the day and, just perhaps, of the winter.

Seniors in an Elevator

After I posted Old Age is a Massacre last week, Sue came into my den to remind me that I had left out the best part, or certainly the funniest part of our hospital adventure. Since I had already hit the publish button, I decided not to append the anecdote to the original post but to return to it in a subsequent post. Which is now, one week later.

After my x-rays, the kindly technician took pity on this pair of hapless seniors. He took us into the hall, pointed to the elevator just ahead, and told us to get in and go to the basement whereupon we should walk around in a U before going this way and that.

While the U and this way and that seemed like much to bear in mind, we were quite confident about getting into the elevator and pressing B for basement.

Not so fast, gramps and granny!

What seemed to surely be a simple task turned out to flummox us because there was no B for basement. In point of fact, the whole panel was a confusing array of mysterious buttons. Believe it or not, there were three separate first floors (or L levels) with different designations, which I can't recall now because I am a senior and to be both pitied and excused.

After hmming and hawing, we pressed what seemed to be the most logical button. Wrong! The elevator remained stationary, but the door that we had just entered courteously re-opened as if the beast would be only to pleased to be rid of its hapless occupants.

So, that wasn't the right button. We were down to a 50-50 choice unless the basement could have been one of the above buttons, which didn't seem highly probable.

S'okay . . . we made the next seemingly most logical choice. Once again, the contrary contraption refused to budge. But to keep it lively and keep us guessing, the other door opened, it being one those two-door elevators.

The third push was successful, after which we walked around in a U as we had been told to do, and we resumed our rather lengthy and confusing trek. If memory serves, we had to stop at least one other hospital worker to confirm our direction in the warren in which we were floundering about.

A Sleepover with Danica

Harkening all of the way back to last weekend, dear Danica came for a sleepover on Saturday. It was mostly to escape her brother's birthday sleepover, but we were happy to have her whatever the reason. Sleepovers don't happen as frequently as they used to, but they are still meaningful to us.

We had picked her up mid afternoon after our Appreciation Event, and Danica did some homework before we went out for supper.

For supper, we decided to try Dairy Queen. We'd never done that before but had heard good things, and we had coupons. I don't think we'll eat there again apart from ice cream in summer. We weren't overly enchanted by the food, and I am suspicious when hot food is brought to the table (after ordering at the counter) almost as soon as we sit down. Like it took about two minutes to get three dinners ready?! Sue's burger bun contained some mold. They brought her another, or did they just change the bun, or did they just cut the mold from the bun?

Nevertheless, Danica enjoyed her dessert.

She spent much of the evening curled up and doing whatever she does on her phone. Grandma had gone to bed at this point.

Guess what she did in the morning?

Did you guess right?

After attending JJ's hockey game we did breakfast/lunch at McDs.

Somewhat surprisingly, she wanted to come back to our place rather than go home. She did some crafting, homework, and I am sure more phone stuff.

It was late afternoon, but she decided that she wanted to stay for supper too. Go figure.

What a treat to have this almost-teenager return for a sleepover. I think I still have some memories of the first one. I should try to find it and link. Just wait a minute while I . . .

Did you wait? I have one of me walking with Danica at a sleepover. I'm not sure if it was the very first one, but I think it might very well have been.


It touches me quite deeply to see that photo.

Caturday 18: Alarmed

Goodness Gracious me o my! It is Saturday already so soon. (Although I confess that I am writing on Tuesday. Sometimes, I get way ahead of myself, and I think that I still have two more posts to write before I quit this morning. I don't usually get this far ahead of myself.)

Believe it or not we have another Caturday for your viewing and reading pleasure.

This is a photo of Lacey on Sue's lap. Sue had been petting her, and as Lacey lifts her head, I conceptualize her saying something like, "What?! You have actually stopped petting me. This alarms me greatly. Don't make me bite you!"

The look of alarm