5:30

I have been awake for two hours already. I am not sure why although I was in some mild discomfort. Moved over to my chair and stuck a podcast in my ears — to no avail.

Eventually, I went downstairs, toasted some cheese bread and gave Lacey her morning tuna, about 4 hours ahead of the usual time.

Now what? I dunno.

It is garbage day, and I will get that ready to put out by about 9, but I'm not going to rustle about now because Beloved is still in repose and will be for quite some time.

Happily, I suppose, this early rising has given me something to say on a day when I thought I had finally run out of blather.

I am also going to post (below) my new version of the pink moon with the reflections on the river.

I had thought to do it anyway and likely would have, and then a reader noticed that the reflection seemed to be misplaced vis-a-vis the moon in the original version which I posted yesterday. That rendition was the way that it really was because of the off kilter angle from which I had to shoot. I was on the riverbank, but the moon rose way off to my right over the opposite bank, and I wasn't going to get into the water to find a better angle, 

By the way, this is approximately the spot where I ruined my camera last September, so here I was $2000 later back at the same spot. So yeah. I stayed out of the water. But I was right on the edge I tell ya.

So what do you do? Well, I posted as I saw the scene because one tries to reflect reality (did I just pun?). On the other hand, if I could have been in a different position of perhaps a few hundred yards, I would have seen the reflection aligning less jarringly with the moon and something more like this new adjusted version.

With a little more work in post, I managed to move the reflection.

I am still not sure if I got it, the reflection, placed exactly right (I have trouble visualizing these things aright), but it is better than it was.

A lot went into the photo. First came the waiting and then the two exposures. Then came the original blending in post in which I enlarged the moon slightly because that's was how it felt to me. Finally, I have now aligned the reflection, at least better than it was.

They say that you don't take a photo but make a photo. This one required more making than usual. I guess I learned something in the process although I am not sure what. Maybe it was more of a practising of skills rather than learning.

And now it is almost 6. The sky is brightening although my brain is not.

It is time to edit and polish the above although I seem to always miss something.

Pink Moon over the Treetops

I had read that the full moon was to rise last night — the so-called Pink Moon. Alexa told me it would occur around 11:30pm. While that is rather late to stumble around in the dark, I was willing to make the effort. However, I was saved when Alexa later, to the question framed differently, told me that the moon would rise at 7:40. 

It was discrepancy that made sense when I thought about it. The moon would rise at 7:40 but technically wouldn't be full until 11:30. It's much like the equinox. We call the whole day when the sun is  directly above the equator, The Equinox, but if you ask Alexa (or Siri or Cortana or whomever and whatever), she will give you the precise moment that the sun reaches fullness.

I had picked out a spot by the river where Danica and I had spotted the moon back at Christmas. It had then been directly across the river from us. However, the earth tilts differently in April, so the moon rose farther downriver. I was barely able to make photos from my chosen vantage point, but I managed.

From my observation point, the moon didn't rise at 7:40 because it had to climb over the trees.  I didn't begin to see it until after 8.

While, of course, I wanted the moon to be clear of the trees across the river, I was also happy to take photos of the rising.

All along, I had wanted the treetops in the photo(s) and not just the moon because I like context in my photos, if possible. However, by the time that Pinky cleared the trees, it was so bright that s/he came out as an overexposed, white circle. I began to take two exposures, a lighter one for the scene and a darker one for the the moon. I then blended them in post.

I had got the shot that I had come for of the full moon over the trees, particularly the photo below. While it is not the most spectacular lunar photo ever, I did the best I could at that location that night with the equipment at my disposal.

The treetops are subtle, but they're there.

In the process, I did take a different photo to get the context of the location and particularly the reflection on the river. Once again, it's a two-photo merge.

By zooming out so much to incorporate the whole scene, Pinky looked pretty small: smaller in camera than what I felt that I was seeing with my eyes. I therefore decided,to embiggen her (above), just a tad, in that one photo.

So often, the full moon occurs on a cloudy night when it is obscured or too early in the day when it is still too bright, so I lucked out to some degree. The location didn't give me the very best angle, but the results were fair, enough, and I am not disappointed.

Split Toning

When I posted the above re-edited photo last week, I didn't post the bw version that I had also made at that time.

While it does get a pass, I didn't and still don't like it as much as the colour version, so I neither printed nor posted it.

Later however, I decided to apply just a wee bit of split toning to the bw version. Very slightly, I added blue to the shadows and orange to the highlights. I think it adds just enough more life to make the photo more interesting.

Most would probably not notice the split toning if they hadn't been made aware, but it did make a positive difference — to my old eyes, at least.

I might even consider printing it at some future point.

The main thing with bw photos, IMO, is to not post bws adjacent to the colour photo as I do here and often. It's best to let them stand or fall on their own merit. 

I should heed my own advice, but that's no fun.

Strange Times

How do you do this COVID thing in your lil ole lives? Living with the pandemic, I mean.

Many of you are past our country's stage of being in the third wave and consequently, the third lockdown, so your lives are probably closer to normal that ours. As you know, we are in lockdown, but by golly, you can't let the cat starve. I needed to order her monthly food bag.

In the previous lockdown, I was able to call the store, and they set aside the order. I then phoned when I arrived. They put it out on a table, and I picked it up. Easy peasey. 

This time the method had changed. This time when I called, they told me that I was now to order online, making sure not to pay online because that would mean they would ship the order from elsewhere, and that would take time. Once I did the online thing, the store would be notified, and once they readied the order, they in turn would notify me.

I am still flexible (in spirit at least), and it worked out well enough.

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I also have a jumpy mouse, which has nothing to do with the cat and is driving me to distraction. Not in my bed although I have experienced that too, albeit in the distant past. Nuff said.

No, I refer to the computer mouse. It's jumpy. I will move the mouse pointer to make a click but the silly mouse has a mind of its own and will jump around willy nilly. More than once these random perambulations have caused me to inadvertently close the browser and lose my place in the online universe.

Still stuck with a tethered mouse, I also want a cordless one so that if I am watching something on YouTube late at night from my distant chair, I can click to the next clip without having to get up. You see, I sometimes endeavour to lull myself to sleep that way, and it doesn't help if I keep having to get up and down. My theory is that I could work the cordless mouse right from my easy chair. Time will tell.

Confidently onto the Staples website went I, knowing the process there already. It works like the pet food store. You order online. If the store has the item in stock, you can pick it up in about two hours. If not, they will ship it within two days. This particular "Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim’rous beastie," (thank you Robbie) will require shipping.

Aarrgghh! The jumpy mouse just caused this post to close again. Fortunately, Blogger does a great job at continuously saving the post as I write it.

The thing is, even though I have an online Staples account, I have to input my store every single dadblasted time that I visit the site. They do maintain all of my data on file, including my address, but they seem to want me to travel to a store in Toronto for pickup. It's a strange thing, I tells ya. Why the website defaults like that, I know not. It's not even nearby Ottawa where they try to send me. Go figga.

But these are strange times. I am telling you that, just in case you don't already know.

Languishing

Does this interminable pandemic have you languishing? Apparently, it is a recognizable condition. The esteemed NYT even wrote about it here, and I offer a few snippets from the article.

Languishing is a sense of stagnation and emptiness. It feels as if you’re muddling through your days, looking at your life through a foggy windshield.

As scientists and physicians work to treat and cure the physical symptoms of long-haul Covid, many people are struggling with the emotional long-haul of the pandemic.

It’s the void between depression and flourishing — the absence of well-being. ... You’re not functioning at full capacity. Languishing dulls your motivation, disrupts your ability to focus, and triples the odds that you’ll cut back on work.

I think the simple antidote (oops, I had anecdote there), both partial and temporary, is to do something. On Thursday, after picking up cat food, we went for a drive. The bitter cold and wind doesn't appeal to us for walking, but the little drive was a welcome diversion.

Then yesterday, we did something that has not been unusual for us. We picked up breakfast from MickeyDees and took it to the park. I know we have done this a lot over the months, but we aren't there every day by any means or even every week come to that. So, that kind of little outing continues to provide a break and help reduce our languishing.

Once again it was cold and windy, but at least it was sunny. On this cold day, the sun warmed the car to the extent that we were obliged to crack open the windows.

Being in a languishing state of mind, we both forgot to take the usual selfie, which probably cheers the readers greatly. I mean, you must be tiring of those photos.

I was taken with this tree, however. To get past signage, I got as close as I could and took two photos in vertical mode and merged them in post. Due to the perspective, the background is wonky, but it is an impressive tree. I may return at some point with my wide angle lens to try another photo. The sidelight at mid morning seems like a good time for light and shadow variation.

I love it when the trees are just feathering out. That's my word, but you're welcome to use it. In the feather stage you can still sone the bones of the tree. You can use that word too if you like. Looking the other way, toward the park, there were more trees in this stage. 

It was a nice, little break. Hopefully, we'll get out more as the weather improves and before the trees get too leafy. Happily, we did have those early, freakishly warms spells to also break our languishing.

Glory be to Hanna Hats

Once upon a time, I commuted to school with two family studies teachers who informed me that there is a difference between hats and caps. In deference, I try to use the right word, but not when alliteration beckons to my muse (see title).

When I posted this ↑ of me in my cap, fellow blogger, Pipe Tobacco, inquired about it.

I bought the cap at the Irish and Scottish shop in Ottawa. It is a fairly weighty cap, best worn in spring and fall but not in hotter summer or in the deepest cold of winter. While it would work for some of the winter, particularly in the milder country from which it hails, I don't wear much in that season because clashes greatly my red coat. Besides, I have caps which suit winter well, including one with ear flaps for the coldest days — actually two, but I don't like the style (or lack) of one of them.

Even in spring and fall, it clashes with my other spring/fall jacket which is a red-black check. As much as I can, though in these seasons, I wear the more neutral khaki jacket, above, just so I can wear this hat, because I do like it.

Indeed, it is a Hanna Hat from good ole Donegal in good ole Ireland. I will leave up to Mr Pipe to pursue inquires ... or not.

Yes, AC has a big head. Too bad about the small brain.

I think Pipe also asked about lighter-weight, summer hats caps. They aren't as ubiquitous in my experience, and I searched fruitlessly for years. However, I finally found this one  ↓ at the same store and from the same company. 

This ↓ photo was unplanned, but the shirt is a good match. I also have a mask that is also a pretty close match. I should get a photo of the three items together. Perhaps on another day, for I am still in my jammies.

I also purchased another tartan-style cap on the same day as the red one, above. While it isn't quite as snazzy, I like it too.

Speaking of jammies, this was a phone selfie taken just a few moments ago. All that I do, I do for you. Eh?

An Order and an Edit

Last week I was contacted by a lady who had seen my photos at the cafe (where I haven't been for six months) and wondered about purchasing a few prints for her husband's birthday. She was looking for photos not necessarily like the ones hanging at the cafe at that time but specifically for recognizable places in our town that were also on the brighter side.

Hmm ... bright photos could be a problem because photographers tend to take a lot of photos in lower light toward the beginning or end of daylight hours. I dragged a few possibilities into a separate Flickr folder for her to peruse and also suggested a few of my other albums that she could look at.

She made good choices with these two photos. Both the one of the railway station with the peonies in foreground and the one of town hall in golden hour qualify. They are both of recognizable places and are bright enough.

Her third choice of the whitewater by the old mill puzzled me.

While the photo of the mill is in keeping with the recognizable features theme, it didn't seem to qualify as bright. Also, the crop would not have matched the other two photos; it is closer to square while the others are closer to a 3x2 ratio, which also meant that I couldn't print it as large.

I went to work. Going back to the original photo I uncropped it. I had cropped it, particularly on the right because there were many stray and distracting branches. I then photoshopped the branches away as best I could and also tried to give the photo a bit more pop.

Although I had been somewhat surprised by her choice, I must say that the final print actually looks very good. Prints can be that way, very often looking more appealing than their digital counterparts, especially when the print is a fair bit larger than the online version.