Birthday Recollections

Today is younger child's 43rd birthday – youngest child, not the oldest.. I can barely fathom that  

We were both born on September 02, just a mere 31 years apart. Oddly enough we were both close to entering this world one day later on the 3rd of September. So I present just a few random snaps of my child's earlier days.

A newborn photo with Sue.

Someone or other took this in the hospital. It became extremely discolored over the decades, so I converted it to mono.

Someone seemed pleased with the Teddy Bear a few years later. We still have it. Sue dresses it to suit the seasons and keeps it in the front porch.

Clowning around at Halloween.

With me in the early 80s. I loved that vest sweater. I loved my sweet child too.

With Sue in the later 80s, possibly very early 90s.

With Scutter, probably late-ish 80s.

With Rocky: late 90s, I think..

So concludes my little trawl through snapshot memories. 

Defining Problematic Autumn

In my part of the world, and likely for most who stumble across this post, autumn is said to begin when the sun is directly over the Equator on its southward journey to the Tropic of Capricorn. This occurs on September 21 or close to it; it does vary slightly. (Of course, we refer to the sun as moving when, in fact, it is the earth.)

There are other notions of autumn, however. Aussies, for example, view autumn (actually their spring) as beginning on September 1st.

If we need to distinguish between the two versions, in Canada, what we call autumn (or more commonly, Fall) can be termed Astronomical Autumn. However, Meteoritical Autumn begins today, September 1st.

Again, here in the Great White North, it makes absolute sense to declare that September 01 begins autumn. It's when we go back to school and when temperatures begin to become more pleasant after the high heat of summer. 

Of course, temperature change doesn't occur automatically on the 1st, but it isn't usually long afterward. I often began teaching on a very hot day early in September, but that heat soon dissipated into the much more agreeable autumn temperatures, not at all like July and August.

The meteorological definition makes sense to this poor clod. We always say that kids go back to school in Fall. Then we make it confusing by saying that Fall begins on the 21st or thereabouts.

The meteorological calendar divides into 3 month segments. link

But that's confusing too, at least in this country, because November temperatures are definitely not autumn-like.  Especially by month's end, it can be pretty doggone wintry. In many years, continuous snow cover begins before the end of November and continues into March. It has lasted into April a few times. Indeed, I personally think of winter, not as being 3 months but close to 5.

Once upon a time, in English-speaking countries, autumn was thought to begin on Lammas Day (August 01), and end around Hallowe'en. I am not entirely sure, but this may still be the way it is seen in the Irish/Gaelic calendar. Considering August to be autumn, may have worked in the more moderated climate of Eire and Old Blighty, it wouldn't work for Canada where August is far too hot.

On top of all of this, I have my own definition based on sun observations in my own little den. I deem that autumn begins when I no longer have to pull the shade to keep the sun from glaring off my computer screen. We haven't quite reached that point, but it's getting close.

Those Crazy Petunias Again

It is just two weeks ago today that I posted Volunteers in the Garden. If anything, those wild petunias are growling even more prolific in the soil-less mulch, even after the long and hot dry spell, which we have recently endured.

I was moved to photograph them again, this time with my camera and not the phone. Once again, I just leaned out the second floor window and looked down.

You can barely distinguish between the volunteers and the planted pot, which is just to the right of the bird bath, on this side of the heron.

That ↑ was as close as I could get with my normal lens zoomed out to 105mm. Later, I put the longer lens on and zoomed it to its ↓ maximum 200mm.

I do have an even longer lens, but I think this was close enough. In point of fact, I think the first photo was the better one as it showed more, although still not all, of these valiant flowers.

I took one more photo, just shifting slightly from the one above.

We can't  seem to stop marvelling at these wild petunias. Hopefully, they will continue to thrive for another month as autumn begins to approach.

Bountiful

So, I posted about an heirloom tomato one day (yesterday) and then the veritable floodgates opened. Look at the bounty, below.

Many tomatoes of various sizes, shapes and colours: red, yellow, orange, and green.

Yup! This bounty was supplied by the same friendly gardener who gave us the heirloom tomato yesterday. There are two of those in this batch, which are seen more clearly on the second photo, below.

I processed the photos according to my whim, particularly the first two.

The first photo ↑ was the whole plenteous batch, which we were given on this occasion. The next photo ↓ is all the varieties in reduced numbers.

Then, I isolated on the yellow one with a long and twisting stem. I like it the best of the three images, but I do like the others as well. Although I have done flower photos a bit in the past, for the most part this kind of photography is something different and difficult for me, so I just stumble and bumble along.

It's a simpler photo, and photographically speaking, simple is usually, if not always, better. It's best to remove distractions and focus attention. This principle works in all kinds of photography.

Heirloom Tomato

Coming fresh from a friend's garden, tomatoes are so much better that supermarket tomatoes. This heirloom variety doesn't look good compared to what we are used to, but it sure tastes good and better than we are used to.

Caturday 30: Especially Cats II

No sooner had I posted my Especially Cats blog last week, when I discovered more pertinent photos. This was because Danica had pulled out a photo album that I had completely forgotten about.

Early in 1994, I had quite a back episode, so I was often seen on floor for sometime afterward. This photo was taken in the same year but many months later, at Christmastime. Sha had just acquired Rocky and brought him over for the day. He must have like the soft, pillowy warmth of my hindermost parts.

On the floor again: I am not sure of the year of the next pic because Rocky is full grown. It may have been ~1999 when Rocky came to live with us for awhile. (He later came full time.) The other cat is Scutter who was beginning to get long in the tooth by this point. 

Rocky again: the box tells me that it must have been Christmastime.

As you can probably tell, Rocky was a favourite. We bonded pretty well after awhile and to a greater degree than most of my cats. I still think fondly of him sitting on my lap while I was reading late at night, and of him looking back if I was forgetting to pet him for too long.

Lacey, on the other hand, prefers Sue, but she does visit me in my chair on occasion. I am somewhat surprised when she does get up with me.

Here she is posing prettily.

JJ's Turn

A few days after Danica's sleepover, it was Jonathan's turn to experience the sheer rapture and joy of overnighting with his grandparents. lol

We play games with JJ -- Uno and Sorry this time.

He was eager to help Amma with meal prep: mashed potatoes one night and egg salad for sandwiches the next.

Helping me with the eggs for Buppa McMuffins in the morning: adding shredded cheese in the photo.

Crafts with Amma: something or other superhero related.

He crafted Wolverine claws all on his own.

We had a game of sock basket. In the video, I say, "Oh boobies," to a missed basket. This cracks him up and then Sue and me too, especially after my explanation and comment.