Commenting about Commenting

I had no blog topic in mind this morning and was going to pass for a change. I mean, you certainly don't need to read my drivel on a daily basis. However, I now have a short notice to post.

Lately, I have been blog-reading in my recliner, using my iPad. It seems like a more comfy way to go about it.

But I sometimes have problems commenting from the tablet. Today, on two different blogs, I was asked to log in with Google. So, I kept trying, but the same screen would just keep popping up, time and time again. They were Peppy's blog and Patio Postcards'. I am also not sure that one or two others actually went through – Riverbend, for instance. Oddly enough, after running into problems on one blog, the next will post without a hitch. I think they are both blogger blogs too, and one was for sure. Go figure.

I have also been doing my Flickr commenting from my tablet but never experience any problems on that platform. Strange.

I may or may not remember to get back to blogs on my computer once that happens, but I thought I would mention it for general consumption. 😎

Other than that, I posted to yet another person of how I don't appreciate how some authors, usually female authors with female protagonists, must de rigueur have a frenzied violent attack in the climax, usually against their female protagonist. In the past, I actually stopped reading someone's novels for this reason, and now I am having second thoughts about this author, whom I otherwise like.

Oddly enough, both series had/have to do with forensics and buried bodies.

St Paul's in Lanark

On our way home from the sugar camp, we pulled off to visit the grounds of the little church in Lanark. Our county is called Lanark but so is a little village on the way to and from Wheelers.

The Anglican church is called St Paul's. There is a fabulous rock outcrop bursting through the ground. It's in this photo although it was not the main feature in this image. It reminds us of how close we are to bedrock almost anywhere in the county. Indeed, much of the county is underlain by the Precambrian rock of the Canadian Shield.

Another photo, peering through different headstones that I used to frame the church and also provide foreground interest. I have decided that I like it better than the first with the greater gap through which to see the subject.

As you might imagine, I did take other photos but the wide angle lens picked up too many distractions that I tended not to notice until I saw the images on the big screen. Still, it afforded me perspectives that I liked.

It was not my intention to post a church on Sunday, but here we are.

Around the Sugar Shack Grounds

Of course, I captured more photos on our lovely day at the sugar bush with Heather. On our many past excursions, I did what one normally does and employed my most normal lens. By that, I mean that it is the lens that captures medium distance photos without much distortion. Actually, I have used a wide angle lens previously but never solely, as far as I can recall.

But distortion can be interesting, and since I already had many normal photos of this place, I decided to use my wide angle lens exclusively on this occasion.

Shall we amble around the grounds together?

There is a little museum paying homage to the sugar bush of days past.

A workshop mockup lies behind the rail. The wide angle lens stretches everything into the distance.

When I got near the far corner of the corridor above, I took this photo. Colour or mono? As usual, I like them both, but I converted all of the rest of the photos, so I thought that I should also show one in colour.

Henry's Garage houses an ancient Model T, and that is all that it houses. I really needed my wide angle lens to get the interior photo, for there is precious little room between the fence and the car. As before, this lens stretches the distance. 

The signage, just above the garage. 

I think my photo of the old boiler shack ↓ (I assume that’s what it is) is my favourite of this visit. 

Or maybe I like the car better. Hmmm.

Point of View

Where are we, and what is Sue looking at?

Long time readers should soon be able to answer correctly: if not the name of the place, at least what it is.  You may already see enough in the background to inform you. If you are a newer reader, since the pandemic anyway, you likely don't know although I have posted about it once, just last fall.

Now you see more of the background, but you are looking away from what my lady is looking at. Perhaps my lumberjacket-style coat helps although that thought just comes to me now.

Heather is being a card and holding up an orange slice

Now, take a gander at our plates.

Yes, we are at the sugar shack – Wheelers Pancake House and Sugar Camp. It's located deep in the hinterland, about 45 minutes from home.

Although the maple syrup season is all but done for the year, they keep the restaurant going all year, and this was our traditional spring pilgrimage. We often make the excursion twice a year — once in spring and once in autumn — often, but not always.

We put off our spring trip until Heather was visiting because we have visited several times with her, and it's an experience that we all enjoy. After the snowfall of the library talk, the day was sunny and also warm – in a modest Canadian-April way if you understand.

So, what had Sue been staring at in the first photo? It is behind her in this photo.

Yes, it was the grand fireplace that caught her attention, especially since her photo theme this week is Point of View. So she got her phone to the base of the fireplace and took a picture looking up, which is a grand point of view, don't you think?

And . . . we made a selfie with Sue's phone. I held it, and Sue triggered it from her watch.

Nice trip, good food, great company: what an enjoyable and satisfying few hours

Book Talk in a Snowstorm

I'm pretty sure that it happens every April – s snowstorm, I mean. They're not all truly storms, but whatever they deserved to be called, they are not wanted in April.

I have told you that Heather is here this week to travel hither, thither and yon to discuss Cracked Pots. Tuesday was her day to be at our local library, and that was the snowy day. If any day had to be snowy, and apparently one day did, it's a good thing that it was for Heather's most local gig.

When we got to the library, I took some photos through their windows and must remind myself that this is a pretty good vantage point – much better than from our abode, for sure.

By the next day, it was gone, and it we were to enjoy some pretty nice weather, which I expect will be the subject of tomorrow's post. Meanwhile, Heather's talk was brilliant. here are a few photos: some Sue's, ssome mine.

Danica Celebrates Her 15th

The baby girl celebrated the end of her 15th trip around the sun yesterday. They came over for dinner, which they brought and an ice cream cake that I had purchased from DQ but not picked up yet. They spelled it Danika on the cake. That's the way it goes. I think I told them with a C but that didn't get heard or sink in.

This was the card that I made for her, first the front because the inside makes more sense if you read that first: Don't Worry ... But Be Happy on Your Birthday.

Of course, I have a few from our little get-together, which I guess you can't really call a party. I mean, how can you say that a 15-year-old being with her grandparents is a party?

After two consecutive COVID birthdays in the cold garage, it was a good thing to be sitting in the inside comfort of our home. Life is getting back to a semblance of normality.

Heather and Hair and Smock

Heather, Sue's sister, is here this week,  doing various book talks, dealing with her Cracked Pots, that was released last fall. I think she has four or five talks scheduled this week. I am planning to attend the one in this town to take a few photos. Otherwise, I will try to stay out of trouble, but I hope to post something about her visit before the week is over. Other posting may be lighter than usual. We shall see.

Poor Sue. She had planned to have her hair done as a prelude for the visit so that she could look her best for the meetings. Only her second hairdo since COVID was scheduled for Friday. Disappointingly, she got a call from her stylist early in the morning informing her that he found that he couldn't open on Good Friday because he would face the risk of a big fine. Oh dear!

She looks fine, of course, but, as you can imagine, it was quite a letdown.

I am pre-posting this to publish on Tuesday. All I have to add, at the moment, is two photos, below, that I took last week.

Sue's friend, Ivy, passed away recently. Ivy enjoyed making art, and Sue spied her smock at the wake. She took a photo there but missed the top. She later asked Ivy's son, if she could take it home to try to get a better photo.

Since Sue didn't have any of Ivy's paintings (maybe we will still get some), she surrounded the smock with some of her own artwork and supplies from days past.

I wasn't sure that I liked the photo on a black background, so I did some more editing. I changed the background to try to pick up the colours in the painting by the hat. Then, I added the framing.

Whatever the merits of each edition (and even the black was a challenge), I did accomplish, more or less, what I set out to do – in both versions.