Searching for the Right Words

Yesterday, I found myself at sixes and sevens. It is a phrase that has come down to me that is probably common for people with British forebears. Perhaps everyone is familiar with it, though. I just don't know. What say you?

Wikipedia: "At sixes and sevens" is an English idiom used to describe a condition of confusion or disarray.

In my world, the expression doesn't so much refer to confusion but something more like, "I am not quite sure what I want or what to do with myself." Well, I guess that is a type of confusion, but perhaps, at loose ends would be even a more apt turn of phrase.  

Collins: If you are at a loose end, you are bored because you do not have anything to do and cannot think of anything that you want to do. In American English, you usually say that you are at loose ends. [informal]

That's close to it although I wasn't, strictly speaking, bored as such. I could think of things that I might have wanted to do but was prevented for one reason or another. Maybe I was experiencing ennui. 

Dictionary: a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement.

No, that's not quite it either.

All of the expressions are on the verge of what I was feeling but perhaps not quite nailing it either.

To escape this feeling, however it should be described, I went up to the nearest bridge to take a photo of that tree, the one that turns colour early every year.

Alas and alack! It was not to be. The tree in question is the bare bones one on the point to the right. It is either done already or dying. I think it is a bit of both. Sadly.

Wiktionary: an idiom combining a pair of terms with similar meaning. The first syllable in each word is like a sigh; alas is from Old French meaning weariness; and lack is from Middle English meaning loss.

There was another tree, actually two, approaching full glory.

Remind me not to bother returning to that spot. The bridge was highly trafficked, and even though there was a sidewalk, I wasn't comfortable with trucks and cars whizzing by about two feet from my bottom as I leaned over to scrutinize the scenes in the viewfinder.

Back at home, once I was done with that little photoshoot, I once again found myself at loose ends, at sixes and sevens, and in a state of ennui.

Perhaps I was betwitz and between: wanting to do something but not knowing quite what that might be.

Dictionary: not fully or properly either of two things.

What to Do

I heard from Bob about our almost-standard Thursday coffee in the park meeting, which pre-Pandemic was usually at McDs. The question was if we should meet at the park again or go to the Under Pressure cafe. I wrote back that we didn't want to cross the indoor meeting bridge just yet while outdoors is still suitable. Today, for example, the weather will be good enough for an outdoor meeting: 14C/57F, somewhat sunny, and not windy..

As for close encounter meetings indoors, we shall have to make some decisions in another few weeks. Bob and Barb don't see anyone but family and us, and I don't see anyone but them, except on rare and socially distanced occasions. Sue does see her lady friends, but, as you have seen, those meetings are also distanced outdoors. I am positive that we would be safe with Bob and Barb, and yet I hesitate to go beyond recent boundaries.

When Bob and I went on the photoshoot last week, we chose not to mask in the car although we were both prepared to do just that. Although we had car-masked earlier in the Pandemic, it didn't seem necessary on that recent trip. Yet, there is a significant rise in new cases provincially although not locally. What times we live in!

Speaking of the park, I took this photo earlier in the week when I dropped Sue off for her meeting. I seldom use my polarizing filter, but I did this time and was able to photograph  more clearly the rocks below the surface of the river for this Rock and Reed photo.

After Sue's meetup, on Tuesday she and I did go to the same cafe that I mentioned above. The proprietor has been struggling to keep her business afloat, so it is one spot that we are willing to chance in order to support her. There is masking until seated and then proper distancing between tables.

She's the one who grants me display space. This is my one section. I have another three photos farther along the wall.

Can't avoid reflections

What the heck! I may as well show the other section as well.

While there, I took this candid of Sue. The backlighting was anything but optimal, but with a little fiddling in post, I think it developed well enough.

Sue looks pensive in the photo, which seems appropriate, as we ponder how to navigate life in 2020. Currently, we are not meeting with Sha and the kids who are back in school. What should we do about that as well as our coffee dates?

Autumn Cometh with Reflections and a Duck

Sue and her friends met in the park for their usual Tuesday Kaffeeklatsch, and as usual I drove her and did the manly thing by carrying and setting up her lawn chair. While she is quite capable of doing this, there have been times when parking is limited, and she has had to port the chair for a rather long way. If necessary, I am able to park temporarily and quickly head off.

At less than 10C/50F it was a cold morning, but they stuck it out for more than an hour. The weather must warm up. Mustn't it? It's still just mid-September afterall. In normal years, which I have been told that this isn't, we should be able to socialize like this for another month or more.

When I dropped her off, the river was like a mirror, and colour was beginning to appear. So, I snapped, so to speak. It was a somewhat dull day, so I did turn up the brightness and vibrancy in post. After all, one wants to make the most that one can of the fleeting fall colours.

I left to do some shopping, Unfortunately, I missed firsthand the lady with the pet duck, but at least Sue got the visual proof.

Does this remind anyone of Ruth's pet duck, Rosa, in the Inspector Gamache novels by Louise Penny?  I wonder if Penny was inspired by seeing a pet duck like this at one point.

The park being adjacent to a high school, Sue couldn't help noticing that whatever the precautions and procedures inside, the kids were not masking or distancing outside at a time when COVID numbers are on the rise. Fortunately for us and these students, most of the increase has occurred in a few urban centres, namely Toronto and Ottawa, and there are only two active cases in our rather large health region at the moment. Still kids, you are not immune and invincible.

A Photoshoot Without Photos

I have titled the post, A Photoshoot Without Photos, but I do have pictures -- phone pictures, which I guess I am distinguishing from real photos. lol

I drove the twenty minutes or so to the little conservation area at Blakeney. It was early enough, perhaps ~7AM, with the sun barely risen. But I wasn't there for a sunrise. In point of fact, the sun wasn't high enough to rise over the trees and begin to hit the area directly until almost 7:30.

The road to the Conservation area, which is off to the left.

The view from the road looking downriver along the Mississippi River

This is the entrance to the place, or at least the door is the entrance to the woodsy paths. Before you get to the door there is an open picnic area off to the right (unseen here), which is as far as people often get.

It's just a door, nothing more, beyond the old mill wheel.

I wandered about sans camera looking for possible photo ops and not finding much. The place is tight with narrow pathways and no vistas, and the way down to the water's edge, where it is more open, is a little precipitous in places -- at least for a gimpy oldster.

Distributaries from the river flow through the park, and there are a number of cutesy foot bridges.

Note the bedrock and rapids

Blakeney is on the edge of the Canadian (Precambrian) Shield, and the rock outcrops in places, and even where it doesn't actually outcrop, it is very close to the surface.

More bedrock

It is an interesting area in which to amble about, but as much as I appreciated my walkabout, nothing moved me sufficiently to go back to the car for my camera. I didn't even think to pull out my phone until near the end of my wandering, when it dawned on me that my excursion might make an acceptable blog post. I may return for another attempt when there is a bit of autumn colour which is beginning to creep into our region.

The Video and the Oldsters

After failing with FB, I was able to post the Drag Queen video to YT. It is a compilation of a little bit of almost every act, but it is almost 4 minutes long, so be warned. I know that I wouldn't jump at watching such a long video on someone else's blog, so I won't be offended if you pass it by. But I must say that you may find some entertainment value.

(The new blogger doesn't embed videos as handily, but here we are anyway. I recommend enlarging to full screen.)

I will now thrill you with a few pics of Susie and Johnny at the event.

There was no mistaking where Susie was headed.

We were early and ported out lawn chairs to a spot right by the driveway. This allowed me to get the unobstructed photos that you saw yesterday as well as the video above.

Once we removed the masks, we remained rooted in our seats for the duration. I did take two selfies of the pair of us, one with masks and one without. My compact camera has a flippy screen and is ... um ... compact enough for me to accomplish this.

A few more closeups. In the second one, you can see how my glasses and mask get all tangled together. I used the cord on the glasses to easily remove them when I want to take a photo, but it does tend to conflict with a mask.

Finally, Sue and Linda in the aftermath. I have posted of Linda every now and then -- the town councillor and general town cheerleader who wears big, crazy hats, very often crafted for a specific event. I think the Renaissance outfit, below, was made for a museum occasion which she was due to attend after this one.

  

Driveway Drag Show to End Pride Week

Our local Pride Week concluded yesterday, Saturday, with a Drag Queen Show in a private driveway. While this Drag show has occurred in a public space in the past, such gatherings are simply not on this year. Therefore, the organizers made the most of it in a private venue by using a driveway as their stage. We set up chairs on the lawn -- more than one lawn as it turned out. Since we were in the open and pretty well spaced, most of us removed our masks once we were seated.

This time around, I chose to bring my compact camera. With its small footprint, it turned out to be a good choice. The photos are acceptable, and I could easily switch to video. For video, I tried to get and edit a small snippet of most of the performances. I am attempting to upload the video to FB, but it is taking so long that I am not sure the attempt will ever be successful. If it is, I shall post the link below.

But now for a few photos.

Sue posed with them at the end. I was surprised at how tall the performers are, especially in their heels.

They made the best of the unfortunate situation in these times, and it turned out very well.

I will now hang on to see if the video goes live in the near future . . .

. .  . I am giving up. After many hours, the needle doesn't seem to be moving in the slightest. Perhaps I shall try here or in YT, and I will post separately, if and when.

Fifty-Eight Minutes

I managed to squeeze in a quick post yesterday before heading out on a shoot with Bob. As early as we planned to meet, he even texted me, wondering if I could be ready 15 minutes earlier than planned. So 5:45 it was.

Bob drives all over in the wee hours and found a spot which might work for a sunrise. It was at the top of a hill. Of course, the roads never line up propitiously hereabouts for a direct sunrise, but one tries to do one's best.

We're a fussy lot, we photographers. We want a sunrise and we want clouds. While neither worked perfectly on that morning, we tried our best.

6:28  As soon as I popped out of the car, I set up for this shot. The one, solitary cloud was off over a field. I included the road for context. The diagonal element worked well enough, I think. I did try one version where I cloned away all of the poles and wires, but I didn't like the result. It was better to break the horizon with the verticals in this case.

6:34  I decided to take one phone looking down the road, even without co-operative clouds.

6:46 Twelve minutes later, we could see where the sun would rise: across the fields without a very good foreground.

7:00 The red had gone, leaving just a few streaks in small gaps in the cloud.

7:05  The little cloud at the top had separated from the low, dense cloud.

7:21 The sun had risen beyond the dense cloud. I squeezed the aperture, looking for a burst effect, and I got it. Surprisingly, I didn't also get annoying sun flares, which pleases me. I had also moved to a spot where I could see a bit of a shack along with a cow. I couldn't see these before very well in the darkness. These two entities gave me a bit of a foreground. Unfortunately, My long lens truncated both of them. However, I do like this photo better than any that preceded it.

7:26 With the sun fully risen, we were ready to cal it a morning, but then I took my favourite photo of the shoot. As much as we all love sunrises, the golden light which comes briefly afterward can be quite wonderful for landscape photos with its golden tones, soft light, and long shadows. As it turned out, this was my favourite shot of the morning. Go figure. 

Outtakes

There wasn't just one cow but a small herd, but this is a photo of just one beast.

Then, a whole bunch of the critters became very curious and came as close as they could. I felt like I was making friends.

Bob

Back at the car, and just before packing up, I liked the light on Bob. I like his look for candid portraits. He's got character with that white beard.

As I so often do with portraits, I also experimented with a black and white conversion.

Phew! I don't think I've ever narrated a shoot like that and probably won't again. Not often anyway. 

Enjoy this Saturday. We will attend a Pride event to close a Pride Week which has been very quiet in this pandemic year.