"Lockdown" is now in effect

Well it's happened!  Toronto has been moved into a Lockdown while they attempt to get control of the COVID-19 virus. It looks like Christmas shared with family members not of your own household might not happen. I was thankful that we had booked last Saturday to visit with Laura and Jay and the family as it might be the last visit of the year.  I wrapped up the Christmas gifts and we packed them up for travel.  After a brief stop in Norwich to stock up on some freshly made baked goods and a few other treats for Sinterklaas, we headed to St. Thomas. We enjoyed a few stops along the way.  Ralph helped me find a barn to create a "composite" image as practice with some techniques I am learning and then we discovered some pumkins along the way which were all attached to the fence posts.  Someone sure must have had fun doing that.

We enjoyed a driveway visit with the family. We were well prepared by bringing hats, mitts and blankets and enjoyed a really nice time together. We gave all the gifts to Jay and Laura who promised  to hide them until Christmas. I was happy that we had done our shopping (albeit online) well in advance.  We've planned a zoom call for Christmas day as a temporary measure but I am hoping that we can maybe have another driveway visit if the numbers come down.  As we sat around and enjoyed each others company we were reminded of how important family is and what a blessing they are to us.  Why is it that when something is taken away, you then realize how important it is.   God is certainly teaching us how important family, friends and He is during these months of the Pandemic.  We sure miss seeing one another on a regular  basis and miss the hugs and kisses even more.

Now that the weather has changed and it's become colder, we are spending more time indoors.  I think it's going to be a long winter.  We amuse ourselves by playing 18 holes of golf on the putting mat.  Its good practice (I need alot) and Ralph beats me everytime. It's a lot of fun for both of us to be doing this together.  We've collected a lot of books to read and have purchased a nice puzzle to keep us busy.  It's a big one (1500 pieces)  and looks pretty challenging.

With  our big snowfall I went out walking with my camera and took a few shots.  I didn't feel too inspired and the path along the creek was closed so I gave up and came back home. I figured I would get more inspiration working on some old pictures.  

This owl is one of a series that I have taken.  The background was pretty dull as the sky was overcast so I decided to replace it with one that I had taken this past summer.  I really do like how the owl seems to "pop" and I'm quite happy with it.

I continue to work on cleaning up old photos.  I'm making progress and it feels good. What's even more satisfying is that I am finding pictures that I had totally forgotten that we had taken.  Its a pleasant surprise to come upon photos of birds, landscape etc that I haven't seen in years. It's been fun to look back at them and ensure that they are cleaned up and properly filed for "easy" locating in the event that I want to use it for something in the future.

 

On one of my walks I discovered a wasp nest which  I wanted to photograph. Initially I had planned to take the photos outside but the weather hasn't cooperated so I set it up in a box made out of black foam board.  I decided to add a few feathers (yes I still have them) for interest and took a few pictures. It was a good way to keep myself busy for an afternoon although I'm not yet sure if I like how the pictures turned out or not. After taking the  pictures, I took the nest and feathers (most of them) and placed them outside in our garden. I thought maybe the birds or squirrels might use them to line their nests. I still have a few of the larger ones that I plan to use with water droplets, and one day I'll work on that.

Is it November already

Well!!  Where has the time gone?  It’s November already. It’s been a while since I have posted. If I am truthful which I should be, I think I’ve lost my mojo or my desire to post about things that give me joy. It’s been a hard couple of months with my Mom being ill and in the hospital and with dealing with everything  that COVID brings.

My Mom is nicely settled into Roberta Place.  This is an "assisted living" retirement home in Barrie and a very lovely place to live.  She is very happy here which I am so thankful for.  They are very careful with the Covid protocol which I think it really  good. It does pose a challenbge for visiting as the rules are constantly changing but we go with the flow.  I am so thankful that our family has been supportive in everything that has  been done to help get my Mom settled in.  It certainly was a challenge to find the right  home.  We contacted 19 residences and narrowed it down to a smaller number for visiting.   A few of us "sisters" visited with the homes and all agreed that Roberta Place was our #1 choice.  I never realized how much work was involved in finding a suitable  home.  I am thankful to God that he led us in the choice that was made.

Today marks the 7th week that Mom has been discharged from the hospital.  Wow!!  Where did the time go?  She  spent two weeks in quarantine where family members were able to visit and could spent the entire day with her (if they so desired).  Everyone took turns visiting and it most certainly made the transition go well. She is certainly blessed to have 7 children.  The quarantine went well and the time flew by quickly.  The last five weeks have been a period of adjustment.  For Mom it's getting used to the schedule of the dining room and also having an opportunity to explore  her new home.  There are lots of different rooms and areas to visit.  We showed Mom where the laundry  room is and how to work both the washing and drying machines.  She's so happy that she doesn't have to save "quarters" lol.

With Mom's agreement and the help of the entire family, we packed up her apartement at Tollendale a  few weeks ago.  What a blessing to have the whole family involved and to be able to do this all together was so nice.  The work went quickly and the apartememt was left nice and clean and ready for  showing for the next potential home owners.  Everyone went home with boxes to either distribute amongst family members or to review with  Mom.  It was a good learning for me and I'll be embarking on another cleanup/purging during the next couple of months.

I've been spending the last month  or so learning new skills in photoshop and also cleaning up old photos.  I've been working on this since COVID started.  A lesson learned...don't leave photo's without cataloging and deleting those pictutes that will never be used.  While digital photography is a real blessing, the fact that you can take unlimited pictures can be a curse as well. One day I'll be finished lol. I could probably get through the pictures more quickly but I do find that I get distracted.  I've been practicing using different backgrounds, blurring out portions of the  pictures (for a different effect) and in some cases adding a more "painterly" effect.

Today we played what will most likely be our final round of golf for the year.  We had a great time even though it was a little chilly.  We played at Black Diamond in PontyPool.  We were surprised to see the snow as we drove there but found that it melted quickly  when the sun came out.  We had a great day!

As the days go by

It's been a busy couple of weeks.  My Mom has been diagnosed with Alzeimers and is currently in the hospital.  I can't believe that she has already been there almost two weeks.  It's difficult to have a loved one there with COVID as it makes visiting very difficult.  She has been in the respiratory floor for the past 2 weeks and has just been moved to the Specialized Seniors Care floor.  I ask for your prayers for our Mom and the family as we strive to make the best decisions for her well being and for improvement in our Mothers overall health. We trust that God will lead us in caring for her (His will be done). Through all of this, she has remained the fun loving Mom that we all enjoy and love spending time with.

After our visits to Barrie, Ralph and I have spent some time in the Sunflower Fields in Cookstown.  Oh how I love the sight of a field full of bloom.  It makes my heart sing.   As I strolled through the path in the gardens I couldn't help but hum some hymns that the Lord placed on my heart.  This is my happy place and I was able to let go of the stress of whats going on and to quietly sing praises our Lord.  We've been here twice in the past two weeks.  Thank you Ralph for taking me even though you sat patiently in the truck while I wandered around.  I was happy that you were able to enjoy the sunset and helped me as well with setting up some of the compositions.  

We also spent a couple of days at John and Grace's.  What a wonderful time we had.  We golfed twice and I can't remember laughing as much as we did.  The golf was fun but the friendship was even better.  We experienced the most amazing sunset and sunrises.  It certainly was beautiful.  

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.  Praise Him all creatures here below.  Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts.  Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.  Amen.

A time away

This past week Ralph and I went to Collingwood for a few days.  We were joined by Lawrence and Teresa and John and Grace and enjoyed some golf together.  Ralph and I went a day earlier with the intention of shooting some stars and simply to relax and have some fun.

It's interesting how the weather is changing.  We found that it was much cooler especially being close to the water.  Thankfully we had planned for this and had sweaters and jackets with us.  Ralph and I enjoyed a lovely sunset up near Thornbury.  There was some nice clouds adding some interest to the sky.  It amazes me how much earlier the sun is starting to set.  It goes down close to 8:00 pm now.  We stayed until about 8:30 and then headed back to the hotel to relax for a while before going out to photograph the milky way.  We weren't sure what to expect though as it had been pretty cloudy for most of the day.

We left the hotel at around 10:15 and headed back towards Meaford.  We had found a spot with a barn in the foreground which we thought would be nice to include in the photos.  Of course it depended on where the milky way was in the sky.  Hah hah, when we drove down the road, it was so pitch black out that we couldn't even see the barn.  We had to guess and only saw later if we captured it in our pictures.

There was still alot of clouds which added some interest.  What we didn't realize when scoping out the area, was that there were so many hydro wires.  I sure had to do a lot of editing to remove them.

We stayed at this location for a little over an hour and then thought we might try another spot however as we were driving it started to rain so we had to call it a night.  It was  probably a good thing as we had a round of golf planned for the next morning with everyone else.

The next day we played golf at Monterra which is right by Blue Mountain.  This was a pretty course to play and we enjoyed our time all together.

We enjoyed a nice bbq afterwards at a beach beside Georgian Bay.  There was lots of delicious food and it turned out to be a very beautiful day.

The following day we played at Lora Bay.  This is one of my favourite courses.  I love the scenery as it overlooks the Bay. It's so pretty.  Ralph and I arrived early so we went down to a beach just down the road and enjoyed a coffee.  We were surprised to still see colour in the sky from the mornning sunrise.

Golf was fun.  We sure do enjoy our time all together.  I look forward to our next adventure.

Wasps or hornets.... whatever they are

I am not a fan of wasps or hornets. I know that God placed them here on earth and they have a purpose but they give me goosebumps when I see them. 

I went back to the park by Burnhamthorpe today with the hope of seeing a hummingbird.  It came and went by so quickly that no photograph was taken. It was also pretty windy making it challenging to photograph the flowers.  As I was walking around I spied a hornets? nest.  It was very active with lots of hornets or wasps going to and fro. I set up my camera and tripod (far away) and attempted to get shots of the activity. The nest was amazing and so beautiful in its intricacy. It was constantly being worked on.  I thought I would do a little research to see if I could learn some more.  This nest is a "hornets" nest.  Below is a link on how they are built.  It's actually very interesting.

I spent about an hour and a half watching them.  It's amazing how fast they are.  I set my shutter speed at the fastest it would go and my ISO to auto letting the camera make the selection.  I think I'll need to do a bit of research to see how I can get a clearer picture.

I did take a few picture of the flowers but not many. As I said it was very windy making it a challenge.

I am very thankful for the summer flowers.  It gives me something to challenge myself with. I hope you to are blessed with God's beautiful creation around you.

What once was is no longer

Have you ever had it where in your mind you envision something and the more you thought about it the more excited you got. I had that recently. Last week I asked Ralph if he had noticed if the sunflowers were blooming at the Joshua Art Gallery. He had confirmed that he had seen them and of course me being me, I started planning an early morning photo excursion. I thought I could drop him off while he played golf and then I would spend a few hours photographing the beauties. In my mind there would be a myriad of colours and I started planning different compositions. Oh how fun it would be just to get out and see them. So, early Wednesday morning I got up at 5:15 with Ralph and got ready for my morning adventure.  I had hoped that there would be some mist rising because of the temperature change and thought that I might get a nice shot of the early morning sun over the pond at Pipers Heath. That was not to be. When we turned into the drive of the course there were several workers on the green beside the pond and definitely no mist. I wasn’t off to a good start. After saying goodbye to Ralph I headed to the gallery. To be truthful I drove right by it. As I glanced to my right while driving by I didn’t see any sunflowers at all. Hmmm, they must have planted them on the back side of the garden. I turned around and headed back. Upon arriving at the garden I discovered that there was only a few sunflowers. Probably leftover seeds from the previous year. The garden itself had plenty of vegetables and other smaller flowers like lavender planted but wasn’t what I had planned for. I stayed for a short while and took a few pictures and then decided to drive along Burnhamthorpe Rd to see where it would take me. So much construction and new development was underway. The road was not real pleasant to drive on. I turned off onto a country side road for a while but that wasn’t enjoyable either. I was driving the speed limit (60) and cars were wizzing by me. Alas, my dream of a fun outing didn’t turn out as planned. 

I decided to go to Whole Foods and do a bit of shopping for some groceries. That took a total of 7 minutes. Hah hah...what a morning it was turning out to be. It was now 8:10 and Ralph wouldn't be done until at least 10:30.  I parked at the Mall thinking  I would do some Mall walking.  No luck there either as the doors were locked tight. I guess they are discouraging Mall walkers because of Covid.  Oh well.  I decided to slowly drive back to the course and see what caught my eye along the way.  I noticed an interesting piece of art so I pulled into the side road and there was a park that I never knew existed.  I parked the truck and went exploring.  What a beautiful park it was filled with many gardens full of flowers.  I spied a few photographers grouped together near one garden and they all had "huge" telephoto lenses on.  Curious, I approached and asked what they were shooting.  Hummingbirds they replied.  Respecting the social distancing, I chose not to join the group, but rather made a note to myself to come back early one morning and see if the hummers were there when it wasn't quite so busy.  I continued to wander around the park and took full enjoyment from all the beautiful flowers.  It was a good way to the pass the time while Ralph finished his golf round.