Couldn't think of a title

So 3 months ago we arrived in New Brunswick, and had a fun month. Time flies. I'm still thinking about how to do a book about the trip. Maybe that's why I've been in a bit of a photographic funk since then. Maybe I'm feeling intimidated by the thought of reviewing more than 2000 photos to see if I overlooked any gems, or that could be improved with new mad Lightroom skillz, like I did with one of the photos below. Maybe I'm procrastinating. Or maybe I'm warming up the dither machine for Image of the Year.

Somehow, this photo expresses how I feel.

No, I'm not ready for Christmas, but thanks for asking. Not. I'm never ready.

Yesterday was a fun day in one sense. It was just beginning to snow as I finished coffee and went to have a shower. It was a full blown blizzard when I came out. Fairly quickly the expected news headlines happened. There was an 80 to 100 car pileup on highway 2 just north of town. Glad I wasn't involved. I feel for the people that were. I can just see all the insurance adjusters putting in for overtime. I enjoyed being inside, drinking a mug of mint tea, being a fuzzy blanket substrate, and not having to go anywhere. Score a big one for being retired.

Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Driftwood (NB)

Film A fun double exposure, super zoomed in.

Linda

Newfoundland

New Brunswick

Why ever didn't I publish this, and maybe I did

90 days, or so ago

Parlee beach in Shediac.

Flower

Landscape

Dino related

Linda's winter decorations, plus snow

Linda struggled with the decorations this year. We travelled a little later in the year, then she had another trip later than that. The materials are much more expensive and she couldn't find some of the supplies she wanted. Plus the weather didn't exactly cooperate. It snowed the evening she finished. It's snowed a lot since. kSo you have to imagine some of the details. Of course, we had a chinook yesterday, but this was already queued up.

Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Driftwood (NB)

Film

Was loving the sky so just for fun I put the 14mm wide angle lens on the small film camera. (If you missed it, yesterday I blogged some film long exposures of the Bow River near downtown, here.)

Linda

Newfoundland

New Brunswick is very hilly in places. This is part of the Fundy Trail Provincial Park. 

Why ever didn't I publish this, and maybe I did

90 days, or so ago

Flower

Landscape

Dino related

Third time lucky?

In the week since the last blog I've started and abandoned 2 blog posts. One of them was only a few paragraphs, then I said to myself, this is a stupid idea. The other started off talking about a recent book I'd read, which segued into a bit of a rant, then veered into froth, then incoherence. There isn't enough lipstick for that pig. The book is, Why Nations Fail, by Daron Acemoglu and James A Robinson.

The authors point to many examples of failed nation states, with some comparisons to similar states that have not failed (yet although one is on the fast track to failure), and explain their theory of why. It boils down to two words, inclusive and extractive institutions. Inclusive good, extractive bad long term though sometimes good (for those in charge) in the short term. The problem with the book is that it badly needs editing to tighten it up. I found it repetitious and excessively wordy. I'm going to stop here.

Last week Sean and I went for a ramble along the Bow River. You can see his photos here. I took the film camera and exposed 2 rolls of film. I am happy that 16 of the 16 exposures are in focus, are recognizably of something, and are reasonably well exposed, considering they are long exposures done in difficult light. I'm even going to show you 13 of them, although not all at once. Here's the first to whet your appetite. Stay tuned.

Our community association did the Kid's skate with Santa yesterday. We didn't get as big a turnout as usual, but then it was WTF cold. Mostly the photos are people with Santa, but there's a few of the event. You can see a link to them here. It was the first chance I got to try out some of the new Lightroom processes, and I have to admit it's handy to be able to look at the grid view, and tweak some of the common global elements so the photos all have a common look.

Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Driftwood (NB)

Film

Linda

Newfoundland

New Brunswick The colour we went there to see.

Why ever didn't I publish this, and maybe I did

90 days, or so ago

I'd just come out of a porta potty beside the boardwalk to the beach, and surprised this guy.

Flower

Landscape

Dino related

A beach medley

It's cold as  out there today. The outside thermometer says -16 C. Brrr. Our neighbour was nice to shovel our driveway, since we do his while he's working out of town, but I was out to finish the sidewalk. The thermometer didn't mention the breeze that just cuts through all the layers. I'd been thinking of taking one of the cameras for a frosty walk, but I'll have to really bundle up, and take extra batteries, or the camera that doesn't use batteries.

So today, you get a medley of New Brunswick beach photos to remind you (and me) of warmer places. As an aside, I'm listening to a Beach Boys soundtrack while working on the blog, wondering why I live in a place where the air hurts my face sometimes. Wait, now I know, stupid house prices.

In some ways, even though these are all different beaches, or only a couple of the same beach, in one way they are all the same photo. Water, sky, sand or rocks, maybe a boardwalk. Almost nobody on any of them except for us. At most, on the nicest day, I think we saw fewer than a dozen people on any one beach.

And I suppose to be honest, few of the days were really lay out and work on your tan kind of days. Most people were wearing a sweatshirt or hoody. It doesn't matter. Warmer than here.

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