Two surprise visitors

Those of you following along with Linda's gardening exploits know that she has spucked a bazillion bulbs into the ground. (Yes that's a real word, a highly technical and exact gardening term.) There were a few volunteer crocuses, so she put them where they'd get pretty good light. She said they were fall crocus and might bloom, but I have to admit to being dubious. And yet, here they are today, perking up and sending out a cheerful hello.

In other news, I had an adventure earlier this year with my 70-200 mm lens. After a repair it seemed to work fine, until the trip with Sean to Elk Lakes, where part way I noticed it had stopped focussing right. Back at home I did some more tests and determined that while it would focus for close up objects, it wouldn't focus to infinity, not even close. The estimated repair costs were probably at least half the value of the lens itself, kinda sorta, and what with shipping and insurance added in could well be more than what it was worth in full working order. Or, about half the cost of the new version of that lens, giving me better optics, and better image stabilization, in what I think is a lighter lens. Plus a 6 year warranty.

The old one was the workhorse of my lens collection, with about 80K images put through it, and the motor making focus adjustments for almost everyone one of them, back and forth. Plus zooming from 70 to 200 and back again a lot. No real surprise it's tired.

What made me anxious is that we've got a trip to Churchill to visit the polar bears coming up soon, and that was the planned lens to take. I ordered the new version, and crossed fingers it would arrive in time, and put a rental lens on hold, just in case.

They called last night to say it was in, and I went to get it in evening rush hour. Holy Doodle! I'm not even out of the neighbourhood, stopping at a red light near the old Husky site, and the guy in the next lane hits the gas to speed through not just the red light, but the cross light had turned green and the waiting car was moving into the intersection. Good thing that driver was paying attention. During the rest of the drive, it seemed like the traffic lights were merely a guideline, not rules. I watched several people blowing through red lights, pedestrians walking across busy streets in random places, cyclists pretending they were a car and riding very slowly down the middle of the lane, and an outright road rage thing happening with a delivery driver trying to cut off another driver who wasn't having any of it.

Sigh. Yet I made it home in one piece. Of course I popped the lens on the camera right away, and here's the first photo.

Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Driftwood (NL)

Film

There's a story here. The owner of the AirBnB in Chance cove gave us a small framed version of this photo as a thank you. You can see more of her work here. That view is a nice walk from the house and I was hoping to get a film version for myself. When we got there, that boat was just coming into the little cove to the left of the rock. They went back and forth totally screwing up the lovely reflections. I waited, wanting to take a break from the steep parts of the path. They puttered about, and I waited. Then they went around the rock, and I was waiting for the ripples to die down. Then they reappeared near where you see the boat now. I waited more. Then they tossed out the anchor and broke out the fishing rods. I gave up and clicked the shutter. It was about a 20 minute walk back to the house, and damned if I didn't see the same boat heading back into the harbour. If I'd waited the 10 minutes, they never would have left. I thought about going back, but instead I cracked into a bottle of wine. Such is the life of a photographer.

Linda

In New Zealand in 2020.

Newfoundland

The boat we did the Western Brook Pond tour in Gros Morne Park.

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

Actually, I'm quite sure I have published it already, but it's totally an example of good luck pressing the shutter button at exactly the right time.

Semi-random Newfoundland

Semi-random in the sense they have bubbled up to the top of the 'not blogged in 90 days' folder. Meaning 3 months ago, we were walking along the point near Bay Roberts, and eventually found the three sisters. I was hoping for reflections, but no.

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5. I just loved the light on this rock! The texture was this smooth cream that's hard to describe.

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The first snow of the season has come and gone. There will be many more, I'm sure.

Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Driftwood (NL)

Film

Cox's Cove swimming hole waterfall in real camera time, not the long exposures.

Linda

A film image from an inland beach near Port Saunders. I still think something weird happened either during development or my digitizing to give this particular look, but I love it for this photo.

Newfoundland

The little town of Crow Head, near Twillingate. We had an amazing lunch there, getting in just before a big crowd.

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

Fish Creek near bridge 9.

All good things end

Calgary often has a long wonderful autumn season, and this year was no exception. Except it just started raining, and the weather people tell us it will turn to snow. Later this week it will be nice again. Edit update, I started writing this about noon. Shortly after that the light rain has turned to light snow. By 1pm it's fat and fluffy flakes. It begins...

In the meantime, Linda has just left for a walk. She will come back soaked in sweat and snow.

In the other meantime, Calgary drivers will have forgotten everything about driving in the snow, and will still be in just as much of a bullying hurry as ever, so there will be carnage on the Deerfoot, especially in the several construction zones. Just like nearly every snowstorm, every year. But this blog, for today anyways, isn't about idiot drivers.

Yesterday was a busy day putting the back yard to bed for the winter. Linda got a good deal on bulbs, and bought many. Lots of many. Bazillions. She's been working steadily over the past couple weeks planting them, a few hundred a day at least. I don't know where she found space for them all. Let's all hope the squirrels and voles don't eat them.

We had our usual 3 rain barrels set out, plus using the black and green carts and some 20 L pails to capture rainfall during the drought and water main repairs. Except we can't leave them that way over winter. Linda has been drawing them down and soaking in the garden beds.

My task is to empty them out completely, swoosh them with a hose to get the worst of the gunge out, then turn them upside down and cover them with one of those big bags soil gets delivered in. Plus I like to extend the drain pipe out into the lawn, trying to keep the patio from turning into an ice rink during winter if I should want to use the barbecue. As a bonus, I scrambled up a ladder and hosed out the west eaves trough, getting soaked to the ass in the process.

Here's what it looks like just before the rain then snow started. The camera insists on punching up the colour and brightening the scene. It's actually more dreary than this.

1. The patio table ready for the snow. I like watching the snow buildup patterns, looking a little like a waffle. I'm thinking this year I might try to get some abstract black and white photos of it.

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3. The big barcelona barrel is under the yellow bag.

4. The two wood deck chairs are tucked under this bag.

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7. There's a few flowers still hanging in. That won't last long.

8. The two white water barrels are under the yellow bag.

9. That big brown plant actually stood out, kind of glowing a bit against the background. 

10. The side lawn. The brown eyed susans have finally packed it in and drooped over.

The most sheltered plants in the front vases are still hanging in, just barely. There's some fall sprouting crocus plants that optimistic about putting up shoots, but we'll see what happens.

Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Driftwood (NL)

Film HP5, looking for textures for the darkroom class.

Linda

Of course we had to stop to take this photo. It was one of the planned side trips, and harder than you'd think, since there is no place to park. This made it into the book.

Newfoundland

A really wide panorama from the highest point in Terra Nova park. Yes, we drove to the nearby parking lot, and it's a short hike to this viewpoint. 

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

More of this kind of weather is coming soon.

The flowers of mid October

Incredibly, there are still flowers in our garden during a tour this morning though they're fading fast. I didn't see any bees, but it might have been a bit cool for them, and there isn't much for them to work with. Here's what I found.

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Of the Day

Driftwood (NZ)

Driftwood (NL)

Film

Taken mainly to see if film would pick up the fine hairy fuzz. I'm likely to try to print this in the darkroom, see how it turns out.

Linda

At the welcome to Raleigh chairs, though this was taken as we were leaving. This image made it into the book.

Newfoundland

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