Gifts are difficult for me. I struggle to understand what another person might like. For quite a while there was a sweet spot where there were things one of us could afford to buy for the other, that we might not have bought for ourselves. But once we paid off the house or shortly after, that sweet spot disappeared. We were both doing well at work and could spend as much money on ourselves as we wanted. So we've shifted to giving experiences, which has been fun. One of those a long time ago was a balloon ride, which I was thinking about because of balloon drama nearly in our front yard, which I'll blog about sooner or later.
One of them is to pick a place to go out for a meal; a place we wouldn't normally go. The most recent example was going to High River for tea at The Noble House yesterday. The decor and food was amazing! We're going back in a few weeks with Linda's sister as but one item in the minute by minute itinerary that Linda is planning. (I sure hope Kelly and Ray are up for it. I'm not completely sure I am.) If you want to go, make a reservation. So that was fun. (STWF)
We had a table for two in a small room shared with a table for 4. They came in a bit after us, a couple maybe about my age, and two younger women, though I'm not sure of the relationship between them all. I thought maybe I'd seen the couple before somewhere, but didn't really pursue the thought. I've had a number of experiences where I've mistaken someone for an acquaintance I haven't seen for a while. Mostly it's no big deal, though one woman was a bit twitchy about it until she walked past later and saw my coffee date; she came over and said she understood the confusion. STWF.
Back to yesterday, during a quiet moment, he turned to me and said, "excuse me, but were you on a photo tour group to Yukon a few years ago?"
I said yes, and then it clicked. They'd been part of the 2022 tour with Neil Zeller. We happily chatted about what we'd all been up to and shared some travel experiences. STWF. (Hint, you could do much worse than buy your photographer a spot on one of Neil's tours, here.)
Although it wasn't one of Neil's tours, the trip to visit the grizzly bears produced some nice landscape photos that I suppose I should share with you. Keep an eye on the of the day feature going forward.
I remain unimpressed with social media. Facebook is typically a once a day quick scroll, and Instagram much less frequently. People link to me, but it's been more than 4 months since my last update there. It was a surprise yesterday when I got a friend request from someone I'd worked with a while ago. I did a quick email confirmation just in case. (So many fake requests.) They now have the honour of being the first new facebook friend in several years. STWF, in an unexpected way. (Hi Dean!)
So I updated FB and linked to this, but I suspect many of you find my blog through other channels. I'm curious about how you get here. Feel free to comment. My main window on the world remains blogging and event photography. Carrying a camera at an event gives me something to do, rather than stand around holding a drink and wondering what to say. I suck at party chat with strangers. A surprising number of people like to talk to the photographer, so I don't feel left out. Some are impressed by the gear, many are or have been photographers, or have one in their family. At the Rotary event I chatted with a man who knew one of the prominent people in my community association, and the chat spread from there. STWF
The weekend of the 21st was Neighbour Day here in Calgary. My community association had planned a show and shine event, but it got cancelled due to torrential rain. (For those interested it has been rescheduled to September 13.) One of the streets a short walk away planned a block party BBQ. I attended last year with our ward 13 councillor Dan McLean and some of his staff. I made it there again this year, in between two events I'll talk about in a minute. This year our MLA Nagwan Al-Guneid and her office manager showed up. I did some photos (up on the Woodcreek tab of my photo blog) but mainly chatted with people about community stuff. STWF.
The first event was a celebration of life for Colleen Hanna. I met her back in the mid to late 90's when we paid off the house and I started to have a bit of money left over. Putting some into an RSP was a no-brainer, but a coherent investment strategy was beyond me. One of Linda's friends recommended Colleen (Hi Jan!) and we hit it off. Very shortly after I got a retention bonus from work that really kickstarted my investment portfolio. But what impressed me most about her is that she said I couldn't just invest all of it for some future day. I had to spend some of it now on something I would enjoy. Colleen retired early, fulfilling the freedom 55 dream, and enjoyed being retired. She passed my account on to someone who became another of the Michelles in my life. (There were 4 at one point, and now there are two.) At the celebration of life we saw some friends unexpectedly. We sat with them at the lunch afterward and got caught up. STWF.
Linda went over to their place while I zoomed home to get the camera and attend the BBQ. Then zoomed back for dinner with our friends. (Kris is an amazing cook!) We played the Mexican dominos train game that we like, laughing and chatting along the way. (Kris won by a fairly wide margin, which is a bit unusual, I lost big time, even though I didn't get stuck with the 50 point tile.) STWF.
The peonies have been amazing this year. You've seen some of the photos here, more will be coming, digital plus both colour and B&W film if it all works out. In an ideal world there is also an ant on the peony, so I've been chasing that. Let's just say that a peony has a real shot at the IofM podium, although this one is not in the running so I'll show it to you. STWF.
Don't forget, if you've somehow found my blog, and don't want to miss the next one, feel free to email me at keith@nucleus.com and ask to be added to my subscriber's list.
Of the Day
Driftwood (NZ)
Film
One of the B&W peony photos.
Linda
Newfoundland
Polar bears
Eagles
Why ever didn't I publish this, and maybe I did
A New Zealand waterfall.
90 days, or so ago
Flower
The red peony has been the slowest to bloom, and that red remains difficult to photograph. I'm looking forward to seeing how the film turns out.
And in a surprise bonus, Curtis!
STWF
