Leaves

The trees are already starting to turn to fall colours. At first it was easy to say this is because the trees are stressed. They had a really tough winter a few years ago, and last winter was no powderpuff either. This summer has been long, hot, and bone dry.

But more of them are turning now, and there's no denying it's time of the season. (Cue The Zombies.) This leaves me a bit conflicted. This has been a lovely summer for us, not going into the office, having the time to putter in the yard and garden, BBQ when we're hungry, sit in the back garden enjoying a glass of wine, being able to visit with friends. But the leaves turning mean winter is closer by the day.

On the other hand, I love autumn, the warm days and cool evenings. It's Calgary's best season by far. The colours the plants go to, even in yellow/gold overdone Calgary. I'm looking forward to photographing them, and getting out to do more landscapes when the smoke is gone. Here's a taste of the changing leaves in our garden. Regular readers know that I think there's beauty in the entire plant, not just in full bloom, but also when it's dying back or is dead for the season. It's left as an exercise for the reader to figure out what plant is being photographed.

A sad farewell

Every now and then I get attached to things. They don't have to be big expensive things. There is a key ring that slides together and slides apart that is the last thing I bought in Ontario (aside from gas and snacks) on the way out to moving here. That was in 1980. Still in daily use.

Some of you know I was really conflicted about letting go of my old iPhone 4. It still worked, mostly, and was still an amazing device. I kept it so Linda could use it as a camera, and that turned into one of the funniest videos I've ever seen. Then a buddy needed a phone quick, and I was happy to sell it. I was far happier with it than I was with the current phone, an iPhone 6. I've had it a couple years, and will really have to think about what to get to replace it, but I won't miss it.

I found I was surprisingly sentimental about these.

Why, you ask? These are shoes I did Ironman Canada in. I ran in them a few times after, then retired them and used them as yard slippers.  I just about twisted my ankle in them the other day going down the stairs. They weren't quite on, and I can no longer slide my feet into them without using my hands. They are beginning to come apart in places. They are in the recycle bag of old shoes that I'll take back next time I buy running shoes. They served me well.

Probably the biggest most expensive thing I miss is our 83 Accord hatchback. Best car I ever owned by far. It ran and ran and ran. It once started after a weekend in -40 C temperatures, when only one other car started, a winterized jeep. Once it warmed up enough to move, we spent most of the morning boosting other cars. I could fit the most amazing amount of stuff in it. There was about 340K on the clock when the dealership told me the mounts for the springs were rusting out and the repairs would cost far more than the car was worth, and oh, by the way, if the insurance company were to find out they'd cancel your policy. Best to buy another car, and no, you won't be able to trade it in. That lead to us getting the 95 Caravan. Nuff said there.

If I could get that 83 Accord again as a brand new car, I'd happily drive it again. It probably isn't as good a car as the current Honda Fit, and is certainly less technically advanced, but it was fun to drive. Plus, it would not have that never to be sufficiently damned "infotainment centre" as these things are called. I hate it. All too often it gets all confused in the head and thinks my phone is making a call, and won't hang up. The only solution I've found is to shut the car off. It's infuriating.

We had a major project come to completion last night. I'd had several of my photographs printed, and I ordered a rail system to hang them so I wouldn't have to fix holes in the wall every time I wanted to change artwork. It took a while for the one part to come, but here we are.

I was out trying to macro shoot more bees, but wasn't having any luck. There was the faintest hint of a breeze that moved the Dahlias just enough. I've got some other shots where I could prop the camera against something. That makes it much easier. This is part of a thistle at about 4x. I've got a few nice one's of a little Johnny Jump Up, and they'll show up on next macro Monday I think.

I had the weirdest dream the other morning, thinking the neighbour's apple tree had collapsed on our fence. When I looked out the bedroom window, it sort of looked collapsed. When I checked it out a little later I realized the boughs were just bent because of the weight of the apples on it. I'll bet this is the sweetest one.

Curtis, of course, wanting out. He knows perfectly well that door leads to outside, if only he could persuade me to open it for him, or figure it out for himself.

Macro Monday 3

Today's subject was Estela, my road bike. She's such a pretty bike, but today we're going into some fine detail. I took better notes this time so I know what magnification was used for each photo. Lighting while I played with magnification and the macro rails was from an old LED lamp I'd forgotten I had, and I left it on during the shots. I had the bike up on a bike stand, and the camera on macro rails (duh!) and those mounted on the tripod. I goofed in not getting a shot of the setup. Live and learn.


Chain and cassette mechanism, and then the chainwheel with the 100 mm. This is middling clean.

Working my way into higher magnification. This is about 3x.

Going in a little further, this is 4x. That tooth isn't even close to the right shape anymore. I couldn't get closer.

The hole in one of the chain links at 4.2 x.

 Another part of one of the chain links at 3x. There are a couple other images of these done to play with focus stacking. Yes, the links have text stamped into them.

One of the cassette teeth at about 3x. I was having difficulty getting closer.

One of the spokes at 3.2x.

One of the front shifting wires at 4.1x.

I spent a while working on this little set screw trying to get the light and focus right. In real life it is 5 mm across. This one is 3.1 x.

This one is about 4.1 x. I spent more time fiddling with the lights trying to get closer than anything else, and I didn't want to get chain guck on any camera equipment.

This is part of the tire sidewall, and it's ever so subtly not in focus at 4x.

Part of the wheel rim at 4x.

Sidewall and wheel rim with 100 mm.

Here's the little set screw and the wire.

Next week, who knows? I'm looking carefully at every bottle of wine I uncork to see if there are any wine diamonds, and there are a few other things that have caught my eye. Stay tuned.

Mutual run buddy support

For years I ran alone.

Cue George Thorogood.
I run alone (thumpthump, thumpthump)
Yeah with nobody else, (thumpthump, thumpthump)
And you know when I run alone,
I prefer to be by myself!

Lots of times I ran alone and thought about stuff and it was good. I've worked through novel plot points, written blogs, thought about photo projects, worked my way through some obscure SQL (that was only the once and I washed my hands after), enjoyed the scenery, and generally loved it.

Not so much lately though. I've come to love running with BRBE and today was a really good reason why. She was feeling a bit down after a tough week. I wanted to run, but wasn't sure how much or how far, or where. We sort of talked ourselves into it, provide I picked the route and navigated. This is what we ended up with. 11 K, 1:36, 8:43/K. Normally BRBE and I run rock steady about 7/K to 7:30/K, but considering the alternative was total slackerpants, we're happy with it.

I'm sure my buddy Terry knows exactly where we went, and has probably been on all those trails, but most of them were new to me. That was part of the joy of the day, running down new trails, not really caring where they went. A few times they stopped at the river, so we would go back to the last branching and keep going. All the time chatting up a storm.

It was lovely! Not too hot or cold. The pace numbers look a bit slower, but think small trails and and some pretty good hills, scrambling across the creek once, and not being in a rush.

In other news:
The fireworks last night were best yet!
The B&W challenge is up on Facebook.
Next up is a batch of wine to bottle.

A photograph to baffle you.

5 bees, one flower

The bees love the dahlias. Love them! They got off to a slow start this year so we were a little worried. But there seem to be as many of them as last year, which makes us happy.

I was having fun watching these guys working. They were pushing and shoving and climbing on top of each other. It would have been interesting to listen to their conversation.

"I was here first."

"Quit'cher pushing."

"Hey, can't you see I'm in here?"

"Do we need a licence for this?"

"Faster guys, we have a quota!"

"Kim touched me first."

"That was inappropriate, gonna report you to the queen!"

What do you think they're saying to each other?

I didn't think staying caught up on sleep would be so hard

This retirement thing is harder than I thought. I figured I'd take some vacation, then get into retirement groove, find a routine, and be good to go.

When I'm working, and working out, I'm usually in bed by 9, sometimes earlier. Up at 5. Usually not sleeping the whole night. Busy all day, ready for bed again. It makes for a fast day.

The days go by even faster now. Who knew? I'm trying to get up when I get up, but there's been a surprising number of days I've set the alarm clock. I see no need to drive downtown in rush hour for a swim, so that affects my timing a bit. I've ridden my bike there a few times, which takes a bit of planning.

I've had a couple days where I deliberately planned to do very little, and that's nice. Usually there's something on the schedule. I try to get up and get at it, but a couple things on my list have slipped all week. Really, how difficult can it be to make a phone call and book an appointment?

Today was sleeping in from being up late yesterday (fireworks), then some flower shots, a nice run, (5K in 35 minutes if interested), lunch, working on some macro photos (they will be posted Monday), making some calls to see if something ordered has come in. I found out too late it had, but I wasn't going to drive there on the off chance. So installing that can't happen until Monday. There will be photos.

Yesterday was a nice swim, and a chat with some buddies I see at the pool. One of them tied right into recent blog topics, and it was interesting to get another take on the situation from someone else in the industry.

I certainly don't want to get in a rut, doing the same old same old every day. But part of a fitness routine is that it is a routine. Regular. That hasn't happened so much since my race in June. How can that be two months ago, so fast?? It seems there is always something bumping my schedule around. Oh well, it just makes life more interesting.

One bit of interesting was my uncle contacting me via Facebook. I'd hand written (HAND WRITTEN people, when was the last time you hand wrote a letter?) a letter to my Granny who will be 98 later this year. I made the mistake of mentioning the writing. She's been on my case about the book I've been writing since shortly after starting it. My regular readers will know that book is far older than this blog, and has undergone far more revision and transformation. It's oscillated between being a techno thriller, a love story, and a mystery. It's opened and expanded out into a far bigger story, but what's important about it being a book is that it's not a commercial property. I couldn't easily market it, mainly because it isn't an easily defined genre, and worse, it doesn't follow a standard plot outline. That makes editors nervous.

It's also huge, something on the order of 350K words. After some back and forth with my uncle, I sent hime a text file for The Bone in the Digester. He went back and forth with it on his laptop to find an app that would open it and look like something Granny might read. Well, no. It took less time than the laptop took starting, for Granny to decide it wasn't a book, and she wasn't going to read it on screen. She wanted paper in her hands.

Sorry, Granny, it's not going to happen. I am not going to kill a bunch of trees to print out a draft copy, and put a dent in my bank account mailing it. Neither am I going to burden other relatives with the concept of taking a file to a local printshop and transporting the resulting pile of paper to Granny. Just my luck she wouldn't like a mound of paper either, because it isn't a bound book.

The current work is about a new character, and I don't know him and the people around him as well as I know my other characters. Right now I'm stuck on something, and I think I need to give it a bit of a rest. It's worked in the past. Or I could skip back to the other books and work on them. Or I could pick up the camera and take photos.

Here's some of the recent flower photos. I know some of you are a junky needing your fix. Not sure what I'm going to be able to do for you during the winter.

Scouting

After a great lunch with a buddy yesterday I went scouting. I knew from looking at The Photographers Ephemeris that there was a likely looking spot for shooting moonrise over downtown. Of course, what appears on the map isn't always what appears in reality. Best to check it out first rather than get a rude surprise on the big day.

It turns out to be a good spot. Yay! I took some photos, but the haze was so bad I could barely see downtown in any detail. Trying to clean them up just turned everything blue. I won't be sharing those, but maybe next full moon...

Along the way I found this great car. I think it's a Model T.

In a tie in to yesterday's blog, imagine driving any distance in that during a Canadian winter.

I tried for some arty shots of sailboats in Glenmore reservoir but that didn't work out.

There weren't many photographers at Global Fest on Tuesday, nor many people at all. We are used to going on the final night, and the place is full. This year we bought the pass for each night. It was sort of weird to see it so empty. I'm not sure I'll bring my camera to any of the nights. I'd rather enjoy the fireworks for themselves, rather than be fussing with a camera.

More lilies are opening up.

And something else coming soon. Linda told me what these are, but that was yesterday and I don't remember.