The flowery survivors of Oct 7

Linda loves her garden. She freely admits she isn't really tough enough (my liver shifts in my chest a bit at that thought) to be a good gardener. She always wants to give the plants another chance, and to keep them around as long as possible. That it also gives the bees their last chance at a meal is something too.

That means from about Labour Day on she is watching the weather for the possibility of overnight frosts. She has many covers for the plants and will be out there trying to protect them as long as possible. But all good things come to an end, and today is it. Last night was -4 at least and there was lots of frost on the covers. She is putting the garden to bed for the winter and planting fall bulbs.

So here's the survivors, along with some pansies and other plants that aren't quite as photogenic.

I liked how the light caught the leaves of the red peony, even though it doesn't show up quite the same in the photo

In other news, it's been a sad little while for us with two deaths in the family. One was not a surprise, the other was. I've had a busy month or so with lots of community association stuff happening. Plus the several trips you've seen photos of if you've been following along. Plus a family shoot for a buddy, with a twist. I'd scoped out some nice locations in a park, and it turns out there is an unpleasant association for one of the family in the first place I was going to go. Good thing I scouted out several other locations, and we were all flexible. I think it worked out well, but have not heard back from them.

Thanksgiving is coming up, which is always a surprise for me for some reason. Long weekends don't mean anything to me any more, other than more traffic on the road, and the market was really crowded today. I'm really thankful for getting through all this COVID stuff (so far) without getting sick myself, or anyone I know well getting it. A few people have had to go get tested and came back negative. 

I'm getting a bit of perspective on ending a career. I said no to one job offer that I'd have jumped at in years past. The recruiters seem to be getting the message so the calls and emails have been dying off. I've been gradually pruning my Linked In profile contacts. Not sure what's going to happen as the wave of anti-vaxx dismissals ripple through the economy. Imagine being so locked into a world view you'd rather change your job than change your mind.

I'm planning to do another Flowery Friday, and I think I'll be able to do everything but the lilies and peonies. They'll continue to have their own of the day section. Hmmm. I'm just looking things over, and might have to do two Flowery Fridays. Check in tomorrow and find out.

Of the Day

Driftwood

Flower

I think all the flowers above qualify as flower of the day.

Peony

Lily

Dragonfly

Eagle

Owl

September Image of the Month

One of the rules about taking more interesting photos is to stand in front of more interesting subjects. Or as a buddy says, put yourself in the path of greatness and be ready.

All of the 4 star photos were taken during road trips, one with Sean, and 3 other with Neil Zeller tours. They often put people in front of interesting things, or in the path of greatness. (Or Sandhill Cranes, as was the case in the most recent tour.)

That part is all well and good, but what happens when people post their photos from the tour, is that many of them look very similar. After all, there we are, standing within a few metres of each other, pointing our functionally very similar camera gear at the same scene. We generally follow similar rules about editing our photo, so of course lots of shots look the same. Although some photos get converted to black and white or sepia, and look quite different. 

I'm not particularly interested another of the same (or really similar) photo. Even a great image of a great scene isn't so great when it shows up with several near twins. Although the people that only see my photos on the blog are going to shrug their shoulders and say, "what other photos?" Several of my readers will see similar photos in other social media places. (Following other photographers is a good way to learn to take better photos.) I really like it when a really good unique photo shows up from a tour. I try to take those, but it's a work in progress. 

Second Runner Up

This was the last photo of the secret places tour for me. We were trying to capture the Calgary Tower and the skyline, with a side of bus light trails. That scene just wasn't working for me for whatever reason, though other people got some quite nice photos out of it. 

People were walking back to the van when I noticed this scene off to the side. It took only a few seconds to set up and shoot. 

First Runner Up

I struggled with this choice. Yes it's a great scene and those clouds were AMAZING! And yet, it's a little bit cute, and every other person on the tour has a photo that is essentially identical. It was really hard to edit to balance the colour in the vegetation, the buildings, and that sky. The first version turned out lurid and overdone.

My thoughts on editing generally run along the lines of tweaking it to look like what I saw, plus a little tiny bit. Normally the advice is to look at things like grass or other vegetation, or the sky to see if the editing has pushed things too far. We know what those things normally look like. And yet in Alberta, there's times when the light is such that it looks slightly unreal anyways. That's the case with this scene. The grassy foreground and hills really were that colour. And the sky! I've never seen it look like that.

Image of the Month

Other people have a very similar shot, plus or minus the extent of their zoom lens. I have other shots as well, one in particular zooming into the elaborate folds in the hills out toward those tress. But when I composed the shot I was pretty sure it would be a finalist because it spoke to me much like some of the scenes in Yukon did. I took it as a panorama, but cropped it to 9x16. It would print out about 3 feet x 18 inches. 

Abandoned

No, not the blog, that's going to carry on. I'm thinking about the various abandoned buildings and things I've seen over the years. Lately, when I see them, if possible, I'll take photos of them.

There were several examples on the recent set of trips, and from previous photo rambles. I can't help but think about what the story is for the buildings. They didn't grow. Someone built them. Some, like the school in Hoosier are extremely well built, at least on the outside. It must have been expensive at the time, yet they were looking forward. I'm guessing the school district consolidated schools and nobody took up an alternate use for the building. Much of the outside still looks solid, but the windows are broken and the weather is starting to move in.

There's a house a few doors down from us that was abandoned for 2 years. I don't know the story there, but the rumour is that the owner died and it was tied up in probate. Meanwhile a pipe burst in the basement while the heat was off. It was getting pretty run down, then it was put up for sale. As is, where is, mold inside, no inspections. I've spoken with the new owner, and he is completely gutting it, right to the studs. Yes, he plans to be liberal with the disinfectant. He wants to redo it and live there. The neighbours are thrilled. I was thinking of the Hoosier school, wondering what it would take for someone to buy the property, gut the inside, and redo it. It's big, there would be lots of space for a nice home or some kind of commercial space. But then they'd be living or working in Hoosier. Let's just say it's not beach front property, being two and a half hours NE of Medicine Hat.

Homes were built for someone to live in. There could be any number of stories about how someone shut the door for the last time and walked away. Maybe they expected to be back and were killed in a war. Or the family moved away because they went broke and were running from a mortgage default,  then nobody wanted to go to the trouble of demolishing the home. Maybe they moved out in an orderly way but nobody actually moved in except vagrants. 

Barns and other outbuildings were put up for a purpose. Maybe that purpose outgrew the structure. Maybe that purpose went away and the building wasn't suitable for the new purpose. Or there were land sales leaving that structure unnecessary. In human terms, such a person might be laid off, but you can't do that with a structure. It sits there till it either falls down or is demolished. Lots of the buildings are in the process of falling down. 

Usually there is stuff around these structures. Old farm equipment. Vehicles. Random bits of stuff left to slowly rot in the weather, with someone having put it there a last time. Maybe they figured it might be useful for parts one day. One year. One decade. Any century now.

Sometimes the structures are demolished. The farm I remember being run by my mom's parents was an empty place for a while, and now there is a big mcmansion there.  At least according to Mrs Google, there is. I haven't been there in person for some time.

It's polite to find the current owner and ask permission, but that isn't always possible. I won't cross a gate, or pass a no trespassing sign, but if it's open to a public road, I'll take a look. Carefully. There's usually long grass that could conceal a hole, or sharp rusty metal. A friend of a friend broke her ankle crossing a ditch near such a place, and had to crawl several hundred meters back to the car, then drive to a hospital. 

1, 2. A big truck tire. This was in the market parking lot for a while. I'm glad I got the photos, it was gone again a few weeks later, so maybe, technically, it wasn't abandoned.

3. Part of a row of old farm equipment in Scandia.

3. The mighty metropolis of Dorothy.

4. They are looking for funds to complete the restoration. 

5. Sunrise north of Oyen. There are other photos of this recently. 

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8. Hosier school, built 1930. As you may remember from history class, Saskatchewan did quite well in the 20's. I can see the town planning the school, assuming the good times would continue.

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13. Still Hoosier. We had permission to go in the church. It has lovely acoustics.

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21. An abandoned homestead somewhere near Oyen. I think. I wasn't driving so I wasn't paying particular attention.

22. This is only part of this piece of equipment. It baffled me, but it's part of a harrow-like thing according to the expert along for the ride.

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26. Sharples. I've been here several times. Last time I got a shot similar to this, only to find out I hadn't realized how wide the lens was, and another lens was visible. I struggled getting this shot, worried about cutting myself on the rusty metal.

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31. Somewhere.

32. Same somewhere but across the road.

33. Now, how long before this place gets abandoned, and starts falling down? The glaciers feeding the Bow river are going away. There isn't as much snow pack as there used to be. It's hard to run a big city without water. It might cease to be a viable place to live about the time that happens to my body. Don't say it can't happen here. There are many dying towns and former towns dotted across the prairies. 

Of the Day

Driftwood

Flower with a serendipity flower first.

Peony

Lily

Surprise! An unblogged shot of Curtis.

Eagle

Owl

Dragonfly