You probably wouldn't have seen it

So there I was yesterday, out in -20 C weather with my camera. Mostly standing on ice. Surrounded by a bunch of kids zooming around on skates as they waited to visit with Santa. Everybody seemed to be having a good time. You can see the link to the photos on my community association blog page here.  Even I got to visit Santa, thank you Mara for clicking the shutter button. Since you probably won't have followed the link and look for the promised photo, here it is.

I was a weenie this morning, bailing on the Sunday swim. It's -24 outside, and I can see one of the nearby trees moving a bit. It's going to be a good day to stay inside and work on inside projects, where it's warm inside, perhaps giving Celina a lap for a long time, inside.

Meanwhile, at oh dark thirty because I slept poorly, I'm up drinking coffee and browsing. Looking for other people on VERO to follow because they post interesting photos. If you follow me on Instagram and wonder why I haven't updated recently, migrate to VERO and look for me there. Once a day. Looking at other blogs, the few that remain. 

Browsing the news headlines, in a horrified sort of way. I laughed at one Facebook meme: ALBERTA: 0 Days without being a national embarrassment. So true. This is what happens when we let the inmates run the asylum.

Overheard at the Skate with Santa event, a theory that Smith was actually surprised to win the leadership of the UCP. She had entered the race only to raise her profile and increase her radio show ratings. She still talks like she's on the radio, trying to stir people up by being controversial. That's instead of trying to govern effectively, which she doesn't have a clue how to do. 

She is from the whackadoodle fringe of the conservative spectrum, believing any fool thing that appears to vindicate their mindset, where it appears the main thing is to own the Libs. I see it as spill over from the nonsense happening in USA. 

I'd like to think that she will split the conservative side of the spectrum back to where it was before Kenney came along, with mostly mainstream Conservatives in a clump a bit right of centre, and a fringe way off to the right. Kenney saw that Smith and her Lake of Fire split the vote and let the NDP govern, which was absolutely the worst thing that could ever happen, and he was determined that it wouldn't happen again. (Anything bad that has ever happened in Alberta is the NDP's fault, or so they think.) So he welded the the two parties together, after Smith and Prentice botched the merger, kind of like Frankenstein's monster. 

Except they really are two parties, with entirely different outlooks. Let's hope that split happens again before the next election, though even without the split, the NDP are doing well in the polls. When people in ever so blue Calgary Glenmore, one of the safest Conservative seats in Alberta, which pretty well overlaps Calgary Heritage for federal elections, which is where PM Harper was elected in one of the safest seats in the House of Commons, are considering voting NDP because they're seen as more sensible, then your party has a problem. We can but hope.

Of the Day

Driftwood

Let's go with a nice beach scene, which might take your mind off the deep freeze outside.

Flower

Peony

Tombstone

River Reflections

Celina and Film

We are convinced this is a solar powered cat.

Lynx

Outside

 There is nothing to replace going to the library and browsing the actual shelf, as opposed to looking on line. That's fine if you're looking for a specific book. I love being able to put a hold on something, then going to pick it up in a few days. Or weeks. Or in some cases, months.

But serendipity strikes when you browse the shelf. I usually go first to the photography section. Mostly I'm thinking, "read that, read that, read that." But then something new appears, or even a bunch of new books.

I don't mean new in the sense they were printed recently, I mean new in the sense they haven't been on the shelf in this particular library before. I think they rotate stocks of books between the libraries. I pounce on the ones I haven't read. Some don't interest me, for whatever reason. Some are ho-hum, nice photos, but nothing special. 

Some hit that sweet spot for me. Subjects I'm interested in. Arresting photos. The right level of technical detail in the right voice. All that might change as I change. It wasn't so long ago that books relating to film photography wouldn't have interested me. Now it does. 

The edge of the world, by the editors of Outside Magazine, is amazing! Most of the photos are stunning, even if some of them make me cringe as I think about what could have gone wrong. Even better, they usually talk a bit about what the photographer had to go through to get the photo. In some cases it's just as scary as what the subject was doing. I'm willing to go to some lengths for a great photo, but like in the words of the song, I won't do that.

There's all sorts of subjects here; about the only thing they have in common is that they're outside. Various activities on mountains and other steep bits. Caves. Bicycles, (one of which was juxtapositioned with a train in a way that terrified me, and probably made the train driver pee himself.) Various activities in water. 

The photos are all stunning, even if you'd never dream of doing that activity. This is a great gift for the outdoor enthusiast in your life. Or the photographer. 

I have to admit I was thinking about my cousin Rene while reading. I've seen video of him doing some of the activities in the book, and yes, I was terrified just watching. He probably knows some of the people mentioned, and I wouldn't be surprised if he has been some of the places mentioned.

Complete with a file number serendipity, as an example of how different you can make an image look, starting from the same file.

Of the Day

Driftwood

Flower

Peony

Tombstone, with some of my tour buddies looking for an image.

River reflections

Lynx

Celina

I was taking the book photo (above) and noticed the light was nice on Celina. Except she wasn't really having it. I miss Curtis posing for the camera.

Film

This is the second in a series of photos carrying the camera around mid-October. This is the start of one of my favourite walks in Fish Creek. I was hoping the path would show up a bit better.

Silent Sunday

 

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Creeping up on year end

For most people, it's coming up to the end of the year, and it's clear that frantic mode is setting in. Last night, coming home from an errand, I could see one of my neighbours emerging from the cul de sac behind us, signalling left, and sitting at the intersection about where you'd expect. This is always a situation for care, because if I turn on the signal to turn right into our driveway, it could easily be interpreted as wanting to turn into the cul de sac. There's been a couple misunderstandings over the years, but no collisions or even hard feelings. Now I wait till I'm almost in front of them before I turn on the signal.

But last night someone was so frantic to get out, they drove past the person signalling left. At first I thought they were turning right, since that's where they were in the intersection. But no, they pulled out and turned left, not quite cutting me off, but it's a good thing I was paying attention. They hit the gas hard and were fishtailing down the street. My neighbour and I exchanged eye rolls.

A couple days ago, I watched a guy in a white pickup do something really stupid. He was in the left most turn lane from eastbound Southland drive, going to northbound 14 st. For those that don't know it, it's a double left, with an advance green. This guy decided that he really didn't want to turn after all, so he nearly hit the guy beside him turning left, and headed straight through. There was nearly a collision as the people turning left heading south on 14th st abruptly stopped. Good thing they were paying attention. White pickup boy zooms along well above the speed limit, yet I catch up to him at Elbow. I was waiting for him to run the red, since I could see him bouncing with impatience. He zoomed off changing lanes without signalling by squeezing between two cars. If he was heading to the hospital, I could get why he might be in a rush, but he was probably heading to the mall for a Black Friday sale. Don't let me get started on that.

And people wonder why we avoid the malls and rush hour at this time of year. We go out to do the essential grocery shopping, and that's about it. Driving really carefully, since the idiocy factor seems to get worse every year. The roads are shite here these days, what with the snow, it being really cold, then warming up just enough for the salt to work, then snowing and getting cold again. 

Plus, there is no slack in the hospital system. None at all. I'm not sure what it would take to zoom to the top of the emergency room triage list, and don't want to find out, especially not the hard way. But even then you might still be waiting for a bed, or the space to free up to move to the next step, whatever that might be. I said at the beginning of COVID that people were going to die of preventable causes because the health system would strain under all the additional cases. It's happening. Don't let me get started. Deep calming breaths.

There was so much slop from the parking lot on the floor mat inside Coop that one of the employees was shovelling it off. Yes, using a snow shovel, indoors, on a floor mat. By closing time they could probably have used the shovel on the tile floor just indoors of the mat, that was filthy too. 

But for some people, and I mean me in particular, it's actually the start of the year. Our community association held it's Annual General Meeting, and I ended up President. This wasn't a surprise, since I've been on the exec committee for several years. While I've run several meetings when the president at the time was away, tonight will be the first as President. So for me, it's a new start, and I hope it's fun. Yes, I'm still the photographer for the association.

One of the bloggers I follow lives in Nova Scotia, along the La Have river. He likes posting photos of the river, various beaches, and other related scenes. It reminds me of our vacations there, and being on New Zealand beaches. Today our outside thermometer reads -22 C. Yes, I'm wondering why I'm living where the air hurts my face, and the politics hurts my brains. Here and I thought Kenny was bad. Smith is just stupid. Don't let me get started. More calming breaths.

So to cheer us all up, a NZ beach scene.

Of the Day

Driftwood

Flower from Oct 19.

Peony, but first a serendipity lily from 2017.

Tombstone

River reflections

Lynx, but first a 2016 Christmas day serendipity.

yes, there really is a lynx in there, look carefully.

Film

The last of the fall walk in Carburn Park with Sean, featuring Sean contemplating life.

November Image of the Month

A quiet month, photographically speaking. A big batch of 35 mm film that was exposed over October was developed, so they show up in November.

Maybe I'm getting fussier about images, but much of my work this month is classed as ok. There were a few that I was thinking about as runner up, but in the end decided that there was only one photo I really liked, so you get just the one.

Image of the Month

Those of you with really good memories might recall the September 2018 Image of the month. This one is similar, and I thought about if it should be eligible for Image of the Month because of the similarity of the scene. However, I decided these are two fundamentally different photos. One is digital, one is film. One is a much tighter frame than the other. The digital version was pushed a bit more in editing, while the film version below was only lightly edited. Film is Kodak Gold 200.

Frosty Fotos

We've been in the deep freeze for several days now. Not quite minus WTF, but leaning that way. Sometimes this leads to nice frost patterns on the kitchen window. Like these.

Of the Day

Driftwood

Flower

Yes, looking a bit sad, but this one is from Oct 28. I just realized there's a few from earlier in the month, maybe I'll give you a rosy extravaganza tomorrow.

Peony

Tombstone

River Reflections

Lynx

Film