Here we are in the middle of what would be a 4 day weekend during my work life. Except I'm essentially unofficially retired again, except I think I have a work meeting next week, and maybe a few hours of work, which isn't a surprise. There will be more on the retirement thing when it becomes official, which is anticipated to be early July, when I take the computer equipment back. There will be a June retirement photo featuring Linda, stay tuned.
Then the decision will be, do I leave the desk there and cover it with camera gear, instead of it roaming around the kitchen table, my desk, the work desk, several bags, a table downstairs, or a coffee table. I think it's looking for a permanent home, where it's handy in case I need it in a hurry. Which sometimes happens. The nice light can come and go in moments. Or rainbows. Or a woman on stilts. (Which is a hint there is an addition to the people tab in my photo blog.)
As has been previously hinted here, the weather has been a typical May long weekend in Calgary. Plants are going into the ground, but many get covered overnight. I like wandering around the neighbourhood looking at the makeshift covers. So unlike Linda's pro coverings. Yesterday afternoon was actually nice, if a bit chilly, but it's clouding over and more rain is forecast. So much for fence staining for a few more days. I'll do the chairs about the same time.
Days when it's chilly, or snowing, I think back to the beach, and wonder why I live where the air sometimes hurts my face.
I've been out for several walks in Fish Creek park. It's always changing, and there's always something new. Even familiar scenes can change dramatically because of the light, precipitation, or because a tree has been cut down or has fallen down. I keep an eye out for what I think of micro-landscapes, where there is a tiny little scene that is a complete landscape. It's quite rare. I was pretty pleased to find this. I took several shots, and what's annoying is that I thought I had the shot I wanted in that first one. Except that little bit of green to the left of the main plant growing out of the rubble of the tree stump. I had one go at 'fixing' it, and didn't like how it ended up. I might have another go, trying a different technique in Photoshop and using the tablet. Or not. One of the lessons from my glass blowing days is that sometimes it's just not worth working on a piece. Let it go, and start over. Or maybe the little growth adds tension to the photo, a little sibling trying to catch up to the bigger one? Am I reaching?
Just across the path was a freshly cut down tree.
One thing about camera equipment that actually gets used in the real world, is that it gets filthy. I know photographers that go to great lengths to keep their lenses and sensors clean. Then I read an article from a lens rental company about a lens that was returned with a fly inside it. They could not easily produce a photo using that lens that showed any evidence of the fly. It took some doing to even get a photo of the fly, and even more to get it out. It's a fascinating read if you've ever wondered what's inside a camera lens or why they're so expensive. And ever since then I've stopped obsessing about dust on the lens, though I periodically do clean it off. Which gave me this shot.
So I wrote that bit above about the lens with the fly in it, then went looking for the article. Surprise! Not one, but TWO different lenses have been returned with a fly inside, a 70-200, and a 24-105. Plus one of those articles has a link to a lens returned with a spider in it. Note, these are not cheap lenses. These are top of the line Canon lenses. If you see a pro shooting Canon equipment, they will almost certainly be carrying one or both these lenses. They are weather sealed and expected to perform in weather that humans don't usually want to go out in. So to cut to the chase, nobody is completely sure how the fly got in there, and I don't obsess about dust on my lens.
In a bit of a followup. If I am to believe the readership stats put out by blogger, my readership essentially hasn't changed since I stopped putting the 'blogged' notice on Facebook. Which tells me that my small but loyal band of readers has other ways of showing up to read me. (Thank you so much for doing so, and don't be afraid to leave a comment!) None the less, if you would like to receive an email notification from me when I blog, either here or on my photoblog page, please let me know. Send an email, a text, a comment, whatever, and ask to be put on the blog notification list. The reason I say so, is that the Feedburner thingie is going away. I keep getting notices about it, and since I never really understood what it was actually doing, I don't know what will happen when it stops. Plus, the email notification people sometimes get a little extra.
Of the Day
Driftwood
This is a huge chunk of driftwood, one of the biggest I ever found.
Celina
Flower
Which reminds me, I somehow missed Flowery Friday. Sorry about that, there's lots of flowers in the pipeline.
Front bed from yesterday, still with the green netting to save the tulips from the deer and rabbits.
