My town

This is a picture taken today just outside my little town.
The mandatory Catholic church dominates the town and is ALWAYS the highest structure in any small country town.
This is the main crossroad in town and we have no traffic lights at all and darn few stop signs.
People jaywalk regularly and nobody tries to run them down.
We don't have what the big cities have but we have each other and the we respect our community.
I'm sure, like small towns in the country across North America.....every second vehicle is a pickup....mine's a Chev.

Strong......AND dangerous.

Don't let his cute looks and pretty smile fool you. He'd have you for breakfast and not lose a wink of sleep.
You can see by the look in his eye that PERHAPS I was getting a little too close for his comfort and he was letting me know.
These are buffalo raised by a farm just 2 minutes out of town so you see I didn't have to go very far for critter pictures......now a SKYSCRAPER....that's different!
Obviously it's molting season up here with temperatures well into the 80's and I imagine they feel more comfortable with their warm coat off.
I'll get some pictures when winter shows signs of arriving....again, and they'll have on their winter woollies big-time!

If you go down in the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise!!

Arranged neatly in rows is not what Mother Nature does best.
Random .......... big, small, stunted and twisted is her style.
A rabbit playground, the perfect place for the infamous 'Woodland Slalom' they apparently hold every other year.

Fastner Frolics

Who knows what your fasteners get up to when you turn out the lights.
I could have sworn that these zippers were MILES apart when I put the hockey bag away for the summer but just lOOk at what they tried to do!
Good thing I caught it in time.
All I need is MORE zips on that bag.

When I brushed away the cobwebs......

This picture was taken......hmmm....MANY moons ago.
My best friend...( still is ) and his then girlfriend on his ALMOST new Triumph Tiger Cub......that should be a 'vintage' hint
WOW
We thought we were hot stuff.
Colorized and improved to the best of my current ability I present it here.
When I have a day off I'm going to send him a copy.....just because!
WOW....memories of my past.
P.S. He hasn't seen this picture in MANY years!!

Sunset silhouette

I took this tonight on the way home from work.
I'm lucky enough to work down a lightly traveled semi-tarred road so I take my quad both ways and usually have my camera around my neck....just in case.
MY quad is the one at the bottom right of every page....the one that ISN'T stuck in the bog.....LOL.
I'm the 'puller'...not the 'pullee'.

Lots of new barns out there but this one did it for me.

We have lots of barns around here.....because we have lots of farmers, but this old barn had a appeal for me because it had history....written in every missing board.

Round and delicious,,,,if you're bovine.

Taken this morning on my way to the dump these are a pretty common sight around here this time of year.
Not my kind of chow but then.....I'm glad it's theirs.
ALL comments welcomed.

1st Landscape pano posted anywhere.

It may not be perfect but it's my first posted pano since I acquired the software.
I like it slightly better than what comes with E 8 but it's all very personal.
This was taken the other evening from the door of our tiny 14 foot 44 year old camper.
We are alone on the lake save 1 other local that and will be there most of the summer.
It's public land but not that well known....lucky for us!
We go down when we have a day off and fish or relax.
Lots of fun.
P.S. For anyone wanting to try a panorama it's easy and this software is free.
It's called Hugin Panorama Stitcher.

I'm hiding....bet you can't see me !

Grabbed a shot of this Northern Flicker ( I think ) as he hopped about looking for worms.
They don't seem to like seeds but love worms.
They're pretty shy and it's always a challenge to get them on film.

Powerful in the air and on the ground.

This hawk swooped down this morning and grabbed one of our birds.
We don't know which one and perhaps it was a squirrel....hope so.
He stood there eating it, unafraid of anything in HIS world and looked around..just to be sure.
Unfortunately my dog saw him and IMMEDIATELY made a run for him and the hawk took off...dinner in the mouth.
NOW unfortunately all the birds are terrified and I wonder how long the effect of this predator will last at our feeders.
Sadly, I suppose perhaps we unwittingly played into the hawk's hands ( talons ) but providing a place where HIS prey congregate.
Nothing to do...nature will have it's way.
If anyone knows from the picture what kind of hawk this is please write it on the page.

Jack saw him before I did.....thus the mediocre pic

Fortunately my dog Jack saw this moose....Unfortunately he saw it before I saw it and not in time to get a PURRRFECT picture of it....but sometimes you have to be happy with what you DID get.
We see a fair amount here but APPARENTLY they know when I'm out and about with the Canon and hide.
This was just a young'un.....didn't know the tradition and exposed himself ( herself maybe ).
This was taken a few metres from my house.

Humour.....but the picture is moving

This is a video I made about a week ago one evening trying to view/download a free Photoshop video.
I don't want to spoil it so please have a look and let me know what you think.
If you like it feel free to pass it on.
Ironically I couldn't post it on Youtube...so my son did it for me, as you will see in the description.
I will post a humour picture another time but in view of recent events at the forum with my problems it seemed appropriate,
Enjoy....at my expense.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb8BqBUbgnA&feature=channel_video_title

P.S. I HOPE posting this link doesn't break any rules but if it does please just remove it...no hard feelings.

Self Portrait

Went out yesterday...my only day off in a LONG time...and decided to go geocaching....if you don't know what it is go here... geocaching.com
It's a sort of adult hide and seek with a gps...lots of fun, free and they 're everywhere around the world.
Even tiny towns like where I live have lots.
We did it with our kids and anyone who wants to join us for a walk in the woods.
Met some muggles while I was at the cache and they kindly took my picture for me.
Pine and Sumac in the background as well as a small deep lake called Ink Lake.

It's a good thing he's tiny!!!

This was taken with my S3 IS in super macro mode and slightly cropped.
The theme is depth of field which is quite evident in the blurred background.
Despite his ferocious look some mother loves him.

I know you were planning to be ON the water but..................................

LOL
I took this picture 2 days ago on the way in to work.
We had, I think, 2 inches of rain in 1 hour......a LOT for us anyway.
Just as I was about to cross the Baily bridge I saw this group of campers, about to set out on a week-long canoe trip ( guessed but it was a Monday and they were well-stocked ).
I stopped, snapped and as you can see 2 of them noticed me taking their picture, ( different reactions from each of them).
The rain has almost turned it into a B/W and I needed to do nothing except crop it.
The blurring is GENUINE rain.....and they know it.
I don't expect them to return until Friday so maybe I'll ask them how it went.

What the heck is that?

Just for fun I've added this picture ......VERY heavily cropped so I'm sure no-one will recognize it.
If you think you know what it is take a guess and I'll post the full-sized picture next week sometime.
To be fair I haven't changed the orientation....it's the same plane as in the original...but then again....that won't help much!

Bliss.....elk-style.

This photo was taken at a local farm field.
This particular farmer raises Elk for their antlers ( exported to the Orient ) and meat which he sells farm gate.
Beautiful animals they NEVER seem to be stressed at all and the theme of 'bliss' seemed to be particularly appropriate.

Sharp as a Tack...or even sharper!

This is an otherwise fairly conventional picture of a Henckels knife but what I like is the 'magnifying glass' effect that happened with the water droplet
Comments and critiques most welcome.

Silly bird chats with his 'perch-pal' every morning.

Morning Routine for the Evening Grosbeak.

This bird comes and sits and chatters every morning to his bronze buddy, his perch pal, a fellow limb lover, a fine feathered friend but never gets a reply.

Patience......we should all learn from the birds.

He never gives up.

Or she.....who knows?

Crispy on the outside and soft rolled layers on the inside.

Theme....Bread
I baked a couple of restaurant pans of these today for the guests.
Finished off with egg white and butter they looked pretty good so
I took some pans of buns pictures but this one seemed to have more impact.
Apparently they were almost melt-in-your-mouth good.........I say apparently 'cause I didn't get any. :-(
I decided to do 2 postings today as I'm starting halfway through the year.
As always....feel free to critique.

Getting Mooned.

I took this the other night....very late.

It came up between the branches of out love/hate willow tree...if you have one you probably know what I mean by that.

The rest of the world was asleep but I was still up and raring to go so a photo seemed like the right thing to do. I enjoy the night and it's conflicting emotions.....FEAR & EXCITEMENT.

Abandoned Cabane à sucre....High Contrast

rs
This picture was taken inside the building which is, unfortunately falling apart.
Still inside is the huge flat boiling pan used to reduce the sap to syrup and hundreds of the stylized cone-shaped sap buckets, ready to hang once again from the trees.
This particular sucrerie ...or sugaring off cabin was used until about 20 years ago for the making of Maple syrup and Maple sugar.
It was a family operation but with most of the kids gone to the cities there's not enough 'cheap' labour to run it anymore.
I stumbled across it on run through the logging roads and trails not far from my house.
In Quebec, where I was born, they are called either cabanes a sucre or Sucreries but in any case the big ones are amazingly full of delicious local food.
Very seasonal they nonetheless are very popular in Quebec.
Here is one of the better ones situated on the same mountaintop I used to live on.
In case you don't know what they're all about.

www.sucreriedelamontagne.com/

Springtime chore.....done for another year....Thank God!

This is a TINY section of my woodpile.
Cutting down trees ( about 30 each spring ) and blocking, splitting, drying and then stacking used to be a family job.
Now that the kids are gone....it's a one-man job.....'with a little help from my friends'....as the song goes.
Each piece represents some welcome heat this upcoming winter....when it will be much appreciated and I'm sure you're heard the old country saying....."Wood warms you twice.....once when you cut it and again when you burn it."

The theme today is childhood

This picture was taken late this afternoon at the back of a friend's lean-to.
He wasn't there so I don't know exactly where it came from but a little research tells me it's Italian made...Perego, and most likely from the late 1960's or early 1970's.
It's always poignant to me when I see 'people-connected' objects.
I can't help but wonder where the baby is today that started it's early life riding in this pram and did it's oversized wheels and suspension have anything to do with the baby's comfortable start on life's journey.

What's just beneath the surface.

I took this picture this morning and liked it immediately.
For some maybe it has a cold and dead look but for me it plays with the truth that so much of life is hidden beneath what is layered on top and obvious.
As always, comments and critique are most welcome.
"Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things."

Winston Churchill

Trio of Lovlies.

In keeping with the challenge topic this picture is in the ' Three '.
They've been flitting in and out all morning and finally presented me with the shot I wanted.
I hope you enjoy it.
( Feeder compliments of my wife ;-)
The only editing was a VERY severe cropping.

First Picture Posting

In keeping with the theme "Fly" I saw this feather, unfortunately with many others on the side of my road and it reminded me of how fragile life is....for all of us.
I never saw the bird but in remembrance of the incredible ability of flight they possess I post this picture.

Brand new Blog.....no miles on it at all!

Well I finally gave in and started a blog.
Why not?....I bought a new DSLR and am starting to learn Elements 8 so I'm on my way.
I figured a good way to start it rolling would be to post a picture of my wife.
She's my inspiration and she sure deserves it.

I'd like to leave a message to my cousins down east. My brother Tom will be visiting them soon and I promised I'd leave them a message.
I thought you might enjoy the top picture....hard at it.....AS USUAL!
And a picture of my 2 boys...up on my barn roof doing some repairs ( beer needed for lubrication).
B.J. on the left and Geordie on the right.
Browse through the rest of the blog and you'll at least get a rough idea of where we live.
Love to you all and please take care of my baby brother .