A Worthy Cause

Last weekend, Margaret and I attended a charity dinner/fund-raiser for Child Haven International.  It was held at the Punjab Restaurant and Banquet Hall, near Inkster and Madalay, here in Winnipeg.  We now seem to go to one of these types of events once a year now.  I especially liked this one.  The MC, Big Daddy Tazz, did a fine job.  And, the appetizers and buffet dinner were great, especially if you like Indian food (though they do seem not to know how to make a good cup of coffee!).

Child Haven, a registered charity, operates 8 homes for women and children in Nepal, India, Tibet, and Bangladesh.  That night, we raised enough money to purchase a special, 3-wheeled, powered vehicle for one of the homes, for transporting staff and patients to nearby hospitals.

Part of the fund raising involved tickets on gift baskets (I won 2 Christmas gift baskets) and written bids on various donated art work.  I out-bid others for one of the many items, a fused glass bowl made by local artist, Kate Thompson.  As you can see, it is quite beautiful.

We even met several old friends there and recognized some of the local celebrities in attendance.  A good evening for a good cause ...

Wonderful Weather

I've certainly been enjoying the past few weeks of fantastic weather.  For one thing, it's allowed me to drive out to Beaudry Provincial Park most days.  Usually, while Marg walks with the dogs along the grassland trails, I head into the woods with my camera and tripod to look for new things to photograph and to just enjoy the quiet and peacefulness of being surrounded by trees and shrubs.

Often, I try to capture the changing colours of the leaves and the way the light comes down and passes through them.  I usually post some of the images that I like the most on my Flickr page.  And, from some of the comments made on those photos, there are others like me that marvel at what light can do to something as simple as a leaf.

Marg and I took Holly and Mollie out to Beaudry again tonight.  Although I carried my camera with me, I never took any pictures.  I simply walked around the edge of one wooded area and enjoyed watching the sun set and listening to the birds and squirrels that I stirred up as I meandered along.  Happiness is ...

Pelicans

Vladimyr and I travelled up to Lockport today, on the Red River, hoping we could get some shots of pelicans. We thought that we might have been too late, that they might have already migrated south.  Not so.  I guess they're enjoying our Indian Summer.  We found a group of about 80 of the them resting across the river from where were and took dozens of photos with our telephoto lenses.

Here's one shot of part of the group:

This second shot is one of the pelicans in flight:

Water Feature in Basement Still Works!

After yesterday's inch and a quarter of rain (that's 31.5 mm to my kids), I heard an unfamiliar noise coming from the basement last night.  It took me a moment to realize that the sump pump was running again.  We haven't heard it going for months.  It's been so dry here the past 3 months.  Now, the stream that flows beneath our basement is moving again.  I expect the pump will run now, intermittently, until freeze up if we keep getting the occasional rain.  I'll have to check the big cracks in the lawn to see if they've closed up again.  Our sump water gets pumped out through an underground hose to our front flower bed, keeping those flowers, shrubs, and trees well watered (no pun intended).  I suppose all the roots are sighing with relief now. Normalcy returns!

My 500th Post

Does this mean that I'm perseverent or what?  Probably 'or what', whatever that is.  Regardless, I'm still here and I'm still writing.  I wish I could think of something momentous to say but I can't.  It's just another Monday.

Today, it's raining.  Our soil sure needs it after a drier than normal summer.  Hopefully, the moisture will loosen the roots of those persistent weeds in my flower beds, enabling me to pull a few hundred more of them before long. I'm really looking forward to that.  Right, just like I look forward to seeing my dental hygienist again.  Today's weather makes me really appreciate the conditions over the weekend.

We made three evening trips to Beaudry over weekend.  Yesterday was especially nice, allowing me to spend some time in the woods there and to do a little photography.  While Margaret walked Holly and Molly, I communed with nature and my camera.  I came away with a few images that I later posted to my Flickr page.  Nothing too exciting but a good record of what the bur oaks woods are like at this time of year.  Just building up my memory bank and honing my observation skills a little.

Today?  It'll be a 'follow the thread' kind of day around the home.  There certainly are lots of threads all over the place. As Robert Brault, a freelance writer, once said, “enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things”. He has a blog, too. But, he's a long ways from his 500^th post. Hah!

A Surprise

Lately, the weather has been a bit gloomy.  Overcast, grey skies and cool winds.  Yesterday was better: partly cloudy with lots of sunny breaks and mild temperatures.

Out on the deck, in my little water garden (a large, water-filled pot with 3 miniature water lily plants submerged in it), I was very surprised to see a beautiful water lily in bloom.  Surprised because we've had 3 overnight frosts in the past week!

And, soon, my Michaelmas daisies will be in full bloom as well.  They are my usual harbinger of the coming cold weather.  Already, a few of those flowers have opened and are being visited by a variety of pollinators.

Curiosity

According to Wikipedia, the word “curiosity” comes from Latin curiosus ("careful, diligent, curious"). It is “an emotion related to natural inquisitive behaviour such as exploration, investigation, and learning”. Because “this emotion represents a drive to know new things, curiosity is the fuel of science and all other disciplines of human study”. Perhaps, that explains, to some degree, my life-long interest in nature, an inexhaustible subject of study.

I've been very fortunate to live when I have and, even more so, now, in the Information Age. For the naturally curious person, the Internet is a fantastic, huge library. Search engines, like Google, allow me to find the answers to most of the questions I can frame as a series of 'key' words. I recognize, of course, that not everything a search engine turns up is worth reading or credible. But, after many years of using them, I can quickly weed through the trash to find the best and most accurate information that I want.

Invariably, what I find enables me to dig more deeply and read more widely about a subject. Some would argue that it would be better to read scholarly journal articles and books on a subject. Little do they know that you can even do that on the Internet, if you know where to look.

Someone once said (I think it was Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers) that you only become an expert at something after you've practised it at least 10,000 times.  I guess that makes me an expert at quickly finding things on the Web because I do it dozens of times every day.  Sometimes, hundreds of times in a day if I become obsessed with learning a new subject.  Is this skill worth the effort?  Yes, it is, if you're a curious person ...

Full Moon Rising

Last night, after we ran the dogs in the grassy field at Beaudry Provincial Park, I set up my camera and tripod and pointed my lens west to capture the sunset over a nearby field.

Over my shoulder, the full moon was rising above some trees.  Of course, I photographed that, too.

Happiness is ...

A Good Weekend

This past weekend sped by.  I suppose most weekends do.  But, it was thoroughly enjoyable.  First off, we went out to Beaudry every evening to let the mutts run in the grassy field at the park.  Mostly, there was no one else around and we never had to worry about the dogs.  Each night, we saw some wildlife.  One night, lots of geese and a cormorant on a fence post, spreading its wings to dry.  Another night, a group of white tail deer in the field.  Last night, a young buck, with a small rack of antlers.

On Saturday morning, we wandered around the farmer's market, purchasing odds and ends for the larder.  Afterwards, we went to Mike and Tasha's home to celebrate Katie's 2nd birthday, along with other members of the family.  KT was a little under the weather but seemed to enjoy her gifts and birthday cake.

Sunday was, as Sundays often are, a lazy day.  I spend quite a bit of time going through my recent photos, massaging some of them in Photoshop Elements before emailing them on to people I thought would appreciate them.

I also spent many hours on the phone with my friend, Vladymer, talking about (among other things) time-lapse and astrophotography and all the gear it would be nice to have in order to do some of the things we'd like to do.  That reminds me, I'd better buy a lottery ticket ...

Shoot for the Moon

Brian Littrell, an American singer-song writer, once said “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars”.

Last night, aided by my friend Vladymer, I tried, for the first time, to photograph the nearly full moon. It was very humbling and frustrating to fiddle in the dark with all the knobs and buttons on  my camera as I tried to get a decent image of Earth's natural satellite.  I thought I knew my camera fairly well, until last night, as I groped like a blind man to make exposure adjustments.

In the end, with Vlad's patient guidance, I did manage to get a few acceptable images.  I now know that I'll have to make many drives into the country, after dark, to get the kind of images I really want.  It's all part of learning and practice.  At least, I've made a start.

 

Back to Beaudry

In the midst of our Indian Summer now, we couldn't resist another evening drive out to Beaudry Provincial Park last night, to run the dogs before it got dark.  It was warm at first, gradually cooling as the sun went down.

Holly and Mollie galloped along the trails, mowed through the grassy fields, stopping every once in a while to investigate some odour that only they could detect with those super-sensitive noses of theirs. I brought along my little point-and-shoot camera and took a few shots of the grasses and wild flowers.

As 8 p.m. approached and the sun set, it was time to go.  We gradually headed back through the woods to the car and the return trip home.  The sky was so beautiful.

Just Joshing

American operatic-pop singer, Josh Groban, performed at the MTS Centre last night for his Straight To You Tour.  He's done well with his singing career. His four solo albums are multi-platinum.  In 2007, he was the number one best selling artist in the USA.  To date, he has sold over 24 million albums worldwide. I guess he wears those old jeans on stage because he just wants to be comfortable, rather than waste his money on fancy clothes.

I've enjoyed listening to his songs for several years, both from his CD albums and on YouTube.  Two of his most loved songs are "You Raised Me Up" and Don't Give Up".  They're my favourites and he sang them both last night.

Knowing how much I like his singing, Margaret bought tickets for this show back in early May for my birthday present.  Tonight, I finally got to enjoy her gift to me with her by my side.

There were two stages, the big fancy one with all his musicians present and a smaller one at the other end of the  the arena that he walked to several times during the evening.  Scenery on the main stage was ever changing, using film projectors and fantastic lighting.

This image, taken with my Blackberry, gives you an idea of the impressive main stage set-up. You should be able to click on the image to see a larger one, with more detail.

Josh is quite talented.  Obviously, he's a great singer but he also accompanies himself sometimes on the piano and, a couple of times, he took to the drums.  With two other drummers at opposite end of the stage, he kept up with them quite well, sort of like duelling banjos. At the end, befitting his performance, he received two standing ovations.  I consider myself very fortunate to have finally seen and heard him perform in person.  Happiness is ...

Moving into Fall

Sarah Helen Whitman, a poet and one time close friend of Edgar Allan Poe, wrote "when summer gathers up her robes of glory, and, like a dream, glides away".  I can feel that happening here at 43 Carbutt.  After another thunderstorm last night, complete with thunder, lightning, gusty winds, heavy rain, and hail, it definitely feels like summer has left us once again. Fewer and fewer new blooms are appearing in the garden.

On the bright side, the moist soil should make pulling weeds this weekend easier. And, there are lots of dandelions and thistles to remove.  These two common weeds seem to thrive under all weather conditions.  I have neglected weeding this summer, always seeming to find better things to do with my time.  Now, I have no choice because they are embarrassingly numerous.  Hopefully, we'll now move into a long stretch of Indian summer.

More Navel Gazing

A habit is a settled or regular tendency or practise, especially one that is hard to give up. John Dryden, an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright in the late 1600s, was quoted as saying "We first make our habits, and then our habits make us".  I've been thinking about my habits lately, the good ones, the bad ones, and the ones that seem to be forming recently.  Like everyone else, I suppose, I want to break my bad habits and develop my good ones.

I won't reveal either my good or bad habits here in this blog post.  People who care about and understand me well certainly know what my bad habits are.  I guess, if they ever think about my habits, they wish I'd break my bad habits because they hope that, by doing so, I will live longer and have a better life.  They're probably right.

Someone once said that you should hold true to the habits that make you a better person.  In my personal, hand-written journal, I plan to list my good and bad habits that I've developed over the years, as I see them, and try to improve myself.  Maybe, over time, I'll be able to eliminate some of the worse habits, strengthen some of the better ones, and find better ways to move forward in my life.  Maybe, I'll make that a new habit.

September Morn

Retirement allows me to 'follow the thread' most days, including today.  I've had a thoroughly enjoyable start to my day, saying goodbye to Margaret as she headed off to work, looking at the great photos recently posted on Flickr by my 100 or so contacts, going through recent messages, listening to some of my favourite singers on YouTube (singers like Josh Grobin, Nana Mouskouri, Celtic Woman, Sarah Brightman, Celine Dion, Elton John, John Lennon, and several others), and just plain relaxing.  I am so fortunate.  Happiness is ...