Fall(ing) Leaves

Autumn is here. Despite the misleading temperatures (it got up to 30 here yesterday!), fall is in the air. The leaves have turned to our famous yellows, browns, and oranges. They're quite beautiful. The road to Beaudry is lined with gorgeous colour. Some leaves are falling but most remain on the trees, so far.

Whether viewed from a distance or ...

up close, they mark the end of one season and the beginning of another. Canadians are fortunate to have four distinct seasons.

You say "Tomato" ...

You can finish the rest of the saying. This is just a note to reaffirm that summer is over in Winnipeg.  Yes, I know about September 22nd, the Autumnal Equinox, and the official end of summer. Here, in my opinion, it's simply the first hard frost. And, we've had it.

Just before that momentous event, I picked the remaining small but good tomatoes. There were still a few small, green 'marbles' on the vine but those will go in the compost.

The last tomatoes were a little harder than the earlier tomatoes but the fresh, home-grown flavour was still there.

I also brought in a potted begonia and hibiscus that I hope to overwinter as house plants.  I'll have to bring in my water lilies and papyrus soon, to store in the heated garage until next spring.

One good thing: the Michaelmas daisies have started to bloom on schedule. A little frost doesn't hurt them.

Summer is Over!

This morning, over a cup of coffee, I checked the weather on-line. I discovered the end of summer.

Just as this temperature marked the beginning of spring, many months ago, it marks the end of summer now. Another degree or two lower and any remaining flowers in my flower beds will be frost-killed. I suppose I better pick my remaining tomatoes today.

The good thing about this crisp weather is that the weeds will stop growing and that I will only have to cut the grass (and weeds) one more time before I can store the mower away for the winter.

Yes, I know we'll have some warm weather yet and I will make the most of it. Maybe, later this morning, I'll take the mutts out to Beaudry again. They could care less about the weather conditions.

A New Toy

I've wanted a new "travel" camera for awhile now. My big gear (a Canon EOS Rebel T3i, with several lens and a tripod) is too heavy to haul around when I'm visiting my grand-kids or whatever. I have a small pocket camera but it's kind of slow and a bit antiquated.  It needed to be replaced.

So, I went on-line and reviewed all sorts of possible replacements. Each had its pros and cons. The nicest ones, unfortunately, were much too expensive. In the end, I went to Henry's Camera to look at some of the possible choices.  There's nothing like taking a camera in your hand to see if you like it. Thanks to a knowledgeable clerk at the store, she asked me what features I wanted in the new camera and showed me some alternatives in my price range.

I ended up melting my plastic to buy a Nikon Coolpix P510 that had just arrived at the store. It's bigger than a pocket camera but much smaller than my T3i. Most important to me, it felt good in my hand.

I had to wait awhile to test it out.  Seems it takes 4 hours to charge the battery and I had bought a spare battery that needed to be charged as well. About 8 hours later, I tested it, using Mollie as my model.

The flash made her eyes look green (they're actually brown). I could have fixed this in my processing software but I liked the green eyes. I think she must be an Irish cockapoo.

Later, I took the mutts to Beaudry Provincial Park for a walk. It was a real challenge loading the two excited dogs into my Escape but I managed. It was a bit like herding cats.

At Beaudry, out in the grassy field, I took some more shots, including this one of Holly, waiting in the wind for me to catch up to her. Fortunately, the wind blew the hair out of her eyes.

I even took a video while I was there. It's of the dogs, who had gotten ahead of me on the trail (not hard to do!). I called them back and taped them running towards me. I tried posting that video here but it wouldn't work, maybe because it was too large or it was in the wrong format. But, take my word for it, the camera does a great job with videos.

Happiness is ...