Every Day is Special ... Follow-up

I won, I won!

Actually, my suggestion that May 24th be named 'Winnipeg Start Daily Fogging Day' came in third. But I scored tickets to a Celtic Thunder concert that's coming to Winnipeg in September. Thank you, Doug Speirs!

Who's Celtic Thunder? As you might guess, they're an Irish singing group (something like the more flashy Celtic Woman group but mainly men). See: http://www.celticthunder.ie/

Happiness is ...

Interesting Weekend

Saturday, we got up early and drove over to the local farmers market to see what was on offer. There were many vendors selling fresh vegetables and we loaded up. I photographed some of veggies (see my Flickr page ... link upper right of this page). We saw some unusual vegetables like this one:

Some of our purchases were used to prepare a buffet birthday dinner for Margaret's older sister, Cathy. The Holmes' and Aunt Lil came for the buffet. Cathy seemed to enjoy the celebration.

Margaret always enjoys having her family over for dinner.

Aunt Lil, from Carman, seemed to enjoy her visit here.

Everyone enjoys a time on the deck swing.

So, an interesting weekend, all in all.

Happiness is ...

Every Day is Special ...

... to some one. Doug Spears, a Winnipeg Free Press columnist, wrote an especially funny piece today. See http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/columnists/a-day-to-celebrate-our-fair-city-217061621.html

He reviews many of the silly days that are celebrated in North America. For example, today is National All or Nothing Day. It is also National Coffee Milkshake Day, National Aunt and Uncle Day and National System Administrator Appreciation Day.

He goes on and on, mentioning other recent wacky days that are celebrated. He even has started a contest to create our very own special Winnipeg-centric day. I just know someone will suggest May 24th be "Winnipeg Start Daily Fogging Day", in answer to our annual plague of mosquitoes.

In fact, I just sent him an email to that effect!

Crazy old entomologist, but happy ...

The early bird gets the worm ...

This morning, I was up at about 4:30. Coffee in hand, I went out into the garage to begin my morning ritual of reviewing the images just posted on Flickriver. Inspired by some of them, I got another coffee, figuring I wouldn't be going back to bed any time soon.

It was getting light out now, so I decided to open the garage door to air out the desk area. When I did, I heard a whooshing noise.  Looking up into the now blue sky, I saw a CTV hot air balloon moving fairly fast. I grabbed my camera and took some shots before it disappeared.

Now that I was really up, I went on to photograph some of flowers in my flowerbeds. Those, I'll soon tweak in Photoshop Elements and post to my Flickr page.

Happiness is ...

Photographing Flowers

I do a lot of this these days. Recognizing that summer is short in our usually frigid country, I try to get out at every opportunity to make some more images of flowers. Its often hard because it has been so hot and muggy lately. We've had extreme humidexes for what seems like weeks.

I've uploaded some of my better shots to my Flickr page (see the link at upper right of this page). This is one I haven't added yet:

I know that, in a few months, I'll be complaining about the cold weather. Hopefully, there will still be photographic opportunities, even if they are not as colourful.

Jillian Day 2013

On July 1st, I used to celebrate the birth of our country. Now, I also celebrate the birth of my grand-daughter, Jillian. Sure, Canada is 146 ears old now. But, Jillian is two!

The party, organized by her parents, grand-mother and aunt was great. The outdoor water slide was the most popular attraction, followed by the kids pools.

Soccer attracted both the kids and adults.

Myself, I enjoyed all the great food, including the birthday cake.

And, in case you're wondering, no, we couldn't stay up for the fireworks!