Our condo in Marco Island faced west, so of course I saw my share of sunsets…I do have to say the most beautiful sunsets were when there was some interesting cloud formations! The Gulf of Mexico sky does seem to offer strikingly beautiful clouds!
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Family outing…
On the beach, Marco Island…not sure but I think these are Willets? If anyone thinks differently let me know…
snowy day…
We got up to a snowy day on Saturday…wasn’t supposed to be but “surprise”! It was snowing and blowing on and off all day.
Did I mention it was darn cold a well? This street is one over from Lake Nipissing…couldn’t get to the public access anymore as the snowbanks are too high!
This coming week is supposed to get colder again! Both these photos are color but with the blowing snow they almost look B & W.
surfer dude…
the first couple of days it was windy…one of those days we saw a few fellows out catching a few waves…this fellow did well, I managed to capture one attempt.
I don’t know anything about surfing but I wouldn’t have thought the waves large enough for a descent ride?
He seemed to enjoy himself and make the best of it managing a few rides!
All be it short rides…
different…
this vacation was much different from what I’ve done for the past eight or so years…I’ve not stayed at the ocean for two weeks, nor in a anything higher than the first floor, for that long…we generally rent a condo in Key West in a complex which is only two stories, and always choose the ground floor. Last year in Marco we rented a house, so being on the 5th floor was different…it was so awesome to sit on the deck and look around, watch the people, the water and the sky. So much to see from one view point. I do have to say I’m not a fan of highrises…but that was the only option if we wanted to be on the beach…
this is looking right/north off the balcony, it looks like a short walk, but in reality it is much longer than it appears…
this was our first day, a bit cooler for some, around 18c I think, but for us it was fabulous
this is looking left/south of our balcony…the beach ends there as a rock formation which would make it difficult to walk on.
Photos weren’t taken on the same day as you can tell from the sky…
fishin for something!
fishin for treasure…
fishin for lunch
fishin buddies…
From my balcony I watched a man fishing, he stopped by a few times, never saw him catch anything but I’m sure he enjoyed himself…it really wasn’t the gentleman that caught my eye but these two fellows…his fishin buddies! These two weren’t concerned about people walking by, I’m sure they were just hoping the man would leave something…the man completely ignored them, I’m sure he was used to them hanging around.
sunset…
Boring name I know, but I don’t really have a way with words! I had a difficult time while away trying to capture the sunsets…our condo faced west so I saw one most evenings, but was rarely happy with the photos. Not sure why, someone said I should have used a tripod and a longer exposure and I’m sure he was correct, I honestly don’t know enough about my camera, at this point, I’m enjoying taking photos but not yet feeling like I want to jump head first into the workings of the camera. I couldn’t bring my tripod on the plane, too much to carry…I was with my daughter so I wasn’t about to take the time to begin reading to find out what to do!
These are the same photos of course…but the colors in the colored are not accurate! I’m showing one B & W along with its color counterpart simply because even though the color isn’t accurate I like the photo!!!
home…
As you may know I was away for a couple of weeks, we were most fortunate to have missed the two coldest weeks so far this winter!!! Didn’t take my laptop so I couldn’t keep up with posting and visiting. This year my daughter and I went to Marco Island. I stayed there for a week last year in a house and enjoyed it so thought I’d try it again. This time we decided to go for a condo on South Marco Beach, with a west exposure. As a result the majority of my photos will be from that area…of course we went out, but for the most part when we did I forgot my camera, as we were going shopping, to the Market or to eat! If you’ve never been, the beach itself is a beauty, fairly wide, with most of the surface compact broken shells with some fine sand mixed in, the waters edge is small shells, some live some not. I enjoyed myself watching theses fellows moving along across the shells. Shoes are required when walking along the beach unless you are right at the waters edge…
I may not be around…
I’m leaving today for Florida for two weeks…I’m not bringing my laptop so I may not have the opportunity to post or visit until I return. I intend to take as many photos as I can so should have lots to work with when I return…
inspiration…
This morning on my travels visiting blogs, there were a few that posted awesome flower photos…they inspired me to revisit a few of my flower photos…
winter…
In the spring, summer and fall this is a beautiful park area beside Lake Nipissing…it is still beautiful but rather stark with the snow…when I was a child this was a busy happening place. Not so any more, I visit once in a while and there are rarely any people swimming here. Rather sad actually that such a great park isn’t utilized much…although we have a few that aren’t being used a great deal.
warmed up a bit…
I managed to take few photos yesterday, it was warmer than it has been for sometime, -11C or 12F, but felt quit balmy in comparison to -41C or-41.8F. Today it was 4C or 39F but it rained most of the day, very spring like but I’m hoping we don’t have much flooding with the rain and the warm temps as it is supposed to stay warm for tomorrow as well.
Found this awesome ice hut at Sunset Park…waiting to be towed out on to the lake, notice the color!!! The people who own this won’t be happy about the warmer weather or the rain…once it freezes this will be frozen in the ice right right where it is! The rain will make for slushy conditions, which in turn when frozen will leave the ice surface with ruts…not good for walking, snowmobiles or vehicles…
These two are also waiting to be towed out onto the lake as well…this fellow looks like he is pulling a sleigh with supplies on his way out to his ice hut. If you look closely you can see he has an ice auger on the top of the sleigh, & a motorized one at that…for those of you who are not familiar with ice fishing, he will use the auger to cut a hole in the ice from which he will fish. I used to love ice fishing, many years ago, but not anymore…give me a warm sandy beach or simply warm temperatures and I’m happy!
barns again…
More barns…although these ones aren’t red. Again, please keep in mind these photos were taken from a moving vehicle. It has almost become a challenge to me to see what I can get in the way of a usable photo this way! It has been bitter cold here for days and I’m afraid I’m a fair weather person so I’ve not been out a great deal. I know, why do I live in north eastern Ontario??? It is what it is! It is sunny and somewhat warmer today so I may see what I can find to photograph!
as you can see, the barn below actually has a red door!
red barns…
In November I went to Sudbury with my son and his wife and of course along the way I took photos from the moving vehicle…so keep in mind all these have been taken from a moving vehicle… Some of you will know I have a thing for old buildings, barns, vehicles, etc., when I looked over these photos I realized I’d captured a few red barns…you can read here http://home.howstuffworks.com/question635.htm why barns were painted red originally and why the tradition continues in some cases. 
to all my blogging friends…
silhouette…
this was taken a while back as you an see there are still leaves on the trees…
black & white…
I love the silhouette of branches with out leaves!
Icicle daggers…
I spotted this yesterday afternoon…not sure what it is all about as I don’t visit this area much…I was up a slight embankment and couldn’t walk down to look at the plaque beside it as the snow was too deep. I’m thinking it is some kind of beacon, totem pole, but honestly don’t know what or why it is there. I will find out eventually. The triangular shaped top looks like green glass. I did it in black & white as some areas of the snow and clouds were just too blue and I couldn’t eliminate it in Photoscape…notice the ridges behind it, they are all along the shore line but the rest of the ice as far as the eye can see looks fairly smooth…I’ve not heard if the ice is safe enough to venture out but I did notice a number of people taking ice huts out so I’m hoping so!
changed my mind…introducing Jade again!
I was going to do a year in review kind of post…but after taking a look back at some of my posts I’ve changed my mind! I think I’ll find something fairly recent to post! I couldn’t resist posting these two…this is Jade…I introduced her last Christmas. She is my daughter’s standard poodle and she thinks she is one of the children! Poor Jade, she is totally exhausted from the holidays…this was taken Christmas day.
The color of the photo below is a bit off but it was either washed out or too much color as the photo above is closer to her natural color, so I chose to use it like this. I wanted to show the photo below as it shows just how tired she was…Jade is laying on a couch, yes, at her size, with her two front paws under her chin. Just look at those eyes…and yet if you asked her to she would be willing to play.
This was taken a couple of weeks ago when we had the hoar frost morning, I’ve since learned that is what it is called…”a grayish-white crystalline deposit of frozen water vapor formed in clear still weather on vegetation, fences, etc.” Today it was much warmer -5C or 23F and we now have wet slushy roads. I’ll take a few photos to show you the difference a day can make in the appearance!
holding the moon…
On the way back from Sudbury, which is 1.5 hrs west of North Bay, I managed to capture a few photos…of course they were all taken from the moving vehicle as a result they are not as crisp or clear as them should be…but I couldn’t resist posting them regaradless!
the moon isn’t as cool in the last two photos, but the positioning was rather interesting…
brrrrrrr….
This fall, we have had very cold weather…generally this type of weather is in January or February, not November and December. I know…it is what it is! For the last week or so the wind chill has made it biting cold…today it is -32C or -25.6F…darn cold for December 14th!!! So another shot from the south for today…a Key West sunset taken last winter. Makes me feel warmer just looking at it!
sand and sun…
I decided it is time for a bit of sand and sun…since I can’t photograph the sand here I will rely on photos I took in the last few winters…when I go to Florida I generally don’t stay in a condo/house on the beach, for one far to expensive for my liking and Key west generally doesn’t have condos on the beach…across the street or close by but we like to be able to walk everywhere so find it better to stay close to Duval Street…as a result I don’t have a great many beach photos…should have many this winter as my daughter and I will be staying in Marco Islands in a condo on the beach in January…the first for me in many years.
Marco Island, Florida – 2012
Naples, Florida, 2012
Fort Zachary State Park Beach – 2012
towards the Government dock
This is another of the photos taken a week ago…heading towards the Government Dock.
bumpy ice…
it has been warmer the last day or so, in fact it is sunny and -4C right now, so it that keeps up hopefully this will melt and smooth out! I could wish for lots of snow to cover this but the solid pieces could be dangerous…I’d rather it melted. This makes for difficult walking, cross country skying or snowmobiling when the ice is thick enough! It is NOT thick enough, we haven’t had enough cold weather.
more frosty birch trees…
it was a bit windy the day this was taken…if you look closely, especially on the top left side you can see the snow blowing off the trees…
broken, barbed wire & fence…
This broken branch above ooked completely out of place…it is huge in comparison to all the other branches…
the touch of red & yellow caught my eye…love how the snow is holding on to the wire fence!
Snow hangs upside down on the barbed wire…
frosty…
This was taken on Friday morning as well…the trees did look beautiful. The clouds were rolling in fast as you can see behind the trees…
sunny for now…
I went out this morning to take photos at the waterfront…it went from sunny to cloudy in minutes! The lake appears to be frozen over but at this point the ice will only be paper thin…
forgot…
This photo is one of a few I took the beginning of November… I was looking for a photo to post that didn’t have snow and icicles in it and it!
bitterly cold wind…
when I went for a walk to day it was overcast, lightly snowing with a bitterly cold north wind…I captured a few photos at one of the access. the white you see in the distance isn’t waves, it is chunks of ice forming in the water…the wind chill factor dropped the temperature cold enough ice is forming in chunks.
ice encrusted…
both these photos are of the ice encrusted rocks after a cold windy day when the waves crash on shore…the water freezes on the rocks in a ripply affect…I don’t think I quit captured the beauty…especially when the sun shines on them!
more signs winter is around the corner…
I had an appointment this morning at 7:30…when I left the house at 7:00 I looked in the rear view mirror and saw the most beautiful dark pink sky and thought damn…first I didn’t have my camera and second I didn’t have time to take photos. Once I arrived at my destination the sky was amazingly beautiful, black, blue and the most startling pink!!! Now I don’t see too many sunrises, but this had to be one of the best! Then I remembered I had my iPhone with me…I took three photos but they are disgustingly bad…I was sad to have not been able to capture such beauty! So, more signs of winter it is…
missed the sunset…
Yesterday afternoon I happened to take note of the sky just around sunset, possibly because we haven’t had much in the way of sunshine lately…I got in my vehicle and drove to a public access close to me, but by the time I arrived the sun had set. The sun seems to drop quickly once it reaches a certain point… I still managed to get a colorful sky!
signs winter is on its way…
I took these photos yesterday…I missed the setting sun, but there was an awesome sky that I wanted to take photos of. When I was at the water front I noticed the ice that had formed on this metal fence…the day before was blowing, snowing, cold… generally a nasty day…as you can see cold enough that when the waves splashed up on the metal fence the water froze…I managed to capture a number of nice colored sky photos and a few more interesting icicle photos but this is it for today…I tried many times last night to post but for some reason I couldn’t get the photos to post at the size I wanted??? So I left it and decided to try this morning…
temporary fixes…
During my walk yesterday I stopped at one of Lake Nipissing’s public accesses and happened to notice this…
I’m well aware the wind is very strong off the lake so I understand that a fence may require reinforcement over time if the post aren’t cemented in, we had a fence not stand up to the wind close to 35 years ago when we lived in our first home on Lake Nipissing, due to the fact the posts weren’t cemented in the ground, which must be done to give the sections in between each post stability… a fence was built at the last home on the lake 24 years ago and it is still strong.
Not sure what this is…it appears to be connected to a rock break wall on the right???
selective cutting…
This post is all about trees…I love trees, they make the neighborhoods colorful, they attract birds, provide shade, in some cases privacy, short ones tall ones, I love the look of trees, especially in the fall when the leaves have dropped. The neighborhoods with out trees look rather barren to me…having said that I do understand the logic in pruning, cutting back large branches or even cutting the tree down when necessary. The reason I’m talking about this is North Bay Hydro, our local hydro company, pays a local company in town to do this so no branches are closer than 9 meters (29.5ft) to a hydro line…my surrounding neighborhood was chosen this fall to have this done…while I understand the logic of why it must be done, it saddens me to see how spindly some of the trees now look. Many of the large stately deciduous trees are fine as only a few branches have been taken but for some trees, in particular the coniferous trees, the whole side facing the wire is gone! The clump of trees in the center of this photo looks fine…it is large enough to handle a few limbs cut, but check out the tree to the right…
on the tree below, all the branches below the wire are in tact, so it is much like the tree on the right above…half a tree from the wire up!
it is difficult to tell in the tree below, but when the leaves are in full bloom they will be to the left of the cutting, the other branches are from another tree…
again, all the branches are gone on the one side of the tree…
strange sky…
yesterday was a strange day, with the most unusual skies…changing from dark and moody to light and fluffy so quickly due to the strong winds!
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In honor of those who those who served in the past, those who lost their lives and those who are presently serving their country…
Someone asked me what this symbol is…this is a Poppy, in Canada many of us wear it on our left lapel for approximately two weeks before November 11th. Our Canadian Legion offers these to the public for a donation, raising money for our Veterans. We call November 11th, Remembrance Day, Poppy Day or Armistice Day…we wear the Poppy as a symbol of respect, remembrance and thanks to past present and future fallen soldiers, and to those who continue to serve their country!
sun bathing…
I took this photo of the Chief Commanda, the restaurant, last Saturday…I liked how it looked bathed in the light of the setting sun!
almost forgotten…
taken a few weeks ago but forgot about it…
got it…
I managed to get a sunset this past Saturday…my first in a very long time. I took photos as it was going down but they were too dark??? The wind was bitterly cold, of course I wasn’t properly dressed as I came from a show, so my hands were not steady…but I was determined!
Heather Cote... 