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…
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!
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!
makes me smile…
the last couple of days have been cold, very wet and windy…typical fall days…but I decided I’d rather look at something else…the beach at Fort Zachary State Park, Key West! The sand is very pebbly and hard on the feet…definitely need flip flops. All three photos were taken in the winter of 2011 with my iPhone…
really???
I find it difficult to believe the two boards attached to the left hand corners of this building will do the job for long…
Red Barns…
As I was looking through my photos from the Sunday trip to Sudbury I realized I took three red barns…for some reason I love barns, old or new…and three red ones is awesome! Remember these are taken while driving so one in particular is a bit blurry…
Serenade…
I was sitting on my deck last week enjoying the last bit of warm weather of the season and was treated to a serenade by this fellow for a rather long time, a good half hour or more…it wasn’t and angry sound, which is why I called it a serenade. In the beginning could hear the singing but couldn’t see the bird as he was a long way up…once I spotted him I took the photo. As you can see the leaves are falling!
both…
this is a building I see on the way to and from Rosseau every Friday…couldn’t decide whether I preferred the color or the b & w…
its a “sundog”…
had to drive to Huntsville last night, approximately an hour and 15 min. drive and the sky was so unusual…it couldn’t seem to make up its mind what it wanted to do, from one mile/kilometer to the next…anyone who visits knows I love clouds…I captured over 300 shots from my moving vehicle last night, some I’ll post but most I’ll delete…certainly worth effort to have a few!
on the way there…before the skies broke into the shot below…
this was on the way there…not sure what that colored section was all about as the sun wasn’t even remotely close by? It rather looks like part of a rainbow, but that is all there was to it and it was only in a specific area during the drive? NOTE: a visitor to my blog explained to me the mini rainbow is called a “sundog”…they are formed when the sun is low on the horizon, either to the left or right of the sun…here is a good explanation…http://weather.thefuntimesguide.com/2009/11/sun_dog.php
on the return trip as the sun was setting…
definitly not serious!
if you visit on occasion you will know clouds are a favorite of mine…I rather liked the placement of the ones below!
clouds and light…something that attracted me, nothing more!
some of the last of the season…the growing time is short!
a different perspective…
usually I go down to the waterfront to take photos, but today I was driving by from one street over and decided to walk to the top of a berm that is in front of this area to see if I could capture a different perspective of this particular spot…
churches…
A few weeks ago it was a gorgeous sunny day, after a meeting I decided to walk around to see what might catch my eye…churches…the first one I’ve shown a couple of shots of before…Pro Cathedral of the Assumption…this is a beautiful, older, stately church, but I’ve not figured out how to show it at its best yet…
Holy Name of Jesus…another stately church, the stone work is amazing!
this last one is St. Andrews, it is smaller, and not as old as the other two…I tried to clone out the wire going across the photo, but the sky is so strange I spent a great deal of time on it but it never looked right, there was always a line, all be it blue, across the sky. I thought it look better with the wire as is…
water day…
I’ve not had a chance to get out and take new shots so for today, two of the photos will be ones I took two Saturdays ago, the other one is from Cocoa Beach that I took this winter…I love the water so never get tired of see or taking water photos! I wanted the whole pier so had to stand way back then crop the photo to bring it in…not thrilled with it though.
the pier at Cocoa Beach…only visited for a few days but enjoyed it…on the pier I think there are 4 restaurants…only visited one but enjoyed the food and music!
this is another part of the waterfront here, if you look closely you can see the Chief Commanda I, restaurant in the background.
and of course Chief Commanda II, from a different angle…
pretty pink tulips
on Saturday after the Market I took a few more photos besides the Chief Commanda II…some of them were of the lovely tulips along the water front. It was a warm sunny day on Saturday, since then the warmth and sun have been simply a memory…as we get further into summer here I’m hoping to be able to take more shots of flowers…I don’t have any in my yard right now as the landscaping is being done…I don’t have much of a green thumb so it will be simple, with flowers that grow like weeds!
her replacement!
yesterday after the Market I went down to the waterfront hoping to get a couple of shots of the Chief Commanda II. I got much more, but that is for another day…today here are shots of the grand old lady’s replacement. Info regarding the Chief Commanda II can be found here… http://georgianbaycruise.com/index.php?page=home
a grand old lady!
this grand old lady, the Chief Commanda, once took passengers on cruises of Lake Nipissing and the French River from 1947 to 1974. The original ship was named after Raymond Commanda, the local chief who drowned in the French River in 1944, three years before the Chief Commanda 1 was launched. This location is at the Government Dock, and is now a restaurant in the summers months. Once the Chief Commanda 11 is launched I will take a few photos to post…in order they are black & white, color and sepia all have adjustments to them…
one of each…
I must say, I”m liking the black & white more and more, maybe because I’m finding photos that work? This ship is at Key West…near Fort Zachary Park…for the last few years there was an older Naval vessel docked there, one that was used as a museum… this year the Coast Guard claimed the spot.
There you have it, black & white, sepia, and the original…I’m actually liking the sepia that has been desaturated slightly.
things I like…
emerald green moss…it looks and feels like velvet at this stage…
gnarly wood used as a top layer for a railing on the deck on a wharf…
and of course ocean, beach, water…
community waterfront friends pergola!
this pergola is used as a fundraiser for the Community Waterfront Friends, they are raising funds to complete the North Bay Waterfront Park, which is a work in progress…the pergola allows for 2,500 stainless steel numbered leaves at $500.00 per leaf. the idea is these are “leaves of inspiration” as they are engraved with the names of those individuals, family, children, parents, or non-profit organizations which have been an inspiration to others…with the purchase of each leaf the Community Waterfront Friends be one step closer to completing the North Bay Waterfront Park.
jm
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something different…
the Pro Cathedral of the Assumption, Roman Catholic Church, built in 1904, with a foundation built from North Bay granite an white limestone from Longford…
below is Discovery North Bay Museum, since 1973… the permanent home is the former CPR train station…
I’m sure most people would think this photo was taken in the country somewhere…but what is on the other side of the red roof buildings is Lakeshore Drive, a busy road in North Bay…there are many areas along Lake Nipissing that look like this…this was taken from Sunset Park looking east…while the bay is open there is a very thing layer of ice on the water…
I know this is a rather simple photo of pussy willows, but I have to say this was a huge surprise to me…the tree had to be 8 or 9 feet tall…very scraggly with only the buds you see in this photo…I didn’t know they grew that tall…
anyone who visited in the winter time saw my post regarding the snowmobile “drag races”, well this is what is left of the drag race track…you can still see the banks on either side, showing the location of the track…
experimenting…
I visit a number of photography blogs and every now and then I’m inspired to try something different with the processing of the photos. I’m limited to some extent with the programs I have, Photoscape, and Picasa…I also have gimp but I’ve not taken the time to get into it. recently I”ve seen a few blogs who are using some form of HDR effect, which I rather like so I checked Picasa and it has a setting called HDR-ish…so I gave it a try with a couple of my photos…if you’ve been visiting for awhile you will know I’ve a thing for gnarly, naked trees…the waterfront on Lake Nipissing offers a few great ones due to the very high winds blowing regularly in the area…below is the original photo.
below I’ve used the HDR-ish setting…
of course this one is a simple black and white…more dramatic…
this one is black & white with HDR-ish used…
reflection, Mallard, floating
I went back to Sunset Park yesterday…I wanted to see if there were any changes since Sunday…not much really, with the exception of more snow piled up on the small islands off the shores of Sunset Park. I rather liked this piece of ice floating along…
on my way home I stopped at the Eva Wardlaw Conservation area…the creek flows into Lake Nipissing…it was like glass yesterday…allowing for interesting reflections…
saw this Mallard Duck come out of the culvert and swim along towards Lake Nipissing…he didn’t appear to care that I was there, although he did make sure to stay close to the opposite bank…I saw a number of Mallards at Sunset Park but they didn’t like me around and quickly flew away…
spring is working on it!
here are a couple more of the ice breaking up…all were taken on Sunday. this is facing the area/bay where I grew up, if you look closely you will see a water tower above the tree line on the left just past the clump of trees in the foreground. my home as a child is to the left of that…I know you can’t see anything but this may help visitors understand why I love the water so much!
I like the dark and light of the pieces of ice…some pieces are more saturated with water than others…I heard on the news last evening there is a possibility of flooding on Lake Nipissing…they feel it could reach flood levels by the weekend…
some of you may remember I shot a photo from a similiar angle in the winter…looks different…I’ll take another when the grass is green…
Sunset Park…
Sunday afternoon I ventured over to Sunset Park…the last photos I showed from here were during the snowmobile drag races…well this day was all about the ice beginning to break up…this is facing the sw shore…I’ve more ice shots and will post them once I’ve had a chance to look through them all…I should make an effort to go back in the next day or so as the temperature has been around 58F yesterday and today which will to soften the ice.
my view…
on the way back from Key West, we stopped so I could take photos of the old rail bridge on Bahia Honda Key,
I post them another day…but when I looked behind me I thought that view deserved a couple of photos as well…but then that is just me and my love of the water…both views are looking back towards Key West…
the shore line wasn’t great here, but then it isn’t in some places in the Keys…not a big deal for me…
if I wanted a beach I would be going to the Caribbean… not Key West.
more of Lake Nipissing
I took these yesterday, the first two are looking in the opposite direction of yesterdays photos…it will most likely be another two weeks before the ice is completely off the lake. Of course that all depends on how much wind and rain we have as both of these contribute to the ice break up.
What I was trying to show in the photo below is there are buds on this tree…on a few trees I noticed…I couldn’t zoom in as the trees are very mature and much taller than I at 5ft 4in…but…if you squint, you can see the buds…:) Spring is officially here!
beautiful day…
today is gorgeous…a blue, blue sky, which I absolutely love, sunny, a bit windy, but 49F which is none to shabby at this point! I managed to snap a few shots on my walk at one of the public access for Lake Nipissing. The whole lake is still completely frozen, but it is beginning to open at the shore, at least it is a start…there is already a small amount of debris on the shoreline, always is in the spring. It is from the people who ice fish out on the lake in the winter, they are supposed to cart their garbage/debris home with them and most do…if you look closely at the second and third photo you will see the debris…it will eventually get washed up on shore and be cleaned up.
FYI…these photos were taken with my iPhone 5…
the hand…
I love old gnarly naked trees, they have such amazing texture and detail…if you look closely there is so much to see. Key West has some of the most wonderful trees, old, very gnarly, bent in unusual shapes for who knows why, not to forget the lush colours…this one is one of my favourites,I call it the “hand”…the second photo gives you a better idea of why…
a vision…
today we are having what amounts to a mini snow storm…I know it won’t last long and the snow won’t stay, but it is one of those beach photo days folks…here is a long shot of Cocoa Beach…stopped there on the way back from Key West before going to my Mother’s place in Leesburge…I liked it, there, it reminded me of a mini Daytona Beach when it was thriving…I didn’t realize that Cocoa Beach was a surfing destination, in fact there was some kind of tournament happening during my stay…didn’t venture there but managed to get a few photos from the beach…
US Navy…
at the end of Southard St., Key West, is a docking area, used by both the US Coast Guard and the US Navy…
the building below has been in disrepair for the last three years I’ve been in that area…
I have no idea of what it was used for or why it was abandoned like this…but it is a very large piece of
property that could be put to good use on on the waters edge like this…below shows the front of the build,
along with what looks like some kind of old artillery, past its prime? The only protection is the blue/grey
tarps and the yellow caution tape…both of which have seen better days…
beauty & gnarly…
here is one of my favourite bushes…Bougainvillea……so vibrantly colourful
before, during & after…
on any given night you will see many boats off the coast of Key West waiting for the sunset…it is definitly a favourite pastime for anyone visiting…the first two boats are heading out to wait for the sun to set, the third photo is as the sun is setting, I thought the gray scale added an interesting touch to the sunset and the final one is sometime after the sunset..
sunrise…sunset!
for the most part I don’t see the sunrise…I don’t have a clear view so I don’t bother…besides, for the most part I’m not up then! this sunrise was captured through the vehicle window as we were driving home…between Windsor & London…I rather like the silhouette of the trees…
the next two are sunsets from Key West…a bit dark…I had trouble with the first one in particular…couldn’t get it right! 
this one is somewhat better…
land & ocean…
this fellow is in a bush (approx. 5.5feet high) on my Mother’s property were she lives in Florida for 6 months of the year…we spotted him scurrying along the ground to get under the tree where he obviously felt safe to observe us on the patio, from the top of the tree…it has rather funny as it appeared he was watching us…he stayed there for about 15 min…
the fellow below we saw from a dock on Lake Dora, he didn’t move…just enjoyed sunning himself…as u can see he was considerably larger than the fellow above…
I’ve never seen a Manatee before so this was rather cool for me…he was at the Marina in Key West…he/she seemed very docile until someone attempted to get its attention then he swam away…
cactus & sunrise…
when I was a way I liked to take a walk every morning…I spotted this gigantic cactus plant on my first walk…it is huge…Marco Island
it was so spread out I the photo above is the left side and below is the right…
this photo was taken on Sunday, the last day of the drive home…between Windsor, Ontario and London, Ontario…a nice beginning to the day…again taken through the windshield of my vehicle.
I’m using my camera as much as possible while I’m away…taking photos of everything that catches my eye…trying to figure it out as I go…
this little fellow is very tiny, I don’t think he would be any larger than an inch…he just sat there while I snapped away, I zoomed in as much as I could…taken in Leesburg, Florida
the pilot and crew managed to find a parking spot so the could go for lunch…taken in Traveres, Florida
there actually were about seven of these fellows, but they wouldn’t cooperate so I could get them all at once…taken in Marco Island, Florida
I’m around…
I thought I should do a post to let anyone who happens to stop by that I’m away…left February 15th returning March 17th. with the exception of answering emails, I’ve not been online…I will visit and post when I have the time…below are photos from Florida…
this fellow is having breakfast in Dunedin…
Lake Dora, Tavares, 
part of the Clearwater Beach skyline…
these are the first photos taken with my “new to me” Nikon DSLR camera…I’m having fun experimenting with it…after only a few days I realize already I need a macro lens, possibly a stronger zoom lens? will see after a bit more working with it…
looking west…
I wanted to play a bit with this photo as I thought it had great potential…as you may have noticed I’m a huge fan of contrasts…so that is what you will see today…below is the original photo…this was taken last Saturday before I went the the Radar Runs…
this is threshold adjusted…
sepia of course…I’m becoming a fan of sepia, it adds interesting colour to the photo, giving an aged appearance to the photo…
up close and personal…
I hunted for these two photos last week and I couldn’t find them…I found one similiar but not the right one…then yesterday when I was looking for something completely different, of course I found these two…the one below is a terrible photo, I was inside the house and there is a very large over hang, like a huge wooden umbrella so it didn’t allow for a great shot, terribly dark and I tried many things to do something with it…but it shows how close the deer came to my house on the lake…
on his way home…as you can see the water is not up to full levels.
Sunset Park…
I took a few photos yesterday at Sunset Park, before venturing over to the Radar Runs…it was such a beautiful day yesterday…today is pretty good as well…sunny and relative warm for a winter day! -2C but 28F for those using Fahrenheit. the photo below is looking out onto Lake Nipissing…to the west. I rather like this one below, something about the trees that always appeals to me…think I’ll do a bit of experimenting with it in a few days…
the next two photos are looking north west along the Lake Nipissing shore line….
radar run…
today was a beautiful day…sunny, no wind to speak of and not terribly cold! I saw in the paper the snowmobile Radar Runs were taking place today at Sunset Park,Lake Nipissing, so I decided to take a few minutes and take a look…I used to love going to these events when I was younger…driving a snowmobile was very high on my list of a good time…I managed to get a few photos, but I have to say the lack of attendance surprised me…there were a large number of participants but very few spectators…years ago when I attended it was wall to wall people, it was difficult to get a good viewing spot for each event…
the photo below should be to the left of the photo above…didn’t know how to pan with the camera so did it in two shots…regardless of the lack of spectators the participants to enjoyed themselves…if you look very closely at the top photo you can see the track just left of centre in the photo…
just finished his races…
favourites…
I’d decided to show you a few of my favourite photos today…but…I’ve been having an issue with the photos showing up on the page properly…anyone else having a problem with this?
Heather Cote... 
