Last week, Wed. April 27th, I stopped at the waterfront to take a few photos of the ice…it has finally begun to move. If you look closely you can see the ice is beginning to crystallize as well. A bit slow this year but then this winter has been unusual to say the least…
Screen…
while this photo leaves much to be desired, I liked the way the screen from the lanai was visible…
barnacles…
These fellows are from the arthropod family, apparently there are 1,220 species of barnacles…this particular one is related to the lobster and crab…who knew?
White Ibis
If you been to Florida you will have seen these fellows, they are all over the place and are not too proud to beg for food. The White Ibis is one of 26 species around the world. In Florida you will find the White Ibis, which has black tipped wings you can only see this detail when they are flying, the Glossy Ibis, which has brown patches…there is also a Scarlet Ibis in southern Florida, this happens to be the national bird of Trinidad and Tobago and was introduced to Florida either deliberately or through migration. I’ve not see the Scarlet one but will watch for it…
see you later Alligator…
These are such cool fellows…I’ve seen a couple outside the zoo one in particular up close and personal.
a blustery day
cold wind biting deep
taking the longing to sit!
Chief Commanda I
I’ve posted photos of the Chief Commanda previously…it was launched in 1946, and served Lake Nipissing until 1975 when it was replaced by Cheif Commanda II. Chief I is now a restaurant on the waterfront.
these photos where taken off the beach at Fort Zachery Taylor Historical Park…boat traffic was somewhat heavy that day! It is an awesome view…
http://www.fortzacharytaylor.com/home.html
I’m here…
I was away in Florida for a month, this is my first post since I returned mid February…took this photo on the way to Key West.
on my way home…
I had lunch with my daughter this afternoon and when done we went to do a bit of Christmas shopping for Paige, my grand-baby…on the way home this is what I was fortunate enough to see!
bubbles, bubbles and more bubbles!
When I go for my walks I like to walk to the lake…there are many access for me to use but they don’t differ much in appearance. There were waves washing up on the shore so I took a few photos of them. check out the bubbles…simplistic yes, but cool.
another short roadtrip…
Yesterday, my son, daughter-in-law and my beautiful granddaughter took a short road trip south to Barrie…it is about 2.5 hrs away…always a nice drive but I realized there isn’t as many interesting things for me to take photos of…unless we stop that is and we don’t have time for that. Someday I’m going to have to make a point of driving just to stop and take photos. I don’t know the name of this body of water, but thought it deserved a photo.
perfect spot…
Monday was a hot, humid, hazy day, which you can see in the distance of the photo…but as I drove past the waterfront I decided to stop…saw this…perfect spot to sit, relax, and read a book!
hopefully it is gone!
I took these two photos on the way to a meeting in Rosseau on April 27th, they are from separate lakes. Don’t know the names, but you would think I would after driving this way every Friday in July and August for eight years? I’m sure the ice is gone by now…hopefully!
cobalt blue & pine trees…
this is one of my neighbors garden areas, a bit of a hodge podge, but I’m fond of the cobalt blue flowers. I’m hoping to be able to do some planting this year?!
this photo is one that I took from my moving vehicle, I rather liked the scene…I know it is a bit blurry but I think it looks like a painting rather than a photo…
close up…
It is great when I’m able to get close…there is so much detail to see! This fellow along with a few friends was at a Marina on the North East side of Marco.
I got the feeling food tossed their way at this Marina, there were a few people fishing from the dock & something smelled tasty!
would you give it a try?
This is something I would like to do but won’t…my body would rebel! I always thought it looked like fun though. We saw boat drawn para-gliders each day, but only this motorized para-glider …as in the second photo, during the two weeks there.
fascinating clouds…
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!
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…
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!
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!
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!
band of gold…
managed a few photos on my way to Barrie yesterday…Barrie is 2.5 hrs south of North Bay.
Trout Lake…
For those of you who don’t know North Bay is fortunate to be surrounded by two awesome lakes…Lake Nipissing and Trout Lake…the latter is the much smaller lake of the two, (7 miles long 2miles wide)approximately 4 miles east of Lake Nipissing, but beautiful none the less. Trout Lake is the source of North Bay’s drinking water…
This photo was taken of the shoreline of Trout Lake, to show the fall colors.
at Callander Bay, Lake Nipissing
Last week I stopped by Callander Bay and have to say got a huge surprise! The bay was green sludge…actually it is blue-green algae. It was as far out into the bay as I could see. I knew there was an issue in Callander Bay, but didn’t realize just how bad it was! “The toxins in the algae can irritate the skin and, if ingested, cause diarrhea and vomiting. At high enough levels, the toxins may cause liver and nervous system damage. The residences of Callander Bay are advised to keep pets or livestock from drinking or swimming in the water. In addition, residents should not use the water for cooking because food may absorb toxins from the water. Also, boiling or treating the water with a disinfectant such as bleach may release more toxins”. http://www.nugget.ca/2013/08/02/blue-green-algae-bloom-in-callander-bay
Very sad really, as Callander Bay is a beautiful tourist area in the summer and in the winter the bay is full of ice huts…wouldn’t be eating any fish from the Bay!
the water looks blue/gray around this female duck but if you look close to her body you will see it is green! 
smart fellow, no fishing for him! I think this fellow is from the Bittern family…
drive to Rosseau Market
this past Friday was rather foggy on the drive to Rosseau Market..we leave North Bay at 5:00am so on a cooler morning we often see some fog, but this was more than usual…nothing serious though. fyi…the first two photos were taken from the moving vehicle!
by around 7:00am most of the fog had lifted…
we saw this fellow as we came around a curve…Mr Porcupine…he certainly wasn’t in any hurry to get across the road!
one of us has gone fishin!
I saw three female ducks sitting on the rocks last Saturday just like this…I had to take a photo of this lady as she actually looks angry! apparently ducks do this to keep warmer…
gone fishin…
this female didn’t mind her photo being taken!
A windy day at the beach!
these next photos were taken on the same day…it was very windy but the ducks seem to be enjoying the turbulent water…swimming about! the female below was rather nosy and came up very close…some are more skittish than others…
this next photos was take in the creek that flows into Lake Nipissing…I’ve watched this family on and off, for about a month now…babies are getting big!
I hope to take more photos tomorrow, but for now these are a couple more from the other day…this one was taken looking in the opposite direction from the ducks. Off Silver Beach
I love flowers and always make sure I’ve them in the house…I usually choose purples and white, while not my usual choice, these caught my eye…
converted and not…
I’ve recently converted a number of color photos to black & white…when the shot works I find it very appealing.
more clouds and water…
these photos were taken on different days, but you will be able tell that from looking at the sky…
The Chief Commanda Restaurant
The Chief Commanda ll on its way back to the dock…this was de-colorized slightly
this next one I originally took because I wanted a shot of the duck, but I ended up liking the reflections and movement in the water…
angry clouds…
I have to admit I’ve a major weakness for dark, moody, angry looking clouds…I don’t want any storm to accompany them, I only want to watch the clouds. I stopped along the waterfront earlier today as we had such clouds rolling around in the sky, no storm, just fabulous clouds! It is amazing to watch them change before your very eyes…mesmerizing! I’ve not done anything to these photos…this is how the clouds looked…I may try HDR, on these photos another day… for for now this is it.
when I see the lake this calm with clouds like this I always think, “the calm before the storm” I’ll let you know…
Cincinnati on the fly…
here are a few more photos of my drive home from Florida in March of this year…again all were taken from the passenger window as we drove…this is leaving Kentucky,heading into Cincinnati Ohio…towards the Brent Spence Bridge…I cropped out all the vehicles ahead of us not sure it was a good idea?
the photos above and blow are of the same area, but the top was a different angle & cropped …
I’ve always wondered about these skinny houses in Cincinnati and why they were built this way…this is the first shot I’ve been able to do anything with…I’ve searched the internet but couldn’t find any info on the skinny houses…if anyone can tell me where I can read the history on these houses let me know…
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!
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…
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…
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.
bud n mary’s…cocoa beach
today was dreary, it drizzled, rained and darn well poured…hard…all day long, so that means today is another beach/water day on the blog…always makes me happy. the photo directly below was taken on the way back from Key West…in the Keys, but not sure which one…I don’t know Bud n Mary, but I liked that they named their Marina that way…this was taken from my moving vehicle so not the greatest shot…I played around with this one a bit…was interesting to see what I could achieve with the colour…
the two photos below are in Cocoa Beach…the sky was very strange this day, ranging from white fluffy clouds to wispy nothings and the colour of the sky was unusual as well…pretty but different… this is a long shot of the beach facing the Pier…it is a great place…people fish of it near the end but the main attraction are the 4 restaurants there, ranging bars type establishments to a classy type place…
the photo below was the day before the one above…confusing I know…I was surprised at the number of people who tried their hand as surfing on this shore line…I watched them on and off most of the day…looked like fun!
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…
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…
fishing…
fishing used to be a favourite thing to do at one time…not anymore…I spotted these people on Cocoa Beach…enjoying the sun, and a day of fishing! doesn’t this look relaxing?
that same day I spotted a number of small birds…not sure what they are…they wouldn’t let me get close enough to them to get a good close up, there were a couple of different types…they never flew away just ran…it was rather funny to watch their tiny legs go…
this photo was taken on the way to Key West…I didn’t like the colour so I did it in grey scale not sure what they were fishing for…most likely just doing manoeuvres…
Heather Cote... 