The Fireworks

I did return sans Sue to my usual fireworks vantage point looking from the trail bridge to the main bridge and townhall. Sue was tired and also remembered the mosquitoes, so she demurred. We can actually get a good view from our bedroom, so she didn't miss anything.

Trying to outsmart the mosquitoes, I wore light long pants and a long-sleeved orange shirt with a hoodie. I sprayed my hat after I parked the car and added more later, but the biters found me anyway, and I was itching something fierce. Maybe they are attracted to orange. When I took my shirt off at home my back was absolutely covered with huge red bites.

Sue sprayed some stuff, and after a shower, the itchiness disappeared, Thank goodness.

The Shoot

I decided to go vertical, but once the fireworks began, they were drifting partly out of frame because they seemed to have shifted a bit from previous years, so  I couldn't change the composition by then. The reason requires just a bit of explication, but I have decided to spare you the details.

So, here are the shots, or at least 5 of them. Town Hall appears in all of the photos as it is the point of choosing this location. You will notice that the sky is not completely black; some colour remains, and that is what I was working to accomplish this year with a bit of blending in post.

Having accomplished the sky thing, although it didn't worked as well as I hoped, I am done with that location forever and ever, hallelujah, hallelujah. If I shoot the Canada Day fireworks again, it will be from our bedroom or from some other location, wherever that may be. But I shall worry about that if and when.

Sue Dresses for Canada Day

While we have habitually walked before lunch, say around 11am, we are trying to get out a little earlier lately before the heat ratchet up for the day. Mind you, it wasn't exactly chilly and already up to 75° when we left the house at 8:30 yesterday.

Sue was dressed patriotically, so when we got to the park, I raised the iPhone to capture her in her regalia. I think, you'll agree that she looked pretty darn wonderful.

We did a selfie too, but it's the above photos that I celebrate, especially the second and fourth.

As for the fireworks, I did make the effort and will undoubtedly post a few, but I haven’t even looked at them yet.

Canada Day 158

It is Canada Day, marking the 158th anniversary of the founding of our nation, and I have the appropriate t-shirt. 

Sue festoons our little front garden with many mini flags. This ↓ setting is right by the sidewalk.

Here's another garden flag, but I assure you that there are more placed about the garden.

The flags come out to celebrate Canada Day, but we don't keep them up for very long.

Meanwhile, there are many flags downtown, or I should say that there are banners bearing the flag's likeness. There are three actual flags on town hall ↓ one at the very top. There is one banner in the foreground. I experimented with a different way of using selective colour, so only the flags and flowers remain in colour. I don't think it is as good of a method that I have used in the past, but I wanted to try it.

We then walked south down our main (right from the photo ↑ ), which is called Bridge Street, and came back north along the other side of the street. From there we caught the two flags from in front of town hall and many banner flags in the northern distance.

Here is one more photo zooming in to the other side of the street. It's a good display, don't you think?

We returned in the evening to take pictures of the bridge lit with the red and white colours of the flag. I took a number of photos using the tripod two years ago, so I just handheld the camera on this occasion. A tripod ties down, but last night I just wandered about and grabbed a few shots as the spirit moved me. Getting this couple in the frame was unique in this situation. I know they are tough to see at Blogger resolution, but they are fairly noticeable when editing large on my screen. 

This is a more distant photo than what I usually take.

I am dithering about photographing the fireworks tonight. Will I go back to the usual spot and do the usual thing? Other viewpoints are difficult to find. Perhaps I won't bother at all. I don't know.

Dock & Walk

When we head downtown, we generally park in the little parking lot adjacent to the river and close to town hall, and we are often tempted to grab some photos. Yesterday was no different,

A little upstream, just beyond town limits and  well to the left and east of the ↓ photo, the river widens out into a lake, or at least what we call a lake. There are cottages and even homes along the lake, and a good proportion of those folk have boats. To facilitate access to downtown, the town has installed a dock with two piers extending out into the river. It doesn't seem get a lot of use, but I do see boats moored there on occasion.

Down to the dock went I, as I have done before, and took this ↓ photo that includes the bridge in the background. I included the bridge so that the viewer could orient themselves somewhat since I have photographed the bridge many times although usually from the far bank. Note: On this day, although I took my camera, I chose to leave it in the car and use my phone.

Turning back toward land, I wanted a photo of the sign, but I also wanted to get the scene, so if you can't read the sign at this resolution, I will tell you that it is Dock & Walk, which is also the title of this post.

I am standing oin the town dock, looking upriver past several private docks.

Turning back the other way, there is a building with at least one residence on the top floor, and I can't help but think what a very fine view they have from their elevated patio. I know that their deck is difficult to see in this photo, but it is there behind the railing near the top. They will sure have a great view of the fireworks tomorrow night.

We did our downtown walk (pictures tomorrow). When we returned there was a canoe situated quite well in the frame, and Sue took a shot. I did a little editing, including turning the light on, or at least attempting to fake it.

It Happened Again . . . And Again

I wasn’t looking to post of this again and had another topic in mind, but it just happened — again!

Too funny: very early this monirng I checked social media and saw that my friend, Nick, had posted two intriguing photos. In Comments, I wrote: “What a treat to see your art first thing in the moring while most of the rest of the world sleeps.”

Do you see how I typed morning? And do you see how I typed it (above) to introduce how I typed it? Well, I guess that you must see since I have now gone back and bolded them. 

It’s so weird. What is it about this word? I freely admit that I am a terrible keyboarder, but this word gets me almost every time. It even got me at the beginning of this paragraph, but I corrected it in this instance  

I swear that I do not do this intentionally. I also swear that I will never post of this again . . . this week.

Perhaps if I hadn’t been reduced to fewer than five hours of sleep on two consecutive nights,  I would type and write better. Seriously, it’s just a little after 7, and I have been awake since before 5. I’m on my second cuppa and may even get a Tims coffee later. 

Monirng, Strawberries and Tennis

I am going to be very brief this morning, and it is about spelling or actually typing the word, morning. I just typed it as monirng in a comment and was reminded that I once wrote about my difficulties in keyboarding said word. I wrote that post more then two years agp; this is whatI wrote: among other things, of course.

I am a terrible typist (keyboardist?). While I don’t exactly keep track of my mistakes, one recurring one that I have noticed recently is monirng when I mean monring oops, I mean morning. (I couldn’t type morning correctly even when I was paying attention. I assure you that it was unintentional.) 

The more things change, the more they stay the same, eh?

Since I am here writing and posting when I didn’t intend to be, I will also mention that I have read two posts that mention strawberries. They have come in season here, and the stand around the corner is up, so I should definitely do something about that.

Strawberry season also reminds me that it is Wimbledon tennis time. I have signed up for the Canadian sports channel that carries the event. Every year, I subscribed for just the month, but I will have to remember to cancel once the event is over, so I’ve put a reminder on both Alexa and Google Calendar. I will have to renew it for the US Open in September. 

The Graduation

After posting The Graduate yesterday, of course you know that I would also post about The Graduation today or at least soon. As I previously wrote, I couldn't be there at the ceremony, but we did get a few minutes to grab some photos before the in-crowd set sail for the high school.

First, however, this was from our family party on the previous evening. The photo was fine in colour, but I had a yen to convert it to b&w, maybe because my and Sue's grad photos from college were in b&w. That was back in the dark ages when big phones were still attached to cords and walls, but mono still seems good and proper to me.

As you know the hinges on the proverbial door to you-know-where have been exceedingly hot lately, but yesterday was pretty cool and rainy. Fortunately, the rain abated just before it became photo time. There followed a frantic 20 minute of various people shooting phones from various angles, so that Danica or others never knew where to look. While I would have loved a half-hour, quiet and dedicated photoshoot in the park with just Sue, it wasn't meant to be.

However, two of my more-liked photos were snapped before the larger gathering um gathered. Danica had just stepped from the car.

We moved to the front of the house and soon began to take family photos.

This one with me and Sue came from two blended snaps because I needed two tries to get us all looking at the same camera. Somehow, we missed getting a photo of just me and my grand girl. I passed my camera to JJ for this photo while I stepped into the frame.

Because I could and because I wanted to, I converted the next photo of Dani and Jonathan to mono.

Outtakes: the first of Sue and Dani, the second of JJ looking rather pensive. I really like that candid.

That's not all that I have, but that is enough. If Sue goes into her composite-making mode, I may make a subsequent post.