Reflecting on autumn

"I loved autumn, the one season of the year that God seemed to have put there just for the beauty of it." [Lee Maynard]

“No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face.” [John Donne]

“There is something incredibly nostalgic and significant about the annual cascade of autumn leaves.”  [Joe L. Wheeler]

“Time remorselessly rambles down the corridors and streets of our lives, but it is not until autumn that most of us become aware that our tickets are stamped with a terminal destination.” [Joe L. Wheeler]

Morning has broken

A few of my favourite morning quotes:

I could be a morning person. If morning happened to be around noon.

My bed and I have a special relationship, we're perfect for each other. But my alarm clock just hates seeing us together.

Every morning I long to hold you, I need you, I want you, I love your warmth... your smell, your taste... Ohhh coffee I love you. Good Morning!

If people were meant to pop out of bed, we’d all sleep in toasters.

If you've followed for a little while you likely know that I wasn't cut out to be a morning person. I'm just not that productive in the morning. Oh, I'm not the surly kind but my internal clock seems to be a few hours out of sync with the early morning crowd's. Of which my wife is a devoted member.

She has told me on numerous occasions that I've missed a glorious sunrise. In fact, on several of those occasions she's even made some photos of the sunrise - in case I didn't believe her. A few mornings ago she told me of a beautiful huge moon that hung low over the horizon at the break of day (sorry, no photos). So I promised myself to go look the next day. No huge moon but I'll (grudgingly) admit that the light in the early morning was pretty nice. Hold the applause. Fear not - I doubt that early rising will become my new habit.

Yes, How Indeed

This song came to mind as I went out recently to revel in how our Creator has clothed his creation. (if you'd like to hear it too, just click on the link below the photos)

Mmm...

My life goes on in endless song
above earth's lamentations,
I hear the real, though far-off hymn
that hails a new creation.

Above the tumult and the strife
I hear its music ringing,
It sounds an echo in my soul.
How can I keep from singing?

Oh though the tempest loudly roars,
I hear the truth, it liveth.
Oh though the darkness 'round me close,
Songs in the night it giveth.

No storm can shake my inmost calm,
While to that Rock I'm clinging.
Since love is lord of heaven and earth
How can I keep from singing?

When tyrants tremble with fear
And hear their death knell ringing,
When friends rejoice both far and near
How can I keep from singing?

No storm can shake my inmost calm,
While to that Rock I'm clinging.
Since love is lord of heaven and earth
How can I keep from singing?

My life goes on in endless song
Above earth's lamentations,
I hear the real, though far-off hymn
How can I keep from singing?

Lord, how can I keep from singing?
Oh, how can I keep from singing?

From the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly observed in what He made. As a result, people have no excuse. (Romans 1:20)

Summertime fun

[click on this link for some music to put you in the mood ... while you spend a moment or two here]



It's been a couple of busy weeks since I was last here - time spent making memories with our children and grandchildren. The camera got a good workout capturing just a fraction of the many moments we had together. The best moments, though, can't be displayed here - they're burned into our collective memories.

a hike through the forest (under the pretext of 'taking the dogs for a walk')

cooling one's toes on a hot summer day

a quick time out for a pose ("are we done yet ?")

anticipating a big splash at the water park

visiting a pioneer village to get a glimpse of life in the 1860's

seeing how water was used to provide power to the mill

but the highlight was a visit to the one-room schoolhouse (where I was 'reacquainted' with the strap ... much to the delight of our granddaughters !)

and where they saw how students dressed for school 150 years ago (note the absence of cell phones and iPads)

in between the visits to parks and playgrounds and beaches there was still plenty of time to catch frogs in our pond (here's Hailey, ably assisted by Sasha - both were equally obsessed)

and the end of each day was capped by a glorious sunset

I hope your summer has been equally blessed.

Postcards ...

Thank you to all of you who have visited and left a comment over the past couple of weeks - I thought I'd send you some postcards to say hello and let you know I hadn't completely disappeared.

I hope to 'visit' you this week yet before we make our return home.

Up the creek - no paddle needed

We're experiencing a vacationer's dream summer - hot, dry, sunny weather. Other than a quick downpour from a thunderstorm yesterday it has been bone dry for weeks, with temperatures in the 32-35C/90-95F range.

This evening I went to see just what the effect has been on a little nearby creek - judge for yourself.

Looking back at the bridge from the middle of the creek

Looking 'upstream'

There's no more debris floating by for these branches to grab

The wildflowers haven't been affected. yet

Although these were more plentiful in previous years

Here and there were pools of now stilled water 

 It remains to be seen whether these pools will also dry completely before the rains replenish the creek. In the meantime, vacationers aren't complaining.

The Master's Brush

The day I tire of sunsets will be the day I tire of life.

To watch a sunset evolve over the evening is to watch a master painter at work. The constantly changing light, colour, and shapes make for an awe-some display. No two moments seem the same. I was able to replenish my supply of sunset shots one evening last week while we enjoyed some 'down time' with family.

While technically it's no longer Sunday here, it's still Sunday out west where Scott initiated the Sunset Sunday theme.

[now that I'm back in blogland I shall be around to visit you this week]

(10-22mm  f8.0  1/100 sec  ISO200)

'Walking trees'

The more you observe and learn, the more you realize how little you know about this wonderful, complex Creation we've been commanded to be good stewards of.

An encounter with a fellow dog lover at the harbour near here (where I made my current header shot) provided us with the location of a doggy beach near appropriately-named Lover's Key state park. We spent several hours there yesterday, and although I limited the number of shots I made, I saw all sorts of interesting things, among them - mangroves.( I'll share some others at a later time).

Of course, there's a lot of interesting information to be learned about them, not the least of which is that they thrive in salt water and yet are uniquely created to filter salt out. They provide habitat for many species of fish, crabs, and birds. And they can be severely damaged by as little as a few hours of freezing temperatures (if you're interested in learning more, check this out). I learned that the ones we saw, and are pictured below, are known as red mangroves.

Reflective moments

The weather folks have forecasted 4 days of rain, starting tomorrow. While I'm not opposed to making photos in rainy weather (in fact rainy days can present excellent and interesting photo ops), I had a specific spot in mind early this evening that would be much less inviting if the chest-high grass was dripping wet.

And so, Sasha and I spent a quiet hour and a half watching the sun set and the full moon rise, during which time I tripped the shutter on a few occasions. Oh, yes, I did capture the sunset - which would be difficult over the next four days - but I'll save it for Sunset Sunday.

Note: I've been making some visits to you kind folks who leave comments here when my internet connection permits; I haven't been able to visit all of you (yet) but I'm plodding along. Within a few weeks I hope to be down south where I'll get to enjoy blinding (well, by comparison) internet speed :-)

(images for these 2 shots were made with an 18-55mm lens, at f16, ISO200 and shutter speeds ranging from 1/2 to 13 secs; Photomatix was used to render the HDR images)

Signs, Signs, Everywhere There's Signs ... Part II

As a follow up to my last post, I found some more signs in our yard of the impending and inevitable change of season. I've noticed that along our roads the colours are starting to become more vivid in the bushes and trees. I feel a photo shoot coming up soon to capture the blaze of glory with which God paints his creation before He lets it go quietly to sleep beneath a blanket of white. 

I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.
(George Washington Carver)

(60mm  f8.0  1/20 sec  ISO200)

(60mm  f10  1/40 sec  ISO200)

(60mm  f11  1/15 sec  ISO200)

(60mm  f7.1  1/25 sec  ISO200)

(60mm  f7.1  1/200 sec  ISO200)

(Day 357) The mad rush

The last time I was at this spot was in the spring. Since then a lot of water has gone under the bridge I was standing on. As I watched the water rushing down this stream I was reminded of the mad rush of people I had encountered earlier in the day - scrambling to buy those last minute gifts. I counted myself lucky not to be in that rush - not because I'm well-organized and got gifts earlier, but because my wife is the organized one who hates to procrastinate, and she had taken care of nearly all the shopping.

So I was able this afternoon to take some time and just enjoy the scene, and make a few photographs. I hope those people that were dashing through the stores find the time to slow down enough to ponder the reason we celebrate Christmas in the first place - the birth of Jesus, the Saviour of the world. At his birth the angels sang "peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased" - the kind of peace that passes all understanding. May we all stop the mad rush long enough to ponder these great things. quietly.

(18-55mm  f10  1/60 sec  ISO200)

(18-55mm  f16  1/6 sec  ISO100)

(Day 354) Shape of things to come

The acclimatization process is underway - day 1 almost in the books. I kept the wood stove stoked all day. I even spent time outdoors this morning - I fired up the old David Brown and cleaned the 7 cm/3 in of snow off the driveway (not that it really needed it, but being outside helped with getting back into the swing of winter). Sasha was truly in her element and needed no acclimatization.

This afternoon I took the camera gear - which I remembered to also acclimatize - and went looking for some winter scenes, not far from home. Cold has a wonderful way of creating shapes that warmth just can't, and after just 30 minutes of trudging through bush and holding the camera barehanded, it certainly 'shaped' my hand. Here are a few shapes I found.

(70-200mm  f7.1  1/80 sec  ISO400)

(70-200mm  f11  1/25 sec  ISO200)

(70-200mm  f7.1  1/80 sec  ISO400)

(Day 327) Put up yer dukes

Or, put up at least one !

I have no idea what kind of crab this fierce-looking specimen is (I'm sure one of the Florida-resident bloggers will let us know). We found him/her along with a few buddies near the shore of one of the many inlets of the Caloosahatchee River (what a cool name !) when we were out for a walk this morning. Every few seconds they'd raise their big claw in the air and snap at some imaginary (?) thing. Either that or they were spoiling for a fight.

(70-200mm  f11  1/100 sec  ISO200)

click on photo for a larger view

(18-55mm  f11  1/250 sec  ISO200)

looking at the inlet; the crab was found to the right of the walkway

(Day 323) Splish splash, I was having ...

... a blast ! It's Phun Phriday and I was at a park near the harbour while my wife did some Christmas shopping (who do you think was having more phun ?). By the way, it feels weird thinking about Christmas while the temperature is around 27C/81F - I mean, it should be snowing and blustery and about -5C/23F ! No matter, despite appearances neither Sasha nor I (nor the lens) got wet but we did have phun at the park and even got to see a(nother) possum - this time in the wild. He ambled off into the brush before I got his portrait, and before Sasha could get a taste of possum on the hoof. Hope you had some phun on your Phriday !

(both shots made with a 70-200mm lens, at f11, ISO200 and shutter speeds of 1/400 and 1/640 sec)

click to enlarge