Sylvia`s Simple Shots

The weather man, the calendar and the leaves outside say that fall is here.

I went for a walk with my aunt yesterday and captured the colors.  Here we mostly have yellow leaves with very few red ones.

The temperature was in around 20C so that is summer temperatures so a vest and long sleeved shirt was enough for the afternoon walk.

Of course, it is cooler in the mornings now and I am choosing to walk later in the day most days.

Someone pointed out on Instagram (@smdpics100) that there are no bugs so that is a bonus.

I took a trip to the country last week which included a scouting trip for craft supplies (more about that later) and to visit family.

I came home with a bag of frozen raspberries which were quite unthawed when I arrived home.

I had planned a recipe of Raspberry Bavarian so early this week I made it up.  I like this dessert with chocolate wafers.

Last Christmas, in the height of pandemic I was not going out to buy them so I found a Chocolate Wafers recipe on line.  This way I can also control the sugar in the recipe.

Yummy!

It's time to do the running shoe shuffle.

The runners I have been wearing outside for the last couple of years have to go.

That means my indoor exercise runners will be demoted to outside runner duty.

That meant I needed a new pair of inside exercise shoes.

I am happy with these Nikes.

I will soon start up doing my exercises inside again as the weather becomes cold and then snowy later on.

I picked up this book at the large garage sale I attended with my sister and niece a few weeks ago.

I did not realize that it was part of a series but "The Waterfire Saga" was a clue if I had paid attention.  At least it is the first book.

It is a fantasy type story which takes place with mermaids under the sea.  

They have all the same trials with family, politics, love and friendships as we do.

The main character is Serafina of the princess of the Mediterranean Sea.  She has a dream that is foreboding of an evil possibly being released on the globe to reek havoc.

When the palace is attacked and she escaped with her cousin they are launched into a pilgrimage to prevent the release of this evil.

During my visit to the country I was on the search for small branches to create my new Christmas Tree.

You can check out this January post when I came up with the concept.

I have purchased faceted beads, borrowed some nylon cording which will form part of the project.  I have the hooks already.

It involves a drill to put holes in the ends and I have to come up with a plan for the star at the top and the trunk at the bottom.

I also have to find a hook which will extend from the wall a bit to allow space for some of my dimensional ornaments to hang.

I'm not sure how long it will take for me to complete it but I will post my results when it is ready to hang.

The challenge at Flickr Macro Mondays today is "Knots".   To the left are a three of the shots I took for the challenge.  

You can check my Photostream (smdpics) to see the one I submitted.

I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #149  and Mersad who hosts Through my Lens # 306. 

Have a great week!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I was up early after the rain the day before and captured these bright chrysanthemums.  I loved the beautiful rain drops on these yellow petals.

They are bunched together in a pot and I managed to find a good angle on this particular one.

Chrysanthemums are wonderful fall flowers.

We really needed the two days of rain and the roads had puddles.

I found robins having fun splish and splashing in the puddles.

McSweeney's began in 1998 as a literary journal, edited by Dave Eggers, that published only works rejected from other magazines. But after the first issue, the journal began to publish pieces written with McSweeney's in mind. Soon after, McSweeney's attracted works from some of the finest writers in the country, including David Foster Wallace, Ann Cummins, William T. Vollmann, and many new talents.

Today, McSweeney's has grown to be one of the country's best and largest-circulation literary journals. The journal is committed to finding new voices, publishing work of gifted but underappreciated writers, and pushing the literary form forward at all times.

McSweeney's publishes on a roughly quarterly schedule, and each issue is markedly different from its predecessors in terms of design and editorial focus.

Issue 15 is also known as the "Icelandic Issue." Printed in Iceland, half of the stories are written by actual Icelandic writers.

I found many of the stories out there.  Love the book art.

I placed in second place in the photography category in the Allied Arts Council Open Art Competition. Check on line shows here.

This shot was taken for the Flickr Weekly Theme Challenge of "centered".

I stacked my vintage White Regency by Myott Meakin dinnerware.  They were placed on a black granite 12x12 inch tile and lit from directly above.

I had to take the shot from direct above as well so placing my tripod and camera was challenging.

I just love the swirls in these plates, saucers and tea cup.

Very happy with this shot and the win.

Today, was the last day of advanced polls. I took advantage of the advanced polls and got my walk in at the same time in the middle of the afternoon.

There was hand sanitizer, plexiglass barriers between me and the check in persons, and there was no one in line.  It took about 3 minutes.  Love it!

It's good to live in a democratic country where I can exercise my right to vote for the leaders of our country.

I found this fox tail on my early morning walk this week.  

I love how the seed head is highlighted against the out of focus background.

The sun was offering wonderful light for this great shot.

This was my nieces birthday cake made by my sister. 

She had a jelly roll cake with oat flour which makes it gluten free.  

The frosting was spectacular.  It is a whipped cream cheese and cream icing topped with coconut.

It draped so beautifully over the layered cake.  The jelly roll layers had vanilla pudding between the layers.  

It is a very versatile dessert because the flavor between the layers could be fruit, chocolate, jam, or jelly.   The coconut could be sprinkles, silver balls, or chocolate curls. 

I made gluten free pancakes for breakfast Sunday morning.  First, Evans cherries, second fresh peaches and the last good old Canadian Maple Syrup.

They were yummy!

The Flickr Macro Monday challenge this week was "smell".  Food, perfume, and nature provide so many options for this challenge.  You can check out my Flickr Photostream (SMDPics) for the shot I submitted.

I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #147

and

Mersad who hosts Through my Lens #304

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I took a drive out of the city on Saturday morning.  I needed to take pictures of something different!  I needed to get away from people and be able to relax a bit.

I found several country roads with interesting things along their ditches.

There is water everywhere as it has rained a lot this summer. These are bulrushes were in overland flooding water in a farmers field.  The area I expect has a few but now there were lots of them.

The wind picked up a little and distorted the reflections in the water.

It was a great morning.

It's almost time to pick raspberries.



I will have to find a new place to pick them this year. 

I better get onto my research.

I have moved the cabinet in the bedroom which holds my die cutting dies.  It is now tucked away in an alcove in the corner by the window.  I took off the shelf that Dad had built onto it so I can access the contents more easily. I have put up some plastic drop sheets to keep the dust out.  I put the hinge back and have used some rare earth magnets to keep it in place.

The space for the new to me sewing machine is ready!

It will sit right under the window where there will be a lot of light.  There are electric outlets on the left and right so I can always add a light for night time.  It will align with the window frame on the left.  That will leave me enough room (18inches) to access the window.

The African Violet has been moved to the corner but it  may not stay there!  It was right in front of the window before.  I will have to see how that works with the sewing machine desk there.

There is still room for the photo frame containers on the left which may be used for extra shelving to manage quilts.

I have a lot to go through with frames and get rid of a stack of them.

This is my new photo studio!  I had a shelf at the end of my bed which just accumulated stuff so I decided to have it be my work space for photography which I like out all the time anyway.   I used the pine shelf I removed from the cabinet in this space which gives me at least 1/3rd more space for photography. 

I am working on having my photography lights, tripod and other gear near at hand but with a place to live so that it will easily be put away.

I love the extra space for set up.  I think it will be great!

I went to the St. Albert Botanic Garden on Saturday morning.  Of course, there are a ton of flowers to photograph!  6:00 am and my car was the only one in the parking lot. Yeah!  There is a walking path nearby but there is a lot of space.  It had rained the night before so I had soaked feet in no time.

I picked 4 of the yellow bloom varieties for my mosaic today.  I have the Chinese Globe Flower in my area as well, makes me think of Buttercups.  Check out the bee in full flight ready ready to land on the Cotswold Queen, beautiful yellow flower clusters with purple centers. The Martagon Lilies were gorgeous in several varieties.  This is the Nepera, lovely golden yellow petals with dots.  The other is a Tiger Lily.

The roses were in bloom, peonies were still in bloom, Jacob's Ladder, daisies, and a lot more to show off another time.

The Flickr Macro Monday challenge this week was Spiral. This is one of the shots from the hundreds I took this week. 

Check out my Flickr Photostream SMDPics to see the shot I submitted.

I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #88   and Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #248 

Have a good week and be safe!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I took a trip to the Heritage Hills Wetlands this week.   I found this beautiful House Finch.  It was singing it heart out. Love the red head.

I walked all the pathways this visit.  I was out for just about 3 hours.  The mosquitoes were not too bad.














I finished this book - The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tam this week.  It is an interesting read.  With time where I did not know which person was speaking.  The time frames were different so it had to be another person but it was not clear.  The 1st two thirds were slow but I have to say once the visit to China everything fell into place and the last chapters were great!

I have been working hard to make space in the bedroom for the sewing machine I bought the week the pandemic hit!

Thanks goodness it is being stored at my sister's house.  I have made a few organization changes which are working very well.  The desk will fit in the space at 30" tall, 40" wide and 18" deep.


 I have moved the photo studio that will be in my post next week.

I added some nails under the kitchen cabinets to hold the recipe book stand.  I was storing it in the yellow plastic stand with the books but that was not the best.
Excellent.

I have 3 small bags where I can place stuff going to my family's homes. My sister, my niece and my Mom each have a bag.  This was stored in the bedroom but I have moved them to the storage room.  Wonderful move.

This single White Pelican was feeding on Thursday morning.  I understand they mostly eat small fish.  You can see the dip in his gullet is the fish.

It was great to see him on the second pond because the others were on the far side of pond three.   No usable shots from that distance.

I see that I have a male Mallard Duck in the background.

These are the pink flowers in bloom here. The Wild Rose, Dwarf Milkweed and of course Peonies.

I milk weed has small wonderful flowers.  It has taken me a couple of years of research to happen upon the name.

The Flickr Macro Monday challenge was to pick one from color list (blue, yellow, red or pink) and one from an object list (pen, paper, bottle cap,flower. The photo on the left is one yellow pens.

You can check my photostream SMDPics to see my submission.

Sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #86.

Mersad who hosts Through my Lens #246

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I have been back to the front yard in the neighbourhood which is FULL of beautiful tulips.

I took another shot to show how many there are.  They are mostly red, orange and yellow.  I watched a video the other day where a well known photographer was explaining about seeing different compositions in a garden rather than the one everyone takes.  So I took an unusual shot for me.


The house is on the Historic Resources list - The Mountifield Residence which was originally built in the early 1900s.

On my walk to other morning I took a path I had not been down before.  It was in a ravine and just after a good rain I was expecting it to be muddy but it was pretty good.  It was great to be under the canopy of very large and old trees.  Green everywhere.  

I came across this patch of Forget-Me-Nots. A bunch of beautiful small blue flowers.  It was hard to decide which ones to photograph.

Forget-me-nots are perennials that regrow themselves year after year, which can be a blessing and a curse. On one hand, you don't have to plant them every year to keep your garden looking great. On the other, they can easily get out of control.
Later I found some in the front yards.

I found the Gray Catbird in its regular bush in the river valley recently.  I had seen one in a tree near the path last week.   

I expect that baby birds are in the making and it was sticking close to bush.  I have seen them near that bush in other years.  It is far enough from the path to allow that a nest would not be disturbed.

It was singing it's heart out that morning enjoying the sunshine and beautiful weather.

You can check out it's song.

The lilacs are in bloom.  After the rain on Saturday they were in full bloom this morning.

Their scent is so wonderful.   The color is beautiful.

I was thinking of the Fill the Frame challenge when I took this one.  With a bit of the background showing I was afraid that it would be disqualified so I entered something else.

Look at what I found at Beaumaris Lake on Sunday morning.   This is the best shot I got which I was not too happy with.  He just would not budge.  I did not see him in the water.

I love the big orange eye.  I saw one last year at a different lake.   I got closer to this one.  

No iconic photograph unfortunately!

Here his neck is quite compressed.  When he stands tall it so impressive but it seemed quite a small bird other than the long neck.

Love that white head feather!  




These are painted rocks created by kids in the neighborhoods surrounding the Heritage Hills Wetlands in Sherwood Park.  

I took my first walk around last Thursday.  There were at least a hundred rocks tuck in the trees, grass and logs in the area. 

It put a huge smile on my face I have to tell you! 

I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #82.

and Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #242.

The challenge at Flickr Macro Mondays this week was Fill in the Frame.  There can be no background showing.  I have had a photo disqualified in the past.  I found some African Daisies in a flower bed which worked really well to get close enough.

You can check my Flickr Photo Stream SMDPics to see the photo I submitted this week.  It got pretty good comments.

Be safe and have a good week!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I found a riot of red tulips on my trip to ponds in the north.  They were gorgeous! 

They were a wonderful color and in perfect shape.  Beautiful to photograph as they were all in immaculate shape.  Hard to decide which shot to take.

Really enjoyed these tulips on a great morning.

I guess the rain for a couple of days and now sunshine is perfect conditions for the flowers to erupt!

I found this female Bufflehead duck on the Ted Hole Park which hosts 3 small ponds which are interconnected. 

I did not see the male that morning.  She is just a such a cute duck.  Small and beautiful.  Just calmly swimming around and keeping an eye on me. 

A bit of ripple in the water blurred her reflection.  

It was a perfect shot!

Of course the rain has greened up things as well.   Glorious!

The ground was soaked and there was quite a bit of overland flooding so I got my feet wet.

Someone set up a quick bird feeder in the river valley! 

 A clear bottle, cut holes to access the seeds. A wooden chopstick for perches. A string knotted through a hole in the lid to hang it. Fill it with seeds and it's done.

Come to think of it I did not see it on my walk this morning.  I hope no one's taken it down.  I will have to pay attention tomorrow morning.

I have spent a lot of time on my knees in the last few days!

One of the challenges I was taking photos for was Perspective so I was getting low to see what the world looks like from down there!

Here's one I took this morning in a field of dandelions which have popped up with the rain and sun.

A bit of heavy dew on the grass and I came home with wet feet again today.

This was at the Ted Hole Park as well.  I have seen a Northern Flickr a few times but not got good photos.

I was surprised to see it on the ground but it was having breakfast.  The ground was soft and the bugs and worms were a plenty I expect. It would pop up it's head regularly to keep an eye on me. 

I took tons of photos to get a few  good ones. 

I was there on the ground for a good 20 minutes. Great experience!

This is a shot I took for Flickr Macro Monday.  The challenge was "handle".  Some great submissions - take a look if you are interested.

This is the handle to my glass microwave corn popper!  You can check out my SMDPics photostream to see the photo I submitted.


I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #81 and Mersad at Through my Lens #242

 I have been getting ready for an art show this week and it rain which worked out.  I will have my photos up tomorrow which I submitted.

Have a great week.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I had a wonderful photo day at the wetlands yesterday morning but it was COLD!

This is the first time I see this bird - an American Avocet.  They were feeding in a large pool of water in a construction site.  There were about 30 of them wandering around in about 8 inches of water.

I was thrilled to see them but I was completely frozen so keep the camera steady was a challenge.

They did not seem troubled by my presence at all.

I saw as a Song Sparrow, a flock of Tree Swallows,  Golden Eyes, a Blue Winged Teal and of course a Red Wing Blackbird male but no good photos.

The Canada Geese were cranky!

They were raising a fuss, making a racket, and flying overhead chasing each other.

You can see the left one's tongue is sticking out as it honks at the other one.

They were acting like some of us are feeling due to sheltering in place.











This book has been on my night stand for a couple of weeks I have just given up on it. It's depressing.

I don't really need to read about 2 couples in marriages who are unhappy and unhealthy.  I did read more than half of it but it was not getting better so I am cutting my losses and moving on.

Love the setting of Venise though.

A female Red Wing Blackbird perched on the very top of a dried bullrush.

As you can see she is all fluffed up trying to stay warm.

Really happy with the capture.

I was at the Lois Hole Provincial Park and the John Poole Wetlands.  Nature carries on in this time of isolation.

It was good to be outside, taking photos and not having to worry about someone getting too close.  A tuque would have been nice.

A nice hot shower when I got home did the trick. 

This American Robin had her feathers all puffed up as well trying to stay warm.

It was very windy and you can see her feathers are being moved about by it.

She stayed very still as I took  many shots.

Great bird captures is always rewarding.

I saw only one other person yesterday morning about 7:30 am.  It was threatening rain but it did not rain till the afternoon.

They have made the boardwalk one way for physical distancing so I had to walk all the way around.

The challenge for Flickr Macro Monday was Gold or Silver.  There is a lot of wedding rings being submitted.

I had all kinds of options and here are a few.

I used a gold oval brooch, a gold Chinese fan necklace,  an Anne Klein earring that makes me think of a shoe and an silver aluminum cigar tube where I used to store dimes. 

You can check out my SMDPics photostream to see the shot I submitted.

Sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #79.

Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #240.