Sylvia's Simple Shots

The weather is warm and the magpies have been hanging around in the back alley.

I just love how the sun is highlighting the beautiful colors in their feathers.

Just enjoying the sun!

The Sea Gate by Jane Johnson was the book I finished this week.

Set in Cornwall, England and a WWII story comes to life.  Rebecca's mother has passed and as she cleans her flat she finds a letter. 

Olivia is her mother's elderly cousin who needs help to save her beloved home. As Olivia sits in hospital Rebecca starts to clean and unearths secrets.

There is tunnel in the basement which leads to the sea. Could it be that "goods" have been secreted in the basement?  In recent times there is an illegal cigarette operation. 

A historic corpse is found in the tunnel. Who is it?  When did he die?  Why did he die? How was the gate used during the war?  

Wonderful story and real page turner

The kitchen plumbing stacks were steamed this week.

The process is required to prevent sink back ups due to a build up of gunk in the drains.

It is frightening to see black water backing up in your sink and you wonder will it overflow and cause a mess and possible damage.

After the renovation I have just gone through I can tell you that was not in the least appealing.

It means having to be home and having a contractor in your kitchen for several hours.

A sparrow at Telford Lake. They were many and flitting around as they do.  They were singing and chatting among themselves.

I was checking out a condo building in the area for orientation and location.  It is so difficult sometimes to determine these things from a few photos on a MLS listing.

The magpies were enjoying the pool of water which accumulated at the corner of the loading dock.

After a long winter, it time for a bit of cleaning. They were dipping, swooning, and shaking off the drops and doing it again and again.

The sun was warm and it was lovely to watch them frolic for about 20 minutes.

 

Recent Photos

One morning this week I headed out early and further a field with the car in search of a park I had heard of on TV.

It had rained for 2 days before so there was heavy dew drops on the grasses along the path. I wanted to capture it all as it was so wonderful looking.  I took a lot of photos.

I captured this one which had a sun burst in a rain drop on the bottom left corner and another above and a little more left, bokeh of water drops further away, and a spider web in rainbow colors!






It was cool so I wore my raincoat which passed the test earlier in the week when I took my 1 hour walk without getting wet.




I have been learning new photography techniques. Last week oil on water and this week In Camera Motion.

After some research on line I set my aperture to 1/4 second and headed out to try some out.  I focused, started moving the camera and pressed down the shutter button.  The faster you move the more out of focus the photo.  I created waves in this one.

I finished my next Kate Morton book last week.   This is her first book.    I found the beginning a little slow but the middle and end were worth the wait.

The House at Riverton set in England between the wars. It is the story of an aristocratic family, a house, a mysterious death and a way of life that vanished forever, told in flashback by a woman who witnessed it all and kept a secret for decades.

Grace Bradley went to work at Riverton House as a servant when she was just a girl, before the First World War. For years her life was inextricably tied up with the Hartford family, most particularly the two daughters, Hannah and Emmeline.

In the summer of 1924, at a glittering society party held at the house, a young poet shot himself. The only witnesses were Hannah and Emmeline and only they -- and Grace -- know the truth.

In 1999, when Grace is ninety-eight years old and living out her last days in a nursing home, she is visited by a young woman who is making a film about the events of that summer. She takes Grace back to Riverton House and reawakens her memories. Told in flashback, this is the story of Grace's youth during the last days of Edwardian aristocratic privilege shattered by war, of the vibrant twenties and the changes she witnessed as an entire way of life vanished forever.

The novel is full of secrets -- some revealed, others hidden forever, reminiscent of the romantic suspense of Daphne du Maurier. It is also a meditation on memory, the devastation of war and a beautifully rendered window into a fascinating time in history.

I finally got a decent photo of a Yellow Warbler.  Their song is always with as I walk in the morning.  But considering it is about the size of a large thumb and the trees now have leaves I had given up getting a photo.

I finally spied him just singing away.  I managed about 16 photos before he flew away when someone else came down the path.

I wished he did not have the shadow on his face but at 12 feet in a tree I take what I can get.

He will be making it to my 2020 photo calendar later this year.

I did find The Magpie's Nests art installation in the Rossdale Linear Park. They are bronze and painted steel. The artists are local to the province.  Excellent art!

Parking is limited to residents. As it was before 6 am I decided to take a chance and took a few shots.  I did not stay long and it is a small park on a great walking path.

My favorite is the white sphere.  I love the shape.

Sharing with

Angie at Letting Go the Bay Leaf who hosts Mosaic Monday #31.

Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #195.