Sylvia's Simple Shots

Wildlife in the river valley has been scarce this year.  I don't know if the wildfires north would affect the number of animals here.

There have been fewer sighting of chipmunks and song birds.  It's is possible that my going out later than I usually do has affected what I see.

It's been a tough summer and I have to admit getting up bright and perky before 7 am has not happened much this year.

It's been more like 9am which means the animals have just moved on with their day and are no longer where I expected them.

We had some heavy rain this week.

This is the lamp post in the back alley and you can see the rain dripping off the fixture and driving sideways.

A set of house shoes which I hope will keep my feet warm and not create too much static.

I bought these back in April when the weather was cooler.  I have not worn them much as the temperatures warmed outside.  I expect as the temps are cooler I will be inclined to wear them.

I managed to remove the few splatters of white paint.  The price was great!

I found this small teapot at the thrift store this week.

It is 3 inches tall and a bit wider than that.  It is made by Fitz and Floyd.

Fitz and Floyd Special Teas Collection Mini Deck of Cards Spade TeaPot.

I love teapots of all sorts and I really like this one. The price was under $5 and it has no chips or cracks.

I will add it to my displays shelf.

L is for Lawless by Sue Graton.  It is always a pleasure to reacquaint myself with Kinsey Millhone.

She decides to do her landlord Henry Pitts a favor.  Johnny Lee who lives in the garage apartment next to white stucco house with very tall grass in the front yard. His grandson Bucky and his wife Babe live in the house.  Johnny has passed away and Bucky would like to give his grandfather the military funeral he is entitled to but there seems to be a problem with Veteran Affairs records. Could Kinsey make a few inquiries.

Things are not as they seem, there is a break in at Johnny's apartment.  Chester, Johnny's son has a conspiracy theory. Who know?

Meantime, William who is Henry's brother is set to marry Rosie who runs the local bar and eatery where they often hang out. 

Kinsey's involvement takes her on a wild trip, encountering a very dangerous character.  Does she make it back for the wedding.  Another great story!

This is art by a tradesman.  I found these markings on a cement wall at a parkade in the area.  I will presume that he/she was cleaning off their brush after applying tar on the surface of the structure.  I thought the shapes were very intriguing.  I have converted my shots to black and white and added a bit of contrast but they are pretty cool!

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

This is a Larch Tree bud. It looks like a beautiful bouquet of pink and green.  We have several trees in the park.  The morning sun made it look glorious.

A Larch tree is a coniferous tree which unlike it's cousins loses it's leaves in the fall.

We really need rain to clean things and get nature really greening up.   It feels things are a couple weeks late which is just as well since we have to stay home anyway.

We are scheduled to have some restrictions lifted in a couple of weeks but I have I'm not going to be one just getting out there and crazy shopping.  I will give it a couple of weeks and see how it goes. I do have a few things to get for some renovations I need so we shall see.

I want to thank Margy who left me a comment on last weeks post where I packed away the puzzle.

She suggested that she does puzzles on line where there is nothing to put away. You can decide the number of pieces, the subject matter and the type of pieces which adds some difficulty to the process.

This is exactly what I needed.  I can spent an hour on the internet, see nice art, work my brain a bit with an interactive activity and it just gets put away with no mess.

I have been using The Jigsaw Puzzles website.  I liked the variety of subject matter available - I have done flowers and art.

It dumps all the pieces on your workspace but you can ask to only see the edge pieces.  That is normally what I would with a physical puzzle. Once the edge is done then the rest of the pieces are shown.  I organize the pieces by color and start assembling shapes.  You can look at the image any time just like looking a the top of the box.  I have been doing 250 piece ones with the classic cut pieces.  Love it.

I decided to choose a few places along my walking route to plant a few flower seeds.   I think I have selected places that are pretty well lit.  Some of the seeds are very old so I don`t even know if they will grow.  They were predicting rain for today so I did that yesterday morning on my walk. Of course, if they grow I will have to take my chances that I can actually pick a few as other may think they are nice too.  I`m putting it out there to see what happens.

The rain came.  It was predicted that we would have big winds but it did not happen.  It started after supper yesterday, rained all night and it is still raining.  A nice steady rain which will soak things nicely without having flooding and washing away of dirt.

I expect that nature will respond wonderfully to this much needed moisture.  By the end of the week things will be green and wonderful.
I will keep an eye on my flowers.

The challenge at Flickr Macro Monday was kitchen but no food was allowed.   This is one of the shots I prepared for the challenge. 

You can check my SMDPics photo stream to which shot I submitted.

I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #78 

and

Mersad who hosts Through My Lens #239  

I had a funky down week into my 8th week with Sheltering in Place.  I am feeling better. Have a great week!

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.

My Walk - Water Drops

I found lots of water drops on my walk yesterday morning.  Beside the fact that the grounds are on automatic sprinkler system it had rained the night before.

The pink Impatiens flower had lovely sprinkling of water drops on it.

The grass had water drops clinging to them as the sun was warming them and soon they would be no more.

The holly plant had its points out and large drops had accumulated on their leaves.

The hibiscus looked a little soaked and not necessarily so happy about it.  The blooms are so fragile.

The plastic bag in the garbage can had condensation drops on it.

Another Impatiens bloom with lovely drops!

Sharing with these for Mosaic Monday #95 hosted by Maggie at Normandy Life.

Mosaic Monday - This Week

I was motivated last week to cleanup the storage room.  It has been on the To Do list for most of the summer.

I had some of supplies still stored from when I made lots of handmade paper from recycled paper. Three boxed of brochures, manuals, etc. hit the dust.  Now the remaining supplies like my instruction book, moulds and deckles and a few naturals inclusions remain. 

I can actually see the floor. The boxes on the right contain craft supplies which I can now remove easily and put away right away. I can easily access the chairs for classes. 

I am very happy.

It has been raining for the last couple of days.  The temperatures are much cooler than last week.  I know it's going to happen but a bit more summer would be nice.  I'm sure will have a bit more.

I bought myself a shirt last week.  I paid much more attention to the details this time.  Yellow is a favorite color.  The seams on the front for the buttons and button holes are completely finished and lay flat. No more ironing them flat.  I will wear this shirt open over a t shirt so insides will be visible.  The sleeves roll up and have a tie so it will be a good summer shirt as well as a long sleeved shirt in the winter.  It has a pocket.  I generally need a place to put sunglasses when I take then off so it will come in handy.

I made a couple of apple crisps in take away containers with apples from Mom's tree.

I had a friend over for tea and we shared the missing half of this container.  The other container headed out to a birthday party.

Rain!

It's wet! It's raining this morning.  Just a quiet gentle rain.  We really need it.  I walked for an hour and did not get soaked without an umbrella.