We had wandered around with our cameras on Wednesday and not produced much. Street photography is hard and definitely outside my comfort zone. After a day of wandering around and a great dinner with Karen and her friends we got back to her apartment where Karen started playing her guitar and I played with my camera.
Once again, I took this shot after midnight, so it is actually Thursday, June 3.
I was in Toronto for my Landmark breakthrough seminar. After the seminar I visited Karen at Disgraceland, the bar where she DJs on Tuesday nights. We didn’t get to talk much. We were right beside the speaker and Karen was pretty much focused on cueing her tracks. This shot was taken after midnight, so actually it is a Wednesday, June 2 entry.
When I got up this morning this snapping turtle mum was laying her eggs in my back yard. I couldn’t get very close in case I spooked her. The eggs will most likely be eaten by my local raccoon. The eggs that escape that fate might hatch and produce a baby turtle or two that will wobble toward the river 30 feet away. Of course, most of those could be eaten by other predators like the local fox family. Hopefully a couple will make it , but the odds are slim. Nature isn’t kind.
Everyone in eastern Ontario woke up this morning to the smell of smoke. The forest fires in the Saguenay region of Quebec had cast a pall of smoke over the whole area. The day was very hazy and I took my camera on my errands in case I encountered an interesting shot that showed the smoky haze. Nothing inspired me, and finally I decided to wait and see if the smoke would create an interesting sunset. You can be the judge. It was certainly not the most spectacular sunset from my back yard.
Today, we didn’t do much. I was nursing a big blister from my “blistering” pace in the 5K race yesterday. In the afternoon we went for a walk at Andrew Haydon Park. The park is on the Ottawa River and the shot is of the Nepean Sailing Club with the Ottawa skyline in the background.
Today was the first day of the Ottawa Race Weekend. My event the 5K was at 5:00PM. The entrants were corralled based on their expected performance. I had entered Bonnie and myself in the in the 45 minutes and over category. The image above was from our section of the starting pack about 3-4 minutes after the start. We were on the Laurier St. bridge that descends towards the start near Elgin St. You can see the herd of ants starting to move in the distance.
There were 7500 participants in the 5K. With my time of 47:32, I came in number 6832, although in my category (males 65-70) I was 25th out of 35. Bonnie had a time of 42:56 and came in number 6513 or 90th of 171 in her category. The final numbers aren’t in yet, but so far, the Little Angels Blood Cancer Team raised over $1200 to help needy patients undergoing treatment for a blood cancer.
I had dinner at my favourite restaurant in town (Carleton Place). I had my camera with me, so on my way home I took another shot of one of the towns most photographed scene – the town hall viewed from across the river and falls.
I’m slowly getting the hang of this photo-a-day thing – I usually have a camera with me now. I didn’t think of a tripod though, so this shot was hand-held with the camera balanced on a railing to steady it. I think I should just leave all my camera gear in the car.
Meet my cat, Simba who until recently has been an indoor cat. Long ago my vet advised me that my cats would be healthier if I kept them indoors. Perhaps he was right. At 16, he’s the longest lived of all my cats. However, his brother Scar (yes, it’s a Lion King theme) died recently of cancer and I decided health is one thing and happiness is another. I think Simba will be happier if he can do a little prowling around the yard. He doesn’t go far.
As long as the raccoon doesn’t catch him…
Earlier this spring I noticed that my bird feeder was emptying more quickly than it should. I thought it was deer. It wasn’t. It was this guy.
Today he was heading up the tree to check out the feeder when I saw him. Unfortunately I had put the feeder away for the summer. By the time I got my camera ready, he was back on the ground where I took this shot.
I didn’t do much today. I had planned to mow the lawn and set up the hammock Karen gave me over a year ago. Neither got done. I did take this picture.
