On yesterday morning’s power walk, there wasn’t a breath of wind, which resulted in stunning mirror reflections on the river.
Because I didn’t want to slow my pace, I didn’t take the time to adjust the exposure on my iPhone camera before I took the shot.
The result was a slightly more washed out photo than what I had hoped for.
Our province’s motto is “Land of Living Skies”, so my goal in many of the landscape images I capture here at home is to honour that motto.
In addition to not taking the time to adjust the exposure, I didn’t wait until there were no vehicles passing by. I don’t mind vehicles in a landscape photo that showcases reflections on water, but only if the vehicles themselves are also in the reflection.
A bit of post processing brought the photo to how I envisioned the scene. I first removed the cars using the eraser in my phone’s native photos app. I then took the photo into the Lightroom mobile app for minor adjustments to exposure and colours. I added a wee bit of vignette at the end to draw more light to the main subject. Within less than five minutes of simple editing, I was able to achieve what was in my mind’s eye for this scene from yesterday morning (feature photo).
In some instances, I edit out telephone and power lines. This time, the lines were also a detail in the perfect reflection so I left them in.
After walking the same six streets over and over againin our south Texas park for the past six months, I’m loving being back to our walking/biking/hiking trails here at home in Sask, Canada.
There’s just something about the trees getting ready to leaf out, the fresh air, the river, the variety of trails, and the familiarity of home that makes my morning walks here at home so peaceful, meaningful, enjoyable, and special.
The winding trails are always inviting Bridges over the Souris River are plentiful and varied in design Our city does a great job of path management and maintenance The river views from the many bridges are always peaceful and groundingOne of the many bridges on this trail – one day I’ll make a post about all of themYou always wonder what’s around the next bend
This week, Healthy Choice gourmet frozen steamer bowls are on sale at our local Co-op supermarket.
I recalled liking these many years ago, so decided to pick up a few today.
Wiki says this about the brand:
According to ConAgra’s official corporate history, Healthy Choice came into being after then-ConAgra CEO, Charles “Mike” Harper suffered a heart attack in 1985. Forced to dramatically alter his diet, he came up with the idea of a line of healthier frozen foods.
Hubs is away at a poker tournament this afternoon, so I decided to make one of these for my dinner.
I wasn’t disappointed. The meal was colourful, flavourful, and the exact right amount for the lighter evening meal that I prefer. The chicken was tender and juicy, and with a 4 minute microwave cook, the noodles were the exact al dente that I like.
An added plus is that the WW Points for this meal weighs in at only six. That’s a small number of points for a satisfying meal.
Yes, btw – I’m back to tracking my food again withthe WW App. In 2018, I lost 40 lbs by following the WW smart points system. For a long time, I maintained the loss with a few minor ups and downs in weight, no tracking, and exercise only. I’ve recently regained a few lbs that have been more resistive to leaving me, so back I go to tracking.
Yesterday morning, I looked out my balcony door and saw that the snowfall from the previous day was completely gone. I donned my winter coat and enjoyed my first outdoor walk since we arrived back home.
At just above freezing, it was a chilly morning. In spite of that, the air was clean and fresh, and after a couple of city blocks to get to the river boardwalk, I realized that I had bundled up a bit too warm. Now I know what to wear when I head out for my walk today.
After walking up and down the same streets of a south Texas RV Park all winter, the riverside walk was most welcome, and even though the water will be muddy for a while yet, the ice is completely gone.
On my way to the boardwalk, I ran into two gals from my hometown who I’ve known all of my life. Yes, it slowed my average power walk pace, but our 30+ minute visit catching up was fun and enjoyable.
Each and every negative had a positive side that was stronger. Don’t you love it when that happens?
Neither hubs nor I have ever been involved in a spring break celebration, so we thought that a Sunday visit to South Padre Island during spring break might be a good way to wrap up our weekend of welcoming spring 2026.
Out of curiosity, the morning that we planned on leaving, I decided to consult professor Google as to what we might expect in terms of crowds. I’m so happy I did that.
Sunday, March 24 this year just happened to be the apex of the Texas Spring Break and this is what we should expect: possibly fifty thousand high school and college students in full and noisy party mode, heavy traffic (including complete jams) for both South Padre Island and the causeway going to and from the island, two hours or more waits for food, and zero parking at the main venues.
We decided to nix the trip and spend our last day of celebrating spring by watching nature programs on TV in the comfort our A/C’d living room, with snacks available immediately, and silence on demand as soon as we decided to mute the TV and have a nap.
The header photo for this post came up in Google Images when I looked for Claytons Spring Break Celebrations 2026. Claytons is one of our favourite stops for food and entertainment.
This photo was all that either of us needed for a “hard no!”
I guess we’ll complete life with never experiencing spring break.
Because the official first day of spring fell on a Friday, hubs and I decided to spend the weekend welcoming the new season by doing new things.
On Friday, we visited the Veterans War Memorialof Texas in McAllen, TX.
Hubs and I have passed this park many times over the years, but have never stopped to take it in.
The 3.5 acre site was opened in 1990 and pays tribute to the 1.4 million Americans who were killed or missing in action in every conflict the nation has been involved in.
There are 160 tall granite panels, each engraved with a plethora of historical information. To read it all, one would have to spend several hours there. Because it was a hot day, we browsed and read a bit from each plaza and I took photos of every block, so we could read them later.
Each plaza is made up of several granite panels arranged in a circle and has its own theme.
At the centre of the site is a 104 ft tall granite monolith. It’s named the American Spire of Honour.
There is a statue of a female officer at each entrance A Sobering experience Memorial to WAC and WAVE membersGeneral Bernardo de GalvezPatrick HenryGeorge WashingtonMartha Washington This shows the amount of engraving on each panel
This was well worth the stop and we’ll definitely visit again on a cooler day.
Radically Retired 