I’m behind and not able to catch up with reading and commenting on the blogs I follow.
Today, I’m just letting my followers know that I’m healthy and OK
A break is necessary for me right now.
Family first is and always has been my motto.
I’m also at a place where I find myself needing to prioritize many things in my life – maintaining this blog is one of those things.
Take good care, all – and I’ll maybe be back in a few weeks with my final decision about whether or not I’ll continue WP.
Last week, we travelled north to visit our daughter and her family as well as friends in the area we called home for over 20 years.
My feature photo is from Wednesday night at about 8pm. We were returning from a wonderful evening meal at a fave restaurant in a neighbouring town. Our daughter was driving and pulled over when I spotted the almost full moon and wanted a shot. I used the native camera app on my phone zoomed in at 8x. I didn’t have a tripod with me, so handheld wasn’t stable enough for the 8x, thus the slightly wobbly moon in my feature photo.
On Saturday, hubs and I were returning home, and as dusk arrived, I saw the big harvest moon rising over the horizon.
I pulled over to an approach, attached the new moment 240 mm mobile lens to my phone, shot using the 4x lens in my phone camera and the Moment Pro camera app, and voila!
“Anyone can see the pinecones in the tree. None can see the trees, none can foresee the forest in the pinecone.”
~ Mark Spritznagel
My Sept 09 post featured a bridge photo framed by foreground shrubs in their autumn colours.
The scene in that photo is the exception this year, and you’ll notice that beyond the bridge, the trees are still quite green.
I caught today’s feature photo about 20 minutes before the one of the bridge.
Today’s photo demonstrates how the late August and early September rains in this area, along with mild temperatures, have largely delayed the turning of the leaves.
Usually, by this time of year, autumn is in its full show regalia of yellows, golds, reds, and oranges.
I love the green because it gives the feeling of extended summer and possibly delayed frost.
An unfortunate thing about the extended summer appearance is that our farmers are struggling to get the crops in and the fields that were swathed but not yet combined are losing quality by the day.
What looked to be an upcoming bumper crop (our way of saying a huge and high grade yield), in many cases will be lucky if it meets feed grade.
Agriculture is one of the main drivers of our economy, so if our farmers suffer, so do we all.
We also have many friends and family members who farm. It’s their livelihood, so we truly feel for them in a year such as this.
Yesterday’s Labour Day rainfall here was intense, causing extreme flooding throughout our prairie city.
When I went to our balcony windows to watch the torrential downpour, I spied this fellow taking shelter under the eves of our garage.
From the looks of him, I guessed that he was flooded out of his warren.
He stayed in position for over two hours, which is very unusual for rabbits.
I watched him clean and preen his paws, ears, and nose.
Finally, he was looking dry, fluffy and healthy again.
On a recent daybreak walk, I noticed that our city’s historical court house (built in 1928 and designated as a provincial heritage property) was nicely framed on two levels by the foreground trees.
There was no traffic at that time of day, so I felt safe to inch back and forth on the middle of the street, trying to get a balanced shot of the framing of both the main entrance with its front lawn fountain and the central cupola at the top.
Unfortunately, the unruly tree branches didn’t fully cooperate for the photo I saw in my mind’s eye, but this was the closest one of several attempts.
I wonder if the city maintenance crew would trim those branches on the left a bit for me.
It’s fun to imagine that I could be so influential for the sake of a photograph, but no, I won’t ask.
Blue green is one of my favourite colours except when it applies to the type of algae on the river that meanders lazily through our prairie city.
I still enjoy my early morning power walks on the trails and paths alongside the Souris River.
I’m just not enjoying the views as much now that the annual algae bloom has set in.
The Souris (turns into the Mouse River in North Dakota) is very shallow here. As a result, a rainy summer (which washes nutrients from nearby fields into the river) followed by heat in excess of 30°C (86°F) for an extended period, and an unusual zero wind for weeks on end, makes for perfect conditions for an extreme algae bloom.
And blooming it is! This year, in places, the algae mat is so thick it looks like a wrinkled carpet.
The next photo shows opposite sides of one of the bridges I walk across on my trails.
Blue green algae is toxic to pets and livestock and the usual big flocks of ducks and geese have chosen elsewhere to have their last summer swims before making their way to warmer climes for the winter months.
Thankfully, our drinking water supply isn’t sourced from the mighty and currently nasty Souris.
On recent morning walks, there has been virtually zero wind. This is a rarity in these parts.
Besides adding to the comfort and the peacefulness of my morning power walks, the reflections on the river have been outstanding.
We’ve been overrun the past few years, and it’s to a point where they’re destroying crops and campgrounds.
This fella didn’t get the memo.
Happiness landed firmly this past week, as more and more signs of spring appeared on my walking trails.
The showy flowers on the Dwarf Russian Almond shrub in my feature photo made me smile.
Caraganas are also finally kicking out their masses of yellow blossoms now. These blossoms always bring back happy memories of my childhood home.
Everything is showing signs of life and rejuvenation after a cooler, dryer, and windier than usual May.
The grass alongside our many trails is greening up, and the trees will soon be completely leafed out.
