Another week and more slow progress on the weather front. We’ve actually gone three whole days now without rain, although the last downpour, on Friday, was quite spectacular in a brief and localized way. I was unfortunate enough to be caught in it on a long downhill haul trying to work my way out of the city to get to the barn. Couldn’t take my usual route, although I made various attempts, as most of the city streets are under reconstruction in the traditional summer fix-up frenzy and I was in major detour mode, starting with the one right outside my driveway. How people who aren’t residents or are relying on GPS systems to navigate can get anywhere in this town is beyond me. I’ve always lived here and I’m finding it challenging just going to my usual destinations.
So there I was on a long downhill road, no shoulder or any way to pull off safely to the sides, when the skies opened and suddenly there was no visibility, even with the wiper blades set at the maximum rate. Not safe to keep driving, but also not safe to pull over as I couldn’t get off the road enough and others might not be stopping, until they hit me, at any rate. So I was carrying on as slowly as possible, then it started to hail. At that point I did find a side street where I could park for a while until I could see. By the time I got to the street I needed to turn onto (at the very bottom of the hill), it had become a torrential river with no way other than the hard one of finding out how deep it was. As it turned out, it was fairly deep but still navigable, and with no large surprise holes in the bottom. I was quite traumatized by the time I got to the barn, although thankful that it hadn’t rained nearly as much there. It’s “dry” enough out there now that if only the farrier would actually come, I could get the shoes back on my horse and start riding again.
On to the photos. Shot one shows a rose that is in a container by my front entryway. This is another way of saying I go by it and have to look at it every single time I enter or leave my house. Normally this would be a good thing, but I find this rose to be about the ugliest one I have ever had under my care. I thought I was getting a soft mix of sunrise colours, but it has turned out to be a garish and rather violent set of tones, rendered even less attractive by the strange leprous mottled spots on the petals. It doesn’t even have a scent, although that’s perhaps all to the good as I don’t like to contemplate what sort of scent would be produced by something that looks like this. The main good feature of it for me is that it will die over the winter, not being a variety that is hardy here. Maybe I’ll have better luck next year.
Shot two shows a potential new neighbour, checking out the little house in the yard next door. We’ve had several sets of baby sparrows launched from our own birdhouses so far this summer, and it seems the process isn’t over with yet.
Friday I went out to my friend’s farm to photograph her old dog who is ailing but still looking good. I had to take the opportunity to get some horse shots (she breeds Paints) while I was there as well, and photo three is one of that series. This herd shot looks quite idyllic, but in reality these poor horses were being absolutely tormented by biting flies of various species. They are in the far north pasture and too far from the house and from view for a smudge ( a smokey smoldering fire, carefully contained and monitored) to be safely burned, unfortunately for them. The closer-in horses have keenly watched smudges burning in their areas, and as a result are virtually insect-free and much more comfortable. This photo is yet another example of how deceptive photos can be, as it looks so lovely but in reality was far from it for the poor horses.
Shot four is one I took on the weekend of an immature gull riding the wind currents over the river. He didn’t have the flight capabilities of the mature gulls who were swooping and doing aerobatics, so he just faced into the considerable wind and hung there like a kite much of the time.
For whatever reason, this has turned out to be a spectacular year for lilies. Nice that it’s been good for *something*!! We have a fairly extensive collection of both Asiatic and Day lilies, and shot five shows some of the beauties in our north backyard bed.
©Copyright 2010 by Judy Wood. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.
I am aware that another week has gone by, but I really don’t have a lot to report about it. Mostly because I don’t recall anything much, not that nothing happened. I seem to have mastered the art of living in the moment to such an extent that I really can’t recall what I did where or when in all my previous week’s moments, unless I have the photos to jog my memory. Guess I should be taking more photos, if only so that I know what I’ve been up to!
Actually, I did get out on a few shoots and it’s starting to come back a bit now. We had some foggy days that deposited beautiful frost coatings on the trees, and I got some shots of that. I have Sunday clearly in mind (mind you, it was only yesterday) since grandson Mark and I went out with the cameras to several locations. And then there was the flurry of email activity earlier in the week (no photos there) involving a lost dog in rather desperate circumstances, whose story now looks like it is well on the way to a happy ending.
One of my job descriptions seems to be as part of the pipeline for animals in need. I have a good network of diligent “friends of animals” who are the long-suffering recipients of the sad stories that I forward to them, and almost invariably one of them, or one of *their* contacts, will know someone who knows someone, and we are on our way to a good solution for the animal in question. I feel badly about inflicting these sad tales on my poor friends and acquaintances, but not badly enough to stop doing it as long as there is a hope that someone out there will be the savior for the animal in need.
Lacking anything else dramatic (or non-dramatic, for that matter) to comment on, I’ll move right along to today’s photos.
Sunday morning grandson Mark and I went to my favourite mixed herd south of the city so Mark could get some horse shots for a photo contest he hopes to enter. This particular herd is comprised of very low-key and friendly horses, many of whom are keenly interested in photography, or at least in visiting photographers. The palomino mare (shot one) who is usually my shadow abandoned me pretty readily to be Mark’s photographer’s assistant for this visit. She attached herself to him early on and trailed about after him for much of the shoot. At one point he had about three or four of the young mares giving his work close attention, which was quite entertaining to watch. Because I am very familiar with this herd and their calm temperaments, I am more tolerant about Mark being in their midst than is my general rule.I tend to be fairly aware of the hazards of working close to large and fast-reacting hoofed animals, and act accordingly unless I am confident that it is OK to get closer.
Later on Sunday, we passed through the Heritage Day festivities at the Saskatoon branch of the Western Development Museum to see some of the displays and check out a few of the new features of the museum. My recollection of this event from previous years was that it tends to be rather sparsely attended, but that certainly wasn’t the case this year. Our first clue was the large number of vehicles clogging the parking lot, complete with harried parking attendants trying to shoehorn cars into various obscure corners. Indoors it was swarming with activity, to such an extent that we decided just to do a quick overview of the displays and keep on moving out the door and on to our next destination. I climbed the stairs to the upper level balcony over the main-street general store in order to get this shot of some of the crowd. This prairie heritage museum is a great place to visit, especially in winter, and it was wonderful to see such a good turnout.
Shot three was taken at Ebon, after we had tended to Alpac (my horse) and were wandering around some of the paddock areas looking for more shots for Mark. I noticed the barn sparrows taking the sun in their little niche above some of the horse shelters. I love the way sparrows line up along any sort of suitable board that they can find. Sparrows are surprisingly hard to photograph as they are very spooky little birds who take flight very readily. Getting close enough to get the shot without scattering them is always a challenge.
I’ve been finding a bit of time here and there to play with some of my image collection, recombining various elements and making new images out of them, courtesy of the wonderful magic wand that is Photoshop. Shots four and five are two that I generated last week. Once I get the basics down, I like to work with variations on the theme. As these two images demonstrate, you can create an entirely different feel just by changing the colours. 
©Copyright 2009 by Judy Wood. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit her website.
