just a picture, or, I ain't dead!

selfie

Mirror Mirror...

a walk on the wild side

We had our ice storm. The alerts are all done and gone. While it is still a bit slippy out, and there is some freezing rain coming down yet, the worst near where we live is finished. Thankfully, we are with power as a lot of local people are not. Rumour has it that those without power may not end up with their power back until Christmas Day at the earliest. I hope for their sakes that this does not happen - most modern houses need electricity to stay warm and cannot be heated without some form of power supply.

Anyhow, I managed to get in a bit of a walk.

It was quite eerie. There was a lot of damage from the ice build up on trees. Branches were everywhere. Even the smallest gust of wind made the trees creak and groan as ice cracked off of the branches.

The light was also marvelously diffuse, which made for some nice photography.

In all, I walked 12km and had a good time doing so.

an idea of how much ice was piling up on the twigs - it was quite a lot

some of the damage in the uptown

usually, we can bike under this, but not today

am not too sure how long that one will remain standing

these people were just too cute as they slipped about and took pictures

perhaps the best example of what I was seeing everywhere

down the tracks - note how much the evergreen is bending

how could anyone not see the beauty of winter?

waiting... personally, I would wait somewhere else rather than in a glass hut with branches falling...

down and out

bored, snow, and a camera

Took myself out for coffee with the camera - shot through glass at the front of the coffee shop

Need a pick me up? Shot through glass at the front of the coffee shop

Hazed up window - shot through glass at the front of the coffee shop

uptown snow town

tea?

open

and just for fun, a local road just outside of town

marvin should look worried

seeing as his days are numbered...

Another shot into the pit that was Waterloo Bowling Lanes.

more parking - this time, not temporary

It is good to see Waterloo taking action to reduce congestion around the limited bicycle parking facilities in the Uptown by placing more spaces in highly visible locations which are tucked out of the way of most foot traffic. This is a nice combination as it makes good use of underutilized space while providing a needed service to the public.

What appeals to me about this particular arrangement is the "P" symbol and colour which again match what is used to indicate parking for motor vehicles. This, as I have previously argued elsewhere in this blog, helps legitimize bicycles as real traffic both in the eyes of the motoring public, and in the eyes of cyclists themselves. It is a subtle thing, but could work towards helping resolve some traffic conflicts.
Also, the racks are facing the right way for the space they are in, and are set up so that two bicycles can easily be fit per station.
Good on you Waterloo. Let's get more of this going.

night wanderings

I had a short time out with the camera after dark tonight in the Uptown. Took some pictures just because I could. Twas a beautiful crisp fall evening.

Turns out that an f-stop of f1.8, 1/100 shutter speed, and iso 800 work just fine to recreate the light as it was with very little tweaking needed to match the latent light present in Uptown Waterloo at night. Set, Point, Shoot.

Add caption

it's festival season again

This year should be a good one - Waterloo Jazz, Hillside, Kitchener Blues, and who knows, more?

Here are some pics from a quick wander by at the Waterloo Jazz Festival. More ought to be coming in the next day or two.

out for coffee

A good friend of mine and I spent a bit of time out for coffee today. We talked about cycling, photography, and life in general.

Talking about photography reminded both of us that it has been too long since we have done anything with the cameras. A short walk ensued.

single speed outside the coffee shop

alley windows

name a beer

working hard

from a later walk

schmuck truck

'twas a good time.

beer store open

Funny, the other day I got a chance to try out my new snow tires in the white stuff. Bicycle snow tires, as my loyal follower knows.

A new job location for part of my job takes me outside the city limits to the next small town over. It is not far away from home - a measly eight or so km - but there is a one km stretch of the ride to work that is not very nice to ride on. Previously, I mentioned that some kind people, more local to where I work out of town, had mentioned that there was a nice trail (a piece of the Trans Canada Trail in fact) which connected the town to the city and would allow me to avoid this nasty stretch of roadway. They warned me that snow might be a factor for some of the winter since the trail is not winter maintained. They said that it is passable though because so many people use it.

er, drift anyone? and this from about 5cm of snow? three days after it fell and a lot melted?

It is very very possible that my rides to and from work might be a lot of fun. Or, at the very least, interesting...

Shortly after I took this picture, the snow all melted.

However, today, not so. Winter came back for what is promising to be a brief visit.

winter dropping by

winter dropping by

By Sunday, it is supposed to be not sunny, but rather cloudy, warm, and raining. Sigh.

That said it is early yet, and the mild flirtations we are having with winter are just enough to make getting around more fun and less humdrum.

What it is not early for though is some shopping for the upcoming holidays. I visited one of my favourite homes away from home today and took a look in the back store room while my vehicle was getting worked on and found something cool in amongst the stacks and stacks of boxes.

lookie what I found!

The above picture is a hint as to what SOMEONE at my house is getting this year.

Hint.
Hint.

That ought to make her happy, no?

it is starting to be time

I miss taking pictures.

I need to go someplace.

I think, this weekend, I will marry these thoughts with action, take my camera, and just go somewhere and make some pictures.

It has been too long.

four legged fury

Ever try and haul your behind out of bed when you know you should and you just don't want to?

That was me this morning.

Temperatures dropped last night to below freezing and the hope I had was for clear blue skies and frost fog. Unfortunately for that plan, it did not get cold enough to produce frost - instead, everything was dripping and damp under an overcast sky, making the landscape appear muted and quiet.

View over the field opposite our house

The sun, vainly trying to poke through the clouds

One thing worthy of note. Someone, I don't know who, but I am guessing people from the University of Waterloo or perhaps the Grand River Conservation Authority, removed a beaver dam on the creek feeding into Columbia Lake right before the winter freeze up. The dam was a new one, and was causing the creek to back up. It was not preventing water from reaching this unnatural human made "lake" but did create a new pond and deeper water which the local duck population used and would have created a spot for larger fish to flourish (Columbia "Lake" is very shallow - a water filled mud pan in fact). Somewhat ironically, all the beavers had the nerve to do was create a new pond in much the same way that people created a "lake" at Columbia Lake. Hrmmmmm.  For whatever reason, it was removed very close to freeze up which may cause the beavers some difficulties since they live on the branches they submerge in their ponds through the winter.

Here is where the dam was. Out of the picture on the right up on the creek bank was a mound of sticks and branches caked in mud that had made up the dam's structure. This is what makes me believe that the dam was removed rather than damaged naturally and washed away.

There was not much bird life today at the Lake, only a few mallards and some gulls. I was very frustrated with my camera - there was little contrast, and the focusing system refused to lock 90% of the time on moving targets. It was a tough task I was asking the camera to do actually as the gulls were almost the same colour and tone as the sky. I usually use gulls as target practice for birds in flight. I had a sum total of one keeper, and as you can see, it was not that good.

My one and only "keeper" while photographing gulls.

Finally, on the way home (finally, and naturally) the sun poked out. At the same time, I linked up with my neighbour who was walking his dog.

Here he is.

Nose to nose with a much larger dog

Meet the four legged fury.