| First Snow |
[Dec. 1st, 2009|12:01 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | 'C'est la Vie" on Radio One | ] |
First snow on December 1, 2009. Since I have lived in Stirling I cannot remember a time when the snow was so late. All of it has melted by now (noon).
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 29th, 2009|05:41 pm] |
I'm feeling better today. After I posted my LJ entry yesterday, I tested my blood glucose levels and found them to be very high. That may explain why I felt so depressed.
I went out and photographed more churches and crêches today.
St Paul's United Church:
St Andrew's Presbyterian Church:
Community Pentecostal Church:
I photographed this from the north side of West Front Street to get my desired angle. I didn't notice until I had finished shooting but cars in both directions had stopped to allow me to shoot uninterrupted. One of the joys of a small village. |
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| Christmas Lights |
[Nov. 28th, 2009|06:02 pm] |
I put up my Christmas lights today.
Usually, this gets the Christmas Spirit going in me. But not this year.
For the first time in four years, I am feeling sad and lonely today. Not sure why. |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 27th, 2009|08:31 pm] |
I had a close call with another deer tonight on County Road 33 driving home from Trenton. I didn't see it in the glare of oncoming headlights until it had successfully crossed the road. It brought back memories of the collision with a deer last month.
In Toronto on Wednesday, a deer made it into the downtown core as far as Union Station.
Closer to home, I have been trying to photograph the squirrels that live around me. They are much shyer than the Toronto squirrels who will come right up to you and demand food. And you thought only humans were panhandlers.
The squirrels have been feasting on walnuts littering my back yard having fallen from the three trees on my property. It has taken me about two weeks and lots of roasted peanuts to lure them into camera range. I seem to have two gray, one brown and one black squirrel. So far , I have had no luck with the black squirrel but I did get this shot today of a gray one.
The black detritus around its feet are the remains of a walnut he has peeled and eaten. |
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| American Thanksgiving |
[Nov. 25th, 2009|01:17 pm] |
To my American family and friends, have a happy and safe Thanksgiving. Remember, for all your problems, things are getting better. You have a democracy and the power to make changes. You have a constitutional freedom where your rights don't depend on what side of the bed the dictator got up in the morning. You were the first to have freedom of expression even if you have to hear views with which to disagree. Remember, Adlai Stevenson said, "Freedom of speech is the freedom to be unpopular". One of my fore-bearers, Nicholas Gilman of New Hampshire, helped write that constitution and it is a document that has stood the test of time.
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| Christmas Lights |
[Nov. 17th, 2009|01:29 pm] |
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I am starting to see Christmas lights appearing in Stirling, Frankford and Trenton. I don't know about the other surrounding communities as I am seldom in them in the evening. I follow the Scottish tradition that my late wife kept that decorations don't go up until the beginning of December. The decorations stay up until Twelfth Night (Epiphany, the Twelfth day of Christmas) January 6. The Stirling Santa Claus parade is on the evening of December 4. As the parade passes in front of my house, my decorations will be up by then. |
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| Remembrance Day |
[Nov. 11th, 2009|03:06 pm] |
Remembrance day in Stirling was sunny and warm, +5° C. This is unusual for mid November when the ceremony is usually held in the cold and wet. I have photographed geese walking on the ice of the Mill Pond on Remembrance Day. This was the best attended ceremony I can remember in the six years that I have lived here.
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| Replacement Camera |
[Nov. 8th, 2009|12:39 pm] |
My Mercury Cyberpix 450 bit the dust. I had been holding it together with elastic bands. However, if the the bands slipped, the spring loaded systems would eject the batteries, the memory card and part of the casing. The memory card would not seat properly anymore. I went into a pawn shop on Campbellford on Saturday and purchased a used Kodak C533 to be my in car point and shoot camera. I have taken some test exposures and found out that on automatic setting, pictures are slightly overexposed but by cutting the exposure value by 1/2 f-stop, the problem seems to be solved. The camera takes the same SD memory card and AA batteries as the Mercury.
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| Passings |
[Nov. 3rd, 2009|10:11 am] |
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My aunt Pearl (95) passed away on Sunday in Clearwater, FL. Of the original Farnham QC gang there is now only my aunt Rosamund (94) of Lancaster, PA, and my father Bud (90) of Stratford, ON. |
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| End of Fall Colours |
[Nov. 1st, 2009|03:31 pm] |
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I drove to Campbellford this morning to one of my favourite breakfasting places, the Riverside restaurant. Looking across the Trent River from my table, I noticed that Campbellford's fall colours were gone. Driving home, I noticed that all the deciduous trees were now bare. The high winds yesterday must have stripped them of their remaining leaves. Except for the evergreens and their green needles, we won't see tree leaves again until May. |
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| Hallowe'en |
[Oct. 31st, 2009|07:59 pm] |
My porch ready for trick-or-treating.
A wascally wabbit pays a visit:
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| Jack-O-Lantern |
[Oct. 30th, 2009|07:57 pm] |
Pumpkin as purchased from Willow Creek Farms:
As carved. I am the worst Jack-O-Lantern carver in Canada.
Final product:
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| Willow Creek Farm |
[Oct. 29th, 2009|05:47 pm] |
Aside from getting my H1N1 flu shot yesterday, I also picked up a pumpkin for my jack-o-lantern Saturday night.
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| Flu Shot |
[Oct. 28th, 2009|07:59 pm] |
Standing in line in the rain to get my H1N1 flu shot in Madoc, ON today.
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 22nd, 2009|03:26 pm] |
Q. What do you call 25 millionaires watching the Stanley Cup on television?
A. The Toronto Maple Leafs. |
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| Thanksgiving |
[Oct. 12th, 2009|12:20 pm] |
My son Geoffrey and his girlfriend Wanda came to Stirling for Canadian Thanksgiving. It was fun to have people in the house and my cat Irena adores both of them. On Saturday we made our usual tour of the chocolate and cheese factories in Campbellford. This photo was taken in Campbellford in a park beside the Trent Canal. This was the last weekend of operation for the locks until may of 2010 so most of the large cruisers and cruise ships have left the system for Lake Ontario or are now tied up in marinas for the winter.
It is also fun to cook for more than one. On Saturday we had a corn roast (more properly: corn pressure cook)with some of the last of the local sweet corn. On Sunday we had breakfast at the Riverview Restaurant in Campbellford in the enclosed patio overlooking the Trent River. Wanda loves their Eggs Benedict and their home fries. Later, I cooked a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and the trimmings. I did purchase the pumpkin tarts a Dooher's Bakery in Campbellford but I whipped my own cream for the topping. I can't stand "whipped topping" from an aerosol can.
Due to train availability Geoffrey and Wanda had to take the last train out of Belleville on Sunday night. All the Monday trains were already sold out when they booked.
I have enough turkey leftovers for a second turkey dinner tonight. :) |
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| Nobel Prize |
[Oct. 9th, 2009|08:19 am] |
I really can't understand the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama. I fully expected him to be eligible for one in a few years but eight months into his first term?
Perhaps the Norwegians are just relieved that they are not dealing with the creepy Dick Cheney and his administration any more. |
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| Irena |
[Sep. 28th, 2009|12:49 pm] |
It was two years ago today that I discovered a little gray and white cat begging for table scraps outside the rear door of Strato's Restaurant in Frankford Ontario. Strato's Restaurant is gone now, the victim of a fire about two month's later. Stratos relocated about thirty kilometers away in Brighton and his old restaurant would be rebuilt as a Subway. I arranged with Stratos' staff, which had been feeding her at the backdoor after she had been thrown out of a car in front of the restaurant, to take her home. I having been without a cat for about a year. An online friend and wonderful person and cat owner from Prague in the Czech Republic gave me permission to name the cat after her.
Irena was badly injured, the vet suspected an encounter with a larger animal. $2,000 of veterinary surgery and Irena returned to goo health. I have no idea of her actual age. Based on dental wear, the vet has estimated seven or 8 years old. She has proven to be a mouser. I didn't know that my house had mice until Irena started bringing dead trophies to my bedroom.
Irena has proven to be a good companion. She actually watches football with me sitting in my lap with her face to the television screen. She seems to have a taste for classical music, watching the New York Philharmonic's complete performance of Dvorak's New World Symphony but leaving when they started to play Gershwin's An American in Paris. She likes to sit on her pillow beside mine when I have classical music on my bedroom radio in the evening.
She sleeps on the pillow beside mine every evening and is there when I wake up. She doesn't snuggle in bed but she will often sleep with a front paw on my hand or arm.
I am glad that she is with me. |
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stirling_b's journal
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