"Spot The Birdie"

I followed this little bird along a trail until it finally landed long enough to get off a few images. This photo shows off the vibrant yellow chest that makes the bird easier to see against a very blue sky. And it is a singer as well. I had great fun trying to get the right shot. Thanks little bird....

"Motion"

We all go about our day at various speeds. Some folks seem to move at a turtle's pace and some folks seem to be constantly in a state of advanced acceleration. Our sense of how fast the world is moving around us is directly related to how much of a rush we are in.

I notice that when I am not in a hurry to be anywhere that I get all green lights. But when I have left myself late, every intersection is menacingly red. The line up at the coffee bar moves in direct proportion to how pressed I am for time. Not stressed? The line moves quickly as everyone seems to order "black". But, put me me a little behind schedule and everyone is having the "skinny, soy, grandee, mocha frappe with extra froth and doubled cupped."

Here are two examples of motion at different speeds. The images were taken within one minute of each other. The butterfly's wings are in barely perceptible motion while the small car is moving at an obvious accelerated rate. Both the butterfly and the car driver are oblivious to each other and yet they are just yards apart.

If everything moved at the same speed would we appreciate each other more?

"SUPER MOON!!!"

What a wonderful celestial event last night in the form of the Super Moon.

I hope you enjoy these images, two of the moon dance and one of the setting sun.

"Good Advice"

Life is filled with: (feel free to add your own)

Ups and downs
Trails and tribulations
The good and the bad
Better or worse
Challenges and changes
One step forward, two back
The light at the end of the tunnel
Misery and mayhem
Love and joy
Peace and war
Good Times, Bad Times (Led Zepplin)
Health and happiness
Sickness and well, unhappiness

ETC...

"Keep Calm and Carry On" .... Good advice on this sunny spring Sunday. Thanks Magnus!

"Spring Tree Planting"

This year the early warm weather has helped to kick start the 2012 "Outdoor To-Do list." One of the bigger items was to plant some trees. Not saplings (easy to do), but Colorado Blue Spruce standing between seven - nine feet tall. This effort requires expert help and machinery. A call to the cable locate service showed that there were no under ground wires in the way. (wahooo) It did show however that previous owners had planted maple trees right on top of the incoming hydro and bell lines.

There is a lesson here. Please call your cable locate service before attempting any serious digging on your property. We will leave the old trees as they are for now, as removing them may cause more problems than leaving them as is. But still it is not a good practice to plant where you don't know what is underground.

Here are images from the day of planting. I am very happy with the result and will enjoy these trees for many years. I won't even mind having to go around them with the lawn mower. I left enough room to pass in between. This I learned from previous home ownership.

"The Fog" part two

The recent fog was so thick I couldn't see cars until they were at my neighbours drive way.

His driveway is 20 meters from mine.

The posted speed limit on the road is 80 kph.

I think everyone was somewhat prudent that morning and reduced their speed to 60 kph.

60 kph is 1 kilometer per minute.

There are 1,000 meters in a kilometer. There are 60 seconds in a minute.

1,000 divided by 60 = 16.6 meters per second.

I reconfirm that my neighbours drive way is 20 meters from mine.

My rough math is that a car traveling at 60 kph would cover the distance between our two driveways in 1.25 seconds.

Where I live I have to put the garbage on the other side of the road for collection.

1.25 seconds!!!.

That is how much time I would have to cross the road with my garbage and get back to the safety of my driveway should a car suddenly appear in the fog.

Had the previous night's forecast called for dense morning fog I would probably have put my garbage out the night before. As it was I stood at the foot of my driveway and squinted into the morning fog. I dialed my hearing up as far as I could and used my ears like rotating radar. Lights... Swoosh...

No lights... Swoosh... I was tempted to put my ear on the road and listen for tire rumble. I finally took a chance and as you have already surmised I made it safely across and back.

No thanks to the nightly news and their up to the minute breaking weather reports.

"The Fog" part one

The weather over the last few weeks has been "unsettled." That's the word the meteorologists use as a catchall when they don't know how to explain the strange contradictions between forecast and reality.

I have watched the weather report showing nothing on the Doppler radar, while at the same time being consumed by a torrential downpour of biblical proportions. And not a storm that ended as soon as it began, but one that went on for hours. So, how come it doesn't appear during the local forecast?

Today's images were recently taken the morning of what was supposed to be a sunny day. There was no mention, in the previous night's forecast, that indicated fog. And not isolated rolling fog. BIG FOG! Fog that lasted throughout the morning over a wide enough area to cause numerous flight delays and cancellations.

But it did make for some great pictures.