Ghosts of Victoria's past

This is another shot from my day downtown. Its a reflection. I am not sure where the statue is in this area. I have to go back again and see if I can duplicate this.

It rained, off and on today. My garden can use the moisture. The tomatoes are really wierd. They are about 6 inches high and blooming.

Today I noticed the rose along between Craig's and our place was hanging way over their driveway. So, it had to come out, right now. I am throughly tired of that thing. So, now its gone, but for getting rid of the bush that I cut out. I have most of it clipped with the large pieces saved for fireplace wood and the smaller stuff to my back old compost bin. This bin holds quite a lot of clipped woody stuff. Its heaped up. I might need to hire someone to take it away. My compost bin is getting quite full too. Pat helped me take out the larger wood. Now I just need to dig out the roots. There is a voluteer holly bus growing in the same area, but I don't think I want to keep it. The Virginia Creeper is taking over everything, so I must get that and the St.John's wort clipped back too. The Rose of Sharon bushes that I pruned earlier are looking real good and healthy. I would like to put a buddleia in where the rose was, but I think that would be too big and floppy too. I had put the rose in because the postman or someone crossing through between the houses had been using the buddleia I had there to pull themselves up to my driveway. They ripped the old buddleia right out the ground.

The deer

A few days ago there was a deer across the street from our house. I was shooting through the tree with the 12x zoom maxed out. This property is now Saanich Park and they are letting the grass grow, just as in the rest of the Panama Hill Park. Its kinda nice to have this across the street.

We are almost finished our second strawberry and rhubard pie and I have no pictures. I did a couple of shots of bike parts for Pat today and he was happy enough with them; and Dave says thanks too. :) That bike has some good red and blue colors. There is potential there for an artsy macro.

The Wasp

This little wasp nest was on the deck. It must have blown off its place in the wind. I put it on my patio table. A wasp arrived and began crawling all over it. I kinda enjoyed these shots. I did no photoshopping to them. The nest is about an inch wide. A pretty little thing. At one point the wasp was standing still and flapping its wings. I don't know what that signifies, but I call it the bee dance. I have not examined the cells yet. They might contain eggs or honey, I know not.

Lipizzan Stallions

These are the 3 photos out of the 13 I chose as the best, and have tweaked and cleaned up the noise, of the Lipizzan Stallion show from Saturday. It is taking me a while to get these photos ready for the net. I also have many more to do from my very productive day around downtown. Yesterday I got a series of interesting shots of a wasp on a tiny hive. So, I have much to do with my photos are upload sites.

I made another strawberry and rhubarb pie today. We went out for pitza on the big white West Coast Honda to the Sidecar. Different kind of pitza they make.. thin crust and wood burning kiln.

Mural Controversy Victoria BC Legislative Building

Quote from Wikipedia

In April 2007, members of the legislature voted to remove murals in the legislature lobby which depict scenes of B.C. history from 1792 to 1843. Artist George Southwell was commissioned to paint them in 1932 and they were completed three years later. ^[2]

At issue is the depiction of west coast first nation's people in a manner some regard as degrading. One painting titled Labour portrays bare-breasted aboriginal women hauling timber while a white man looks on. Another titled Justice shows a native leader standing before a judge. One interpretation of this latter mural suggests that the judge in question is the famous 'hanging judge', Matthew Begbie, suggesting the subjugation of natives to colonial law. However, Southwell's daughter claims that her father depicted the native leader standing before another judge, this one who in fact championed native rights.

Chief Ed John (himself a former cabinet minister in a prior New Democrat government) says the murals, remind him of how some traders treated First Nations women — not much better than prostitutes. ^[3]

Three of 71 members of the legislature voted against the motion to endorse a proposal to bring down the murals. Since the murals are painted on to the walls of the rotunda, the cost of removing them was estimated at $280,000. ^[4] The original 1991 report, first commissioned by the former New Democrat government, calls for the murals to be moved to a museum location where they can be put into better historical perspective.

Look up, Victoria

These are photos from the day I spent downtown. I tweaked these and loaded them to my Flickr account. I have a lot more to do and load there yet. I really like how these turned out.

On Saturday we were to see the Lipizzan Stallions at the arena. We did not have very good seats as we were to the end of where they were preforming. I have tons of photos from that day, also. I have 3 of them with the noise removed and ten more to do yet.

Cyrus's new Megashot site is looking really good. They now have the 'invite only' feature in place... anyone will be able to apply and be added, if the Admins think they want them. Only people interested in critiques and improving our photography need apply. Cyrus has had great success on Pbase and just yesterday one of his photos made it to the top of Flickr's list. The site is at http://www.megashot.net Hope you have time to have a look.

Today I found a little beehive on my deck. By noon there was a wasp on it. I have a whole bunch of photos of this from today. So, I have much to do with my photos right now.

More Iris

The water lily in the pond is covered in blooms. It had twelve open today. The white one in the front tub has only one bloom. I thought I should get out and shoot it before it is gone. It was a good afternoon for shooting... cloudy and not too much glare. Except for the purple water iris, I believe all the iris are finished blooming for this year.

I took these photos after getting home from seeing Dr. Rossi. Her office is near the Hillside Mall so I went on a little shopping spree. I have not shopped for sooooooo long. A very helpful lady in a small exclusive dress shop showed me how to dress my little fat body. She was about the same height, age and weight and she looked very good in her outfits. She put me into a couple of skirt/tops/jackets that I can mix and match. I should be set for our next River Cruise. These skirts can walk out casual or be dressed up for dinner. Well worth the price. After her shop I was to Sears where nothing fit or looked even half decent. I did manage to find a nice little pair of black sandals that will go with both skirts. Black and white is in this year it seems.

Dr. R immediately identified my rash as psoriasis. No cure, but treatable. It is heritary, it seems. It would help to lose weight and drink less, according to the page of information she gave me. Okay... more walking needed. Then what? a new wardrobe, again? Hmmmmmmm, might be fun.

Iris

This is another one for my Iris series on Flickr, if ever I get it done. I just liked the colors and composition on this one.

I got out in the garden for a bit today. I thought there was a lot to do, but there just isn't that much to keeping it up right now. It rained last night and a few bits today, so I do not have to water which is a great time saver.

The white water iris is blooming and I should get out and shoot it before it is gone. Most of the other irises are finished. The big purple and gold water iris in the pond has many buds on it. It is going to incredible when its in bloom.

We had baby lettuce, chives, and radishes from the garden, with an avocado, in the salad. Very nice sweet tender lettuce.

The new site (not to be mentioned, just yet) is looking really good. I have been spending quite a lot of time on it this last week. I think it might be a nice place to be. PN is the same old crap plus flashing ads. Flickr has some good info, especially on the S3 IS group. But unless you go about commenting and faving you get very little attention. That kind of false attention, I don't need.

More from my garden

These a couple of the shots from my garden on the 17th. I really am behind in my blog posts.

Yesterday, after seen Dr.C. I walked downtown and spent the next 6 hours walking and shooting. By noon, the sun was really too bright to shoot anything with sky in it. I did not have my polarizer filter along. So, I tried to get shots of things without sky. The light really was too harsh though. I did get some good building shots before the sun was too bright. I will eventually post them. Hopefully I will get all the albums done for my Flickr account that I want to do.... I may let that drop though and just go back to reading for the information and posting the odd one. Very undecided about everything recently. Seems I can change my mind in 2 seconds flat.

Friday I go to see Dr. Rossi, the dermatologist. Probably more tests of every kind. So far, we have no clue what is causing my high blood counts or rash. Might be allergies? And no, I don't get headaches. I am a conundrum, it seems. From the tests, it is not a cancer of any kind.

On Saturday, we go to see the Lipazzan Stallions at the arena. I am looking forward to that. Hope I can get some good photos.

More flowers

A couple of days ago my camera photo counter went from 5491 to creating a new folder and starting over. I found the information in an obscure part of the manual saying that only 2000 photos could be in one folder. It seemed to me that all of a certain type of shot will go to one folder. Anyway, I don't really understand it, as I never had 2000 in a folder ever, because I format. I really think I must have inadvertantly hit the reset counter. No big deal. I just won't do that again. Apparently it can count up to 10,000 when it automatically restarts anyway. With digital 10,000 just isn't that many.

Yesterday we were to the Barney Oldfield Memorial Model T run. There were 16 cars out which is a good turnout. We arrived back first but got last place... cause we didn't answer the questions. Its no longer a race as it once was, in the good old days. Billy LaSalle took the trophy. I think I will eventually post a couple of photos.

A couple of days ago I got some more clipping, pruning, lawn mowing and weeding done. The tomatoes that Tara has in the black pots by the wall are about a foot tall. Mine in the garden are about 4 inches. I potted hers up and planted mine all at the same time. It must be all that sun reflected off the wall. Good place to grow the tomatoes, then!

Today I made a strawberry and rhubarb pie. Both store bought. It turned out really good.

Post

I was shooting with my Canon S3 IS in 'my colors' set to black and white. This is all about the wire, and maybe a bit about the DOF. I tweaked it a bit in photoshop with curves and added a bit of darkness and contrast... just a tad. The wind was blowing when I took the shot, so the tall grass around this post is in motion.

Daisy

I just like how this one turned out.

I filled the pond today and planted up my 3 new plants in a large pot. I set the pot next to the water garden tub in the front garden. I added another row of rocks to the stone path. All of this digging in clay has shown me that I still have some unused muscles that need exercise.

Last night I finished reading The Life of Pi. A rather different book.

Pinks

I spent a bit of time last night expanding the space just a bit on this photo because I had not left any space on the bottom and on the left. Hope you cannot see my addition. This is one of my pinks. I have a few different ones. This will be yet another series for my flickr page maybe. So, geraniums, iris, pinks, roses, the Esquimalt Lagoon day, poppies, grasses. I have some lovely grass shots. That should keep me busy for a while. I only have a couple more to load for the Esquimalt one and that will be done.... of course, I could find a few more from the other days out there.

I have a bit more finished on the North Island album for my web site. There is another poem or two rattling around my head, but I am doing my best to ignore it. I am almost finished reading "The life of Pi". What a fabulous tale it is. Such a welcome relief from the usual murder mysteries. The only way to find good reading now is to go to a big book store with a specific book in mind, I guess.

Water Iris Abstract

This is a very close up of my spectacular water iris (I have lost the name tag). I hope to eventually add this to my Flickr account. I did not get out to the garden today, so my new little plants are not planted yet. The little oxalis is a tender perennial, so I think I will just put these plants into a big pot. Their colors go very nicely together. I might add some tall marigolds at what will be the back of the planter.

I was to the lab today to give more blood samples. There were 4 tests marked on the lab requisition. I see Dr. C. in a week and the results of these tests should be in by then. Pat was wired with a gizmo to check his blood pressure. He is border line high. We were awake every hour or so when the thing would buzz and take a reading. He would have to write down on a list what he was doing at the time of the reading. So, we were both very tired today. The walk home from the lab was nice though.

I cannot seem to get into uploading my photos to the photo upload sites. Or commenting anyone. Maybe its just time to leave it alone for a while, and just do my own stuff.

Van Dusen Flower and Garden Show

We had a very busy weekend. We were in North Van at Pam and Mike's place by about 4:00, Friday. I had a few minutes to walk around Pan's garden. Its wonderful, with very many interesting plants and shrubs. I kept seeing a new one each time I looked into her garden. She has been really busy with her garden design business recently. Later we went to the Trivia night at their church, with more of their friends. Fun.

On Saturday Pam, Pat and I went to the Van Dusen Garden Show. It was pouring rain the whole time. We spent a few good hours there, never-the-less. At noon, we listened to Des Kennedy's delivery of a hilarious talk about garden tools. I didn't get many photos. I did get three choice little plants. There was so much to see. More fun, despite the rain.

We arrived home before 4:00 when we went to Rachel's piano concert. These young people play wonderfully well. I did not use flash for my photos as I did not want to break the concentration of the girl playing at any time. It was unusual lighting, but a very nice concert. Dinner later at home... chicken snitzel. Yummmm.

Sunday we went to Amanda's field hockey game... more rain. The poor girls were just soaking wet. After the game we headed for the ferry. We were on an older ferry, so I got to be out on the deck to shoot. No dirty windows. I was trying different "my color" modes, and some accent color modes. We got home mid afternoon. Time to look at photos, and shoot more. My water Iris is in bloom. The gorgeous big purple one.

So, with this blue poppy, and my other poppy shots, and the previous tall bearded iris shots, I am eventually going to load a poppy series, and an iris series to Flickr.

My first Infrared

I was out yesterday doing a bit of shooting along the trail. I tried the hoya R72 filter, my colors set at black and white, in Tv mode and time set for 4 seconds, set on the tripod of course. I should have set the Av as well, to something like 2.7 if possible. I should have had it in manual mode. Oh well, this did not turn out too bad. That house must have been half a mile or more away. I cropped quite a bit off the bottom as it was all white stuff with no contrasting black in it. I tweaked this a bit in photoshop, adding contrast, some minus brightness and curves.

Tomorrow we go to Pam and Mike's for the weekend. They are sooooooo busy, and so it will be a busy weekend, but fun. Pam and I are going to the Van Dusen Garden show on Saturday.

New beginnings

I am building my account on Flickr. This poppy bud will go into the series - poppies, and the rose of course into series - roses.

The collage is something Cyrus taught me to do a long time ago, and I have been putting off learning to use my Photoshop. Well, Flickr has a feature that lets us see the EXIF if available. I like to see this information, on my own, especially, in case I want to check how I have done any shot. My old photo editor strips the EXIF data and so I am learning PS. Its great fun. I don't know why I left it for so long. Just lazy, I guess.

Rhodo art

Today I managed to change the very grey water in this photo to this nice blue color but using a method that Dieter told me about in the Mega Shots feedback forum on Flickr. So, I am now trying to use Photoshop for all my stuff and become more practised at it, and less afraid of it. I can't break it, after all!. It really helps to have some hints. This one is a duplicate layer, image adjustments, cooling filter, erase the duck so it does not go blue, flatten image, then I tried to clean up with the clone stamp, as my erasing needs more practise. That's the easy method, apparently. There is masking and many other things to learn. Once you do it though it becomes just natural to know where to go... curves and levels are always fun.

I just like the way this rhodo turned out and I have not done anything to it, but crop. I like the bits of color in the corners.

Two hours at Esquimalt Lagoon

These are a few photos from the day we took the van to Esquimalt Lagoon for lunch. The same day I was shooting the Fisgard lighthouse and the little bridge. June 25th was an overcast day with bright reflections off water and lighter sand. I have more to do in this series, but there is no rush.

We have had a bit of rain, which makes it nice. I can spend the time tweaking photos on my computer while the garden gets watered, this week.

Having joined Flickr, I have decided to make sets and collections for my 'series' of things that I want to upload. This Esquimalt Lagoon will be the first one. Then I would like to do my flowers -- columbines, irises, and the roses each as a set, then put the garden sets into a 'my garden' collection. No one is looking on Flickr anymore than they are on PN. I have my old stuff on PN and should load more of my travel stuff there, maybe.