Playing In photoshop and otherwise

 Playing in photoshop with picture of my new Pooh Bear.  He looks a bit like the soon to be Ex-senator Duffy.

 This is a frame grab to produce a still shot from a movie I accidentally shot of Steve's Car.  I will never be able to figure out how to do that again.

 The wooly beastie at the museum . . . a new photo.  The mamoth is in a new setting at the museum.

 Geum in my garden a year or so ago.

This is a photo from a few years ago.  We were in Chemanius in the Japanese area of the town.  Although this is not very Japanese garden-ish, I love the colors and the the token gate.  

We have been in a drought for about a month and a half.  We are suppose to get about 2.5 inches of rain over the week end, starting tomorrow!  Cone on rain!  We really need it.

I have harvested about 3 dozen figs from our tree, and there are a few more out there yet.  I am making soups for the winter.  The little freezer is slowly getting full.  

I am slowly getting photos from our trip done up and have decided that I must send family photos by email, after all.  There is just too many to do up.  Must send to Deanne and especially to Rose - -   Especially the bustle dress!  Will do up the rest and upload them to Megashot if I can.  Version 2 is going to be fantastic when they finish it.  I should be able to load to Version1 as I get them done. 

Winnipeg has recently had about 80mm of rain in a short time and the city was flooding, with power outages from the high winds.  Calgary had snow, and even more snow in the higher elevations.  B.C. is burning, and had an earthquake in the St. John area from the fracking going on there.  Here is a link to a Huffington post about it:  http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/news/bc-earthquake/

this one:  http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/08/22/fracking-halted-temporarily-after-4-6-magnitude-earthquake-near-fort-st-john_n_8022908.html

The stock markets globally have been going crazy lately, but seem to have stabilized in the last couple of days.  China seems to be in economic trouble, not to mention Greece is joining Moaning Myrtle in her toilet habitat.  Isis is causing havoc in the mid-east and refugees are flooding Europe to escape from the brutality.  Seems like the whole world is gone crazy.  But can you imagine how the people who lived during the world wars felt? Their world, too, was gone mad; and they did not have the bombardment of the global, day by day, face paced news that we get now.

Sitemeter and Canadian Wildlife Federation photo contest

First the good news:  I have entered the above photo into the Canadian Wildlife Federation's monthly contest.  This is a photo from our trip to Botanical Bay, last year.  We camped at the Pacheedat Campgrounds and were right beside the San Juan River.  Wish me luck.

The sad news:  My sitemeter that I really liked has not been working for the last while.  I checked the dns for it and found it was built by David Smith in the late 1990s.  It should have been renewed in April, I believe but was not.  Further to my sitemeter not working I searched for other people having problems with Sitemeter and found this site:  http://www.jennettefulda.com/2014/07/jenful-and-the-case-of-the-mysterious/   It seems Word Press users were having far more trouble with this than I was on this Blogger.  I checked David Smith's LinkedIn and it seems he is no longer in California but is in Washington, D.C. and lists Sitemeter as his previous work and now works at something else.  So, sad to say, I will need to delete any remnants of sitemeter from my page and blog.  I shall have to find a new one. 

In the garden, we have harvested 3 dozen figs, so far.  The yellow plums are beginning to get over ripe, and falling off the tree.  But I have quite a lot of them preserved and frozen, so shall just clean up under the tree.  We are currently in a drought.  Most of B.C. is the same with forest fires everywhere.  Thank heavens we are still ok here. 

I am slowly getting photos for the 2015 trip to the Prairies done and ready to upload to my secret Megashot account.  :).  I will send links to those who want to see them, as soon as get them finished.  It is going to take quite some time yet. 

Home again and too busy

 A lake from glacier melt, with sand bars and a train in the back ground.

 At Rogers pass on a cloudy day

 Mount Rundle

At the Banff rest stop

We have been home for about a week and are slowly getting home and garden back to normal.  Having a nasty cold did not help matters.  The photos are from on our way back East. I am slowly getting my many photos sorted and picking the good ones to upload to my Megashot account for family and friends, as promised.  At the rate I am going, this is going to take awhile.  My thanks to everyone who hosted us in their homes.  Was really good to see everyone.

There were some wicked fires in Sask. and in B.C. And thunder, lighting, pouring rain and hail in the Calgary area and in Winnipeg area. 

While we were away Victoria had a very hot week or so.  Our care taker lady was diligent about watering the plants and taking good care of everything, so all was in pretty good order despite the heat.

We have a very good crop of figs this year and are enjoying them right off the tree.  Our yellow plum tree is loaded with fruit.  I have made a bit of plum and pepper chutney that tastes pretty good.  Also getting some of the plums processed and into packages for freezing.  We did not eat some of the crop from last year, and I did not have it frozen.  The jars are still sealed, but I have not tasted them.  There are just so many again this year.  I think it will be better if I refill the packages or jars and freeze them.  I am not that confident in my ability to preserve fruit without having it frozen.  I have a rum pot started.  The pot is full and seems to be working really well.  Tastes good already and it is only a week old.  I put layers of yellow plums, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and cherries, in the jar with the required amount of sugar and brandy.  I have been stirring it gently every other day.  It should be ready in 6 to 8 weeks, the recipe says.  It seems that the fruit should remain covered with the liquid and a tight fitting jar cover.   At the time of eating, the liquid can be drained off and enjoyed as a tasty drink.