Birds in the Autumn Garden

The humming birds are around and feeding.  There are two of them squabbling over the feeder.  Thie house finch was in the apple tree, which is a fairly long reach for my little 12X lens on the Canon S3 IS.   Seeing a group of birders walking down the street carrying tripods and probably cameras, too; has inspired me to try to capture a few of the the birds in the back yard.  I don't know if I am ambitious enough to carry my tripod around though. 
I have put some apples out in the deer pasture and they are slowly being eaten.  We made a heaped up apple pie today.  There will be roasted chicken and apple pie tonite.  Our Scottish guests have arrived but we have not seen them yet.  They seem to have disappeared.  Have no idea what they have planned for dinner.  They can join us if they want to.. there will be enough to go around.

Hatley Castle and garden dressed for Autumn

The bridge in the Japanese Garden at Hatley Castle

Hatley Castle that is now Royal Roads University, dressed in Autumn colors.

One of the peacocks in the garden.  Motion blur on the feathers. 

More Autumn colors in the Japanese Garden

A window in the outside wall that looks out over the Japanese garden. 

On Sunday, we took a deli salad out to the lower parking lot of Hatley Castle.  It was a fine, sunny day with some occasional cloud cover.  I caught the Autumn colors just about right!  This is a very picturesque place.  They want us to go through the gift shop and pay an entrance fee to the gardens, now.  There are locks everywhere and high fences.  On the great lawn at the water side of the castle the geese roam freely.  Its a terrible mess.  I guess the fences keep them out of the gardens. 
After getting home from this fine afternoon we got news that an old buddy had passed away... age 65... just a young fellow yet.  He had not been having any health problems.  It was a shock to all.  We feel fortunate to have had some visiting time with him and his wife a couple of days previous.  It was a massive heart attack and he did not suffer.  RIP Don... you will be sorely missed.
Our Premier Campbell has resigned.  The polls are showing a huge decline in the popularity of the Liberal Party and in Campbell in particular.  He has been in office for 3 terms, and has implemented many changes that have not been well received over the years.  Not the least of which was the recent HST tax grab.  A former Premier had launched a rally and was getting signatures on the protest to have this tax law scrapped.  It seems to be a long process.  The Liberals changing horses in mid stream should not save them, this time.

Parliament Buildings, Ottawa

This is one of the photos of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa.  We did see the scaffolding set up for repairs to other buildings.  Since then we have noticed a big stink about the contracts and work being done on the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa.  There seems to be any number of construction companies going bankrupt.  Its entirely weird.  There is suspicion of mob-related problems in the industry.    All the scaffolding aside, we had a good visit to the buildings.  The Peace Tower tour was interesting and there is a great view.
I have been doing a bit of work on my old page and have uploaded the 'under construction' page for our trip to the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Rideau Canal.  I have done a few revisions on my Links page, also.
There has been a few very nasty news items recently.  The horror of Russel Williams in Ottawa, and our very own teenage kids in Victoria who pleaded guilty to the rape and burning of the body of their victim, who shall go nameless.  These two vicious animals were sentenced in juvenile court and will be eligible for parole in less than 5 years.  What's wrong with this picture??  One of the kids who helped to drown Reena Virk is already out on the streets, again.  Less than 10 years for the vicious attack.  What is wrong with our justice system?  Why can't we correct it???