Summer Excursions

I've been a bit bad about updating, but I've been busy taking pictures, and not necessarily uploading them...

So, we headed out to Lower Fort Garry recently. It was pretty neat, I hadn't been there since high school. And I don't even recall the field trip, I just know we went. I certainly had a lot of fun taking photos! I took about 140, maybe more!

So, here are few shots close to the entrance of the Fort. This is one of the York Boats. These boats are ridiculous. They aren't even that big, but they would be manned by crews of 6-8 and could carry up to 6300lbs of stuff.

In one of the houses, there were all sorts of naturally died fabrics and threads and there was also this spinning wheel. I've always thought the whole spinning process was pretty neat.

Outside, near the tepee, there are a few areas with some handicrafts and what not. I really liked how this one tray was set up. It made me feel like stringing up a loom and start beading again.

Here's the exterior of the Smith's shop. There were all sorts of interesting and somewhat creepy macro opportunities from the interior, none of which I have included here, oops...

One of my favorite parts of the Fort is the actual store/fort on site. There are so many interesting details there! This is a shot from the main store.

And these next few were taken from the storage part of the fort. Lots of interesting barrels, labels, bottles and whatnot.

And here's the view you'll see from the top floor: (That's the house in the distance that had the spinning wheel in it)

I wasn't really paying attention to this one building, but it seemed to be another sort of storage building, there were lots of items, like salt, fabric, guns, and a shelf of twine!

That's a lot of twine!

This next batch of photos are from the big house, that's the house where the governor lived. Here's a moody black and white converted shot of some clothes hanging to dry. It's funny what converting something to black and white can do.

Here's a shot from one of the eating areas:

Here's one of the gentleman's room. Check out those glasses!

I really liked this little detail, it's quite a fancy letter holder. And the writing, sometimes I mourn the art of handwriting and calligraphy a little bit.

And this was just one of those shots, I really liked the composition and the colours.

After our trip into the past, we decided to take another trip into the not as distant past. In Lockport there's this cute diner, called the Half Moon Drive-In. It's adorable, and I bet it's quite the happening place for classic cars on Sunday nights. Check out this classic diner decor :

And of course, I snagged a shot of the light fixtures.

And just prior to leaving, we headed down to the river. This bridge is kind of ridiculous. It looks like you could drive in the caged looking part, but no, the very top is where the only road is.

That's all for now. Sometimes it's just fun to check out the local places. I'm still hoping to get out to Pinawa Dam while it's still nice out.

Red Rock Lake

Over the past 2 weekends, I had the chance to head out to a quaint little cottage, on a serene lake- Red Rock Lake, in the Whiteshell. It couldn't be a true weekend away, unless I had the camera, so on to the photos!

So, upon exiting the cabin, you are greeted with this view. Not bad, right?

Upon walking down to the dock, there are more lovely sights to be seen.

And then there's the fun of water. It can look so very different depending on the surrounding rocks or even just the movement of it.

Here the water is mostly still around the rocky shoreline

With a longer exposure though and a bit more wind, you get this.

Sometimes water looks like something else all together. Like this ripply, almost silky shot.

Perhaps you'd like to simply sit on the adirondack and enjoy a drink (anyone else have these amazing cups in their collection, how appropriately cottage decor, right? I think they were from a gas station or something.)

It's funny, you can sit at the same dock for hours and still find a slightly different vantage point. I just liked the stark contrast of the rough wooden dock against the smooth water.

You can't have a weekend out at the lake without enjoying a campfire.

There's also all sorts of quaint little cottage details to be found, whether it's a slightly aged boat,

A fish that was caught in 1977,

Maybe some brightly coloured canisters,

Some cobwebs on a gear,

Or a retro fridge handle:

Like all mini vacations, it must come to an end, but you can leave with that nice buzz of good times with friends, plenty of sunshine, and hey, there's always the sights along the drive home.

The next 45 days.

I can't believe I am almost half way done the year in my Project 365. With this last batch of photos, it's been especially neat to see how much the everything changes in such a short amount of time. In winter, you just get used to seeing white and brown all the time. It seems like the only thing that changes is the amount of snow. But for the other 6-8 months of the year, there's certainly a lot more activity.

So here you have it, the next 45 days:

Top Row:Park Pagoda, Green Dots, Regent, First Tulip, Light Dance, Egg Cups, Easy Button, More Tulips, Grass

Second Row: Pear Dessert, Narcissus, Lilacs, Tree, Moth on Tulip, Rainy Blossoms, Fungus, Ocean Salt, Lampshade

Third Row: Same Tree, Dandelion, Aftermath, Five of Hearts, Lilacs, Pearly Dots, Wicker, Bee, Lily of the Valley

Fourth Row: More Leaves, Meadow, Creepy Purple, Gosling, Tiny White Flowers, Cribbage, Forest Path, Dragonfly Wing, Light Dances

Fifth Row: Iris, Green Onions, LEDs, Haiku, Watermelon, Poppy, World in a Drop, Daisy, Cupcakes

That's all for now!

A Beautiful Day

Well, guess what, it finally happened! Both days of the weekend were gorgeous!

Saturday morning, I had the misfortune of being the "chosen one" by the cats. I was awakened at 5:50, with the loud demand for food. I wasn't able to fall back asleep. At this point, it was still raining, but it was starting to subside. By 7:30, the sun was shining, and all that was left of the night's rain was a lovely layer of small water drops on everything. So out I went, camera in hand, still in my pyjamas into the backyard for a few shots.

So here's where the day started, with droplet covered poppies...

And irises...

I finally got the opportunity to shoot natural droplets on plants. I had only fabricated this type of shot before Saturday (using a spray bottle and a bouquet of flowers).

I even managed to find a hanging down droplet. These are the ones that capture little scenes best. You can somewhat make out a few irises. I would've loved to try my hand at more of this type of shot, but there weren't any other downward facing droplets to be found.

So as I mentioned earlier, the sun was out and the day was quickly warming. So I also made it out to Assiniboine Park. Tamara and Mom came along, we enjoyed a picnic in the Leo Mol Sculpture garden, saw evidence of at least 2 weddings, and of course, there were several flowers to photograph. I expected a bit more, but I guess everything is still a bit behind. A lot of items had just been planted- it was primarily irises, poppies, and peonies in bloom.

Prior to entering the English Gardens, I checked out the water lilies. I always enjoy the classic white ones:

These flowers almost looked like a fruit tree blossom, but it is far too late for fruit trees to be blooming:

I have no idea what these ones are either, but they reminded me of Dr. Seuss:

Here's one of the ridiculously vibrant peonies:

How about a bee enjoying the English Gardens as well?

This is a smaller version of an iris, I really liked the colours:

Good night!

Sometimes...

You see a particular subject that you just know would make an interesting focal point for a photograph. Even better, sometimes the photo turns out exactly as you want it to!

That is all, just felt like sharing this photo. And in case you're wondering, these are tiny LED lights. The range of colours is supposed to be ideal for hydroponics.

An evening walk at the park

Sometimes it's so nice to simply enjoy a walk at the park with one of your oldest friends. And even if it's been 5 months since you last spoke, it doesn't even matter, you can always just pick up the conversation where you left it.

And, if you happen to see some nice sights and some adorable baby animals along the way, you might as well take a few pictures, right?

Here is a goose couple enjoying the St. Vital duck pond.

Here are some not so small goslings. I have to say, the geese are certainly a lot friendlier once they've had their babies, I didn't see any of the usual hissing at people.

I liked how this scene looked with the sun just peeking through the trees and a little bit of the river reflection coming through.

And here's a duckling enjoying the green algae.

Finally, here's the "boat launch". If you're at all familiar with this area, you realize how high the river still is here. Generally this area goes downhill until you reach the river. Well, right now, you basically turn the corner, and there it is. I guess at some point the river went over the main road within the park. At times it seems like the river has come down so much, but it's really still not at a normal level.