It was the Best of Times, it was the Worst of Times

I'm struggling with trying to find something to say about it being the Best of Times. This is one of my two least favourite times of year, the other being in March. The thing is, in March we have the summer to look forward to...

It's cold and damp. As I write this, I look out at intermittent snow flurries, mixed with rain. At least when I got up this morning, there was some white on the ground, but right now it's a depressing state of wet. I have to go out and split some firewood, chop some kindling and bring wood inside (I keep about a week's supply in my 'mud room'), but it's so yucky out (that's a technical term for 'feh') that I don't wanna. I also have to dump and refill the bird feeders, even the bluejays are disgusted with the soppy mess that's in there now.

These things are great. They don't heat the room, they heat YOU. Costco... 

Technically it's not cold in the house but I'm chilled. Wearing sweats, I have the heat dish going, pointed at me here at the computer desk, my hands are cold and I just finished a bowl of soup. And a pot of coffee. If it were winter out there, I wouldn't be cold. But it's not. Bring it on!

Here's a load of kindling. The bad news? That's not from today, I still have to go out and chop today's supply!

Multiple exposure using the self-timer in the D610. Background texture added and a little "liquify" weight loss program! 

Here's what I'm waiting for. By the way, there was no light in this old shack, credit Photoshop. I call this image "Golden Sanctuary", it works well as a large format print and I have a canvas of it on my wall.  

Couthless

No, I'm not talking about the illustrious mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford, whose antics are providing tons of material for both journalists and for late-night talk show hosts. I'm talking about something that happened yesterday.

I was in traffic and a car pulled out beside me into the pull-out left turn lane and stopped somewhat short of the intersection. The driver got out and was walking uncertainly around and looking somewhat distressed. Either something was wrong with the car, or... I rolled down the window and asked if he was OK. He put his hands on his chest and said, "Call 9-1-1". I pulled ahead of him, parked my car to make sure nobody would run into him, got out my cellphone and did exactly that.

I talked to him, tried to get him to sit down but he wouldn't. Even the 9-1-1 operator talked to him too. In the end, he said he was experiencing palpitations, knew he was prone to panic attacks, said he was feeling better and refused treatment, even though the ambulance was dispatched. Some minutes later, he got back in his car and drove away. But that's not what this is about.

This is about the several – more than one – drivers who rolled down their windows and made rude, angry remarks because they had to go around us (as if there was somewhere for them to go, we were stuck in traffic anyway). Do they think people park their cars in the turn lane and get out to have a friendly chat for no reason whatsoever? I can't believe how stupid some people are and had to get this off my chest.

Toothless

Rhymes, so I had to write this. It's good to have a dentist for a friend. One who will see you when you need him. I broke off a tooth, long story short the remains need to be extracted and other stuff to follow. Should be an interesting couple of weeks. However that leads to this:

If I knew then what I know now

There are at least two things I would change in my life back when I was younger. OK, more than two, but these come to mind this minute.

• When I stopped working for a company that provided a pension, I should have diligently put money away for my retirement. If you're reading this and you're 20 or 30 or 40 or even 50, you're probably saying "yeah, yeah". Especially if you're young: you think you're immortal and you don't have to worry about retirement, that's way too far in the future. Well guess what?
• I would have taken better care of my teeth. Growing up, especially in Montreal in the '50s and '60s and '70s, in their infinite wisdom the Government did not believe in fluoridation, so everyone from that era has a mouth full of metal fillings. But if I had done at least SOME of the things the dentist told me to do, I'd probably not be where I am today.

In the point above, I said "you think you're immortal and you don't have to worry about retirement". Anyone catch that? If you're going to live a long time, retirement becomes MORE important. Who's going to take care of you when you're 90? Will you have teeth to eat with? 

This is a picture of my mom, age 92. She still has all her teeth! And her faculties, thank God. This is supposed to be a photography blog, so... I took this by natural window light. Considering that the light levels was pretty low and ISO was 4500, the D610 handled the noise rather well, don't you think? Vertical crop from a landscape image.

Featured Images

I couldn't decide which one, so here are both. They were both shot in Coboconk, one is the same abandoned gas station and the other is at the Gull River behind the fireplace store.

You're going to think I went off the deep end but... I actually visualized this image when I shot it. It wasn't night, it was daylight and I saw that patio stove or whatever it's called silhouetted against the sky and thought of painting fire in it. And I thought how the composition had the leading lines from the stairs and the triangle shape upper right and... this image is going on my wall. 

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