In lieu of a real post, again

There is, as usual, not much of interest going on over here these days, so in my usual way I shall deflect your attention from the lack of a literary magnum opus by gratuitously posting some photos. Or, "how I spent my Christmas holiday with the in-laws".

I spent some time taking the usual arty shots of things around the back yard:


It's either Galadriel's mirror, or a birdbath.

A trip down to the waterfront to see the blustery, freezing cold of Lake Ontario:


There were ducks floating in the lake. Crazy birds.

Followed by a jaunt to take some shots of local photogenic correctional facilities, Kingston, Ontario being the undisputed capital of such things in Canada:


Some people call this place Disneyland. It also has a minimum-security farm institution. Yes, a real farm.


My brother once took an astonishing picture of these towers across Portsmouth Olympic Harbour, featuring a sailing ship that had sunk while at dock, using 1600 speed film in broad daylight. It was artistically grainy, to say the least. This place is maximum security and houses at least one notorious serial killer.

And of course there was the traditional Yule log on the fire (said log being purchased in the traditional manner from the grocery store, wrapped in paper and doubtless impregnated with traditional petrochemicals to help it burn):



And some presents, including this one which indicates that at least one person had been listening to me hinting over the previous month or two:


It's a 250 GTO on the cover, in case anyone cares.

Oh, and I've decided that after inhabiting my current office at work for a year, its walls need some decoration. Suggestions, please. Those of you who might actually be feeling helpful and not inclined to suggest "Ozzy Osbourne poster", "collage made of bottle caps", or "multimedia art installation consisting of dried grass, mucilage, doll parts and human dung" might toddle over to Flickr and suggest a few of my photos that would be suitable for framing (if any). I'm just vain enough to put some of them on the wall.

It's really that simple?

Right, after all of this faffling around with various modes of transportation, I did, in fact, manage to attend the East Coast Blogmeet. Which I will tell you all about... shortly.*

After which, I flew from there to here (more or less), hopped in the rental car, and drove for about three hours to the other end of Lake Ontario where I attended a high school reunion. I didn't think I'd ever do that, but it was actually kind of fun. I got to revisit some old haunts, including the lighting cage where I spent many hours working on various school plays:


The dear old cage has lots of archaic stuff in it, including this rather attractive set of dimmer levers. If you look carefully, you'll see that there's an on/off switch under each. The wires leading to these switches are not terribly well insulated, and I gave myself a nice zap on one of them on at least one occasion.



But the best part is this:






Boys, Girls. On, Off. Who knew it was that easy?



*Dawn is going to kill me if I don't get around to it soon.

P.S. I just love how the Blogger image upload tool fails, gives you an error code and additional details to report, then fails to provide a link to report it. Try looking around the Blogger website too. Do you see a support link for reporting problems? If it's there, I sure can't find it.

Easter weekend, with birds and sunset

In the backyard chez the parents, a Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker, Sphyrapicus varius. If I may quote from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website:

"Although most non-birders believe that the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is a fictitious bird created just for the humorous name, in fact it is a widespread species of small woodpecker. "


Unfortunately I wasn't able to snap any pictures as it was a long way off and isn't very big to begin with. However, I did get a couple of shots of another visitor, a Northern (Yellow-Shafted) Flicker, Colaptes auratus. Through the trickery of modern digital photography, I've blown it up for you... still a bit fuzzy though. It was also a fair way away. Hm, that seems to be a common refrain whenever I post bird pics. Anyway, here it is, feasting on grubs and things in the grass. It's also a woodpecker. Really.




Neither species is uncommon, but nonetheless we seldom see them, even in the slightly more spacious, 60's era suburbia in which I grew up. Not to mention the rape-and-pillage, raze-the-trees-to-the-ground, late 90's development where I now live.

Speaking of which, the goldfinches at our place are still yellowing up in readiness for summer. I'll see if I can snap a few pictures, next time they're in a cooperative mood. In the meantime, I'll leave you with another sunset shot from the in-laws' place, which is conveniently located in the same town as the out-laws: