Monday, March 18, 2024

Either and Irked

How do you say the word, either?

I've to look it up because every time I hear it on tv, people are saying ˈīT͟Hər.

But I say ˈēT͟Hər and was doubting myself and thinking I had grown up using a non-standard dialect. But my pronunciation was listed first when I looked it up. So there!

I am not sure why no one else seems to pronounce it my way. It can't be that unusual. Can it?

What sayest thou?

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Meanwhile, I am irked.

I haven't been reliably able to comment from my iPad or iPhone on Blogger posts for quite some time. One recent day I was on my tablet, and I commented on my own post without thinking about it, and it took. You see, I couldn't even comment on my own blog until a few days ago.

Naturally, I thought maybe the problem was fixed because I would really prefer to read blogs in the comfort of my chair. But it wasn't fixed. Not entirely anyway, although I do think more blogs are open to it now than before.

Still, I never know which blogs will work and which ones won't, and there's little point it reading on my tablet and not being able to comment.

So, I still have to comment from the computer.

And that irks me.

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Speaking of commenting, I don't usually reply to standard comments, but if you ask me a specific question, I generally manage to reply.

Blogger should follow the protocol of other platforms where folks must leave their email in order to comment. That would make replying more efficient, but I have been doing this for 20 years now, and Blogger will never change.

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Caturday 59: She Wafts, I Snuffle

 I wasn't going to bother posting today, but I found this on fb this morning.


It's very true for me and has been for awhile — at night anyway.

It's just as well that my bladder wakes me up every now and then, so I can switch to the other side and use that nostril for awhile as the stuff drains to the lower side.

The thing that isn't true is middle age. I didn't happen to me then. For me, it's definitely an old age phenomenon.

But I must add that I mostly blame the cat who fills my house with her fur.

I've been tested, and I have but one allergy. You guessed it. Cats. It's not a strong allergy as such, but it is present, especially with a cat that wafts fur.

She might look innocent while sleeping in the patch of sunlight, but we know that is not the case.



Friday, March 15, 2024

My March Break Madness Photos

The photos that I posted yesterday belonged to others. I have had trouble with my photos, both on the camera end and the computer end. I had a memory card get corrupted, and then my card reader also gave up the ghost before I managed to finally get some images uploaded.

While I have usually photographed around the sugar camp grounds, people were my focus this time around, for a family gathering like this is most unusual, and who knows if it will ever be repeated.

I know that we might seem like a large family on this occasion, but this was close to the whole shebang. They are on Sue's side; with my side consisting only of 4 people, and those 4 are all shared with Sue. I have no one else to speak of.

We were first to arrive, and I took a photo of Sue and the kids in front of the maple syrup museum, the one that contains artefacts from the industry. There is another museum on the property that contains larger implements, specifically chainsaws and an old tractor or three.

Inside the restaurant, we must have driven the server crazy because we changed places as orders were being taken. At one point, I found myself opposite Sue's nephew and his oldest boy, who stared at me and didn't quite know what to make of that strange man.

His brother was sitting kitty corner to me. He was puzzled as well, but not quite as much. Aren't they both about the cutest kids that you ever did see?


After breakfast, Sue and I sat in the sunshine while the younger folk toured the property: a gorgeous lady on a gorgeous March day.

I got up from that spot took one photo of the old shed. For once, I was noticing just how tall the trees are, and I captured one looming over the shed. The foreground boulders are typical of the erratics (rocks) that were dumped by the receding glaciers. They can be much bigger than these.


Back to people: I took two photos of Sue and her sister. The wreath in the second photo is a gift from Heather for Sue's impending birthday. Heather made it herself, and it will soon decorate our front door.



You may recall this photo that I posted yesterday. It is of Danica on Heather's lap in 2007.


This is how they look in possibly the same chair in 2024.


This next and final photo of Sue with her nephew and wife wasn't mine, but I thought it deserved to be shown in nice b&w treatment.

Come October, Sue and I will likely make another trip to the sugarbush on a bit of a autumn colours ramble into the Lanark Highlands, but it will likely just be the two of us. It will be nice too, but we will remember this wonderful gathering on this beautiful March day.

Thursday, March 14, 2024

March Madness Meetup

March Break is not usually the most propitious time to trek into the sugar bush, but it was a necessary time, yesterday. Maybe not absolutely yesterday, but close to it.

Sue's sister, Heather, lives in Toronto, about 3+ hours away, but her youngest, Ben, lives a further 2 hours west of Toronto with his wife, Mary, and their two darling boys. But for March Break, they are cottaging on a lake fairly near us along with Mary's sister and husband.

The sap is running, so why not all meet at the sugar camp along with our grands, Danica and Jonathan? And why wouldn't Heather also drive in from Toronto with her daughter and granddaughter, to make it quite a large and almost spontaneous family gathering.

I booked a reservation for 13, and we needed a reservation because it is March Break, and with the sap running, the hordes tend to descend. The demand is so great that they posted that they could not accommodate drop-ins.

The places is packed, but we are just about done,

They were so busy that, shortly after this photo was taken, we were politely asked to vacate because our hour was up and a busload of seniors were waiting for our table. This is the way of it at the sugar camp during an exceptionally lovely March Break week.

It was a beautiful day, so wandering around the grounds was a rather fine thing to do.

Sue and I sat out the wandering this time around and basked in a quiet, sunny spot 

We were able to reprise a photo from 2007 when we had also met with Heather and family at the sugar camp. We had taken this photo of Heather, holding our new grandbaby, Danica,


This time, Sue held Heather's youngest grandchild in the very same spot.


It was quite a wonderful outing, all in all. For this event, we were happy to make an exception and go during frenetic March Break. We make the little trip to the bush almost every spring, but we will eschew March Madness (as it were) if at all possible in future.

Before departing, we dragooned some innocent passerby into snapping a group photo.


It had been a grand, little meetup on a rather grand day. March Break weather is for sure not usually as wonderful as it has been this year, so we were able to make the most of the opportunity to get together.


Wednesday, March 13, 2024

The Second Flowers of Spring

After the snowdrops come the crocuses although we didn't expect to find them so soon. It is that kind of a year, though.

Returning to a spot by an abandoned building that we found in recent years. some were already in bloom. I only have one photo, as I was having trouble with both my tripod and the wind. I may try again in due course, but if I don't manage to do that, at least I have this pretty, little cluster.


Meanwhile, I found another snowdrop photo from the previous shoot that I didn't post last time, so I'll post that too.



Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Another AI Photo Enhancement

Well, I think it is an enhancement; we'll have to see what you think.

I came across this photo of Bob from September 2020. We met safely in the park in that blasted COVIDish year.


I've always liked the photo because Bob is a good subject, and I am pretty sure that I posted it here all those years ago.

At some point, I also did a mono version. I don't know if it was at the same time or some time later.


When I came across the original photo again recently, I decided to experiment with AI. Usually, I have restricted my experiments in AI to adding small elements. This time I was more ambitious and decided to see if I could replace the whole background. I asked Photoshop to make a park with trees. This is what it did.


I'd say that is not a bad result, and it was fun to do.



Sunday, March 10, 2024

Daffodils in the Backlight

We have a small pot of little daffodils, the miniature ones. They sit on the dining room table, and on a whim, I decided to take some macro photos with strong backlight coming from the patio door. The strong backlight left the foreground flowers a little dark, but when I lifted the shadows, what emerged looked a bit painterly — a little bit like watercolor. It is a very different effect for me, but I don't mind it for a change.




I didn't set out to create this effect; it just happened.