Mind Tricks

I bought Cuppa a carton of wine yesterday. Yes, a carton as opposed to a bottle. I'm cheap, so sue me. I was on my way to the kids house at the time, so I put it in their fridge. And left it there. Apparently.

The thing is that I have, or I should say had, a pretty doggone clear memory of taking it out of their fridge to bring home to my beloved. I even thought that I had put it in the car. But when we couldn't find it today, sure enough, we eventually tracked it down to where I had left it -- back in the fridge.

I have recently had other pretty vivid memories that have turned out to be bogus. Like the time just a few months past when I vowed not to get caught on bank charges one more time by forgetting to transfer money to my chequing account before writing cheques. I vowed so hard that I was absolutely sure that I had done just that ... until the day that the bank docked me another whopping amount for NSF

Last autumn I wrote an email to a friend. I have a pretty clear memory of doing so. Except he never got it. I couldn't find it on my computer either. At the time I blamed cyberspace for swallowing it up. Now that I have been given proof of my rather pathetic proclivity to remember things that have never occurred, I am pretty sure that I never did write that email. I likely thought about it, even to the point where I probably composed it in my head, but I now sincerely doubt that I every really sat down and typed it out,

In the past I have done the same with another friend -- twice -- and this led, at least in part, to a fractured relationship. Now I realize that I probably didn't write those either. I hang my head.

There must be a lesson about memory here, aside from my dunderheadedness that is. I wonder how often  people hold grudges based on a memory of an incident which didn't really happen in the way that their minds tell them. We little people tend to be pretty blinkin positive that somebody said or did something bad to us and therefore wronged us, but in point of fact it may be our memories that are just plain inaccurate.

I also wonder how many innocent people have been convicted to prison terms or even worse based on the memories of well-meaning witnesses that were false or at least inaccurate? Of course, no one knows the answer to that, but the notion does give one pause for thought.

Of course, maybe I am the only person to whom such a false memory has ever occurred. There is that possibility. But I really don't think I am that unusual and weird. My family might, but I don't.

Not One to Duck

Despite what the picture indicates my son-in-law is certainly not one to duck what needs to be done.

A friend who is not well, needs to move herself and her stuff back to Alberta, but she is too unwell to do so herself. So, Eric has volunteered to take three days off work and in order to spend three days to drive her across Canada. This is a mere, trifling distance of 3378km/2100miles, which Google indicates should take 44 hours of driving.

Unless something unforeseen occurs, he and his lead foot will make in fewer hours than that, but it is still a monumental trip. I know this because Cuppa and I drove this drive once upon a time. We took our sweet time driving out, but we did make it home in three long days.

Kudos to Eric for doing this for a friend and to Sha for actually suggesting that he do it in the first place. They are amazing people willing to do for others.

He should be on his way as you read this. Be safe Eric.

The Transit of Venus

Two weekends past Cuppa and I met a very interesting guy, Frank, in the park of a nearby town. Somewhat puzzling to us was that he had his big telescope out on a sunny day. He would sit in the shade and read a book but gladly get up to show his telescope to anyone who showed an interest.

It turned out that he was showing the sun, but in that huge disc, which filled the telescope, we could see several sunspots. They looked very little but he pointed out that they were actually larger than the earth.

One thing he talked about is the impending transit of Venus about to take place on June 05 and 06. What that means is that earthlings will be able to see our nearest planetary neighbour cross the surface of the sun. Actually, although we can see it, we mustn't look without proper eye protection -- the same as what we use to view solar eclipses. If the weather permits, Frank will set up his telescope so that people can drop by and see a bit of the transit safely. We won't be there because he won't be set up in our town, but it will be a great opportunity for those who can make it.

If you are wondering what the big deal is, it's because it's such an unusual event. Although we had a transit recently in 2004, the next won't will not occur until 2117. In other words, no one or almost no one who is alive today will get another opportunity to witness the event.

The historical significance is that in 1796, astronomers from all over the world, including the famous Captain Cook (not Hook) who was dispatched to Tahiti to record the event. Using triangulation from these sightings, humans were first able to calculate pretty closely the distance from the earth to the sun. They came up with a figure of 153 000 000 km +- 1 000 000 km, which is pretty close to the distance at our farthest point of orbit as we calculate it more than two centuries later.

The event will begin at 18:09/6:09PM EDT on June 05. But remember don't look unless you have proper viewing equipment.

This video of almost 4 minutes explains the transit quite well.

Catbird

We have a low lying birdbath in the front garden, which robins often visit as we sit in our little front porch. So it was that on Saturday morning I set my camera on a tripod and sat by it reading and waiting until the birdies came around to splash. Would you believe that not one single bird came by in o so many hours that day? Well, I lie, the exotic and rare catbird did stop by. He was just hopping and not flying that day.

Something Unique and Pretty

On Mothers Day, the kids' neighbour called us over to show us her remarkable tulip. It had two flower heads on a single stem. None of us had never seen anything like this before, and all of us had existed on this planet for six decades or more. Strangely enough, she had two such oddities in the same flower bed. I wonder if they will come up the same way next year?

Better Late Than Never

Better Late Than Never: I once said that to my professor when I was late for a seminar. He gave me a withering glance and replied, "I wonder." Oddly enough, I got my lowest university mark in his class, except perhaps for a course that was outside of my discipline. That one was called soil science, and I could never figure out what it was all about. I'm not sure how I ever passed.

Anyway, although Mothers Day has been history for ten days already, here are a few pics from that day.

Mom and her girl

Mom and her boy

Grandma and the girl

Grandma doing the girls hair

The girl concentrating

The girl at the playground

The boy at the playground. Climbing up. Made it. Oops. Buppa to the rescue.

The Lens

After many months of hemming and hawing, I finally purchased a wide angle lens. My main lens is pretty good for this, but every now and then, I simply need or at least want a wider view than that lens will give me. I may not use the new lens often, but I hope it will be just the ticket every now and then.

Almost as soon as it was in my hot little old arthritic hands, I headed out with the intention of using it to photograph Trilliums, our provincial flower which has been in bloom and is probably just about done for another year.

A focal length of 24mm is the most I can zoom in with my new, wide-angle lens on this patch.

Just to see the difference: from almost exactly the same spot, this is with the lens at its widest -- 10mm.

This is just a reminder to set the stage for the next photo. I have previously posted this photo.

I did some experimenting by compositing the two previous photos into one. Essentially, I took the fence and trilliums from one photo and used them to replace the foreground in the other. I think it works.