Experiments with Camera Lens

I am trying out a different lens, the wide angle lens I got at the end of last summer. This picture looks good with no noticeable distortion. Why am I trying out my lenses? Well, I wanted to see if I would rather use the wide angle lens or the telephoto lens. As well, I wanted to try out the new mini tripod with the weight of the lenses on the camera. Success! The camera was stable, not the case with the thin mini tripods I got earlier. Good thing the last one rusted out in Mexico.

I've almost come to a standstill with the basement bathroom while waiting for electrical and plumbing. I will be able to put up a few panels of drywall where there won't be any interference for the work remaining. Every little bit counts. This evening we are watching Calgary and Chicago on TV - yes, we have television again. So far after one period, Calgary is down by three goals. It doesn't look good.

SoFoBoMo Project

Well, this is what the format for my photo book project will look like. I will begin working on this book when we get back from Tasha's. I have 31 days to do the complete book which must contain a minimum of 35 photos. I then must save the project as a PDF and upload it to the project site at SoFoBoMo. Of course I will also put it on the ISSUU site as well as it will then be officially published with copywrite safety built in.

Today Mom and I will be off for another golf game, likely our last game for a while as the weather turns terrible for the next week. I don't mind in the least as I will then find it easier to focus on the basement. Tomorrow I will finish framing in the walls (well, straightening out the wall is more what is really going on). Friday it is off to S'toon to buy materials and go the the CATS performance. Saturday I will either work on bathroom electrical or the flooring. The plumbing will have to wait for either Monday or Tuesday evening. Once that is done, it is wall finishing so that the plumbing fixtures can be hooked up to make the new bathroom useable. By the time this is all done, it will be golfing season for real. Woohoo!

Men's Night on the Golf Course

Mom is getting her haircut today (photo tomorrow - maybe) in Rosetown. She tells me it is going to be short - very short. Oh well, whatever makes her happy is fine by me. Today's photo was from last week when I joined the boys in trying to burn with magnifying glasses. No fires were started and we didn't have to call the fire department. It was a good way to occupy time while the boys had a few down moments when activity wasn't scheduled.

Today I go golfing with the men in hopes of winning a bit of money. Well, not really, but it would be nice. I am going with my regular crew for the most part. The basement is coming along well. When we go to the city on Friday, I will be buying the flooring, lighting and other things to help finish it off. I ordered the drywall and last bits of wood needed to finish building walls. With any luck, the bathroom will be done by mid-May. More news later ...

Spring Crocus

Spring and golf. They make a good pairing on some days. Yesterday was one of those rare days that saw the two together as they should be. Yes, there are still a few crocuses out to serve as proof that it is spring. And of course, a photo of mom on the last hole of the Sask Landing course, at the end of our first full round of golf for 2009.

Needless to say, golf took up most of the day as it meant a bit of visiting at the course with friends following the game. There was no time leftover for slipping down to the basement to pound a few nails. I did, however, continue the work of culling photos from the massive digital collection and burning the results on DVDs. Once this is done, it will be time to start scanning old photos (before the year 2002) so that all of our prized photos will be digitized for safekeeping, our heritage for you and the grandchildren. So many memories captured on film. So many stories. Truly, this is a work of love for both Mom and I.

Today, it is again beautiful with the promise of more such weather for tomorrow. Who knows, we might be golfing three days in a row.

Life is back to normal - finally!

Well, the first day of work in the basement has gone well with the hole in the floor now filled with new cement. It took a bit more than eight bags of cement (all you add is water variety) to do the job. Now it has to sit and cure for a while. So while it dries, I will be working on building a wall and a half so that I can get it ready for a bit of work running wires and pipes. So, building walls is today's task. In between spurts of work in the basement, I am busy with cleaning up photos on the computer, burning DVDs for backup purposes. This will speed up virus scans on our laptops as well as giving more storage space which I really don't need as there aren't a lot of programs I want to add to the collection.

We had Sweets over for supper last night and listened to more stories of their grandchildren and their children. Obviously we didn't go golfing yesterday - we enjoyed a few flakes of snow instead. Golf isn't in the picture for today either because of strong winds (and the need to do a bit more work in the basement). I'm not sure about Sunday yet - it depends on the weather.

Harlem Globetrotters

This is Sweat Pea up in the air. The evening was well spent at the Credit Union Centre in Saskatoon with Devon and Hunter as part of our birthday presents to the two boys. Before the game we took the boys to do some shopping at Toys R Us and at Home Depot (so that I could check out flooring and lighting for the new bathroom downstairs) with a final stop at Golf Town so that we could all try out swinging some clubs that we had no intention of buying. Like I said, a good time spent in Saskatoon.

This morning it is making a feeble attempt at snowing with a few flakes falling here and there. We don't expect very much moisture from the clouds, but it is better than nothing. Of course that means it is quite cool and suggests that today will not be one for sun tanning. Today Noelle and the boys will be going home and I will become better focused on basement work activity. We won't be going golfing until the weekend because of cold weather. Ah, so sad. Oh well, them's the breaks.

Home-made Science Experiments

Well, the boys have been busy searching the Internet for various kitchen science experiments to do thanks to prodding from Grandma. Good time spent in the search and then deciding what could they actually do given what we have here in our house and garage.

Hunter settled on making a hard-boiled egg go into a bottle due to a vacuum created by heat. Devon decided on a project to show how water convection kept a balloon cool enough to resist being burned by a flame. Both experiments were a success, and will be repeated when all are here for the Canada Day weekend.

Almost all of the lego pieces have been used on creations so far. Hopefully it will be finished by tomorrow morning before the boys leave for home. I will take a photo of the finished results and post it here. This afternoon we are heading to Saskatoon for the Harlem Globetrotters.

Dustin is probably waking up from his surgery this morning as I write this. I hope all went well and that it is all back to normal very soon.

Easter 2009

It's early morning and Collin and Noelle have just headed out for home leaving Devon and Hunter with us. Noelle will return on Tuesday and likely she will take the boys home on Thursday. Yesterday was our Easter meal together. In the morning we all took turns trying to start a fire using a magnifying glass and other ancient ways - without success. In the afternoon it was time for swimming and building with Lego blocks. Of course, there were games of Old Maid, Golf, Tee Wars and such to help fill in the almost quiet times. Bedtime came up and there wasn't a single person protesting. It was a good, full day. On a sad note, Ottawa lost to Toronto in their final game of the year. Hockey season is officially over at our house. Like the Senators, we switch to golf season at this point.

In a while, I will be going out with clue cards and treasures for the traditional Easter Morning Treasure Hunt so that the boys get to have some Easter fun. Yesterday evening they got to decorate eggs. Even Collin got into the act. Some family traditions are likely to endure when they get good participation even as children approach the teenage years. The one tradition that is missing is having all the grandchildren together for the treasure hunt. Maybe next year.

It's still staying above zero as far as the weather is concerned. We got a brief shower late yesterday and it looks as though more might be on the way during the next week - April showers ... With any luck, we might even be able to get the boys on the golf course as it opened up on Friday. Today's agenda is still undetermined. If it gets sunny and warm there might be some golf. If not, the pool is open in the afternoon. More later.

Easter Saturday

Well, this makes post number 125. I guess this is the real thing, something that I am actually sticking to rather than just playing with and dumping for something new. Today's photo is of Hunter who is down visiting with the family. Devon was still sleeping at the time I took the photo. I am posting this from the old HP laptop as my newer Vaio is having wireless issues that I will get Lawrence to cope with later. This machine is definitely slower, one of the reasons I got the newer Sony Vaio.

It's a sunny day and we are planning a few outdoor activities as well as an afternoon swim at the local pool. Ham and scalloped potatoes for supper, our Easter meal as Noelle and Collin will return to Provost very early tomorrow for Collin's work. Noelle will return after a few days to spend more time with us. We did get to talk with Tasha and family for a bit this morning, a good online visit.

Been doing some thinking about the photo project and have decided that one of the options is a book with "tunnel vision" photos, those photos with a circle surrounded by black which look as if one is looking through a telescope (or microscope). If this is the way I go, it will likely be matched with poetry, possibly haikus, to fit the photo. Oh well, I likely will change my mind a gazillion times before I actually get started sometime in May.

Home Again

We are finally at home again. The flight wasn't too bad. It helps when one isn't flying for more than a day. We got into Calgary just as the sun was setting over the Rockies. We got to spend a bit of time visiting with Dustin and Robyn before going to bed, enough time so that they could tell us the news - they are going to be parents. WooHoo! This is awesome news! I guess that means that the job we did as parents was good enough that all of our children decided to take a shot at doing the same job themselves.

After spending a couple of days with Robyn and Dustin, we drove home on Wednesday and were surprised by how good our house smelled when we entered. The sewer gas smell, the old musty smells were all gone. I guess it was a combination of replacing the sewer gas stack and fixing up the basement walls that have led to such a good result. On the down side, there is a lot of cleanup work for us to do. Oh well, resting isn't all that it is cracked up to be anyway.

Today we are making sure that the upstairs is ready for Noelle, Collin and the boys who will be coming tomorrow. Living room, dining room, entryway and kitchen are done. Next is Noelle's room and the computer room. We will leave the basement until after the boys have returned to Provost so that we can enjoy our time with them better.

It's good to be home.

Dawn is Breaking, It's Early Morn ...

Dawn is breaking on the Yucatan coast looking towards the east. You can just see the lighs on the left horizon, pier lights on the pier that goes out for about six kilometres into the Gulf of Mexico. It has to be a long pier in order to get out far enough for the large cruise ships and the ocean-going vessels. Any closer and they hit sand as the sea is very shallow.

I was up and took this picture and writing up this post before 6:00AM. Excited to go home is the best reason I can come up with. It is going to be a long day and I know that I will be beat by the time I can go to sleep at Dustin and Robyn's. We went to bed late last night as we wanted to go for a midnight swim in the sea. Strange how we leave this kind of activity for our last night.

Well, from now on, any stories of Mexico will be told face-to-face as it is time to begin telling about our stories from Canada once again.

Easter Week - La Semana Santa

Today is the start of the two weeks of holidays for students here in Mexico. Because of the religious events of Thursday, Friday and Sunday, this is called the holy week, la Semana Santa. This means as many people as possible will be packing their families off to the beach houses for the duration. As a result, a number of these little concession stands are now set up with Coke out dueling Pepsi for the prime locations along the beach road. No one is parked right onthe beach. I guess we picked the right time to leave as it is supposed to be fourteen days of loud music, late nights and parties on the beach with no regard to whose villa is between the sea and the parties. The beach belongs to the people. Tough if you are old and don't want people to mess up the sand directly in front of your villa.

It's kind of sad knowing that there is only one day left. But, I know we are both READY to head home. In a way, it would have been great if we could have left yesterday. I've been looking at the weather forecast for home and it seems as though the weatherman has been told we are returning so we can expect temperatures rising to the low to mid teens when we get to Elrose. Here, another day of 37C with sun, sand and sea.

Even the Sun is Pink

Mom took this picture yesterday as sunset was approaching. She was hoping to get a photo of a bird flying past the setting sun. No bird, but the sun turned pink for her. Appropriate.

In less than 48 hours we will be on the plane headed to Calgary. We have already done a first round practice of packing bags so that we could see what space remains before Mom heads to the city with Kathy for a final bit of shopping. No use heading back with half-empty backpacks.

Today the weather is cooler, a relief from the toaster oven weather we have been having. Today it is more like a slow cooker kind of weather with temperatures in the low thirties and a cooling breeze off the sea. There are even occasional clouds to make the day that much more pleasant. It's a good way to bring our Mexican sojourn to a close.

On-line eBooks

Well, the deed is done. If you look on the left-hand side, you will see a small version of this picture. If you click on that picture you will be taken to an on-line version of my latest book. This is all part of my getting ready to create a 35 photo book as part of a challenge before the end of June. When the challenge is done, I will post that book here as well. This is neat stuff.

Through a Looking Glass

I went out for what could have been my last walk through the swamplands in order to take photos using my telephoto lens which is an extra I bought for the camera. I wanted to get a series of photos which basically look as though one is looking through a telescope. This is what I was hoping for. It will fit into a photo project that I am working on at this time, a small photo book that will become an eBook. With any luck, I will finish this short book within a week.

Today is supposed to be our hottest day of the winter/spring with temperatures going up to 39C. That is hot! About 102F. I am sure that we might make it in to the water more than our usual three times a day, today. We might even have to spend some of the time indoors to avoid becoming a barbequed by the sun.

Only three more sleeps in Mexico until we head for Canada and home.