Joiner's Musings

I love fall because it is a time of the year when the forests are absolutely beautiful. This year it was exceptionally specular in central Canada with more reds than usual. I suppose that is because the days have been relatively warm and the nights cooler than normal. Here are some shots taken with my Olympus E-30 of a area in Quebec not one hour from our nation's capital. As the leaves leave the trees we all prepare for the long cold winter. Not being a winter person myself I prefer warmer climes but there is no denying the beauty and majesty of the snow on the trees after a fresh snowfall.

Nova Scotia Crystal I always like to stop by Nova Scotia Crystal whenever I am in Halifax. Nova Scotia Crystal is located on the Halifax waterfront and easy to to find. Here a craftsman is working on a small vase done in the popular Titanic pattern. Obviously there is a glass partition between us but I managed to get a reasonably good shot of a craftsman at work.There are many other patterns available in the gift shop - again always a popular stop with us.

Fall Colours We are headed out for a drive in the country to look at what's left of the fall colours today. Hurricane Sandy is expected to affect the maritimes this weekend and it would be nice to see the leaves that are left on the trees before they are blown off. Anyway, it is sunny, a little coolish but it should be a great day for a drive. This shot was taken a couple of years ago at Sugar Moon Farms, known for it's stately maples.

Photo Shoot in Annapolis Valley My wife and I spent a day with our photography club traveling the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia. I was a beautiful fall day, sunny but a little on the chilly side. The light was excellent for photography with just a hint of cloud in the sky. I took a number of photos but my three favorites of the day were these. The first  two are from the Look-off near Wolfville. You are actually quite high up and it is an absolutely  spectacular view of the top of the valley. The next is from Baxter's Harbour. From there you can clearly see Cape Split, a favorite for hikers. I could not tell what kind of birds these were but they were oblivious to our presence. All in all an excellent day. The last stop was Luckett's Winery in Gaspereau Valley. The cask building is somewhat nondescript but out in the middle of one of the orchards was a working English phone box.All in all an excellent day.

Thanksgiving at the cottage There is nothing like spending Thanksgiving at the cottage with family. We flew up on Thursday evening, picked up our rental car at the airport and it was an easy hour and a half trip to our summer cottage in the beautiful Gatineau hills. This is our third successive Thanksgiving and of the three the coolest one. Temperatures during the night time dipped to around zero while daytime highs were single digit only. Although there was a little rain, there was not enough to spoil the weekend. However, our new wood-stove provided all of the warmth we needed and thanks to our next-door neighbour we had plenty of dry wood to burn. We even managed to get the motorboat out; a simple task since we kept our old 5hp Mercury after having purchased a new outboard motor this past year. Our jaunts on the lake were a little chilly but it allowed us to take in the beauty of the fall colours. It was nice to spend time with our family. Here is a photo of all of ...

Pictou NS lighthouse How blue is blue? How blue should a blue sky be. I was metering off the white siding and as a result I underexposed the sky. Is the sky really that blue? Perhaps not, but it makes for a powerful photo and shows off the white and red trim in the structure itself. That combined with Olympus colours gives a very pleasing result. The bottom has a less brilliant sky but I stopped this one down a bit to bring out the colour of the sky. The blue building in the foreground contrasts nicely with the textured sky, I think

A weekend getaway It won't be too long now that my wife and I will be spending a few days at our summer cottage in Quebec. Yes, I know its not summer but for the past three years we have enjoyed a Thanksgiving weekend in the tranquility of our lakeside refuge. It is also our opportunity to get together with our daughter who has been living in Ottawa these past few years. She always appreciates a free turkey dinner. Sadly our son won't be joining us as he has in the past and has chosen to stay with friends back home instead. Last year the weather was unbelievably warm. We don't expect the same this year, maybe even a little rain. The long range weather forecast predicts slightly higher daytime temperatures than otherwise normal. But we are not at all worried. Our brand new wood stove should provide us with all the heat we need. Finally, it is also an opportunity to meet with friends, visit relatives in the capital area and generally relax and put our feet up. Looking...