Golden Hour before sunset

Photographers look forward to the "Golden Hour",  the hour before sunset..... the light is perfect, and at this time of the year, gold is all that is left from the feast of colour we had earlier this month.

and one more thing......

There was one little girl, and she will know who she is..........who did not like to go into the cold water. She would go over to these stones and move  her hands over them. Her  mother asked what she was doing. "Turning on the hot water", was her reply. When the appropriate amount of imagination had been applied she would gingerly get her feet wet.

A Herd Of Elephants.....

When were young, oh so long ago, all the kids in the Village learned to swim in Mill Bay. This is the Elephant that watched as we went from dog paddle, to swimming underwater, and finally a sidestroke, or overhand crawl.

As teenagers, we gathered around a fire on the beach, someone played a guitar, and we tried to see how many marshmallows we could stuff in our mouth at one time.

That bit of lake front and beach belonged to Mr. A. J. Davidson. The Village residents had open access to the beach.

The property has changed hands a few times since his death, but the Elephant still stands on guard. Waiting, and waiting, and wondering where have all the children gone?

Silhouettes and Elephants

At this time of the year the days are shorter, but just before sunset often brings beautiful, sharp silhouettes of the mountains.
When we were kids, my father would often be painting the inside of some of the houses at the Hermatige Club on the Magog Road. As he drove home he would marvel at sharp black outlines of our mountains. Many times he would arrive home, and pile us into the van and drive back in the direction he had just travelled, so that we would see them as well.

Last night was a good example of how Mt. Elephantis struts his stuff. Silhouettes and colours all in one.
These are for you Dad.

Out of Sequence ... But Must Be Mentioned

Mother, Adelaide Atkin celebrated her 95th birthday on September 21st.  Lots of family around to celebrate with her.  Let's do it again, same time, same place, next year!

How Did It Get To Be October 25 Already?

I am always amazed by how quickly the weeks go by.  I keep thinking I must update my blog. Then I forget about it for a while. Here we are, almost at the end of October.  These last several weeks the country side has been ablaze with colour. The oranges and reds were so vibrant I could feel them. I would get "goose bumps" when the light was just right.

Blue Moon plus one day

Do you remember the words from a song..." Blue Moon, I saw you standing alone..."

Here is my Blue Moon, plus one day.......  the reflection from the setting sun gave it a lovely pink tone.
As the light from the sun set faded, the moon became orange/gold......

Little Birds Should Wear Name Tags

This little one has been in one of the trees in the yard for a couple of days, given that he seems to be with a adult that looks like a common yellow warbler, I'm guessing that it may be one as well.....

However, there is no name tag..... who knows?    He/She is pretty cute anyway.

All Dressed Up Like A Painted Lady

I knew there was a reason I have just let the oregano grow wild........

 It is a favourite food of the Painted  Lady Butterfly

August Moon

Summer is quickly sliding by... we have had some lovely days, and clear sky at night.  The setting sun is sometimes upstaged by a rising moon.... here is an example.

The first shot the moon seems to be stuck on a tree limb, but apparently freed itself to show up as a full moon the following night... even if it did hide behind some cloud as I was taking its photograph.

A Fair Weather Photographer

 Sunset on Memphremagog

 Very early apple blossoms

Sharp Shinned Hawk

Most of May has been wet and cold.... not my favourite....  but  this is what one can find on a warm day in May.

I WANT SOMETHING SOFT AND FLUFFY IN MY NEST

Female Osprey does a lot of the work when building the nest.  She places most of the sticks, and like to make things comfortable.

The Weeping Willows know that Spring is here....

The Weeping Willows look different this week. They know that Spring is here, and soon those tiny yellow nodules will burst into vibrant green. They are not yet weeping...but there's a small glisten in their eye.

Untitled

Working on a new blog...but keeping this one as well...

The new one will have stories and photos centered around Mom and Dad and their life in the Village. Recipes and interesting odds and ends that I have found in some of the many papers Mom collected over the years .... Will post link as soon as I learn how!

Kitty Hand and grandchildren

I found this photo of my grandmother Hand and some of her grandchildren A lot of water under the bridge since then.

FORT ROCK

Local village rock found its self captured by a magnificent snow fort.

Late winter snowfall

Just when we thought winter had forgotten us...steady snow overnight can change the landscape very quickly. Stu finally got to use the new snowblower that has been parked the garage since the Fall

No photo. ...but I have seen signs of Spring.

While out driving yesterday, I noticed several places had sap buckets on Maple trees. There also seemed to be some men standing around a couple of sugar houses. Maybe it was just spring fever.