Car Window/ Weekend Reflections

Curved back window

Out walking, I just happened to spy this neat reflection in this car's curved back window. I was almost tempted to follow this car around town to see what other reflections I could see in it but alas I cannot run 95 kph (60 mph) like a cheetah!

To enjoy reflections from around the world, visit James at Weekend Reflections HERE

Sandford Sunrise/ Sky Watch

Last Tuesday morning

The sun is rising later and later making it easier and easier to welcome the sun. Red sky in the morning....and the rest of day was overcast!

To see tons of beautiful skies from around the world, visit

  Sky Watch

X/ Alphabe-Thursday

 Railroad X-ing

If you saw my Sunday post HERE, you know I have been playing with peephole photography.  This photo was taken through a plastic peephole (unlike the metal and glass one in Sunday's post), which makes the photo look almost as if it were taken with a  LOMO camera (which also has plastic lenses).

 Same photo as first but edited using an exclusion filter

Not happy with the results in the first photo, I decided to play with it. I think the exclusion (aka X-clusion for this post) filter is kinda fun here.

Reflection in low light of an X

 Last Saturday evening, I was out taking sunset photos. Waiting for the sky to change colour, we looked down to see this X reflected in a puddle.

I am linking to Jenny Matlock at Alphabe-Thursday HERE

Early Fall/ Nature Notes

End of September

Frost free so far!

Looks like a monarch, but the butterfly in the largest square is actually a viceroy sipping sugar water at a hummingbird feeder. The hummingbirds have flown south leaving the feeder to the viceroy and a few yellow jacket wasps. FYI: Since taking the photo, the feeder has been taken down, cleaned, and stored away until next year.

Moving clockwise: the high bush cranberries (Viburnum trilobum) are red and very ripe (birds will eat them in late winter),  white pines (Pinus strobus) are shedding their yellow needles (they do this twice a year), elecampane (Inula helenium) seed heads are dried and brown, a few milkweed (Aesclepias) pods are dried and releasing their seeds, and seed heads on grasses are maturing and drying.

Please visit Michelle at Rambling Woods for more NATURE NOTES.

Beaverton/ Watery Wednesday

Beaverton, Ontario on Lake Simcoe

When I was a child I lived on the coast and thought the Atlantic Ocean was the most beautiful body of water ever. NOW I have to say that - although that  ocean is certainly lovely - so are the Great Lakes and the "lesser lake" (I made that up) Lake Simcoe, which is especially gorgeous when the sun rises and sets over it.

I am linking to Watery Wednesday where you can find many more watery photos.

Aboretum Trail/ Our World

On a trail at the Aurora Community Arboretum

Last Saturday, a group I belong to sponsored a nature hike for members of gardens clubs in our area. The morning started out grey, threatening rain but  about three dozen brave souls joined us. Luck was on our side.  As arboretum guides greeted us, out came the sun!

Some of what we saw

The easy trails of the hundred-acre arboretum wend their way through a tree and woody plant collection - more than a hundred species - that volunteers have been planting and caring for on town-owned land since 1995.

Several monarch butterflies flew over and around us as we walked. Our mascot (upper left-hand corner) was on a leash as we passed colourful sumacs and spindle tree leaves and berries,  as well as witch-hazel cones.

More of what we saw

Snails! I saw several and I wasn't even looking for them.  Working clockwise: a few milkweed pods were ripening and about to let their seeds fly out on silky parachutes, and  tiny crabapples decorated slender branches.  Birds had clearly feasted on the elderberries.! A few blue chicory blossoms opened in the sun but the angelica blossoms had long ago faded and gone to seed.

More photos from Our World can be seen by clicking HERE.

Peephole Photos/ Creative Exchange

 Peephole: railroad tracks

I like to play with line and shapes as well as with light and would LOVE to own a fisheye lens.  But I don't. A peephole is a much cheaper alternative and a fun way to see if I would really USE a fisheye lens if I had one. Luckily, I have a husband who likes to play too.

How he made it:
1. We purchased a metal 160° peephole with glass lenses at a hardware store.
2. He drilled a hole  in a wooden disk (he's a wood turner) that he fit inside a step up ring that fits in front of my camera's 18-55mm zoom lens.

Peephole: Gamesbridge lock on Trent-Severn Waterway

The Gamesbridge photo was taken with the zoom lens at 18mm. As you can see I did not hold the camera level. OOPS!

Peephole: Kirkfield lock on Trent-Severn Waterway

The Kirkfield photo was taken with the zoom lens at 55mm. I really like how the straight lines of the metal frames on the liftlock are curved in this photo.

I am connecting to Creative Exchange HERE.

Out of the Blue/ SOOC

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a...

PARACHUTIST!

To see more photos straight out of the camera, visit Jan's  SOOC at Murietta365.

Sandpiper/ Camera Critters

Solitary sandpiper

A small pond owned by a local business is being drained and will soon be filled in. Meanwhile a few solitary sandpipers have moved in for some easy pickings.


To join in the fun, visit Misty Dawn at CAMERA CRITTERS 

Civic Centre/ Weekend Reflections

Reflections in windows of the East Gwillimbury Civic Centre

For a few minutes, Mother Nature decorated these windows. I was standing outside and looking up to capture these reflections.

To enjoy reflections from around the world, visit James at Weekend Reflections HERE

Ninth Line/ Sky Watch

Sunrise on the Ninth Line, East Gwillimbury

This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago between  a field of cow corn (that's what farmers call it here) and a barn.

To see tons of beautiful skies from around the world, visit

  Sky Watch

W/ Alphabe-Thursday

 WEIRD WARTS on this carved pumpkin

Yes, it IS a bit early for jack-o'-lantern photos but I hope you will humour me as these pumpkins have WARTS - a W-word!

These warts are not  a wicked pumpkin disease but instead merely a build up of sugars under the skin.

 And more WONDERFUL WARTS on this pumpkin

Earlier in their lives, these pumpkins looked normal - smooth and green. But when they started to turn orange, sugars inside the pumpkins extruded the skins, cracking them to form warts.

Three WEIRD WARTY pumpkins

Perfect for Halloween, don't you think?

I am linking to Jenny Matlock at Alphabe-Thursday HERE

Last of Summer/ Nature Notes

The close of summer

Autumn will be here officially on September 23. Meanwhile nature is already looking a lot like fall.

Largest square: a double-breasted cormorant sitting on a log. Something white was floating on the water but I don't know what it was.

Moving clockwise: berries of Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia); policeman's helmet (Impatiens glandulifera) - pretty but considered a noxious weed due to it's invasive nature;  aster (one of many varieties that grow here; seed heads of evening primrose (Oenothera Biennis); and berries of Solomon's seal (Smilacena racemosa).

Please visit Michelle at Rambling Woods for more NATURE NOTES.

Boating/ Watery Wednesday

Leaving a boat launch on Lake Scugog

This was taken a few weeks ago when the weather was much warmer! Boats are still in the water here but boaters are wearing more clothes.

I am linking to Watery Wednesday where you can find many more watery photos.

Studio Tour/ Our World

 Uxbridge, Ontario 

Last Saturday was a cool, dreary day but I hardly noticed because hanging from every lightpost in downtown Uxbridge, banners announced a studio tour of local artists, an annual early autumn treat that has happened for 26 years.

There were 27 venues and I'm going to tease you by telling you about only three. A few studios were right in town, but the three I'm showing here were out in the countryside.

 Head of the welcoming committee

Close to a field of ripening soybeans, this former garage for antique cars displayed the work of  potter and painter Saundra Reiner.

To see Saundra Reiner's work  visit  HERE.

 On the outside of a former farmhouse turned studio

Mixed media artist Lynne McIlviride Evans'  work exploded with colour!

To see more of Lynne's work, go HERE

Doors open wide on a HUGE barn

Abstract acrylics - "spontaneous  displays of colour  and form inspired by nature" - hung inside. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a website for Max Kalinowski but the work of guest artist Marni Grossman's fine art photography, also hanging in the barn,  can be seen HERE

More photos from Our World can be seen by clicking HERE.

Late Summer Fields/ Creative Exchange

Late Summer in rural Ontario

I live in rural Ontario and go almost everywhere with my camera. What's not to like about a sunny day with beautiful clouds over golden fields? My camera begged me to let it play.

I am connecting to Creative Exchange HERE.

Horse Country/ Scenic Sunday

A  sunny day in very late summer

Don't you love the blue, green and gold punctuated by brick red and chestnut brown?

To see more scenic photos visit  SCENIC SUNDAY.

Collectibles/ SOOC

Outside a collectibles shop, northeast of Toronto

Last Sunday, my husband and I visited several antique and collectible shops in Kawartha Lakes, part of Toronto's Cottage Country. This shop is on a country road.

To see more photos straight out of the camera, visit Jan's  SOOC at Murietta365.

Froggy/ Camera Critters

 One side of leopard frog

This guy or gal is sitting in a sandy spot at the side of a creek. I think the frog (a leopard frog, I think)  is pretty well camouflaged, especially when seen from a bit further away.

The other side of Froggy

Added later: my apologies. This is a frog not a toad. OOPS!

To join in the fun, visit Misty Dawn at CAMERA CRITTERS 

Green Heron/ Weekend Reflections

 Juvenile green heron and it's reflection

Stalking this green heron has been my obsession for the past few weeks. On Wednesday, the heron humoured me and sat for a photo shoot.

Closeup of juvenile green heron

To enjoy reflections from around the world, visit James at Weekend Reflections HERE

Beaverton/ Sky Watch

Sunset over Lake Simcoe, Beaverton, Ontario

The sunset was beautiful last Sunday night,

To see tons of beautiful skies from around the world, visit  Sky Watch

V/Alphabe-Thursday

 VINTAGE hay rake

Here you see part of a small collection of VINTAGE Dinky Toys. These Dinky Toys date back to the late 1940s and early 1950s,  die-cast miniature farm machinery kids used to play with and today adults collect.

Above you see a miniature tractor pulling a hay rake, a  machine that collected hay or straw into windrows to later be picked up another machine that made bales.

 VINTAGE disc harrow

A disc harrow cultivated the soil before seeds were planted.

VINTAGE manure spreader

A maure spreader - you guessed it -  spread manure.

I am linking to Jenny Matlock at Alphabe-Thursday HERE

Tiny EG Island/ Nature Notes

Seen on an island in a small private pond

We are still experiencing warm days here and cool nights. Most trees are still very green but a few are now sporting autumn colours.

Largest square: bittersweet nightshade (Solanum dulcamara) berries and shadow of the nightshade's leaves - as you can see the berries are very red now. They look tempting but could make you quite sick if you taste a few.

Moving clockwise: Bur-marigolds (Bidens); aster (not sure which one - there are many); spotted jewelweed (Impatiens capensis); New England aster (Aster novae-angliae), and seed pods of Manitoba maple (Acer negundo).

Please note that I include the botanical names because they remain the same around the world but the common names vary.

Please visit Michelle at Rambling Woods for more NATURE NOTES.

Coboconk/ Watery Wednesday

Coboconk, Ontario

As you can see, it's beginning to look a LOT like autumn in some places in Ontario.  I took this photo on Sunday - a warm day with a cool evening.

I am linking to Watery Wednesday where you can find many more watery photos.

Gypsy Wagon/ Our World

 Inside as seen from the door

My husband and I were out and about yesterday, a road trip that included several stops at antique and collectible shops - just browsing, as you never know what you might find.  As it turns out we didn't purchase anything but we DID find this Gypsy wagon, aka vardo.

The owner told us that he has built three wagons and sold two, and he very graciously let me step inside to take photos.

On the right (moving from front to back and hidden by cabinets) is a refrigerator, sink and seat for one.  On the left  a longer seat over storage. In the space you cannot see on the left is a wood stove.

 Closer look at the bed

I was impressed by how efficient this  wagon is. Apparently modern RVs have been modeled after the originals, which were first built in the early 1800s.

As you can see in the first photo, the bed is over a storage area and  has a ladder up to it.

 Electricity!

Would you believe the owner stayed in this wagon during the winter?  This wagon must be very well insulated!

 Outside as seen from the back

The outside of this wagon is not as flashy as I have seen in photos of older versions. And this one is up on blocks, not on wheels.

Side windows and coloured glass at the top of the wagon

More photos from Our World can be seen by clicking HERE.

Tangutica/ Macro Monday

Seedheads on tangutica, a type of clematis

To see more macro shots visit  MACRO MONDAY at Lisa's Chaos.

Ceasarea/ Scenic Sunday

Ceasarea on Lake Scugog, Ontario

It was a beautiful day to be out with my camera!


To see more scenic photos visit  SCENIC SUNDAY.

Looking Easterly/ SOOC

Looking easterly at Sunset

Often the clouds opposite where the sun is going down turn a gentle pink.

To see more photos straight out of the camera, visit Jan's  SOOC at Murietta365.

Smarty Pants/ Camera Critters

Peanuts! Did somebody say peanuts?

This smarty pants chipmunk has figured out how to shimmy up a nearby pole and then jump onto this bird feeder.

OOPS! He/she dropped a piece!

I guess it's worth the effort because I got pretty close before the chipmunk looked even remotely worried. Smarty Pants jumped four feet to the ground, scampered off, and waited for me to go away.

Back again!

To join in the fun, visit Misty Dawn at CAMERA CRITTERS