Franklin/ Bench

This bench and raft are on holiday till spring

A few bloggers have informally joined RuneE at Visual Norway in featuring benches on their blogs on Fridays. To find out who else is playing, click HERE.

How About A Picnic?/ Benches

Picnic Benches at Frankin (East Gwillimbury)

A few bloggers have informally joined RuneE at Visual Norway in featuring benches on their blogs on Fridays. To find out who else is playing, click HERE.

Some Like It Hot/ Ellipsis Monday

Hot Stuff

This week's Ellipsis...Monday Photo Shoot assignment (due Sunday night, March 8) is "condiment."

I bet you think I sneaked my camera down the aisles of my local grocery store to get this shot.

Well, you'd be right!

To find out how others handled last week's assignment, check out http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com/

Blue Sky over White Field

“If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if the simplest things of nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive.”
~ Eleanora Duse

Stump with Snow

I love the way snowflakes accumulate on stumps and weeds.

Country driveway/ Monochrome Maniacs

Driving Northerly out of Mount Albert (a village in the town of EG)

To find other maniacs crazy about monochromes, visit Aileni at Loose Ends, http://aileni-calonyddaear1.blogspot.com/

And More Snow on the Way

Pristine, before footprints

This is how I like it, when it's fresh.

Sunshine, Bird and Sky

Beautiful Morning!

Sunshine a last! Happy Friday, everyone.

Cattle on the Hill/ Sepia Scenes

Here you can see that although snow has been consistently falling a little every day or so, it's not very deep. Cattle are still allowed out to graze. I doubt they are finding much to eat but at least they are outdoors in the fresh air.


Added after 4 comments: OOPS! I forgot to say how I converted this photo into sepia.
Using PhotoShop Elements 6.0, I converted the original photo into B&W and then applied Old Paper, the texture of which -- in this case -- shows up best in the sky. Old paper also turns the B&W into sepia shades.

To view other Sepia Scenes visit MaryT, theTeach at http://sepiascenes.blogspot.com/

Bridge over Creek/Bridges Between

FYI: Ruby Tuesday and MyWorld posts are below.

This is an old bridge over a slow-moving creek that flows northerly into Lake Simcoe creeks and eventually into Lake Huron, one of the five Great Lakes.

Peeking through the rails on the other side of the bridge, this is what you see.

Unfortunately, this post is nearly a day late. What WAS I thinking?
To join in the Bridges Between Countries Fun, visit Rune E at Visual Norway http://visualnorway.blogspot.com/

Winter Meets Spring/ Ellipsis Monday

Late winter/early spring outside Port Perry, Ontario

This week's Ellipsis...Monday Photo Shoot assignment (due Sunday night, March 22) is "Winter Meets Spring."

To find out how others handled last week's assignment, check out http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com/

Overcast skies and snow flurries, but not enough snow to stop the school buses from running.

Canadians celebrated Thanksgiving in October, so YES, kids here were in school today.

Morning After a Light Snow

Looking easterly on an overcast morning

Please note: Sky Watch is the post below.

Today this part of Canada is almost a natural monochrome, lovely in it's own way to my eyes.

And now for a shock. I've been declared HOT! Who would've thunk it? OK, truth be told, it's not ME that's hot but my blog...but that's almost the same thing, isn't it?

Thanks Rose! I've been visiting Rose's place for some time now as we enjoy photographing many of the same things. But what I like most about her blog is Rose herself, her down-to-earth quality that's so refreshing in this hustle-bustle world. It's a bonus that she takes great photos too.

Be sure to visit Rose at Pics and Pieces, another HOT blog. You can visit Rose at http://picsandpiecing.blogspot.com/

Dusting of Snow/My World

Sunday morning we woke up to a dusting of sticky snow that clung to the trees, wires, fences...

All day long we had no wind to speak of. By early evening this is what the world looked like just outside the community I live in. Doesn't this farm look like it was touched with fairy dust?

To me it doesn't look real ...even though I was there and saw it with my own eyes. ;-)

This time of year the snow is gorgeous, isn't it. Come March, I might think differently. ;-)

To visit other blogs celebrating That's My World, please visit http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

Rusty Truck

I have no idea how long this truck has been tucked in between the house and the farm field...maybe forever. It's at the top of the hill in Mount Albert and I drive by it fairly often. Maybe I finally spotted it now that the crops in front of it have been harvested. Ha! Or maybe it has been there for years.

All I can say for sure is I notice way more than I used to before I started taking so many photos.

Fall Decorations/ Fave Things

This is such a festive time of year in Canada with Thanksgiving, which we celebrate the second Monday in October, and myriad fall fairs. Lots of people have decorations out now. In fact, the farm stands and local supermarkets are nearly out of pumpkins around here. The largest pumpkins have already been purchased for sure.

To join in the Favourite Things fun, visit Blue at Behind Kyanite's Door - http://behindkyanitesdoor.blogspot.com

Raku Workshop/ Fave Things

One thing I really like to do is learn something NEW. I'm always a super-klutz at first so the REAL JOY for me is when the "light bulb in my head" finally turns on and I begin to master whatever it is I'm trying to learn. Hahaha!

On two Saturdays in September, a few friends and I attended a beginner raku workshop. We had such a GREAT time!

Never heard of raku? Here are some examples.

The first day we played with raku clay. Some of us had never worked with clay before (except as kids in school) so we tended to make simple items like mushrooms. But a few of the clever participants made masks to hang on trees or fences in their gardens and/or containers for dried flowers.

After we created the shapes, the clay had to dry and then be fired in a kiln. So two weeks later (last Saturday) we met again to paint glazes on out treasures and then fire them in an outdoor kiln (top right photo in first collage) to 1000 degrees Celsius heated with propane. (That's 1832 degrees Fahrenheit!) If you think the kiln looks a little like an old clothes dryer, you'd be right. It's a dryer lined with some kind of special insulation.

Notice the students in the next two photos are wearing pure cotton clothing with long sleeves, leather shoes, and lined leather gloves.

Once the items were up to temperature, our instructor and her helper (dressed like space creatures in goggles, leather, special lined gloves) opened the kiln and placed the items in individual holes in the ground lined with sawdust and shredded paper. We let the paper burn for a few seconds then quickly covered the holes with metal cans to smother the fire.

Yes, these are MY mushrooms set in my scree garden. ;-)

To join in the Favourite Things fun, visit Blue at Behind Kyanite's Door - http://behindkyanitesdoor.blogspot.com

Old Barns/ Fave Things

Yes, I LOVE old barns. I usually prefer them to be in better shape than this one, but even in disrepair this one is a beauty.


To join in the Favourite Things fun, visit Blue at Beyond Kyanite's Door: http://behindkyanitesdoor.blogspot.com

Just Hitched

This is NOT a common occurrence, but I DO think it's a fun idea. The bride and groom are sitting in the front seat of the carriage and I'm not sure who's in the back, perhaps the maid of honour and the best man. Just out for a ride through the village of Mount Albert. ;-)

And now I'd like to thank Reader Wil for this lovely award. Reader Wil, who lives in the Netherlands, has led an interesting life indeed, having lived as a child in Indonesia during the Second World War. Her remembrances are heartwarming and definitely worth the read. She's not living in the past, however, and has just returned from a visit with her daughter in Australia with lots of stories and photos. Her lovely blog is a MUST visit: http://readerwil.blogspot.com/

Sunflowers/Fave Things

You're right, I took these photos a couple of weeks ago...then promptly forgot them. I'm clueless as to how I did THAT!

Sunflowers are among my favourite flowers, and the ones in this field were blooming like crazy for all passersby to enjoy
As you can see, it's not just a tiny patch. I wonder if the owners harvest them for the winter bird feeders. I hope the squirrels don't find them first!

The sunflowers in my own gardens are tiny this year and just beginning to flower. I hope the seeds still have time to develop as I LOVE watching goldfinches pick them up out and devour them.

Thank you, Blue, (http://behindkyanitesdoor.blogspot.com) for this truly unexpected award. My blog will wear it with pride!

In Blogland there are far too many blogs that I really like to chose just one or even seven to pass this award on to. If I've visited your blog more than once, then be sure I enjoy your blog. You have my permission to award yourself. ;-) And if I'm a frequent visitor, you are among my faves. ;-)))

To join in the Favourite Things fun, check out Blues's blog, Behind Kyanite's Door: http://behindkyanitesdoor.blogspot.com