Known 'em since hatching

Shot with my new Fuji HS10. The lens is everything I hoped.

Another shot from my Fuji HS10.

The ducks and geese at Springbank Park are used to being fed, but they do like to keep a little distance. But with this lady the birds literally eat right out of her hand --- and slowly, gently, with confidence steeped in trust. It appeared this lady and the birds were friends.

When asked, she said that she had been feeding these birds since the day they hatched. These birds now come not at the sight of a handout but at the sound of this woman's voice.

Like I said, these birds and this lady are friends.

Swarming, sex-craving ants

There were ants swarming everywhere in Springbank Park a couple of weeks ago. Some sections of curb were a quarter inch thick with swarming ants for 50-feet or more. I'm pretty sure they were ants. I checked the Internet and PennState says its easy to tell ants. Just check their waists. "The waists of ants are thin and appear to be constricted . . ."

So since the swarming ants were along the curbs in the London park, I think it is safe to say these were "pavement ants." These ants are normally slow, sluggish, short-legged, and often nest under pavements and foundations.

According to PennState: Usually in the early spring and late summer these ants leave the nest and swarm. Females and males mate and the males die soon after. (I guess we can add another thing these ants like to do on pavement and near foundations: have sex.)

The mated female , now a queen, is soon laying eggs. She feeds and cares for the first generation until they are mature adults. After that they and succeeding generations care for her. She remains in the nest producing eggs the remainder of her life.

Oh, about that waist-checking advice, I wouldn't bother. PennState adds: "Respect these small insects since they do bite and some can also sting." In other words, if you can see this waist you're way too close.

Green Trilliums

I thought the green striped trilliums were really cool. They are --- but they are also diseased. The green striped trillium at the top of the picture is the same as the three flowers below, except for one thing, It is infected with the bacterium Mycoplasmas.

The infection causes the normally white flowers to exhibit varying amounts of green in the blooms. In fact, sometimes the entire trillium is green rather than white. The disease also distorts the shape of the petals and may even cause the plant to have more than the usual three petals. Diseased trilliums have been know to have as many as six petals.

So the diseased trilliums are pretty and in a very dramatic fashion. Is there a downside? Unfortunately, the answer is yes. Eventually, the affected trilliums die from the stress of the infection.

Blue jay test

London Daily Photo has some new equipment. Two new cameras, a Canon S90 and a Fuji HS10, plus a new notebook computer - a Dell Studio 16 XPS with a 250GB SSD drive. Why all the new toys? LDP is about to go on a hiatus and Rockinon Travel will be getting a little needed attention.

You see, my wife and I are taking my Morgan and hitting the road come the end of the month. Our daughter, her husband and Miss Baby are going to keep the home fires burning while we are out gallivanting. (Maybe I should teach them to blog?)

We're going to drive right across the top of the U.S., hitting Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, and Yosemite before reaching the Pacific and visiting San Simeon. Then it is up the coast to San Francisco and then on up the coast all the way to Washington state.

Then we are heading into the mountains and north to Canada. Once in Canada, we are heading home.

It will be a long trip in an aging British roadster. But then, I am an aging British roadster owner. We were both new when we met some forty years ago. (Actually the Morgan was new; I already had a couple of decades under my belt.) No comment on my wife's age. She's ageless.

I'll try and blog whenever possible, posting both stories and photos.

Today's picture is a blue jay at our backyard feeder. It is not a great shot but it is interesting as it was shot from inside our kitchen through the window looking out onto our backyard. The Fuji has a 24mm to 720mm lens and it works well. Unfortunately, the small, electronic viewfinder goes dark when you take a picture and the camera does suffer from shutter lag. (I keep hunting for settings to minimize the drawbacks.) Mix these two minuses together and you have a situation that many would find intolerable.

When I am more familiar with both cameras, I'll post a review on the Rockinon photo blog.

April showers are a month late

It has been cool lately, frosty in fact, but it has also been very wet --- lots of rain. It even snowed briefly this morning. Luckily it did not keep snowing. With the leaves already on the trees, snow can linger on the limbs of the larger, aging trees and tear limbs free if too much snow falls.

Red-Winged Blackbird

A red-winged blackbird at a backyard feeder in London, Ontario, Canada.

I thought that red-winged blackbirds were mainly birds of marsh areas as they are very common in the wetlands bordering Lake Erie. But, I guess I was wrong as they are very common this spring at our bird feeder.

PodCamp London

Steve Groves: Ldn. Free Press web strategist.

This weekend was Podcast London. There is a strong "geek" community here in London, Ontario. I use the word geek because the group of computer wizards themselves use the term in a humorous, modest manner.

An intrigued Ryan Wiseman, left, meets with Nick Wynja.

These are bright, in many cases brilliant, people. And Saturday they shared some of their knowledge.


A young man, Nick Wynja, gave a demonstration on shooting and editing video using nothing more than an iPhone. He can have the finished ready-for-air clip back at the television station before the competition has returned to their cars.

Newspapers, with their growing Internet video presence, could also use this technology to advantage.

Work at a paper? Check out this VeriCoder Technology link and their 1st Video app.

An sound editor is a word conductor.

Another speaker talked about editing sound with respect. He approached a speech recording as others might approach a piece of music.

There is a rhythm, a cadence, to our speech. John Meadows told us, "If people can hear your edit, your edit isn't working."

Rod Lucier points to the Creative Commons symbols in use.

Rodd Lucier, left, discussed copyright and the  development of the Creative Commons designations and symbols.

For an explanation of the various CC symbols, check out the Creative Commons site.

All images shot at the event are covered under the Creative Commons designation.

It spells NUJV. Huh?

Speaker, Nik Harron, told the audience the Beatles, in this famous picture, are spelling out a word in semaphore and it isn't "Help." Spelling help was the original idea but it was decided "those letters didn't look good." NUJV appears in the picture. 

I think that is another way to spell "Oops!" 

Sprouting signs

The chap tilling his garden is a fellow with whom I once worked. He has a home bordering the coves just west of the city core. The coves are formed by an oxbow in the Thames River as it leaves London. The soil is fairly good but a bit sandy when you dig down. I don't know for sure, but my guess is that the billboard on his property yields a better return than the vegetables he grows each year.

By request_Little Miss Baby

Had a couple of requests for Little Miss Baby. Now into her eighth month, Little Miss Baby is developing quite the personality. She loves to laugh and giggle. Sometimes she laughs so long and so hard that she gets the hiccups.

The New York Times had an interested piece on The Moral Life of Babies. Jean-Jacques Rousseau apparently called babies “perfect idiots.” Rousseau obviously didn't spend much time around babies, but he certainly did make a perfect idiot of himself with his insight.

If you want proof that babies are able to think, check out my video of my manipulative little eight-month-old granddaughter. Now, what's the morality of this?

Oh Canada. . .

I've featured this downtown London building before but I just loved the way the Canadian Maple Leaf flag lined up with the building in this shot.

Before Canada had the red maple leaf adorned flag we had the Canadian Red Ensign. The Red Ensign carried the Union Jack in a corner as part of its design.

I guess feelings are still running a little high over the dropping of the Red Ensign as I was actually stopped on the street by a gentleman who noticed me shooting today's picture. He wanted to discuss the loss of the Red Ensign --- a loss that happen about 45 years ago in 1965.

Rain Moves Across City

Southwestern Ontario is known for the flatness of the countryside. That said, there is a glacial moraine running across the southern end of London and I am lucky enough to live high on the slope. When a storm moves across the city, there is a get a great view from the end of Lookout Court. At times, one can actually watch the wall of rainwater crossing the city.

Creeping Charlie on the Move

Taken with a Canon PowerShot S90.

Creeping Charlie is a type of ground ivy which releases a strong aroma when cut. I rather enjoy mowing my spreading patch of creeping Charlie. The pleasant aroma makes mowing the lawn a little more pleasurable.

Native to Europe, creeping Charlie was intentionally brought to North America by European settlers. Today it is found much of the U.S. and Canada.

Landscapers consider creeping Charlie a lawn weed and not a beautiful wild ground cover. They will expend a lot of energy trying to get rid of it. They often fail. There was a time that they would use repeated applications of 2-4-D in an attempt to eradicate it but that time has past in Ontario.

The provincial government, backed by medical experts – like the Canadian Cancer Society – believe we should be reducing our exposure to pesticides. Children, who often play on lawns, are particularly susceptible to the potential toxic effects of pesticides. 

Ontario’s pesticides ban came into effect on Earth Day, April 22, 2009. Today, Ontario lawns are home to creeping Charlie and dandelions along with Kentucky bluegrass.

Not the brick for which London was once known

There are a lot of older yellow brick buildings in London. Of course, most of these are homes. The bricks in these home were, and still are, good bricks. Unlike today's product, the beauty of these old bricks was not just skin deep.

When you see warm brick today, it is often red brick with the surface coloured. This brick quickly begins to lose its looks. As the surface flakes off, the red interior becomes visible.

Oh well, in lots of cases no one will notice the flaking because the graffiti will distract us. Why every brick wall is not treated to repel graffiti is beyond me. There are a number of excellent products to make it easy to quickly wash spray-painted-graffiti from walls.

The wall pictured is one that runs beside Southdale Road. Walls similar to this line many of the busiest roads in London. They hide the view of traffic from residents and mute much of the accompanying street noise.

Note the true red colour of the brick now visible in a number of areas.

Morgan Run in the Rain

It was supposed to storm in London yesterday. It was supposed to storm right across Southwestern Ontario. I was supposed to drive from London to Burlington in my Morgan to meet up with a number of other Morgan owners for a group run up, down, and around the Niagara escarpment. I wimped out; I didn't make the drive, at least not in my Morgan. I drove down with another Morgan owner in what the club members call a tin-top.

Despite the forecast, many of the cars arrived at the departure point with their tops down. English roadsters can be very uncomfortable when it is warm and humid. Almost all agreed it was better to be wet with the top down than dry, or almost dry, cooped up inside the small sportscar, sealed inside the hot, humid, exceedingly small space.

But the weather cleared, blue sky could be seen and all was right with the world. Don't be fooled by the chap forced to do some emergency repairs. It just wouldn't be a Morgan run without someone taking the time to do a little repair.

Provincial flower - the Trillium

The large, white trillium is the provincial flower of Ontario. Although some claim the trillium is rare, it isn't. Acres of the flowers will soon brighten many a forest floor across the province. Another myth is that it is against the law to pick trilliums. No Ontario law specifically protects the provincial emblem. That said, it is illegal to pick any wild plant in a provincial park, and that includes trilliums. And I'd say picking wild flowers in any public park, even municipal, is asking for trouble. Look but don't touch. If you must take something, take a picture. And speaking of pictures, this trillium is in Warbler Woods off Commissioners Road in southwest London.

There are thousands of trilliums growing wild in Warbler Woods in London.

The Shoprider - the cool scooter

I had the same surprised reaction to the Shoprider enclosed cabin scooter that I had to the Smart car on seeing one on a street in Nice, France. I gasped at its incredibe small size and it just looked so cool. Then, I took pictures.

Shoprider 889XLSBN

It may look like a small car, a very small car, but it is the Shoprider 889XLSN --- a simple covered scooter for folk unable to walk long distances. It is powered by the usual, large scooter battery. Note the serial number of the uncovered Shoprider. The two scooters are brothers under the skin.

I wondered what it would be like to be cooped up inside one on a hot day. Unpleasant? Then I learned that the doors can be removed. The Shoprider really is cool.

Jets over London, Ontario

Once I read somewhere how many jets fly over London, Ontario, every day, but I haven't been able to find that information to add to this post. Maybe tomorrow I'll call the airport.

I believe, and again this is from memory, that London is on a Great Circle Route from here to there for a lot of cities. I believe the number of planes that pass over London, streaking the sky with their jet engine vapour trails, may number in the hundreds.

Whatever, it makes for a neat picture.

Cheers!

Placemaking in suburbia

This lady lives near me and like so many who live in Byron she enjoys walking about our suburban neighbourhood. I spotted her with a friend in front of my home; They had stopped while she, clearly a serious photographer judging by her camera, grabbed some careful images of the crabapple tree in bloom.

Our street is lined with crabapple trees and in the spring it is beautiful. I must tell you that my wife disagrees. Oh, it looks nice, she'll grant me that. But the bees that are attracted to the blooms --- big, loud-buzzing bumblebees --- in the hundreds!

Maybe tomorrow I'll try and grab a picture of one or more of the stinging little devils. It's best I take an antihistamine before the shoot.

Cheers!

Bear shot in London, Ontario

London police looking for the bear sighted in the Southwestern Ontario city.

Yes, you read that headline correctly. A rather large black bear was shot yesterday in the southwest end of London, Ontario, just a short walk from where I live. The chief of police said he has never come up against such a problem in all his years with the force. This was his first bear encounter. The local office of the Ministry of Natural Resources reportedly deals with so few bear complaints that they were also rather unprepared. So, no giant live-traps for the humane capture of large black bears were available, no one had, nor knew how to use, a tranquilizing gun, and beating drums to drive the now frightened bear away did not seem to be an option as there are a number of daycare centres and schools in the immediate area.

If you are still curious, more of the story is posted to the Digital Journal. To see the bear itself, check out this link to The London Free Press, our local paper. (I do wish the Free Press image didn't seem to depict the police officer almost as a big game hunter. But, maybe that's just my take on the image.)

Cheers,
Rockinon

Back from the ashes, like the Phoenix

This older Victorian home, sitting on a corner facing Victoria Park in the core of London, Ontario, burned a few years ago. But it was not demolished after the fire. The owner had the building re-roofed, but with shingles and not slate, and took the fire as an opportunity to modernize all the windows and other features of the aging structure. The result is not technically a restoration but it is smart: Smart to have considered, smart to have done and the result looks smart, too.

Cookie cutter homes of the core

One criticism I have often encountered when someone is busy knocking suburbia is a reference to the cookie cutter look of the homes in the new developments. There is a smugness to this talk that is not earned. Older neighbourhoods are filled with cookie cutter areas. It is not uncommon to find two similar homes sitting side by side in older neighbourhoods. And finding a row of three or more similar homes is not as rare as you might think.

The big difference is that in the newer neighbourhoods, all the homes tend to be homes. Many of the homes in the older neighbourhoods now contain businesses.

Urban critics must learn to get out more. See the world. See suburbia. At the least, open their eyes and see the older, urban neighbourhoods that they profess so loudly to loving.

The real city planners are the residents

I like London. It is a fine place to live. But I don't find that if I like this, then I must dislike that. There are London-boosters who feel that to boost London they must cheer for the downtown core while heaping scorn upon suburbia. These folk are silly. In truth, one can root for both. I know, 'cause I do.

Today's picture is another one from my walk around my neighbourhood in a sprawling southwest suburb of London. This is a home that disproves the myth that if the garage is in the front, the house must be ugly. An position which is very popular with new urbanists. The urban theorists are fellow-travellers with the silly folk in the first paragraph.

My picture captures what I see, what I focus on, when I look at this home. I figure anyone who sees the large, black vehicle off to the side of the lot, parked in front of the garage is not person who easily sees the beauty in the world. It is they who have the problem and not the home owner.

If you're into such stuff as new urbanism, please read my blog on the new urbanist development in Oakville, Ontario. It got rave reviews in the local paper but not from me. Check out my take and my pictures.

And if you are still looking for something, I also blogged on the "placemaking" silliness. To my way of thinking it is the property owners in a city, like the owners of the home featured today, who are doing the real placemaking and not the fancy talking city planners. I, like many, love going for a stroll through my neighbourhood. It is quiet, safe and the many of the folk living here keep their homes so beautiful that it make a neighbourhood walk a mission of discovery.

Cheers!

More Suburbia

As I have mentioned in the past, there's a group of folk in London who think that suburbia is a place of ugly cookie cutter homes, wide curved streets that are more maze than neighbourhood. These people are of course right --- there are places like that --- mostly outside London, well outside London. Many London suburbs are quite pleasant. The home featured today is a suburban home in southwest London about nine kilometres from the city core. More on Suburbia tomorrow.

Earth Day

It may be called Earth Day but the real beneficiaries are our children, or in my case my granddaughter. Fiona may wear pink, but she's definitely green. She eats only organic foods and she loves her soft, organic cottons.

For the whole blog, click the link to Digital Journal.

Propane cylinder used for target practice!

Police chief Martin Brody blew away the shark in Jaws by shooting an air tank wedged in the monster's gaping mouth. Many questioned if it was possible to explode a tank of compressed gas by simply shooting it. Two Ontario men have supplied the world with the answer. Yes! But, don't do it!

James Bond could do it. Smart money says police chief Martin Brody of Jaws could do it. But Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage of Mythbusters had to resort to an M134 before they succeeded. Folks of questionable intelligence have posted the stunt to YouTube. Now two chaps in Southwestern Ontario have joined the ranks of those who have exploded a propane tank by simply shooting it.

Of course shooting at a propane tank is frowned on, and even if not successful will earn an Oh-Oh-This-Was-Stupid exclamation. It will also attract the interest of the police, who are continuing their investigation of the incident.

A little more on this extreme silliness is post on Digital Journal.

Dashes of spring colour

I just have to get out and get a shot of one of the homes in my neighbourhood. Right now, many are surrounded by bright, blooming flowers. The picture won't be my home. I just have dashes of spring colour.

Only .01 percent of earth's water available for drinking

Bob McDonald of CBC Radio's Quirks and Quarks was the keynote speaker Monday at the Water Environment Association of Ontario annual conference being held in London, Ontario. For the whole story on his address, check out my story in the Digital Journal.

Not to worry; Dad's a lifeguard.

Well little Fiona and an old Timex watch now have something in common --- they both took a lickin' and kept on tickin'. Years ago there was a Timex commercial in which the famous watch was dunked in water. When it was removed from the water and dried, it was still keeping time.

With Fiona she may be more marking time than keeping it. I'd watch out dad. When Fiona is twenty-five, you'll be nearing retirement. She might, just might, like to test the mammalian diving reflex on an old geezer.

We know she can hold her breath. The question now is: Can she also hold a grudge?

For an artist's look at the reflex, check out the embedded YouTube video. It is a little slow going at first but it picks up and is quite a wonderful look at parenting, kids and water. To see an early post on the swimming class, click here.

Cheers,
Ken

What's old is new again.

Yesterday I ran two new images, but they were accompanied by information from last year. I don't get that many hits and I thought I'd like to tell some new readers about the Southwestern Ontario Carolinian Forest.

Then I learned that The London Free Press recently ran some of my Easter Egg Hunt pictures. I haven't worked at the paper for more than a year.

Oh well, I felt no guilt running interesting but previously run information. Relying on what is called "fair use" in the United States, I am sharing my discovery with you. I'm in good company when I run old stuff.


I think the paper chose good pictures. Thanks LFP.

(Top) KEN WIGHTMAN The London Free Press     Michael Nicholds, 6, has his Easter Bunny ears askew after taking part in the Ryerson Public School Easter Egg Hunt. 7000 candies in 1000 bags were scattered about the playground and every one was picked up in moments. If only kids picked up their toys the same way.

(Right) KEN WIGHTMAN The London Free Press     Victoria Goldsack, 4, of London, was one of about 400 children at the Byron Optimist Club Easter Egg Hunt at Boler Mountain. 6000 hollow plastic eggs, stuffed with chocolates, ju jubes, and jelly beans, were scattered about three sites at the Byron facility. Close to a hundred eggs also contained tickets to be redeemed for a prize. Some of the money raised is donated to the Easter Seal Society.

Five bloomin' weeks early

 I shot these last year --- on May 25th! This year picture captures them in full bloom and it is only April 16th!

With herbicides banned, the grass has blossoms.

Are these trees native to southwestern Ontario? Quite possibly. Observing that hardwood forests in southwestern Ontario shared many characteristics with forests as far south as the Carolinas, botanists named this area Ontario’s Carolinian Zone.

The area's Carolinian forests were originally enriched by tulip, sassafras, Kentucky coffee, cucumber magnolia, black gum, and papaw. Sadly, more than 40 per cent of the national list of endangered and threatened species are found here. In some parts of southwestern Ontario, agricultural and residential pressures have destroyed more than 90 per cent of the original Carolinian forest.

. . . to ashes

Shortly after London Daily Photo ran some pictures of this abandoned home, it was torched by a firebug.

A home on Wonderland near Exeter burned Wednesday morning; fire officials are suspicious. The daily paper reports that it was the second home in the area to go up in flames in a week. The first home was a kilometre away on Exeter.

The fire destroyed home as it looked prior to being torched.

"Boarded-up houses don't go up on their own," said London Police Detective Greg Blumson.

According to the local paper, "A rash of fires in abandoned buildings spread through London last year." The firebugs look to be active again.

Both homes had been boarded up and abandoned.

As police and fire officials have made very clear, building fires can be dangerous. Folks can be killed by the blaze, even when the home is abandoned.

When the home is torched, at that moment, it is not empty; The firebug is there. They may not realize it, but they are putting themselves in danger as well as the firefighters responding to the fire.

Here's a link to the first appearance of this home on London Daily Photo with a shot of the living room and adjacent dining room area.

Placemaking in action

It is cool in London, Ontario, among those in certain groups to detest suburbia. Cookie cutter homes they say on streets that are far too wide. And those garages at the fronts are simply ugly, they say. I say, "Fuddle duddle!"

I'm not an expert on architecture and if I am way off I am sure I will hear about it. But, I think this suburban home, more than two decades old --- maybe closer to three --- is built in a style reminiscent of Colonial Revival which of course borrowed heavily from the Georgian.

It's funny. A home like this in north London, built possibly in the 1920s, is cool. But find one built 60 years later in a southwestern suburb and you may hear criticism.

There's a buzzword that city planners like to throw around: Placemaking. For me my neighbourhood with its streets lined with well maintained homes is a place that I and others like to walk. We find it a very pleasant part of the city. We believe our suburb a fine example of successful placemaking in action.

Fujifilm HS10 hits the stores in London

Shot with lens zoomed to a setting comparable to 720mm on a 35 DSLR.

It's here. The Fujifilm FinePix HS10 is in London stores. I don't want this to be an ad but it sure may seem like one. After more than four decades shooting pictures for a daily newspaper and carrying two camera bodies and up to five lenses, I have replaced everything with two point and shoot cameras: a Canon PowerShot S90 and a Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

With all those years of professional shooting, this may come as a surprise but I don't believe in anything but automatic when it comes to cameras --- not completely true but close enough to be true. Auto can fail big time, but generally you're pretty safe sticking with the automatic settings. If you're shooting for fun, that decides it --- shoot automatic.

A few weeks ago, I purchased a Canon S90; Yesterday, I picked up a Fujifilm HS10.

Today's shot, the chipmunk, is the just the third image shot with my new Fuji. It has a 30-times zoom and it is working at its max here. The camera was hand-held but braced against my kitchen door frame.

Years ago one of Canada's top newspaper shooters told me he always kept his cameras on automatic in order to be ready to shoot in an instant. Oh, he might use manual when shooting something that allowed time for finagling and fine tuning --- a fashion shoot for instance --- but for a sudden moment it was auto for this prize-winning shooter.

I think the image of my chipmunk, shot on automatic right from the box, says he was right.

Hey, greyhounds aren't always grey!

If you go to Springbank Park on the second Saturday of the month in the early afternoon, you might view a mess of greyhounds. They meet in the parking lot at the roadway leading down to the Thames River and the Springbank dam. I was there late this past weekend. Maybe I'll be on time next month.