Northern Walking Stick_Again

This is my second post featuring a Northern Walking Stick. This time I think I have the little critter facing the camera. I didn't realize it at the time but now I think I'm being rudely mooned in my first posted picture.


These are among the neatest insects in southwestern Ontario. Walking sticks are found around the world but mostly in tropical regions. Only one is native to Canada, the northern walking stick, and it occurs only in southern Ontario and Quebec.

Wednesday my wife spotted one on our garage door. Very agile, with both claws and sucker pads on their feet, it had no problem walking about the smooth, painted panels. I put out my hand, allowed it to climb on and then I carried it to a nearby shrub.


These insects are so well camouflaged, they look just like a short, thin twig. Kids capture them, put them in an aquarium filled with small branches and leaves, and then they promptly lose sight of their skinny pet.

It's best just to take the little insect's picture and leave them running free. Quite delicate, one can unintentionally injure a walking stick by handling them. Look but don't touch. (Note that I let it climb onto my hand. I didn't pick it up directly.)


Later, I'm going to write a little on Rockin' On: Photography about how this shot was done. It will be a little photography lesson.

Cheers,
Rockinon


To see my first walking stick post click on this link - LINK.

Sharon Creek Conservation Area (Friday Post)

The Sharon Creek Conservation Area is a small but very beautiful spot just minutes from my home in southwest London. To learn more click the link. I did and I learned that the pretty little pond is part of a larger than I expected conservation area. Taking a picture a day is a fine way to learn about the town that you thought you knew so well.

Cheers,
Rockinon.

p.s. I am away for a few days and so I am posting in advance. Enjoy!

Balloon Chasing Three

Hot-air balloons almost always come down outside the city. That said, there have been times when the wind has died and stranded the balloons over the city. Out of fuel the pilots have landed in football fields, open stretches of residential roadway and even in large back yards.

The other night the balloons easily made it into the farm country. The problem with farms is that there may still be a crop in the field waiting to be harvested. Landing in the wrong field results in an angry farmer and a big expense to the hot-air balloon flight company.

This balloon is skimming over a field of beans, I believe. The pilot brought the balloon out of the field and landed it beside the barn where the pick-up vehicle was already waiting. No damage, no expense, no angry farmer. We might of even had a quite happy farmer, if the pilot and his passengers shared their champagne. (Champagne to celebrate a successful landing is a ballooning tradition.)

Boalloon Chasing

Balloon Chasing: One

Saturday I was on my way to Westmount Mall for jeans when I saw a couple of hot-air balloons over the southwest end of the city. I pulled over, and ran about looking for an angle. Remember, I have only a simple, six-year-old camera, lacking a zoom lens. This apartment building on Wonderland Road just north of Springbank Drive provided an interesting angle.


Liking my first picture, I decided to chase the balloons. They were floating out of the city. With sunset approaching, I thought I might get a fine shot of hot-air balloons against a crimson sky.

With sunset nearing, the pilot of the hot-air balloon began scouting a suitable landing site bringing the balloon down low over the open farm fields. I jumped from my car and headed into the field where I got this picture.


Comeback tomorrow to see how this all ended. (Or just go to Rockin'on: the blog or Rockin' On: Photography.)


Cheers,

Rockinon

My wife's favourite turkey...

Last Monday was Thanksgiving Day, but we're celebrating the holiday almost a week late. This morning my wife and I picked up our turkey from the Oegema Turkey Farm on highway 4 just north of Talbotville. My wife insists on a fresh, never frozen, bird.

This isn't the best idea. Fresh birds, unlike frozen, can be bruised in shipping. Oegema raises the turkeys right there. Place your order by phone and the bird is waiting for you. It's perfect . . . well, almost. After my wife has roasted it, it's perfect.

See what is in the works on Digital Journal. This should link to some images taken yesterday in London.

It's snowing!

"It's snowing! It's snowing!" My wife was like a little kid last night. The sight of the first snowfall does that to her; she reverts to childhood. You would think she was about to head for the front yard and make a snowman. But, she is old enough to be retired and visions of snowmen don't dance in her head for long. Soon, her thoughts turn to shovelling, and snow tires — or lack of snow tires — and piles and piles of brown, wet slush.

Me? I'm a photographer. "It's snowing! It's snowing!"