London PhotoWalk

You often read that the Internet is the wild west. Our local paper likes to make this claim. Maybe they're right; I don't know. But my experiences over the past year, living and playing on the Net, have been very good. All the people with whom I have come in contact have been good people, interesting people, and many have enriched my life.

For instance, there is the London PhotoWalk group. They post their planned walks on the Net and get a dozen or so photographers out to document some area of London. Saturday they toured Springbank Park.

I was lucky enough to catch one of their regular shooters, James Wilkinson, at a weekend seminar a couple of months ago. Listening to his talk and viewing his slides, I learned that he is one fine shooter. (Wilkinson is not the shooter shown stalking the Springbank Park geese.)

In the coming week I'm going to keep an eye on the PhotoWalk Flickr site and see what is submitted from the day's shoot. There should be a good mix of work as the site's administrator, Kevin van Lierop, is working to ensure that everyone has a chance to post their best images.

Cheers,
Rockinon - more pictures from Saturday's shoot to run in the next couple of days.

Bench Art

In the coming days the snow is going to take a real beating; Rain is forecast for Sunday. It is the January thaw in London, Ontario. But it is only January and there will be a lot of opportunities to take more snow pictures like this one.

Humpty Dumpty at Storybook

It is called Storybook Gardens for a reason. Originally it was a park with a strong children's storybook theme. The theme has been diluted over the passing years put there are reminders of its original approach throughout the park.

If you pay attention, you will see that kids still clearly enjoy the colourful characters such as Humpty Dumpty. I believe there is some talk of bringing back more of the storybook characters. Done correctly, it could be a fine idea.

Even a snowperson needs to sit down

Years ago when we were all making the switch from fishermen to fishers, from mailmen to mail carriers, from manhole cover to access cover, I handed a picture of a snowman in to the desk at The London Free Press. An argument ensued over what to call the snowman in the paper. Should he, it, be referred to as a snowperson?

I got snowman into the paper by assuring the desk that the snowperson pictured was truly a snowman. With today's picture, I am not so sure of sex, I'm not sure who wears the pants in snowperson culture, and so I am going with snowperson. I don't wan London Daily Photo to be a sexist blog.

Storybook Gardens skating

I'm one of those Londoners who still loves Storybook Gardens. I especially like the park in the winter with its skating trail making a curved loop about a quarter of a kilometre long through the trees and bushes, past the Storybook exhibits and the seal pool.

Illuminated by festive holiday lights, it really is the prettiest skating location this side of Ottawa. (One person with whom I chatted came from Ottawa and said that it really did remind them of skating on the Rideau Canal.)

You don't even have to own your own skates; There are rental hockey and figure skates available in the Storybook castle.

Note: Children under 5 years-of-age must wear a helmet. No hockey sticks, pucks or balls are permitted on the skate trail, nor are sleds or toboggans. Strollers and wheelchairs are permitted but people are asked to clean the wheels of any debris before heading onto the ice.

Yes, there are seals in London Ontario.

It may be cold in London Ontario at this time of year but for harbour seals the water's fine. In the wild they are commonly found in the cold coastal waters of the North Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

There are seven harbour seals presently swimming about the Storybook Gardens pool.

According to the park's Website, if you come by the park any day at 2:00 p.m., you’ll find the staff feeding the seals their favourite dinner: Fish.

The site also states that the harbour seals Loki, Cricri and all the others were born in captivity and can’t live in the wild. They want their dinner hand delivered. Maybe it's a good life; I don't know.

Hooded Merganser

The little duck in the bottom centre of this picture is a hooded merganser. It was an uncommon visitor to the pond in Springbank Park and a gentleman with a big camera pointed this out to me. I thank him for the tip.

Hooded mergansers have a crest at the back of the head which can be expanded or contracted. In adult males, this crest has a large white patch. It can be quite an impressive display.

Hooded mergansers are short distance migrants and winter in the United States and southern Ontario wherever winter temperatures allow for ice free conditions on ponds, lakes and rivers.