Dogs always make winning pictures

Last weekend was our family's Thanksgiving. We were a week late but there were good reasons. My wife always gets her turkeys from a small turkey operation south of London. While there picking up our bird, I saw this dog waiting patiently for its owner who was also picking up a fresh turkey.

I figure you can't go wrong with a picture of a cute dog.

The red of fall is almost gone.

Most of the bright red and screaming yellow of fall have come and gone. The ground is littered with colourful leaves but many of the tree branches are now bare. When I saw this little patch of colour I thought, "Grab a shot now. You won't have many more chances."

And so I did.

Early Morning Mist

I didn't have to travel far for today's picture of early morning mist over the Thames River valley in London, Ontario. I simply walked across the court on which I live and shot the scene below.

The neighbourhood in which I live is nice but I've always thought that a great architect could have designed a wonderful hillside community where regular suburban housing now stands. I envision something Habitat like with covered walkways up and across the slope, all intertwined. It could have been really cool and everyone would have had a view.

Oh well, a No Frills grocery story is being going up within an easy walk of my home. I've must look on the bright side. My neighbourhood is getting more and more like a new urbanist community without the silly laneways and boring grid pattern streets.

Starting them early

When I retired from the local paper, I started blogging. London Daily Photo gave me a reason to get out and get some exercise taking pictures. If you have wondered why LDP hasn't been so daily lately, there are two reasons: My health and my granddaughter.

I no longer have the pressing need to chase about taking pictures to get exercise. I have Fiona.

Our family is deep into newspapers. I get the local paper, The London Free Press, every day and my daughters like to buy a Toronto paper on the weekend. I believe the newly designed Globe and Mail is getting rave reviews.

Fiona may be only a year old but she already likes to flip through the paper. And Fiona enjoys the ads as much as the news pages. She's the kind of reader all newspapers want.

Mallard duck at Springbank Park

Ah, the common mallard duck, so common and so beautiful. When I saw this bird, head back and bill tucked into its warm feathers, I saw a picture. When the colourful leaves floated by, I saw a picture worth posting.

Cheers,
Rockinon
London, Ontario, Canada

Ah, to be young again!

When I spotted these two young women, they were bobbing up and down doing a stretching exercise and using the park bench for support. They proceeded to do quite a number of unique exercises all taking advantage of the bench. This stepping exercise was one of the simpler routines. The others were really cool to watch but they just didn't make a picture. Maybe I'll get a second chance someday.

Uh, that's a second chance at getting a picture. We never get a second chance at being young.

Tar spots on maple leaves

Today's blog is a reprint of a post that first appeared on Rockinon: the blog. Lately, I've been noticing these tar spots on fallen maple leaves in London and so I thought a reprint was in order.

A lot of the information came directly from a report from Guelph University by W.A. Attwater. I think it is best to ensure accuracy and so I am leaving this report essentially untouched.

Whenever I saw round, black dots on maple leaves, I used to wonder what the black dots were and what measures should we be taking to protect our trees. If you have thought the same thing, read on.

These distinctive round to irregular black, spots on infected maple leaves are known as tar spots. Not noticeable until late summer, tar  spots are caused by two species of Rhytisma fungus.

The first, Rhytisma acerinum, produces black, tar-like spots about 1.25 cm or more in diameter on the upper surface of infected leaves. The second species, R. punctatum, produces patches of small, 1mm wide spots and is often called speckled tar spot.

The thickened black spots are fungal tissue called stroma. Red, silver, Norway (including the varieties with red leaves) sugar and Manitoba maples as well as others are affected.

Both fungi survive between seasons on the fallen diseased leaves. In the spring, spores are produced within the black stroma and are carried by air currents to young maple leaves where they start new infections. Unlike many other foliar diseases, Rhytisma spp. do not continue to cause new infections throughout the summer.

Infections first show up as yellow or pale green spots on the leaf surface in the early spring or summer. The black, raised tar-like spots develop within these spots in mid to late summer. Severely infected leaves may be shed.

Although tar spots are conspicuous, they are seldom so injurious in home gardens to justify spraying with a fungicide. As the strong visual appearance develops late in the growing season, the overall health of trees is rarely affected.

To reduce the amount of disease overwintering, rake up fallen leaves in the autumn and destroy or remove them from the yard.