The weather cooperated to shoot a few more visitors to our backyard bathtub feeder. I am hoping to entice some Bluejays with some peanuts in shells that I bought. The weather is supposed to me amazing this week so I know they will be hungry.
Backyard Visitor – Squirrel Edition
Been watching the Heathrow Airport like activity in my neighbours yard and so I decided to try and get in on the action. Disappointingly, only 1 squirrel visited today. Not A single bird. It was supper cold out, so maybe try again later in the week.
Be sure to click on the picture to see the whole image.
Bird Week
So it has been very cold here this week. One day it got down as low as -26c with a -36c windchill. This has kept me indoors as the roads and sidewalks are so icy. To satisfy my itch to do some photography, I trained the camera on the trees and bushes in our backyard. There is lots of wildlife back there. It surprised me how many different kids of birds that are still here with this cold weather. I know nothing about birds but they are great to photograph. One of my photos even caught the eye of our local news station and will be used in one of their shows this weekend. If I can figure out how to add a video I will include it below after it airs.
LRT Adventure
Ottawa’s LRT has been in the news since September, well really since it was launched due to all the issues and a couple of derailments it has had. This month the LRT is free as a thank you/make up for all the issues. We thought it would be a good opportunity to take a ride and spoil ourselves to some Beavertails in the Byward Market. So we took the train downtown and walked to the Beavertails Hut and it was closed due to a staff member having caught Covid. Very Sad. Took these photos while we waited for our train to go downtown.
Starlings in our backyard
Snow Day!
Stuck inside as it is a snow day in Ottawa. Tried heading out for a little walk with my walker but it is to slippery. The walker appears to have summer rubber and no way to change it over to winter mode. Thankfully I am getting confident enough to start walking with cane and it has a spike for ice and snow.
So since I was stuck in the day, I played around with my 50mm lens. Did a bit of time and motion and a bit of portrait photography.
Unexpected Toronto!
In March of 2020 we booked two hotel rooms in Toronto for a night in May. My daughter and her best friend were coming from Scotland and they wanted to do all the Touristy things as my daughters best friend had never been to Canada. Covid happened and no travel was allowed. Unfortunately, this hotel would not refund our money but said we could come and stay another time, so long as it was before December of 2021. Fair enough.
Feeling strong enough to make a quick weekend away, off we went to Toronto. We were able to use the stay as 1 room for two nights. We took the bus down and the train back. The hotel was located just a couple of blocks from Union Station (Bus and Train Stops) so I was able to walk to the hotel.
We booked a visit to an amazing new attraction located in Dundas Square called Little Canada. Several very well made dioramas of cities in Ontario and Quebec. They are working on more and as a result of this visit, I will go back and see the new cities they are working on.
Niagara Falls Whirl Pool Gorge Niagara on the Lake Union Station CN Tower Skydome Hamilton Hamilton Steel Works Hamilton Steel Works Wayne Gretzky Center The 1st Time Hotons Ottawa Byward Market Building Ottawa Byward Market CTV2 (NewRO) Building Parliament Hill Parliament Hill Rideau Canal Locks Chateau Laurier Back of Parliament Hill Quebec City Quebec City Old City – Quebec City Chateau Frontenac Ski hill
Just another couple of blocks away was the icon Flat Iron Building. Since I knew we were going to be so close, I just had to go and photograph it. We then walked another couple of blocks over to Brookfield Place. The atrium is often used in advertising. After this is was a long walk up to Nathan Phillips Square to the TORONTO sign.
Flat Iron Building (1) Flat Iron Building (2) Mural on the back of the Flat Iron Building Mural on the back of the Flat Iron Building The Dog Fountain Brookfield Place Bank in Brookfield Place Other end of Brookfield Place Toronto Sign at City Hall (1) Toronto Sign at City Hall (2) Toronto Sign at City Hall (3)
We then walked back to the Hotel, for a very well deserved nap! Really enjoyed our unexpected trip and I was so glad I was able to have the leg strength for photography. It has taken days to recover from the trip, but it was worth it.
A first longish walk with the camera in a while.
A wee trip to the Park
Some Random Shots
As mentioned in the previous post, my photography will be a bit random and sporadic for a bit.
Here are some shots that I have taken over the summer.