Practice with flash photography

I bought the flash for my camera shortly after I purchased my first digital SLR, but never took the time to try it out and get used to the settings and controls. The other day, I had to learn how it worked because I had volunteered to take photos at a meeting the other day, and thought it was wise to do some practice shots to try out the best settings. So what better subjects than two housebound border collies! While I fiddled with the settings, and deciphered the manual (after I finally found it!), Will and Emma settled in nearby in the kitchen. They were not the best at posing, but they didn't run away either, so I had my chance to try fill light and vary the flash settings. The shot of Will with a kind of strange look on his face is my favorite shot from the afternoon. He couldn't figure out why I was just standing at the kitchen island, and kept bringing me frisbees. If I had the camera in my hand, I think he figured it was time to go for a walk, and what do we bring on the walks, but a frisbee!
Emma poses for the camera

Are we done yet?

Will brings in a frisbee Do you want two frisbees? You choose!

Ok, if you won't choose one, I choose this one!

Ok, now what?

Weather Report: Fog

Foggy morning at Tulmeadow Farm

Last week was the first snow of the year, and it came after an afternoon of rain, and was followed by a morning of rain. It was a mess. Not exactly the winter of heavy snow that the farmer's almanac had predicted for the northeast.

Later on Thursday and then again Friday, following the snow/rain mix, came the fog. And with it brought flight delays. Jim had been away all week, and was trying sadly to get home from Houston, via Chicago O'Hare Airport, which can be a nightmare at the best of times. But introduce the least little bit of weather and it becomes delay after delay.

After arriving very late into O'Hare, they actually boarded the plane that was to bring him to Bradley Airport in Hartford. That was 11:30 pm. It amazed me that they hadn't cancelled that flight! They sat on the runway and waited to take off for an hour, then when they finally got to Bradley, the pilot circled three times attempting to find the runway but the fog was too thick, and he could barely see the lights. So off they went to Syracuse! They landed there at 3:20 am, and even though the passengers were told that they would be flown to Bradley, they ended up saying that they had to get a bus! In the end, Jim decided to fly to LaGuardia in New York City instead, where he rented a car and drove himself the two hour drive back to CT.

The joys of business travel!

Emma watches for Will, foggy field in the background

Footprints in the snow - this is all we got! Just enough to leave a footprint.

Hammanassett State Park Beach on New Years Day

It looks like this is becoming a tradition for us since we've been living in Connecticut. We have really lucked out again today with a beautiful day to start the new year, and decided to take a drive to the shore to walk the beach. We were not alone! There were lots of others who thought the same thing we did, and went to enjoy the blue skies, sun and sand at Hammanassett State Park. We love to go to the beach in the off-season since we can take the dogs on the beach to run and play. In-season they are not allowed anywhere near the beach, which is understandable. But it's fun to see how they react to the bigger body of water, like the Long Island Sound. It was pretty calm water today, hardly even a splash at the shore, but it is much deeper than Will and Emma are used to, and they are more timid about going in. I should say, Emma is more intimidated by the water than Will is. He goes in up to his pits, but not much further. He runs in with the frisbee, as if to get Emma to chase him, but she stops at the water's edge. And when there is a stick that she wants, it's takes all the encouragement we can to get her to lean in far enough to grab it!

Hammanassett Beach on the map

Will shakes off after a jump in the Sound with the frisbee

Not sure what this is - it sure is bigger than the average stick!
Low tide
Emma goes after the stick with Will's encouragement

Yeah, frisbee on the beach, what can be better than that!
Beachscape

First Snow at Kerncliffe Park

Snow, finally! Only just a bit, and only up on the mountain in Burlington so far. I went for a walk with the Will and Emma, my sister, Lori and her Springer, Jazz. I think the dogs felt like they were in heaven with the snow in the air and on the ground. What a treat! We went to Kerncliffe Park, where the Bruce Trail winds along the side of the escarpment in north Burlington. It's one of our favorite places to let the dogs run off leash, which they love. Here's just a few shots from the day.

Waiting for Lori and Jazz to arrive

Jazz on the trail

Lori and Jazz take a break

Boxing Day frisbee at the park

Av view of Lake Ontario

Boxing Day Walk

Like most of North America this year, people in our hometown of Burlington, Ontario have been celebrating a green Christmas. There's not a speck of snow in sight. So when we took a walk to Spencer Smith Park, along the shore of Lake Ontario, and came across a pile of snow scraped from the ice rink, Will couldn't believe his eyes. He was so excited that he had to have a good, long roll in it! We know that both Will and Emma love snow, but didn't realize how much they were missing it until we saw his excitement in this little pile. Just like a kid on the first day of snow.

Jim and Emma walk the walk at Spencer Smith Park, a popular place no matter what time of year

Will discovers the snow pile from the ice rink

A roll in the snow - it feels so good!

Is there more snow out there?

Back at Simsbury Farms

Will at the first tee at Simsbury Farms, waiting for Emma to run and play with him

Time to run in the open spaces

Tug-of-war with the frisbee, a favorite pastime.

Will

Emma

Finally, the golf season is at an end (or almost). There is still no snow in Connecticut, but the ground is frozen and the golfers have disappeared from the Simsbury Farms Golf Course. We have been waiting for this day! This is the first week we've been able to go back for our walk around the course, and we are loving it! It's so open, and wonderful to have the space to ourselves, or mostly. There are periodically other dog walkers from the area, and the sounds of the paddle tennis players in the courts alongside the course, but it's wide open for the dogs to run and chase the frisbee.

It is hunting season in Connecticut right now, and we've been trying to avoid the woods at Tulmeadow Farm where we usually enjoy our twice daily walks. They are really out hunting, with either their bow and arrows or their rifles. We usually put the orange vests on the dogs, in hopes that will bring attention to them, but we've been 'scolded' by a hunter for letting the dogs run loose in the woods, because they scare the deer away. I had a long chat with one of the hunters, asking him when are they likely to be in the woods, so we knew when to avoid. He told me they are there mainly a couple of hours after dawn, and a couple hours before sunset, so we tried to walk in the middle of the day. Well, last time I did that, there was a hunter in the woods, and it was 1 pm in the afternoon! So we decided to avoid it altogether during the week. We are free to walk there Sunday, since that is a day that they don't hunt. I guess they take that biblical idea of the 'day of rest' seriously.

Last Sunday, we took advantage of the freedom from gunfire, and took the chainsaw into the woods to clear the trail a bit. On October 30, there was a wicked freak snowstorm in Connecticut, which dumped 13 inches of heavy, wet snow in our area. It fell on the large oaks and other trees, that still were bearing leaves, and it was too much for the trees to handle. The devastation and damage to the tall oaks was unbelievable. Power was out for more than a week, tree crews were here cutting dangerous limbs, and it took Jim and I about 10 days to cut and clear all the fallen branches from out property alone. We had planned to help the Land Trust to clear the trail so it's walkable again, and this was the first chance we had to do that. We can now pass through the trail, and stick to the path. There are still lots of broken limbs dangling from tall tree tops, but we can't get to them to cut them down. Even on our own property, we are hiring someone to do that, since they need to climb the 100 foot tall trees to get to the limbs. The devastation was the worst sight that I've ever seen in terms of damage from a winter storm. It took the FEMA funded trucks about 3 weeks to go through the town just picking up the branches and tree debris from curbside. It's clear now, ready for a real winter snow storm!

So needless to say, we are very happy that the golf course is available now, since hunting season goes until the end of December and we know they won't be on the golf course!

Three Years Old today!

Will and Emma on their third birthday

Will and Emma, our border collie 'twins' are celebrating their third birthday today. We celebrated by doing what they love to do - we took our usual walk through the woods and around the farmer's field of Tulmeadow Farm. This is our twice daily routine, on most days, since it is easy to get to from our house, and gives us all a good 45 minutes of exercise. They can run off-leash once we get to the end of the street and onto the path that runs through the woods, which means they get a lot more exercise than if they were on leash the entire time.

This time of year is a lot more interesting than usual, since the woods are filled with vignettes that have been set up for a haunted Halloween hayride that Flamig Farm puts on. The volunteers begin sometime in September, and just about every day there is something new to see at one of the locations. This year, there is lots of blood and guts at the 'Grimm Griddle' display, all fake of course. And one of my favorites is a field of about 100 or more pumpkins, all carved and sitting on cut logs ready for lighting on the nights of the haunted hayride. There are lots of ghosts and goblins that don't look very scary during the day, but with lights and spooky noises and flying through the air that is done at the actual event, I'm sure it draws more than a few screams!

Always together: on the path at Tulmeadow Farm

Will, lying down, watches Emma who is watching him!

Will with one of the pumpkins in the woods

Emma waits patiently while I photograph the pumpkins

Pickled skull at the Grimm Griddle