CaptainOrange

If you read my blog about the new Calgary Central Library, you are already aware that Wendy and I went on a brief work/vacation trip. While in Banff, I was fortunate enough to have access to Dave as an avalanche avoidance mechanism and day-trip planner. This has a significant positive effect on standard wife-danger-o-meter sensors and I was set free in the Canadian Rockies, once again. I only gave Dave a few days notice that I was coming into his stomping grounds. I knew quite a bit in advance of my trip, but after about 2 years being out of contact, I was uncertain whether I ought to insinuate myself into his mountain fortress of solitude. I needn’t have worried. He was only too pleased to hear from me, and after a lucky break and a bit of schedule wrangling, he was able to take a day away from Canmore. We probably lucked out and had some of the best weather for hiking (or most other things for that matter) that they had seen for several weeks. It was gloriously sunny and the daytime ...

I hauled myself out of a warm bed at 1:30am. The Perseid Meteor Shower reached it's peak sometime early this morning... Not the Perseids I saw quite a few nice meteors, but I had no luck capturing one with my camera. A wider angle lens would have helped as I was only able to photograph a tiny slice of the sky at any one moment. Consequently, I only saved one of my dozens of photos. I spent most of my time staring at Capella (part of Auriga and the brightest dot-left 1/3) and the Pleiades (or the 7 sisters-right 4/5). Perseus (where the Perseids appear to radiate from) is basically the center of the top of this photograph. The above photo illustrates the main two contributing factors that made capturing a meteor difficult on this, my first solid attempt. Perseus is in the north-east part of the sky. It was only really dark for a few hours. At this time of year the sun doesn't get too far below the horizon. Made for a really long sunrise, though. Also, it was overcast...

Flower for my girls at home :) Mostly going to take the day off from everything: diving, writing, whatever. Log entry for yesterday (day 3) ... Seasick ALL DAY! I went on the boat (with gravol) and lost it. There were 6ft seas, but I didn't see anyone else fighting with breakfast. I felt pretty wretched and slept a lot until evening. I admit to being a bit embarrassed, but everyone has been really great about it. Trying for the mainland ;) Sunrise So today is sun, sun, sun. Maybe I'll take pity on the hummingbirds who are having all their food stolen every night and take a few photos. There was a playful sunrise this morning. I felt great. Went for a short run and played with some shore life. Oh, and I've just been adding to the photo album .

A little while ago I took some pictures of the frost that forms on the French doors overlooking our back yard (and many sunrises). Shortly after I made this beautiful discovery, it got dramatically warmer and all the frost disappeared. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that it's back. It was -31C this morning (-39 with WC). I indulged in an hour of photography. It's funny how you can be so focused on something and miss something even better -- even if you're staring right at it. Yeah, it's true metaphorically as well, but this morning it was quite literal. I got some nice frosty pictures as you can see. It wasn't until I started to pack up my equipment that I noticed an extra sun outside. That gave me pause enough to inspect further. To my surprise, there were two extra suns, as it were. I grabbed my camera, slipped on my sneakers and flew out the door and sprinted half a block down the alley. That was the closest I could find an unobstructed view of this specta...