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Goldfinches are very flighty birds, and it’s rare that I get close enough to be able to take a decent picture of one. Maybe it’s something to do with the lateness of the season, and getting some last-minute food before migrating south, but there were a couple of Goldfinches in Woodbine Park that let me get close enough to take pictures:

Goldfinch in a Tree

Goldfinch Eating Seeds

Took the girls to Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls, and while we waited for our room to be ready, we headed to down to see The Falls.

I had my telephoto lens with me, and put it through its paces while at The Falls.

Top of The Horseshoe Falls

Edge of The Horseshoe Falls

Looking Down on Travelers Aboard the Maid of the Mist IV

Hurricane Deck by the American Falls

Cave of the Winds by the American Falls

I read that the Moon was going to be close to Jupiter this evening, so I set up my tripod, got out the telephoto lens and took a number of shots of which this is the final result.

This is not one shot, but an mix of the best of the shots I took of the Moon and of Jupiter. Jupiter is actually slightly larger to scale (though not by much) so that you can see the relative positions of the moons. And the pic has also been tweaked so that the pixels representing Jupiter and its moons are clear — basically I “knocked out” the representative pixels that appeared, making them completely white. It’s not cheating, it just enhanced! 😉

Still, the resulting shot is effective:

Moon + Jupiter and its Moons (Ganymede, Io, Calisto, Europa)

Took the opportunity to head down to the Canadian National Exhibition in order to catch The Warrior’s Day Parade. Took my telephoto lens with me and tried to concentrate on taking pictures of the people in the parade, especially the older vets, who are often very expressive.

I didn’t take note this time as to which units appeared, but from what I understand from their website, the parade members follows this sequence:

Members from various regional Royal Canadian Legions
Public Service Veterans, Police War Veterans, Fire Fighters War Veterans Associations, Unattached Veterans – 1939-1945, Korea, Peace Keeping, United Nations Force
Dieppe Veterans, Regimental and Corps Associations, Hong Kong Veterans, Dunkirk Veterans, Burma Star Association, Royal Navy Association, Royal Marine Association, Merchant Navy Association, Canadian and British Airborne Forces Associations, Guards Division Association, Royal Canadian Naval Association
Allied and Visiting, and Re-enactor/Living History Contingents.

Last year I had a vantage point from almost the middle of the parade, and this year I took a vantage spot that wasn’t far from the official stands near the Princes’ Gates.

Here’s my single favourite pic, of a female vet beaming at the crowds as she is being driven in a lovely old green Bentley:

Warrior's Day Parade 29

Here’s the rest:

Here’s the pics I shot at last year’s parade.

Another fun night out at Streetfest, with the highlight of the evening for me being able to finally see Big Rude Jake perform. Since I was sans kids, for the first time I managed to go the length of the Streetfest, all the way from Woodbine to Beech Avenue and back.

Had a fun time at the Ojibway Club, watching the kids compete in various events during the Pointe au Baril Islanders’ Club Junior Regatta.

I got some fun shots of the Canoe Tug-of-War (where two canoes are joined together by a length of rope, and, well, it’s a tug-of-war using paddle-power), and of the “Decades” race, where four people are in a canoe who were born during different decades. Lots of fun.

Here are the pics:

Am lucky enough to be at a localization summit in Shanghai just when the World Expo is running. My hotel was actually relatively close to one of the main entrances, and since I had a day before the summit started, I took the opportunity to spend what time I could there.

My colleague Keith Cai (who is resident in Shanghai) was very kind and managed to go very early in the morning in order to get me some timed tickets/passport stamps that would save me time in line at some of the pavilions on the grounds of the Expo. This was a good things since I had read report of people waiting up to seven hours in line in order to get into some of the pavilions.

Was amazed at just how extensive it all was; a day’s visit really didn’t do it justice.

Here’s my modest photo gallery of what I was able to see on my visit there:

Had a great time with David Roy as we headed to the Hamilton Airshow and admired all of the planes flying by for what was a perfect day for flying (and for taking pictures). Here’s a selection of what I shot with my camera:

Took my trusty Olympus E-510 along with a tripod down to the foot of Woodbine Beach, basically straight down from where I live, to shot this year’s Victoria Day fireworks display. The one that follows is my favourite, which shows the fireworks as well as their reflection in the waters of the lake:

Victoria Day Fireworks #5

Here’s a selection of some of my other favourite fireworks shots from earlier tonight:

A couple of days ago, another Canadian solider was killed in Afghanistan. Was traveling down the Don Valley Parkway with the fellow I carpool with, and managed to take a few pictures from the traveling car of those people paying tribute to the fallen officer.

Here’s the one that came out best:

Man with Flag Over The Highway of Heroes