Capt Mondo's Photo Blog

Worked up north at the cabin for the morning. Managed to see the girls off to their day camp at the Ojibway Club, and settled in there until lunchtime, checking emails and working away on the netbook that I had brought up with me.

Left not long after lunch. Just before I did, I took this pic of three lonely-looking Muskoka chairs on the deck of the main cottage on the island. I hope to return again sometime next month.

Came home by Ontario Northland bus via Got home to an over-ripe smelling Toronto (no, the garbage strike did not end while I was away) and settled in to finish the work I had started (and couldn’t really work on the bus, though I tried) on earlier in the day.

Am guessing that this is some sort of mayfly. Was at least 6-8 cm long.

The most fascinating creature I managed to take pics of was this Eastern Fox Snake that lived in a hole in the rock between the two cabins. Saw him (or her?) three times in one day, so I managed to take a lot of pics. This was a long one, I would guess at least 1.3 meters in length. I bet there are a lot fewer mice on the island thanks to this snake.

Beautiful but deadly: a foxglove plant that has insinuated itself in a patch of ground not far from the cabins. Luckily the other adults knew what it was and warned the kids away from it.

This giant green dragonfly (I would guess about 10-12 cm in length) landed on a rock and was patient enough to not only let me take plenty of pictures, but even to let me change lenses so that I could get close enough to use the macro lens.

Was walking along the Boardwalk and it was the time when all of the lifeguards
were beginning to close up shop for the day at the Leuty Lifeguard Station.

I took several shots, but this was my favourite of the bunch.

Another rainy day. Needing a picture of the day, I ventured out into our backyard garden with the macro lens to see what there was to see and photograph.

Easily my favourite shot of the day: the underside of a grape leaf that had been rained on. I like the way that the droplets magnify the cells in the leaf.

Close-up of a lily spattered with rain drops.

A tall, purple plant with flowers also displaying water droplets.

Looks a bit like some soggy mop. I like the contrast against the dark leaves.

Went to the foot of Bathurst Street with the intention of heading over to Fort York to take some pictures. When I got there I discovered much to my dismay that it was closed due to the civic workers strike.

On the bridge heading over to the old Fort I found that there were some young-looking, just-fledged, somewhat fluffy-looking swallows perched on a line that was below me. I got out the telephoto lens and snapped the following pics.

This afternoon Annie had her piano recital. She goes to Beach Music Studio where she takes piano and song.

I was wondering why she wanted to go dressed in one of her dress-like dressing gowns, but as her teacher explained at the start of the show, Annie was a “double-threat”.

Annie Playing her Piano Tune

Turns out she had arranged to do a song-and-dance routine with her music teacher, singing “Barbie Girl” with her.

Annie and Her Music Teacher Singing “Barbie Girl”

Despite a few duff notes here and it was a good show, and it was interesting to see other students showing improvement over previous performances.

Annie Posing for a Shot by the Piano

I walked the kids home and got them lunch at the local Licks restaurant while Erika went off for another trumpet performance downtown.

The kids started playing with the neighbours, and after a while Vanessa came in and asked me what the world-record was for hopscotch length. She and Devin from a couple of doors over had made a hopscotch path that led all the way up the block, and went up to 550 (which unfortunately is a fraction of the world’s largest). Still, they had fun with it, as did I in taking pics of Vanessa hopscotching up the sidewalk.

Vanessa Making Her Way Up the Mega-Hopscotch on the Sidewalk

Took the girls to see “Lizards and Snakes: Alive!” at the Ontario Science Center today. Renewed our membership there and we spent the whole day there seeing one thing or another.

This was one of the two new temporary exhibits, and certainly the more photogenic of the two. Here’s a selection:

A Veiled Chameleon

A Green Tree Monitor

A Blue-Tongue Skink

A neighbour of our arranged for terrific concert at the local Balmy Beach Club this evening. It featured a number of artists, though the headliner was for Mark Seymour, previously of the well-known 80’s Aussie band “Hunters and Collectors“.

All of the bands playing were good-to-great, and I was particularly struck by Paul Price, whose music and lyrics reminded me a of Radiohead; an influence I was convinced of when he did a stirring solo of Radiohead’s “High and Dry“. Here are some pics from that set:

A particularly good singer I thought — enough to convince me to buy his CD.

Another act followed (which didn’t really do anything for me), and then came the marquee act: Mark Seymour. Ended up taking about a hundred pictures of his set, and only singled out the following. (Note to self, save up now to buy a faster telephoto lens for taking better and sharper low-light pictures).

Fellow Aussie Cameron McKenzie (hope I have his name right) with the Canadian drummer in the background.

A great show filled with lots of energy which some of these pictures only hint at. Would definitely see him on stage again, though I doubt I’ll ever get the chance to see him at another venue as small or as intimate as this one was. A memorable concert.

Even our small backyard can reward the patient photographer equipped with a macro lens. I started shooting some flowers, but in the end got taken in by a couple of insects instead.

Hover Fly on a Leaf

Interesting bug #1 – a Hover Fly, which looks like a fly with bee markings (a type of bee mimic).

Hopefully it is the sort that eats aphids, which are currently plaguing our honeysuckle.

Interesting bug #2 – Nope, not what you might think it is at first. Look more closely at what seems like a bird dropping on a leaf and you’ll see an antenna, wings, and a fussy eye looking straight at the camera. Am pretty sure it’s a Codling moth, which is apparently a real pest to Apple farmers. And looks like bird poop.

Took over 70 pics today, mostly conventional shots of flowers from our back yard, and in the end I took about three shots of a grape vine silhouetted against the sky. Guess which one I liked best of the bunch.

To my mind it proves that experimenting with new angles and subject are always worthwhile.