One World One Heart is here!

Thanks so much to everyone who visited during OWOH! This post is now closed and the winners names can be found here

This is the fifth and final year for One World One Heart and I'm chuffed to be participating. Kudos to Lisa of My Life as a Whimsical Bohemian who has juggled this adventure from the beginning. Click HERE for the link.

So, I'm here to mingle with fellow bloggers and to tell you a little about me and my blog. As I state in the profile on my sidebar, I'm a Newfoundlander by birth and by heart who is land-locked in Woodstock, Ontario, Canada. I've been an avid photographer for as long as I can remember, starting as a kid with a Kodak camera and flash cubes. These days I'm using a Canon SX100. I'm a fairly regular participant in a couple of memes and have met wonderful people all around the world online. My blog is way to connect with family and friends but just as importantly, it serves as an outlet for me to show my work. I work in an office full-time so I'm looking forward to the short winter days becoming longer to allow me more time to take photos in the great outdoors again.

I've selected 3 of my 5x7 prints (matted, unframed) for my draw prizes. In order to be eligible for the draw please leave a short comment including your email address so I can contact you if you win.  I will draw for the prizes within 3 days after the event ends on February 17th and will announce the winners at the bottom of this post at that time.

We have wonderful trails in Woodstock and I take great joy in chronicling the seasons, particularly on the Youth Start Millenium Trail here in Woodstock. This photo taken on that trail is one of the 3 prints, the flower is a Trillium, the Ontario provincial flower and it's shape is similar to an upside down heart -


The second print I've chosen is one I took in Gros Morne Park in Newfoundland, Canada my birth province.  Newfoundland is always in my heart.


The final photo in the draw is of one of my favorite topics - barns.  This barn, like many in this area, is the colour of a Valentine's heart.  I'm sure this barn is also the "heart" of this farm.


I hope you've enjoyed your visit here, enjoy your travels!

Scenes from the weekend.

Miserable morning on Saturday.  Snow and more snow.  Looked out at it from my office and plowed through work that reallllly needed to get done.

Still there have been some drive-by photo ops -




More work at the office this morning - the stacks are getting smaller - so I had time to reward myself with a walk in the fresh white fluffy stuff this afternoon -




And this blurry blob of blue sitting on a branch is a Belted Kingfisher. It flies by and taunts me "can't catch me!" But I did manage this one shot -

Friday My Town Shoot Out - things that start with "f"

I'm doing the archive shuffle for this week's theme so some aren't winter shots.

One of my favorites is the local Farm Market, -


and then there's fog -

Flox in my garden -

Finials on the Oxford County Courthouse Building

and finally, a bit of frost -

For more fun from the letter f, please visit our Mr. Linky page.

One World One Heart - advance notice

I'm very excited because my friend Vicki of 2bags full suggested I take part in One World One Heart 2011 which is the brainchild of Lisa at My Life as a Whimsical Bohemian. This is the fifth and final year for this amazing blogger event - it will run from January 30th to February 17th you can click here , or on the logo below, to find out more about how to participate. One very important stipulation though, you must be an active blogger to take part.

Did I tell you that I'm VERY excited!?

A weekend walk

It's been a very dry, very cold weekend but the parking lot at the trail was in good shape - I knew I wouldn't get the car stuck - so off I went.

This part of the creek is still open water.

But some of it is frozen, though I think the ice is not very thick.

Just before I took this shot of the river, a Great Blue Heron heard my boots on the snow and flew off.


A remnant of fall. This leaf was about the size of a Loonie - Canadians will know what I mean.

The bridge that leads back to the parking lot.

Two of the very few feathered friends about on this cold morning - Mallard Ducks.

More Eric R. Dwyer art

A couple of days ago I posted an appeal to a woman named Bridget who had just commented on one of my blog entries from February 2009, to please email me. Bridget doesn't appear to be a blogger so I don't have a surefire way to contact her.

The post in question was titled "Under the Lights" and I featured a mural painted by one "Eric R. Dwyer" in 1952 in a local Woodstock eatery called Mel's Fish and Chips.

The staff said that legend has it that a young man painted the mural to help pay for his travels and moved on when he was done.

When Bridget left a comment she said that Eric Dwyer was her grandfather and that he ended up living and working as a sign painter and commercial artist in the U.S.

Bridget, I'm crossing my fingers that you'll drop by this blog again as I have new photos of two more paintings your grandfather completed at Mel's. All three paintings are still in great condition.

This one appears to be of a fisherman mending his nets. This is painted directly on the wall near the cash counter at Mel's.

The other painting is a framed one of a mounted RCMP officer.

So, Bridget if you've just finished reading this post, please contact me by email, I'd love to learn more about your grandfather.
You can reach me at: elaine489@gmail.com

Friday My Town Shoot Out - black and white and colours

Right up until this morning I was at a loss as to what I could shoot for what I thought was this week's theme - "black and white and colours".

Well, one snowy drive to work later and I had my shot. This was the view just outside my office as I came into work this morning. The colour peeking through the tree trunks is the headlights of an oncoming vehicle.

But it seems I'm a wee bit off base on the theme as it's actually "black and white". Please pop by our Mr. Linky site for more contributions. Happy Friday everyone!

Searching for Bridget

Hello out there!

In February 2009 I did a blog post entitled "Under the Lights" - at the time I asked if anyone knew anything about an artist by the name of Eric Dwyer who did a mural painting on the wall of Mel's one of our local fish and chips shops.

Yesterday, almost two years later I received a comment on that post from a woman named Bridget who indicated that Eric Dwyer was her grandfather!

It was really exciting to learn this and I'm hoping that Bridget will get in touch with me by email (elaine489@gmail.com) so that I can learn more about her grandfather. Please Bridget, drop me a line when you have a spare moment.

Snow moments

weather report

A good Saturday morning to stay inside - after the shoveling is done. Done for the first time today at least.

Once back in the warm, I pulled out my camera to get this shot of one of our neighbours still hard at work.

Winter drive-by shots

Skating on the Brick Works Pond
An empty school bus heading back to wait for the rush at end of the day.
A fleeting glimpse.

Weird (but cool) things in my town - FSO

The theme for this week's Friday My Town Shoot Out is "weird stuff in my town". My apologies, I'm using two photos from my archives this week.

Woodstock is no where near water in need of navigational aids, yet we have a lighthouse. Why, you might ask, is there a lighthouse a stone's throw from a creek running through a golf course? Because it is the Woodstock Peace Lighthouse is a place of pilgrimage and the lighthouse symbolizes Christ, the light of the world. It is home for a collection of religious icons.

Another wonderful piece of weird in Woodstock is the Springbank Snow Countess Monument. This lifesize concrete statue was made to honour a record-setting milk producing Holstein Freisian cow. The statue was erected on August 4, 1937 at the cost of $4,000.

Please take the time to visit the gang's Mr. Linky site to see more weird fun.

He who must be obeyed

A Hipstamatic shot of our wee moggie.

For more unexpected fun, check out That's My World!

The blessings of family

Today was an odd day. I worked just half a day and then went to my dentist in Tillsonburg to have a bothersome tooth checked. It was also a day of bits and pieces of good and things that stop you in your tracks.

Enroute to my appointment, I was lucky enough to see lots of barns - and I love barns. One particular shot (below) made me think of the nature of families, the trees seemed to be gathered 'round protecting the site, giving shelter. That's what good families do. They shelter and protect, praise and rejoice. There's a new wee bairn in this world tonight, his name is Oliver Weger and he's the baby brother of Owen. He will be sheltered and nurtured and there will be rejoicing.
I also thought of families that go through periods of great worry about each other, through illness and other trials, and marvel at how they keep putting one foot in front of the other to keep it all together. For them I wish them comfort and loving arms to protect them and, hopefully, the opportunity to rejoice as well.

Friday My Town Shoot Out - macros

Short winter days and working until 4:30 means limited opportunities for outside photos in the winter. I know, stop the whining. Especially when winter can provide inspiration for macros shots in a humble spot like just outside the office.

For more fun with the Friday Shoot Out crew please visit our Mr. Linky site.

What a difference a day makes

Yesterday I posted about how much water there was on my favorite trail (the Youth Start Millenium Trail). This is what it looked like yesterday morning.

The temperature continued to plunge yesterday and overnight. This was the same spot today - the water trail had become an ice trail.

Even an ice tree skirt.

And an ice grass skirt.

So, I decided to check out another local trail (known as the Pittock Dam trail)- one that wouldn't be under ice or water - one where I found some brave souls fishing and another taking a bike ride. You can see the Dam in the background.

There was ice at the river's edge.


As beautiful as any crystals.

A cold but beautiful walk.

Barns and drive-by shooting

It's not much of a secret that I love barns and that most of my barn shots are drive-by photos. A drive-by is taken when someone else is driving and I'm shooting from the passenger seat. Generally, it's when Geoff and I are on our way somewhere like London to go to a movie so we don't bother to stop for the shot.

If I'm shooting ahead of the car there is usually little, if any, blur indicating the movement of the car. Here's an example from Fanshawe Road in London taken yesterday when we were on our way to see Tron: Legacy.

The motion is very visible in this shot that I took along Highway 2.

On the other hand the effects in this photo are ones I added from Picasa - heightened contrast and soft focus around the edges.

There was a sad surprise during the drive yesterday. I've taken many drive-by shots of Sunny Acres on Highway 2. Here are two from October of last year.


This is what it looks like now....