Power Lines
This picture is actually from the last time we went Geocaching.
I don't know what about it I like so much, I mean.. Its power lines.
I think because of the inherent paradox of such a sight. This picture is taken in the heart of Calgary, an oil-rich boom town. Neighborhoods newly built have almost all the infrastructure buried underground, and the older neighborhoods underwent some upgrading so that much of their services are also underground.
When I was younger, you would see these towering structures everywhere. I can clearly recall the half-way point to school was defined by the crossing of two such power networks. One a small country single wire run that looped downwards from pole to pole, and the other a 5 wire towering run that almost seemed at home against the wheat crop backgrounds.
I guess with our lives getting busier by the day, we don't get out of the city enough. Maybe thats why this picture speaks to me. Right in the middle of the city, in the heart of commerce and trading, life moving a hundred miles and hour around it stands this tower.
Quiet and content, standing proud, there to remind us perhaps that the city need not strangle and hold us as much as we let it.
That, or it was too expensive to bury the lines and it was simply easier to erect this tower to cross the river below. Whatever.
Geocaching
We had some rain and some snow yesterday, so when we woke up to a beautifully blue sky and nice temperature, we decided to make today an outside day.
Its not exactly a +20 celcius kind of day, so something like frisbee was out of the question, and I'm still working some long shifts at work, so an energy limited activity was desired.
It had been a while since we had done any Geocaching, so we decided to go for it today.
We looked up a cache called Sandy Beach. We had been to this park a couple of times before, so we knew it was a nice place to visit, and well within our current fitness limitations. After we got home, we Logged our visit.
This is a picture of the cache after we found it:
And this is a shot of the Calgary Skyline, from the park.
Day at the Lake
Its been a longish 2 weeks, so we decided to take the hour an a half drive west to the mountains today.
It was nice to get out of the city, at least for a little while. The fresh air is always welcome, and seeing some wildlife always makes you appreciate that not every facet of life revolves around money, and that happiness is a state of mind, not an accumulation of wealth.
That being said, if I was wealthy, I'd like to think I could spend more time exploring nature and taking many more trips like this one instead of paving over the parks to make way for a mega mall discount outlet store.
Mind you, that would be a lot easier if it didn't cost us $18 for a day pass to the park.
Anyways, here are some photo's of the day, each one links to a 1024x768 that if anyone wishes to use as a wallpaper, feel free.
Mom’s Birthday Flowers
Found a really nice flower arrangement for my Mother's birthday, thought I would post a quick picture to share with everyone.
What’s a Family Worth?
We had a great Christmas this year, and got to spend some time with both sides of our family.At the end of Christmas Day, we had taken some pictures by Mom’s Christmas tree.
We then decided to check out the pictures on the computer and see how they turned out.
It was then very clear just how much family is really worth. This is the photo of my Aunt and Uncle, and my two cousins.
Christmas Tree
This is a shot of our Christmas tree this year,
We’ve almost converted everything to LED lights, just the star left to go. I have not been able to locate one yet, but I think next year I’ll just buy a string of LED lights, a regular star and make my own LED star.
The great thing about these LED strings of lights is they do not get hot. I know they save on power, but let’s face it.. nobody really cares how much electricity their Christmas tree uses. It could be the same as a 100watt lightbulb, and people are still going to lite it up.
Nope, without a doubt I’d have to say its the “Cool-to-touch” thats the best.. no more worries about how close the tree is to the curtains, or how many hours its safe to leave it lit up.
Nightshot
Most nighttime shots on a digital camera really do not turn out well. Especially when you don’t own a tripod, and have no clue on aperture/exposure settings.
Thats why I was simply amazed at how this one turned out.
Just for reference, here are the settings used:
Shutter : 4 sec
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal: 8mm
