Jack’s Walk

 

The tracks at Corner of the Beach, about 15 minutes outside of Perce, ©voyager, all rights reserved

Lack of routine maintenance now equals expensive major repairs, ©voyager, all rights reserved

When my husband was young there were daily trains going to Perce, a little town at the end of the Gaspe Peninsula. The train brought supplies and tourists and was the main form of transportation for residents of the town to get Quebec City and Montreal for specialist doctors, hospitals, shopping and schools. Over the years the trains started coming less often and finally in August of 2013 the train stopped coming at all. Today train service will only take you as far east as  Matapedia and good luck getting farther east from there because even the buses have stopped going to Perce. It’s all about economics. More people drive nowadays and there is an airport in Gaspe that handles a lot of supply and tourist traffic. Also, track maintenance is expensive and everybody thinks somebody else should pay for it. The tracks in this photo were a vital part of life in the Perce area for just about 100 years. When I first started coming here 20+ years ago we used to wave at the trains from the beach as they passed us by.  I miss that.

Let’s Start the Week with Roses

More photos of the famous Ruston Roses courtesy of DavidinOz.  The pink roses at the end look so fresh and fragrant that I wish there was “smell-o-vision.”

Some photos showing the scale of the garden at Ruston’s Roses. You can also see the potential if the new owners succeed.

 

©David Brindley, all rights reserved

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Jack’s Walk

Jack won’t be allowed to take walks for the next 2 weeks so I thought this was a good chance to post some of the photos I took over the summer. Today I’m sharing the place we overnighted on the way to Perce. It’s a little place called Saint Luce, Quebec and we arrived just in time to watch the sunset over the St. Lawrence River.  There are a few more photos under the fold  and you can click for full size.

 

Sunset on the St. Lawrence River, ©voyager, all rights reserved

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David Ruston’s Roses

From Lofty, the story of the man behind Australia’s famous Ruston’s Roses.

This is a statue of David Ruston in a park in Renmark, a tribute to the man and his contribution.

… Ruston’s Roses in Renmark, once Australia’s biggest rose garden. David Ruston began working here at 18, and developed a life long passion for roses. He became world renowned, and was for a time President of the World Federation of Rose Societies.  He built his father’s original collection of 500 rose bushes in to over 50,000 bushes. But he didn’t just grow roses, he was also an expert floral arranger.

Sadly, his health declined, as did the gardens, although they are still open to the public and with new ownership I hope the garden will return to its previous splendor and supply roses to the world once again.  The garden currently has a contract to supply rose petals to the Nineteenth Street Distillery in Renmark for use in their Gin.

David had a fall a year ago, and although he was present for the opening of the Renmark Rose Festival he was unable to participate.

I like the use of hard steel to display a man of flowers.

©David Brindley, all rights reserved

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Roses

DavidinOz has sent us photos from the Renmark Rose Festival and Oh My but they’re gorgeous. Filled with light and colour they’re a real burst of  happy on these cold and dim November days. We’ll be featuring David’s photos over the next couple of weeks as a tonic to help fight winter gloom. Spring roses from Down Under, what luxury!

There are roses in this set, but the main feature is the Harry Clark fountain commemorating the 1956 floods. The main fountain structures represent wine glasses as this is a major wine growing region.

It was quite breezy that morning, so the water plays well. You can see the Murray River in the background.

©David Brindley, all rights reserved

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Bauska – Part 2

As promised, a quick visit to the old castle in Bauska! Basically it’s a small uneven field of stones surrounded by red brick walls. Its piece de resistance? The old tower still stands and has been fortified for climbing.

Now back in the day (the ’90s), they used the old ruin for an outdoor nighttime performance of Hamlet, and actors were placed on the crumbling walls, making entrances and exits in dramatic lighting (mostly open fire, what can I say) and apparently the show was really something else. Would love to have seen that, alas – I am left only with my imagination, as today’s many, many safety standards would prohibit even the attempt of something similar (and thank goodness for those standards).

Anyway, here’s the soundtrack, and enjoy the bricks!

A peek back to the ‘new’ castle. Watch out, there might be intruders approaching!
©rq, all rights reserved.

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Macedonia 8 – All Creatures Great and Small

Nothing particularly unusual, just a small selection of Macedonian arthropods enjoying the end of summer / early autumn. There were so many more that I spent time just enjoying, including several other butterflies (in addition to the previous), various flying hymenopterans (including a wasp with a long narrow waist that I’d never seen before!), and my goodness the orthopterans – I swear I’ve gone down in grasshopper legend as a harbinger of doom because I’d wander through the grass, and they’d go fluttering off in all directions. The best part? They were all grey, brown, green on the outside, but in flight, those gentle camo colours exploded into bright reds, blues and yellows. Stunning.

Anyway, some insects:

©rq, all rights reserved.

©rq, all rights reserved.

©rq, all rights reserved.

©rq, all rights reserved.

©rq, all rights reserved.

©rq, all rights reserved.

©rq, all rights reserved.

©rq, all rights reserved.

©rq, all rights reserved.

©rq, all rights reserved.

Bauska – Part 1

I have two posts for the town of Bauska – the castle of Bauska (you’ve seen the grand tree out front), actually: Old Bauska and New Bauska. Well, “New” Bauska, since the new castle still dates back to the 17th century, I think. Old Bauska is from the 15th century or so. Since WWII, when it was destroyed with the German retreat, both parts lay in ruins – reconstruction was begun in 2008, and as always, is done mostly by serious and seriously dedicated hobbyists. Strategically located on a peninsula between two rivers, it was geographically convenient for both defense and trade, and is now a wonderful place to spend an afternoon with overactive children, since the territory is perfect for some educational wandering, followed by rambunctious running around in the former park-slash-dendrarium.

We visited at the end of summer, and I was very pleasantly surprised by the tourist-friendly reconstruction – and even more, I was impressed by the craftsmanship that has gone into creating a historically informative experience.

But I think what stays in my memory the most is the amount of light these rooms get – a lot of movies with castles portray them as dark and smoky, with little natural light. Granted, this was summer, full sunlight, and nary a smoky torch to be found. In any case, have a look and bask in the light and craftsmanship of the new Bauska castle:

Courtyard, angle 1 – the brick towers in the background are the remnants of the old castle, saving that for part 2.
©rq, all rights reserved.

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Jack’s Walk

Today you get voyager’s walk without Jack. I was in Toronto over the weekend to visit a friend so I thought I’d share some shots of Front Street. Everywhere you look the city is gearing up for all that mindless and debt-inducing Christmas shopping and this year it looks like Union Station is going all out Lego. So far they’ve placed 3 giant Legos in the square along with a totally Lego fireplace complete with Lego stockings hung with care. The large white board is also going to be all Lego and it has mind-numbingly small numbers. Lots of numbers, each one waiting for an individual normal size Lego block. It must take a crew of several people days to put it all together. I’ll ask my friend to send me photos of the finished project and I promise to share.

Front Street, looking east, ©voyager, all rights reserved

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Take a look at the wide side

Ever since getting my camera I’ve been expanding on my lens arsenal. After getting the tele last year, I wanted a wide angle one. With a little bit of unexpected money I finally got myself one and took it out for a stroll. Sadly the day was overcast and the light faded too early, but I like what you can do with it.

Small pond

©Giliell, all rights reserved. Click for full size.

That little pond is probably 3m across. You can also see that at 10mm, I have to decide between a UV filter or a CPL filter because both are too much.

woodland

©Giliell, all rights reserved. Click for full size.

Part of my daily walk. The little green building is a water station.

tree crown

©Giliell, all rights reserved. Click for full size.

Tree

©Giliell, all rights reserved. Click for full size.

One of the fun things: shooting up trees. The lens makes it look like the trunk is 100m high.

dead tree

©Giliell, all rights reserved. Click for full size.

trees

©Giliell, all rights reserved. Click for full size.

The trees are tall and narrow, but the lens adds some more.

dead tree

©Giliell, all rights reserved. Click for full size.

I’ve been wanting to take pictures of those cut off and dead vines for ages, but I couldn’t with my other lenses because I couldn’t move away enough. to give you an ides, this pic and the other two were taken by minimally moving the camera.

dead tree

©Giliell, all rights reserved. Click for full size.

Dead tree

©Giliell, all rights reserved. Click for full size.

fallen tree

©Giliell, all rights reserved. Click for full size.

Another illusion of distance. In reality, the point where You can see the branch is about 2m from where I took the pic.

©Giliell, all rights reserved. Click for full size.

Autumn colours

©Giliell, all rights reserved. Click for full size.

Tree crowns

©Giliell, all rights reserved. Click for full size.

Probably my favourite one. another upshoot.

Top of the World

Because the views were so epic, mountains for everyone! Most photos behind the cut, because… I seem to have the same affliction when handed a camera as several other people around here. Anyway, epic views being epic, the flight in (and then, out) was probably the most epic experience of the whole trip. Turbulence? Ya. Although I was told if the overhead compartments aren’t popping open, then I’ve had the easy trip. But what remains most about the flights in and out is that strange juxtaposition of feeling pretty terrified (understatement) yet reassured – the way the pilots handled the airplane through the turbulence was strangely comforting. Even with all the shaking and the bouncing, I never once had the feeling that things were actually out of control. And that is a powerful skill. I tip all my hats to the training and experience of those pilots.

Also I have included pictures of some fluffy horses between the epic views. Rather epic horses, actually – I can’t name the breed, but they were so beautiful, exactly my favourite in terms of size and general shape. Very beautiful horses.

Today’s musical selection is Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, because I wanted to capture the dread of flying in through turbulence like I have never had the privilege to experience before. And there was a bald mountain looming over everything. And since playing the piece in my second season with the Ottawa Youth Orchestra, I have a special attachment. This version is performed by the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra.

The bald mountain – I’ve forgotten its name, and I really shouldn’t, as all the mountains have names.
©rq, all rights reserved. Click for full size.

Onwards for more mountain views!

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Chameleon

From Nightjar,

rq’s triune of lizards reminded me of this very special lizard I was lucky enough to see during my summer holidays. A Mediterranean Chameleon! They are native here in Portugal but not very common and only occur along the south coast. This was only the third time I saw one and the first time I had a camera with me. I was obviously very excited, but tried to be quick in order not to disturb it too much and also to avoid calling the attention of more tourists (one never knows… chameleons move slowly and unfortunately there are many humans who can’t be trusted around defenseless animals).

The photos are wonderful, Nightjar and I’m impressed with how close you got to this wild, little fellow. I notice in the second photo that his left eye is watching you even though his right eye is facing straight ahead. That is some interesting anatomy and so are those feet. I always thought of chameleons as being arboreal with those feet being designed to cling to small branches, but I see that they do equally well on the ground. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing, Nightjar.

 

©Nightjar, all rights reserved

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