Day 31

The first month is done already! I have had great fun with my 365 so far, and I've learned a lot. Staying with my "textures" theme, here's a wicker basket...

Day 30

My Macbook power switch and speaker grille

Day 29

We saw this spectacular sunset on the way home from work. I shot this from the moving car.

Day 28

Playing with texture again. This rope is part of our cat tree.

Day 27

Exploring texture a bit today - and I like the light on this grater.

Day 26

This is Tori, our "tabico" kitty. She just loves to drink from the bathroom tap.

Day 25

Tayto Crisps, imported at great expense from Ireland. There is nothing at all like them over here - the native "potato chips" don't come anywhere near as good as these, ask any Irish expat! Oh, and if any of my wonderful Irish family and friends are tuned in, I'm running critically short!

Day 24

We saw the sunshine today, for the first time in ages. Bento, one of our foster kittens, basks in its warmth.

Day 23

We were in work today, catching up on work that we couldn't do over the past few days due to ice storms, power outages, etc. Got lots of orders packed, and Maggie made loads of goodies for the shop. Here's an impromptu portrait of Go (五 - Japanese for "Five"), who was helping us today. The backdrop is one of Melodie Proffitt's very pretty paintings.

Day 22

The ice is starting to melt! I caught several interesting images of what happens as the ice recedes.

You can almost hear this road sign breathe a sigh of relief as its covering of ice starts to slip away.

This turnbuckle on a farm gate emerges from its cocoon of ice like a butterfly from its chrysalis.

Here, the ice that once coated the fence has completely separated from the wire. Just seconds after I took this shot, the icy lattice collapsed.

Day 21

Another shot of my Nikon gear - this time my walkabout lens, AF-S Nikkor 17-... ah, what it says on it. It should have been shooting today instead of being shot.

Day 20

Two pictures again today - views of my wonderful Nikon D300. First, from the "receiving end", the Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8...

...and here is our very handsome cat, Spike, captured through the viewfinder.

Ice Storm

We had freezing rain last night, and the hoarfrost has gone, now replaced by ice. I know it's bad for trees and power lines, but it makes for some splendid photo opportunities. These are a few I took this morning, before chickening out, and heading back indoors - in spite of my ample clothing and Yaktrax, it was icky, and my camera was getting wetter than I like. Anyway, enjoy the pictures....

More Hoar

Here are some more pictures of today's hoarfrost.

A couple of frost-laden trees captured on the way to work. I made Maggie turn the car around so I could take this.

This farm is always pretty, no matter what the weather. I shot this image from our moving car, through a very grubby windscreen!

The Prairieland Herbs farm and Donna's house.

The driveway leading down to the corncrib.

Day 19

We had a really beautiful hoar frost today. It's impossible to describe this phenomenon in just one picture, so I'm posting two - first, a close-up view of the frost - those "needles" are up to 40 millimetres (1 1/2 inches) long - you can see them bending under their own weight.

...and a larger view - the twigs and smaller branches are covered with rime, but not the trunks and bigger boughs, giving the effect of white foliage. Against the grey sky it is quite beautiful, and just a little eerie.

Oh, and in case you're interested, I never actually wrote them, but these are the rules for my 365:

1. Post at least one picture per day.

2. The picture must be taken on my iPhone.

3. It must be taken on the day of posting.

4. No Photoshopping is allowed.

Day 18

I was getting a few things ready for dinner, and I saw this.

Day 17

Went for a great walk on the bike trail today. One of the nice things about walking is taking your boots off when you're done. Don't get me wrong - they're not uncomfortable - these boots and I have done thousands of miles together, but the feeling of lightness and freedom taking them off after a long walk is sheer bliss :)

Day 16

Here's the tensionator (or whatever it's called) in Maggie's sewing machine.

Day 15

Popular Prairieland products produce pleasant patterns....

Melody Rose Photoshoot

I had the great pleasure today of working with the beautiful and talented Melody Rose. Our headshot session was just great fun, and her patience and tolerance of my inexperience were inspiring. Here are some shots from this afternoon's session.

Day 14

I had a photoshoot this afternoon, with Melody Rose. We had a really great time. I'll post some pictures from the session in a while, but in the meantime, here's the "studio" - again in the Prairieland Herbs classroom.

Day 13

Still life of untidiness. Here is our dining table this afternoon. I'm making Maggie an LED hula hoop, and just finished phase one of the project, stringing the LEDs together. The string of lights alternates fast colour-changing, slow colour-changing, and UV. I think it will look great :)

Day 12

It was a beautiful looking day out at the farm today - clear blue skies, sunshine, gleaming snow. But, boy did it feel cold! Here's the sunset from Donna's deck with her beautiful dead tree and the shop and the barn.

Day 11

One of our foster kittens, Minnie, was asleep on the sofa when I snapped this.

Day 10

It was a very quiet Sample Sunday at Prairieland Herbs today. We got to pack all our orders, make, package, and label lots more goodies for stock. We did have a few intrepid customers too, though :)

Today's picture is of Maggie's amazing salt and sugar scrubs - if you haven't tried these, you are really missing out!

Day 9

We were able to get to work today, first time since the big snow the other day. Cabin fever was starting to set in. Here's a view of Donna's garden this evening (It's a good thing she's not relying on that outhouse!)

Snowed out!

This is the intersection of S Avenue and Hwy 210. The snowdrift is averaging five feet deep! However, Prairieland Herbs is accessible - S Ave is open to the north :)

Our cross-country skiing was cancelled due to snow!

Day 8

An impromptu portrait of my very handsome cat Asparagus (Gus to his friends). Expect quite a few cat pictures in this 365 - we have about fifteen of them living with us at the moment.

Day 7

Messy bartender!

We were snowed in today. I had a go at making artificial ice cubes and "spills" for use as photo props. I used this method, but I'm not entirely satisfied with my first results. I'll play a bit more with the technique. I would also like to find a plastic that floats like ice does (mine sinks when there's no bubbles in it).

Day 6

I took this on the way home from work. Driving conditions tonight are very hairy. Avoid travelling if at all possible, and if you must drive, do take great care. Keep safe and warm!

Day 5

The cash register in the Prairieland Herbs shop - a National Cash Register "Empire" model, made in 1914. Strange, but I can't seem to get it to interface with our accounting software or a barcode reader....

Day 4

Went out today. I browsed Christian Photo, then headed to Morning Rain Massage, where Dawn gave me an amazing massage. This natural ice sculpture was in the car-park at the studio. It looks like a harp to me.

Day 3

Did nothing today. Just stayed in (and warm). Had a bath and a nice glass of Shiraz.

Day 2

Ice crystals on our window echo the form of the tree in the garden. (Right now it's -11ºF / -24ºC out there!)

Day 1

Donna's house and garden in the light of the setting sun this evening.