Friday, October 27

Spring Leaves

Does anyone else find it odd that I'm posting picture of fresh spring leaves in the fall?

The following photo was taken at Wheatley Provincial Park back in May; notice the very straight bridge in the background.

Rondeau Sunset

I was just flipping through some of my photos and I came across this sunset photo from Rondeau Provincial Park; taken back in May. I hope to be a little more active and continue to post photos, enjoy!

Wednesday, October 25

Photos: Successful Flight

With zero wind keeping the kite up is a problem...Don's quad seems like a good solution.
Don brings his quad to the rescue

Don, Murray, and Marilyn prepare for launch.
Don, Murray, and Marily preparing for kite launch

And we get flight! Although in the end it isn't much more successful than Murray running through the field...and not quiet as much fun to watch.
Kite aloft with aid of the quad

But here is proof that it was indeed in the sky.
Kite against the blue sky

Photos: Kite's First Flight

Marilyn and Dad are the ones to volunteer for the kite flying roles.


Dad is off to a good start, but it is taking a lot of running to have a chance...there is almost zero wind.


And he is down...

Tuesday, October 24

Photos: Kite Construction

Bright and early Saturday work began on the construction of the 2006 geometric kite.

Murray & Don were the ones who began construction making decent progress.


However, it was only a short time before Grandpa came on the scene to ensure things were coming along.


Soon though a whole crowd had gathered to look upon the newly created kite.

Thanksgiving Activities: Kites an Introduction

Typically each year at Thanksgiving we, as an extended family, have some sort of activity which involves building something. For the last few years it has been model rockets, this year we switched it up and decided for kite building & flying. Note that these activities are usually related to some memories of long ago for my dad and his siblings.

So this is it for the intro, I'll be following this post with a few covering the construction, first flights, and close with the successful flight.

Photos: More Thanksgiving Bugs

More of Joy's insect (and similar) photos...




Photos: Thanksgiving Bugs

I have finally gotten all our photos in one place...yay! So as promised some photos.

All of these photos here are ones Joy took during our stay at my Aunt's in Cherry Valley, ON. Enjoy! George I think you need a macro lens now...




Sunday, October 1

Novels

I just wanted to mention a couple books I've read recently and/or am reading now.

A few weeks ago I finished "The Shadow of the Wind", a novel recommended, and borrowed, from George. True to his recommendation this was a very interesting book which kept you on your toes throughout keeping you reading far longer than you had intended. I'm not going to list the description here...it can be found on Chapters.ca, Amazon.ca, or Wikipedia.

I also recently picked up two books by Cory Doctorow: Eastern Standard Tribe, and Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town. Cory is a Canadian author who's novels are interesting and different (i.e. unique). Why is it when I was in school and forced to do a book report including at least one Canadian author it was always a problem to find one who's books attracted my attention with due to their content rather than the fact they were Canadian?

I have finished EST, it was a gem that went by ever to quickly, and I'm currently engrossed in Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town. If anyone is interested in these let me know and you can borrow them...or if you are inclined you can download them free (yes free) from his website (he is a proponent of Creative Commons).

Change of Seasons

Well this past week marked a change in seasons here...the change from outdoor to indoor soccer. Yes, as I'm sure some of you haven't heard Joy and I have been playing soccer on in a K-W co-ed league since about July. It started with Joy playing for Carolyn while she was in China for work, but she continued to play afterwards since the team was often short on women. After a couple weeks of watching from the sidelines I was persuaded into playing also. It was rough at first--I can't say that I've played soccer since I was a kid...and then only during gym when necessary--but over the coming weeks I have gotten more used to the extended running.

One of the major hurdles was the realization I really didn't know how to run properly. Whatever technique, or lack there of, I was using was resulting in extremely sore calves and shins. As of a few weeks ago I believe I have corrected my technique resulting in the ability to actually run down the field without losing ground to the opposition or my team-mates. Note that I did find this soccer thing fun even before learning to run.

So back to where this post started; last Friday marked the final game of the outdoor season. I can't say we ended on a high mark...we were short a fair number of folks resulting in us being shorthanded by one person on the field (and of course no substitutes) against a team with about 5 substitutes. Even with those odds against us we put up a valiant fight resulting in a 5-1 loss with two near-goals (off the inside post and trickling along the crease)...one by myself. :)

As for the new season, last Wednesday was the first "game" of the indoor league. I say "game" since it was really supposed to be a meet & great for the teams, but we ended up playing a game against the other team doing the same thing. The indoor league is a 7/side co-ed league hosted in the University of Guelph Gryphon Dome. Due to the change of venues Joy and I had the pleasure of buying some indoor soccer shoes, since the plain runners definitely don't do the job.

Well that is some of the latest news. I know I've been lazy with posts...but you can cross your fingers. ;)

P.S. All the photos are not yet centralized...still have some of the latest photos on my work laptop. :(