If It Was Today...

Why I Gave Up Gardening

Posted on July 8, 2013 by If It Was Today

Nuff said.

Posted in Canada, Photography | Tagged Garden, Home, Photography, Rabbits | Leave a comment

Shades of Brown

Posted on July 7, 2013 by If It Was Today

The rain has stopped, at least for the moment, and the sun has come out. But the past week started me thinking about mushrooms, and I can’t seem to let it go. Probably says something profound, or more likely disturbing, about me but I’m trying not to go there.

So mushrooms. Have you ever looked at them in the produce section of the grocery store. In the trendy stores you’ll find mushrooms in an amazing variety of shapes and sizes. But the colors are all – well … shades of brown. Dark brown Portabella at one end of the spectrum, and numerous creamy white varieties at the other end.

Fair enough. You see those in the wild too.

But in the wild, you also see a wide range of other colors. Yellows, Reds, and even gray. But just to be clear, only one gray, and even then, it has yellow accents. Fortunately, there are no other shades of gray.

The kaleidoscope continues…

Posted in Canada, Photography | Tagged Canada, Mushrooms, Photography | 2 Comments

Life In A Northern Town

Posted on July 6, 2013 by If It Was Today

There are many drawbacks to living in a northern town. Take winter. Please. After four months of snow I think that anyone, whether in their right mind or not, should have had more than enough . And forget that “winter sports” schtick. Just how much skiing can one person do?

Now don’t get me wrong, there are advantages. Unfortunately most of them are the same as beating your head against a wall. It feels so amazingly good when you stop.

All of which brings me to the flowers, when they do finally arrive, sometime in July.

Somehow, after all that snow, cold, colds, running noses, frozen toes, and general unpleasantness, the flowers look that much more beautiful.

But don’t wait too long to get out and enjoy it. Winter’s coming soon.

Posted in Canada, Photography | Tagged Canada, Flowers, Home, Photography | 4 Comments

Lavender

Posted on July 5, 2013 by If It Was Today

One of my favorite memories of Provence is the sight – and the smell – of fields of lavender. It will be forever linked in my mind with wonderfully hot, sunny Mediterranean summer days. So it will probably come as no surprise to learn that I’ve planted lavender beds in my garden. It’s not quite Provence (which would make this another in the “not quite …” series of posts) but it still brings back fond memories of Provence. And it infuses the entire patio with the scent of lavender. Quite lovely. The bees are rather fond of it as well.

Posted in Photography | Tagged Canada, Home, Lavender, Photography, Provence | 3 Comments

Not Quite Jordan

Posted on July 3, 2013 by If It Was Today

A while back, one of the bloggers I follow, Middle East Moments, commented that “Jordan does do a good sunset“. She obviously has a knack for understatement. In reality, Jordan does amazing sunsets. My Jordanian sunset posts pretty consistently get more likes that just about anything else I post.

The ability to take a hint has never been one of my strong suits. So I’m not going to post another Jordan sunset. At least not today. Instead, I’ll treat you to a Canadian sunset. This one was taken from my garden this evening. The rather ominous looking clouds fit rather well with the wet weather we’ve been having lately. But at least it was warm today, so I’m not about to complain. No one would listen anyway.

Posted in Canada, Photography | Tagged Canada, Home, Photography, Sunset | 1 Comment

Rainy Days

Posted on July 2, 2013 by If It Was Today

When the promise of summer warmth gives way to cool damp days, on the first week of July no less, a not-so-young man’s thoughts turn to … mushrooms. They are strange, and more than a little fascinating, creatures. Or entities, or things, or beings, or whatever it is we should call them. So until the sun returns, I’m going to search my archives from past camping trips for interesting mushroom photos. Welcome to my world.

And just to prove that not all mushrooms look like pasta, here is a little colorful contrast.

Posted in Canada, Photography | Tagged Camping, Canada, Mushrooms, Photography, Rain | Leave a comment

Wildlife

Posted on June 25, 2013 by If It Was Today

Probably not exactly what you were thinking, but wildlife comes in all sizes. It is a busy week, so this will have to do for now.

Posted in Canada, Photography | Tagged Canada, Flowers, Home, Photograhpy | Leave a comment

Thyme

Posted on June 20, 2013 by If It Was Today

Just before I drifted off to sleep the other night, I prayed for more time. I wasn’t really serious, but it certainly would help.

When I looked on the patio this morning, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Sometimes our prayers are answered in ways we never expect.

Posted in Canada, Photography | Tagged Canada, Home, Photography, Thyme | 1 Comment

Hitching a Ride

Posted on June 19, 2013 by If It Was Today

I want to thank Middle East Moments for giving me the idea for this post. She wrote that even after living in Jordan for several years, she still comments every time she sees a camel riding in the back of a small ute. That inspired me to post my own “camel transport” photo. (And no sippy cups anywhere in sight.)

We were on our way to Jerash when I noticed the camels. I asked Jamel about it as we overtook them. A moment later, he pulled over to the side of the road, and waited for them to catch up. Then he drove up right behind the truck to get a good picture. Four camels in the back of one small ute was pretty impressive, even if they were young ones.

As an added bonus, when we pulled over to wait for the truck, I took a picture of one of the many fruit and vegetable stands that line the highways in Jordan.

Posted in Jordan, Photography, Travel | Tagged Camel, Jordan, Photography, Travel, ute | 3 Comments

Clouds Over Switzerland

Posted on June 18, 2013 by If It Was Today

I took this photo from a dinner cruise on Lake Geneva a few years back. It is interesting to contrast this with the sunset photos from Jordan that I have used in earlier posts. Each is impressive in its own way. And yet they are so very different. I guess that is what makes travel so interesting.