I SAW FIREMEN IN HEAVY GEAR RUNNING TOWARDS ME!!!!

TODAY MARKED THE ASHWOOD INN'S VERY FIRST MG SPORTS CAR RALLY
Checking the weather map this morning it was easy to see rain heading our way so with that thought in mind Pheebs and I headed off to Goderich on the early side.  I was anxious to road test the new lens.  A lot of my photos are taken right from the driver’s seat while on the move so wanted to see how my one handed shots would turn out.  Camera shake??  Auto focus??  Was the camera/lens combo going to be too heavy??  What about exposures on the move, too light too dark??

SAW THIS LITTLE CHAP LAND  ON A POLE NEAR THE NEW EXERCISE EQUIPMENT ALONGSIDE THE BOARDWALK IN GODERICH’S ROTARY COVE THIS MORNING
With coffee and muffin in hand we made straight away for the beach knowing with overcast skies it would be a good test for both camera and lens.  We even managed a little walk around in the doggy area. 

FIRST THING I SPOTTED ON THE LAKE WAS A LARGE LAKE FREIGHTER LYING MOTIONLESS JUST OFFSHORE

IT GAVE ME AN OPPORTUNITY TO SEE HOW THE LENS HANDLED AT VARIOUS ZOOM LENGTHS

I WONDERED IF IT WAS WAITING FOR THE FREIGHTER ON RIGHT TO FINISH TAKING ON A LOAD OF SALT

BY ENLARGING THE ABOVE PHOTO LATER IN MY PICASA EDITING PROGRAM I WAS ABLE MAKE OUT THE FREIGHERS NAME AS CUYAHOGA….I WAS ALSO ABLE TO SEE 3 MEN STANDING DIRECTLY UNDER THE END OF THAT BOOM AND A BOAT IN THE WATER RIGHT AT THE STERN

YES INDEED I AM PLEASED WITH THIS NEW 18-300mm LENS….IT MAY NOT BE THE BEST OF THE BEST BUT IT’S GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME:))

STORM CLOUDS BREWING ON THE HORIZON
We made straight away for the beach knowing with overcast skies it would be a good test for both camera and lens.  We even managed a little walk around in the doggy area.

SPOTTED THIS FELLOW ENJOYING A QUIET BREAKFAST BY THE LAKE

SATURDAY MORNING STROLL ON THE BOARDWALK

WHILE TAKING A FEW PICTURES OF THE NEW EXCERCISE EQUIPMENT ALONG THE BEACH I SAW THESE FIREFIGHTERS RUNNING TOWARDS ME

‘OH-NO’ I THOUGHT, MY PANTS MUST BE ON FIRE’ AS I QUICKLY SCRAMBLED AROUND IN A CIRCLE LOOKING FOR SMOKE

AND HERE COMES ANOTHER ONE AND THIS ONE IS A FIREWOMAN

AND ANOTHER ONE…….HOLY GEEZZZZZZ I MUST REALLY BE ON FIRE OR SOMETHING!!

HEY WAIT A MINUTE!!  THEY’RE GOING RIGHT BY……..

HEY WASSUP DIDN’T THEY SEE ME SMOULDERING??

WHEWWWWWW THAT WAS A CLOSE CALL……I FINALLY FIGURED OUT THESE FIRE PEOPLE MUST HAVE BEEN OUT FOR SOME KINDA SATURDAY MORNING TRAINING WHICH CALLED FOR THEM TO RUN WITH FULL GEAR ON IN HOT HUMID WEATHER NEAR A LARGE ACCESSIBLE READY SOURCE OF WATER

 

SO DID IT OCCUR TO ME TO TRY OUT SOME OF THIS EXERCISE EQUIPMENT??  NOPE THE THOUGHT NEVER ENTERED MY MIND


HOLD ON TO YOUR HAT LADY THAT EXERCISE MACHINE YOU’RE ON IS DESIGNED TO CATAPULT YOU RIGHT OUT INTO THE MIDDLE OF LAKE HURON WHEREUPON YOU GET YOUR EXERCISE FROM SWIMMING ALL THE WAY BACK TO SHORE

HOLY SMOKES HERE COME THEM THERE FIREMEN BACK STILL RUNNING

WELL NOT QUITE ALL OF THEM WERE EXACTLY RUNNING

NICE CHILDREN’S PLAYGROUND ON THE BEACH BUT SOMETIMES WHEN THE KIDS ARE AWAY THE ADULTS COME TO PLAY


AND HEY THAT FELLOW IS STILL WORKING ON HIS BREAKFAST OVER THERE

THERE’S THAT WILD CREATURE FLYING BY AGAIN CARRYING THAT POLE IT LANDED ON
I also took a bunch of photos with the ‘new to me’ Sony RX100-3 as well and must say I am very impressed with it’s clarity.  An amazing point and shoot camera that way surpasses the older point and shoot Canon Powershot I have been carrying on my belt for about 6 years now.  Have decided the Sony RX will now be my carry-around camera.  Test photos below are from the Sony RX100-3 today.








A quick stop at Walmart for a few things and we were on our way home again.  With skies darkening I figured rain couldn’t be too far away.  Upon arriving home Kelly reminded me about the Ashwood Inn’s MG sports car gathering today which I had forgot about of course.  Leaving Pheebs at home I hopped back into the Jeep and drove over to the Ashwood Inn about 4 minutes away.  Lots of shiny sports cars there alright and more pulling up as I rolled in and parked the Jeep.  Looked like a great turn out.  Having had 3 of my own sports cars a whole bunch of years ago I of course was able to tap into some long ago memories.  My cars were a 1956 Austin Healy, a 1959 Triumph TR3 and a 1964 MGB.  As I recall, the bane of many English sports cars was always the finicky carburetors.  

The same Gal owns the Ashwood that owns Deer Park Lodge across the road and her name is Kirsten.  Long time readers may remember all my postings and pictures of Deer Park over the years.  Kelly worked there for one whole decade so we know Kirsten and Rob very well.  Nice to see them today.  Rob was busy parking cars and Kirsten was touring her English Mother around on a golf cart to see a great selection of English history on wheels.

ROB BUSY  DESIGNATING PARKING SPOTS FOR SPORTS CARS THIS MORNING….BY THE WAY ROB IS MR. MG’S JOHN THORNELY’S GRANDSON

Peter Thornley with his father Mr. MG John Thornley O.B.E

John Thornley's grandson Rob with his MGB and that's the MG1 plate given to him by his grandfather.

ROB’S OWN MGB

AND THAT BE ROB HIS VERY SELF THERE IN THE BLACK SHIRT

I was back home about 11:30 and heard the first rumble of thunder about noon.  Skies continued to darken and by 12:10 torrents of rain were upon us.  Felt bad for all the sports car enthusiasts over at the Ashwood but I imagine the folks quickly put their car roofs up and scrambled inside for a cold beer at the Bourbon Bar to wait out the fast moving storm.  And sure enough less than half an hour after the showers started a short burst of sunshine luckily ended the soaking for the next 6 hours.   However another rainy storm front came in off the lake again around 7 p.m.  and stayed for awhile.  But no matter, the sports car gang had had their great day:))

Between this mornings test photos in Goderich and the MG car show I took just over 200 photos today but not to worry I’ll not try to mash them all into tonight’s post.  Very pleased with the lens but I can see i have some reading to do on tweaking the D7200’s exposure and metering settings between that lenses 18 to 300mm range.  Yep, lots to learn alright.

OF COURSE ALL ENGLISH SPORTS CARS WERE WELCOME AS THIS TRIUMPH’S HUBCAP REFLECTS A SWIRL OF GREEN GRASS


‘RATHER BRITISH LOOKING I’D SAY OLD CHAP’
Since 83 of today’s photos were taken at the MG car show I’m going to see if I can remember how to get them into a photo album and simply put a link in my blog to the album for anyone interested.  I’ll maybe work on that Sunday.  Below are a few few pics from the show today.

OK BOYS KEYS ARE IN THE IGNITION, LET’S TAKE ER FOR A SPIN



WHEN I GOT BACK HOME FROM THE MGB SHOW I WAS GREETED BY THIS SAD LITTLE FACE IN THE WINDOW WONDERING WHY I HAD GONE SOMEWHERE WITHOUT HER
GROANER’S CORNER:(( A woman went to doctor's office for her annual examination. Suddenly, another older doctor noticed her burst out of the examination room, screaming as she ran down the hall. He stopped the hysterical woman and asked her to sit down and relax. Then, he asked her what she was so upset about. A few minutes later, the older doctor marched back to the woman's doctor and demanded, "What's the matter with you? Mrs. Terry is 63 years old, she has four grown children, and seven grandchildren... and you told her she was pregnant?"   The woman's doctor smiled smugly as he continued to write on his clipboard, "Cured her hiccups though, didn't I?"
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Q: What's the most important thing to learn in chemistry?
A: Never lick the spoon.
Have you heard the one about a chemist who was reading a book about helium and just couldn't put it down?

TRYING OUT MY NEW NIKON 18-300mm LENS:))

TESTING OUT MY NEW LENS THIS AFTERNOON….FLOWERS ABOVE ARE COSMOS

We were able to knock off two birds with one stone this morning so to speak.  Kelly had to return something to the ‘WINNERS’ store in London and I was wanting to stop in at HENRY'S CAMERA STORE and pick up my new Nikon 18-300mm lens.  Both these stores were within a mile or so of each other.

SPOTTED A FEW MORE ‘BARN QUILTS’ ON OUR WAY TO LONDON

SAW THIS GANG OF WORKERS IN A FIELD….ENLARGING THE PHOTO IN MY EDITING PROGRAM I COULD SEE IT WAS STONES AND ROCKS THEY WERE PICKING UP

We knew it was going to be a hot and humid day so decided it was best that Pheebs stay home in the cool house.  Under sunny blue skies Kelly and I headed off to London around 8:30.  Twenty minutes later we had to kick on the Jeep’s A/C and it wasn’t even 9 a.m. yet.  Miserable #@*!!!%%#% humidity!!!!!

AFTER UNPACKING MY NEW LENS AND AFFIXING IT TO MY CAMERA THIS AFTERNOON I LIFTED IT UP AND THIS WAS THE FIRST PHOTO WITH THE NEW CAMARA/LENS COMBO….ALL  PHOTOS BEYOND THIS POINT WERE TAKEN IN OUR FRONT YARD WITH MY NIKON D7200 CAMERA AND THIS MORNING’S NEW NIKKOR 18-300mm LENS….ALL PHOTOS ARE HAND HELD….I’M JUST TOO DARNED IMPATIENT TO USE A TRI-POD IT SEEMS

<<< GOLDEN JAPANESE FOREST GRASS

Our first stop was at ‘Winners’ in the Hyde Park Mall.  From there it was east along Fanshaw Road to Henry’s Camera Store.  Had been in email contact with a fellow there by the name of Fiore for about a week in regards to trading in some recently acquired camera gear on a new Nikon lens.  Luckily Kelly came in the store with me which made the transaction a little less confusing for me.  It was decided I would purchase the lens and try it out for a week or two.  If satisfied we would then proceed with the trade-in camera gear.  I appreciated Fiore’s down to earth personality.  I have found some if not most younger sales people in camera store’s to be a bit on the uppity hoity-toity side sometimes.  Fiore was closer to my age and didn’t talk down to me like I didn’t know which end of a camera to look through.  We were a good 40 minutes in the store.  That is probably the longest I have ever spent in a camera store ever.

PURPLE CLEMATIS AND THE PHOTO BEFORE THE BLACK GRACKLE BIRD ABOVE IS A WHITE CLEMATIS

SWEET WILLIAM

HONEYSUCKLE

COSMOS

With a McDonald’s across the road from Henry’s we grabbed ourselves a couple coffees and lit out for home.  I don’t mind London as a city but I’m always glad to see any city quickly disappearing in my rear view mirror.  An hour after leaving London we were back home in our quiet like country setting.

GRACKLE

THIS FELLOW’S NAME IS WALLY AND HE’S CUTTING NEIGHBOR MONICAS LAWN

OUR FRONT YARD JUNGLE GROWS THICKER AND I’M HOPING KELLY DOESN’T GET LOST IN THERE SOMEWHERE

ORANGE HISBISCUS AND WHITE COSMOS

Didn’t take me long to attach the new Nikon (Nikkor) lens to my Nikon D7200 and head out the door into the yard looking for things to try the new lens out on.  Lots of subjects around of course so I started clicking away.  I haven’t had the D7200 camera a week yet and with the lens being brand new I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to end up with.  Scurried back into the house and unloaded the pics into my Picasa photo editing program.  Well, lots of room for improvement on my part of course but in my technically challenged little world I thought both the camera and lens worked well together and did a good job.  It’s up to me now to blend myself in with those two technical wonders and see if between the three of us we can put ourselves together some fine photos now and again.  Pheebs and I will be taking the new camera set-up for a road test in the morning.  So far so good though and all photos in tonight’s post were taken with the D7200 and 18-300mm lens this afternoon.

COSMOS

CALA LILY

HAD I USED A TRI-POD ON THESE FLOWER PHOTOS LIKE THE ONE ABOVE AND THE ONE BELOW I’M SURE I COULD HAVE GOT THEM MUCH SHARPER….BUT YOU KNOW WHAT OLD IMPATIENT ME IS LIKE…………….

SUNBURST LOCUST LEAVES

FLOWERS ABOVE ARE DIPLADENIA

A very close call for Merikay and Craig when their Class A Motorhome ran off the road way up there in that Alaska place recently.  Be sure to check out what happened and see their accident photos at Merikay's Dream.  Merikay and Craig dropped into see us a couple summer’s ago here at our place just outside of Bayfield Ontario.  Nice folks………..

DAHLIA

And speaking of Alaska it seems that Wily Coyote Ivan fella slipped the surly bonds of Alberta a few weeks ago and has turned himself and Hailey up in the very wilds of wooly Alaska itself.  Grab onto his coat tails if you can and he’ll take ya places where tourists usually don’t go.  You can catch up with him somewhere Down The Alaska Highway.  We last saw Ivan just south of Patagonia Arizona a few months ago.  He led us to a cemetery.  What a guy eh:))

I’M STANDING IN FRONT OF OUR HOUSE LOOKING WEST

CLIMBING RED ROSE

And hey Wandering Willy way over there near Agassiz British Columbia we hear you have some new neighbors headed your way from Vancouver Island.  Treat em good now, they are special friends of ours.  Well, your too…………….:))

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Poodle: “My life is a mess.  My owner is mean, my girlfriend is leaving me for a German shepherd, and I’m as nervous as a cat.”  Collie: “Why don’t you go see a psychiatrist?”  Poodle: “I can’t. I’m not allowed on the couch.”

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Have you heard about the elephant with diarrhea? It's all over town!

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Someone mistakenly leaves the cages open in the reptile house at the Bronx Zoo and there are snakes slithering all over the place.   Frantically, the keeper tries everything, but he can't get them back in their cages. Finally he says, "Quick, call a lawyer!"  "A lawyer? Why??  "We need someone who speaks their language!"