Day 123 - Twilight zone

I went out well after the sun had set, around the time of civil twilight.  Got some random shots of random things, landscape included.

Day 122 - Lily

Day 121 - Nothing like a strawberry milkshake

I've been feeling quite under the weather the past couple of days, and wanted some quick nutrition options to start my day.  Fresh strawberry milkshake, topped with a swirl of low fat whipped cream and a cherry!  That's what I call comfort food!  I'm not very happy with the colour cast because I forgot to set the WB and my PS skills are awful and I couldn't make any effective correction.

Day 120 - Lesser Goldfinch

This is probably the female.  I had a really hard time getting good photographs as this little birdie was in a darker part of the foliage and I had the sun shining right in my eyes.

This shot was polarized and I like the way I see the shadow instead of a reflection.  Also, the colours look a lot better than when I was shooting without the C-PL.

This is an Eastern Forktail.  Unfortunately, in my hurry to get a nice close-up of this one, I forgot to check the aperture and thus lost out on the DoF.

Day 119 - Up with the birds 'n' the butterflies

And I also made a new friend while I was out shooting the sunrise.  

Day 118 - Guess what?

Lazy afternoon, lazy mind... 

Day 117 - Down the streets of Old Montreal

Day 116 - Frog Prince

Remember the story of the frog prince?  Well, this frog definitely reminded me of him!  But I wonder how it feels to reign supreme over such a dirty little swamp kingdom!   Anyway,  I almost fell over into the swamp myself while trying to photograph His Royal Highness the Frog Prince.  Maybe I was his princess in some previous life and therefore the strong attraction almost had me falling head over heels (read head first).

The first shot was taken before I remembered I was carrying my C-PL.

Day 115 - The elusive red cardinal

Second attempt at getting a glimpse of this bird - a little bit better than the first.

Day 114 - Mating flies

Day 113 - Bald blackbird?

Not sure of what to make of this one - is this bird bald, or is this a juvenile slowly growing up and "upwards" as well?  He looks hilarious, however - just like a balding old man in a long, heavy coat,  and without a hat! :)

This mallard hen was just fed some bread and therefore condescended to pose for me.

Day 112 - Survivor

This tiny bug is a real survivor because it survived a massive thunderstorm.   I was amazed at how this little thing just stayed on the side of my balcony railing while the storm raged and the rains came down in buckets.  The skies had darkened to almost dusk conditions during this storm and I had to use the highest ISO to get a shot.  But even then, it wasn't good enough, and I was worried my camera was getting soaked to stay out on the balcony much longer to try other things.  I should have used my elements cover on the camera, but I was afraid I'd lose the bug if I stepped away.

Day 111 - Pigeon

This lone pigeon landed right in front of me, begging me to take a photo while he strutted around.

Day 110 - Scorching!

One of the days during the heat wave.  The effect wasn't exactly what I was hoping for.  I wanted the image a little bit hazy to depict the haze of the heat, but I couldn't spend enough time on this as the gull decided to take off after I'd fired my second shot. :-(

Day 109 - Shadows

Day 108 - Playing catch up

I have really fallen back on both photography and posting.  We've been having killer summer temperatures and humidity, and not having even a fan was not the kind of summer I want to be spending anymore.   So, here are some photos from the last few days (umm.. or is it weeks?).  I have not abandoned my Photo 365 project - I was on summer break! ;-)

Day 107 - Carnations

Day 106 - Birthday breakfast

My son celebrated his fourteenth birthday yesterday.  I prepared his favourite banana-filled crepe served with a blueberry sauce and whipped cream for breakfast.

Dinner was home-cooked Chinese food - Hot & Sour Chicken Soup, Fried Noodle with Chop Suey, Sichuan Shrimp and General Tso's Chicken.  I didn't have time to photograph all of the dishes, but I did take a couple of the soup and the shrimp.

Day 105 - Day lily

Day 104 - Lunch time!

Lacking energy and inspiration for photography, but not for food.  I made this club sandwich with sliced hard-boiled egg, sliced shallots, tomatoes and cucumbers.  Slapped on some mint chutney and a spicy ketchup to give it a twist.  Accompanied by some spicy corn sticks, there was only one word for it - yum!

And the mug was a gift from a friend when I left Ottawa to come settle in Montreal two and a half years ago.  I remember her each time I use it.

Day 103 - Forster's Tern

This was the first time I saw one of these.  The tern was fishing and flying around for a bit before I realized it wasn't another seagull.  When I finally prepared to take some shots, it decided to take itself elsewhere.

These cute little ducklings are most probably Gadwalls.  It's difficult to tell by the females if they are Gadwalls or Mallards.  The mother was a few feet away from these duckies, but I wasn't able to figure out the id.