Out Early Around Athens Creek, Again.

Some growth around our place to show you. Nice and sunny this morning, even in Greece.

Honeysuckle

Grass

Iris

Enjoy your special Memorial Day Week-End, all you American friends. It isn't fair having to lay down one's life for one's country, whichever country that is. It still goes on every day, in spite of memorials and cenotaphs, wreaths, plaques and grave stones. I felt sorry for the US soldier who has to plant 220,000 US flags one by one at each of all those grave markers....

"Only Blackbirds Sang in the Rain"

Bike Path?

Looking West

Towards  Summerland

14th Hole, Penticton Golf Course, yes, it's by the river!

This edition of Paul Evans' series "Wenlock Edge" was truly brilliant writing for a blogger. We should all take note and try and raise our standards! Check out the last sentence- it's pure poetry!
Here are a few photos of our personal "Edge" taken on a bloke bike ride (Hanne was at Spanish Class) by the river yesterday.

Pseudonym or Anonym

Lupins at Linden

Hey! The Daisies are out!

Honey Locust is popular around here

Some people would call this a riot of colour!

The Authorities need us to be nominous and faceful  to coin a word or two, in the name of security. Those of us who are subversive rebels go for pseudonyms or anonymity. We have to have passports and clear identities for some purposes, no hoodies or burkas allowed. But nowadays there are really good reasons for masking. Certain music groups maintain that by wearing masks they direct your attention to the music and away from the musicians' identities. That has been and still is easier for artists, whose paintings have always been somewhat disassociated from their identities. Also writers often like to be faceless and anonymous. I think that as a really good idea. If you really want to know about them, there's always Wikipedia, if you are lucky. But with the advent of Facebook and other on-line clouds, our identities have become all too public. Hence the drift to anonymity. On Blogspot, SmugMug, and other places many are refusing to reveal their faces, names, or place of abode. Unfortunately it makes some of us uncomfortable, communicating with an unknown. After all, face to face communication is more real and the only proper way. But hey, pseudonyms and anonymity have been around for a while, like centuries! Let's get used to it!

Around Athens Creek

A Furry Bee on our Honeysuckle

The Birch

The First Rose (20th May)

More Roses ( 22nd May)

Last evening at sundown

Here are a few up to the moment images from around here where we live. The season changes fast, the cherries, apples, pears and peaches are forming, all the leaves are fully out, and the roses, irises, and hydrangeas have come. The Olympics will be here before you know it, if they can only keep the flame lit. The Egyptians will have a new government, even maybe the Greeks will have a new currency, before you can blink twice. Talking about blinking, I am told that when taking portraits I have to set my camera to take three shots one second apart in order to avoid them; but personally I think the number of shots should be at least equal to the number of people on the picture, in order to avoid those blinks? What do you think?

Rendering

Gardening anyone? You can Render Soil with these !

Enderby Railway Station

Back of Old Armstrong Hotel

Rendering is a word with many meanings. We all know about rendering fat, rendering unto Caesar, but did you know it has to do with stucco! Architects do it, artists do it, lawyers do it, musicians can do it, video makers do it, and today I'm doing it to these photos. Some of my friends prefer the photo to be "straight out of the camera" as they say, and even some professional photographers are in that category. But nowadays, modern cameras can render without any outside computer programs being involved. My new Nikon 5100 camera can give a fish-eye conversion for example at the touch of a button!

Oliver

"Outside the Fence"

Quench your Thirst Here

Oliver Archives Building

Factory Wall Grafiti

Last evening it was threatening rain and quite dark, but we were still able to capture a few street scenes on our visit to Oliver. They are busy in the orchards and vineyards, weeding and spraying and watering. The cherries are forming nicely, and there are lots of leaves on the vines now.

Nk'Mip

Yesterday we were taken as part of our annual Meadowlark Cultural/Nature Convention, on a school bus, to visit the Nk'Mip Desert Cultural Centre in Osoyoos BC. The centre itself has been open for about eight years, and is built of "Rammed Earth" and concrete, giving its walls an interesting mixture of colours. There are some good exhibits of native life. We also saw the Outma Sqilx'w Cultural School in Penticton. More photos from there here.

Metal Sculpture of Native Lady drying Meat

Metal and Rock Sculptures of Mountain Sheep

Catching Salmon

View up the Tower inside the Native School, Penticton ( Outma Sqilx'w Cultural School)

Entrance to the Native School, Penticton