Control of Speed

Hanne after church yesterday

Fire bush in our back yard yesterday

Else and Kurt's for lunch!

In UK in 1865 a car was limited to 2mph  in town, 4mph out of town. The limit was 14 in 1896, 20 in 1903. Interestingly, the AA was formed in 1905 to help motorists against money gathering policemen enforcing the speed limit! Since then, a number of different devices have been invented to stop speeders, by measuring their speed, photographing their licence plates, and /or billing them automatically for an offence. I'm sure in the future new cars could be secretly equipped with micro-chips for controlling speed. Or GPS measuring satellites in space could be employed. But at present I like the Mexican system of using pace cars on stretches of highway with either high abuse rates or high accident rates or both; and I love the Swedish system tried out last year where "good" motorists can enter a lottery, the winnings coming from speeder fines! I am also in favour of "rumble strips". The noise is enough to slow you down. In other places tolls are used. You have to stop to pay a toll, then the ticket shows the time. At the next toll-booth the ticket shows the next time, and can add to your toll by a fine if you got there too soon! The trouble is, roads are being built better all the time to make your journey quicker!  In UK they are considering raising the speed limit to 80 mph. And so the game goes on. And on....
Incidentally I believe the land speed record for a car is 763 mph. Wow! I'll get one!

Grown Up

When is one grown up? There is very little on the internet about what this means, and it varies from place to place anyway. I have always had difficulty with the fact that one can fight and die for one's country ( shades of Remembrance Day in the back-ground here ) at 18 and yet not be allowed to drink a pint in a pub until 21 (British Columbia).

"Fall" is actually happening here right now. Hanne is shown as a good example of a grown-up...

This is somebody's grown-up idea of a house ? (Penticton)

It has a nice view anyway.

Vikings in Lewes UK last night. ( thanks to Mary Turner/ Getty Images)

One can get a driver's licence at 16 in Alberta but one has to be 17 in UK. One has to be mature to be a grown-up, yet some grown-ups are so immature. " He's got the Key of the Door; Never been 21 before" ? We discovered that Queen Victoria got the key of the door at 18 and threw her mother out !
The recent Guy Fawkes shinanigans in UK are a good example of immaturity? Why did the Lewes Bonfire Society have to parade down the streets with flaming crosses? Even the Danes were there dressed up to kill (see photo). It is quite amazing how the fifth of November has changed since I was a child. Grow up you Guys! Go back to your grow-ops and grow them up!

Textures

A texture in photography is necessarily a visual one, but it sometimes projects into the mind one of physical feel and touch. Photos can also project sounds, smells, or memories. These photos today are examples of such as may be capable of such projections. Textures in photography are so popular there is a large number of companies selling digital textures to add on to your photos as layers.

Tree and hillside textures, OK Falls

Interesting textures on the famous Very First Permanent Photo by N. Niepce. 1826. 8 hr exposure. "View from the window at Le Gras"

Fish in Okanagan River. Looks like Moxostoma robustum ( Redhorse) but who am I to say?

Leaf colors and textures, Athens Creek Lodge

We are saddened today because of the terrible motor vehicle tragedy in Somerset. I thought they had a fog warning system. Time perhaps to wonder why we drive our vehicles using inflammable fuel. The balloonists found out the dangers of using hydrogen, and quickly switched to helium. Why don't we all go out and buy an electric car? I suppose the battery could blow up though!

Counting

Some people like counting. For example, every second five people are born and two die.
One can have fun on the internet with this; google "every second" to see. But mostly they give us figures one can't get one's head around. Like every second the sun puts out enough energy to power the Earth's needs for goodness knows how many million years. Or every second we output seven hundred tonnes of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere.
If the sun is so powerful why aren't we already collecting its energy? It seems we are too busy digging up tar and building pipelines and tankers to notice. And of course it's cheaper to use wire rather than pipes.

Yes I knew you would like to photograph me, I'm so handsome.

Bird-watching, Salmon Arm

Okanagan Lake, November. ( Digital Painting )

Skaha Lake, November

Yesterday they announced  that now there are more electronic devices than people in the USA. Really? Years ago Norway had five cell phones per capita. I think it was due to women's fashions. One had to have a pink one for the pink outfit, a blue one for the blue outfit.....
Try running those on gasoline!

Ancestors

Ancestors by Michael Dennis, photographed Nov 2009.

Sage with Clouds

Mountain Ash

Ornamental Grass Penticton

Michael Dennis lives on Denman Island BC. He is the sculptor that created Penticton Ancestors there; three large cedar figures installed on our waterfront in Spirit Square in September 2009, representing the Spirits of our past, even should I say our bygone Saints. The figures will continue to change as they age, being cedar, going from a gentle brown to an ancient grey color as time passes. All our visitors get photographed beside them!....
Apparently I am not only old, I am not only a forefather or a great-grandpa, but I am also an ancestor, according to the dictionary. Fortunately, I am not a sculpture, yet, like all those other English chaps like Sir Titus Salt for instance. I don't somehow think I ever will be either....thank goodness?

All New

Our old car is now all new. Well, nearly. It has a new battery and some new brakes. The noise on full lock has gone- the worn stoppers have been repaired. We have new oil, filters, and fresh gasoline from the farm-fresh pump down the road. It is all clean and ready to go. Where shall we go then?
Yesterday it was calm and sunny, today we get cloud and wind gusts up to a maximum of 70Km/hr. Should make for good waves on the lake. Not good for cycling though.
Here are some November photos. We could get snow this month. Let's hope not much.
Meanwhile the climate in Greece just goes on heating up. The political climate also.   I expect there will be a new government pretty soon.
 In yesterday's newspaper there was an interesting article about a stolen tractor-trailer. The writer said that the owner stole it, and that there was a single driver on board. What he meant to say was that the owner reported it stolen, and there was only one person inside. It behooves us all to take care with our English, to make sure we always say what we mean, and mean what we say.

November Glow

Good Morning!

Old gate, New gate, Shushwap.

Digital Painting

However,the Englishman never says what he means, and never means what he says, which makes it very difficult for foreigners. Now I have to go to Google Translate, to find out what my dear Polish friend Ira said in Polish on Saturday's blog...

More from Kaleden

Ring-Billed Gulls, Skaha Lake

Looks like cheating to me. These ring-billed gulls usually sit on the water but owing to a freakish mud pattern at the edge of Skaha Lake they each have a mud perch to rest on.

Rock Patterns, KVR Trail, Kaleden.

Fall Colors in Layers, Kaleden

Distant view, God's Mountain

Hanne is getting really good at finding photos for me to take. The rock and the God's Mountain pictures are her suggestions. Sometimes we come to the lake and find swans but it is too early yet.
Well, Halloween is over, once more it is November. Some people had a party in Enderby and decided to try fireworks indoors. The whole house burnt down! Hope fireworks day in UK is uneventful this year, and "mischief night" also went by safely...
I have decided not to send a monthly newsletter any more, the blog will replace it.
Cheers for now!