Back when the album photographs were taken, an annual holiday was not to Spain or Morocco or Florida but to the seaside. For people living in Yorkshire communities such as the ones my ancestors came from that mostly meant going to the Yorkshire coast for a week of maybe two if they were [...]
Lots of snow in the past few days, over two feet deep, and forecast of serious (even for here) cold at the end of the week meant that this morning's exercise session was not going to be a healthy walk or retreating to the basement treadmill. It was on with the boots, coat [...]
Winter in Quebec can be rather cold and tough but it has its compensations given a warm coat and boots. Sitting here this morning as the snow falls and the temperature falls faster we have been warmly enjoying the glorious flowers of three Amaryllis bulbs* while watching the indomitable Dark-eyed Juncos outside [...]
Winnie Minion - A Flapper This young lady was a well-liked cousin of my aunts who were born in 1906 and 1910 respectively … judging by her clothing this photograph was taken in the twenties. Let’s say 1925 and that she was more or less contemporaneous with the aunts making her what, [...]
These two photographs were on facing pages in the Tyke family album but there was no indication of date, location or even if the occasions were linked. Had the chaps taken their ladies for a picnic in the countryside? Was this a works summer outing from a small business ... such events [...]
Over a long lifetime I have gathered (moss and rolling stone etc) odd items from aged relatives. Now I am an aged relative myself, I have looked out a couple of old photograph albums that came to me from relatives in Leeds and which have gathered dust and been unopened for maybe [...]
Just a brief post today ... Alongside this website, for several years I also ran a second site that was just for my "best" photographs. While I was working on my book, "1001 Species: A Natural History of a Small Town" (https://1001species.ca), I let it languish unattended and unloved. The time has come [...]
Thursday morning at this time of the year means we put on the snowshoes and go tramping ... looking for birds along the way, of course. Here are some of the regulars. Especially amused by the Cardinal looking longingly at the squirrel's snack. Rather less amused by the hanging squirrel that somehow [...]
Laughs follow ... Bear with me - I will get to the bear further down the page. For a change, what follows is nothing to do with wildlife, birds or even gardening. This a bit of freelance TV criticism - what should be a pleasant weekend bit of mystery watching is turning out [...]
A big snow dump is forecast for later today and tomorrow so we were out winter birding early ... but the snow arrived ahead of schedule. This is the nearby cat-tail marsh which is always a delight to visit. Just the usual seasonal birds this morning including an unusually large number of White-throated [...]