Winter Hockey - Game 17

The Renegades played our last game of 2011 on Thursday night.  We faced off against the first place Red Seals at Clareview Arena.  These guys started the season in Division 10, and lost their first six games.  They were then moved down to Division 11, where they have gone undefeated, winning 11 games in a row.  The league is now moving them back up into Division 10, following game 18.  We handed them their 11th straight victory, losing handily by a score of 9-2.  The referee was a little whistle happy and called a minor penalty every time two players even bumped together.  We ended up with 13 minor penalties, including my two for slashing and for tripping.  So, with the move up a division for these guys, and our two game losing streak, we find ourselves down in third place of the ten teams in Division XI.  Hopefully we can enter 2012 with a win and carry a streak into the playoffs.

December Day Trip

On December 28th Margarit and I went out together on a day trip.  We used to do this a lot before the girls came along, but it has been a long time since we did not have a back seat full of distraction.  This time our niece Amelia came over for the day to babysit, and the two of us were able to spend an enjoyable, relaxing day together.  We left town and headed east, passing through Elk Island National Park and on up into Lamont County.  We aimlessly drove around stopping here and there to check out a few old buildings and abandoned yards.  

Up near the North Saskatchewan River valley we found an old yard with several interesting buildings.  We wandered about in the yard and it was quite pleasant for a winter day.  The sun was out, and the temperature up around -5C.  When we got in the open, there was a rather brisk east wind that made things a little more difficult.  We explored the yard and found a really cool old car beside one of the buildings.  I dug out my big view camera and took a few shots of it before we headed off again.

We found the day winding down much sooner than we wanted it to, and headed in the general direction of home.  We stopped and admired the side light on a field of corn stubble.  Then we found some lawn chairs rather comically set up in front of an abandoned community hall.  We eventually passed back through Elk Island National Park on our way back into the city.  For the second time this month, but only the third time ever, we actually saw a herd of elk in their namesake park.  But, we found it rather unusual that there was no other sign of life and the usually common herds of bison were oddly absent.

After that last stop to see the elk, we blasted back home to relieve Amelia of her duties and return to the chaotic world of three demanding little girls.  But, it was a nice break while it lasted.

Christmas 2011

In our German family tradition, we had Christmas dinner with my family on Christmas Eve.  We went out to my parents home, and my brothers were there as well, with their wives and kids.  We had Christmas dinner together and then the kids all opened gifts.  We do a Christmas gift exchange amongst all the cousins, with names drawn for gift giving.  The adults take part in a "white elephant' gag gift exchange.  We managed to pawn off a candle holder and one of my many old cameras.  In exchange, Margarit received a German beer stein, and I got cool chicken clock.

We finally got our kids home to bed by around 11:00PM.  We knew they would be really grumpy the next day as it was certain they would be getting up early to see what Santa had left under our tree.  When everyone got downstairs into our rumpus room in the morning the girls were all squeals and giggles over the big pile of gifts.  We made them wait while we lit the candles on our Christmas tree.

After admiring the candles for a few minutes, we put out all the flames and made sure there was no risk of a tree fire.  Then we let the girls tear into their gifts.  They did not disappoint us and for about half an hour there was a real flurry of activity.  I call this one... afternmath.

Pre-Christmas Day Trip

On December 23rd, the shopping was all done, my shop was closed, the weather was mild, and I had a chance to get out for a solo day trip.  For several years now I have been working on a photo essay about an old abandoned farm.  A good sized new home was under construction in this yard, right beside the old farm house.  Then, in the early 1990's the husband of the family passed away.  The yard was abandoned and the big new house left unfinished.  Twenty years later the place remains abandoned and is slowly falling apart.  I decided to return on this day and photograph the unfinished house again.  I had shot here many times before, but never in winter, or with a skiff of snow on the ground.

After shooting here for a while I looped around through Andrew, and eventually in the direction of home.  There is an old stone building in Andrew that I have always wanted to photograph.  The low, clear light was just right so I thought I would give it a try.  A met an gentleman named Cecil who informed me that the railway had come through town in 1928, and this building was obviously constructed a year later.

Holiday Greetings

Thanks to everyone that takes the time to read my blog.  I hope you have found my stories, adventures and images interesting.  I will continue into 2012 with more of the same.  All the best to everyone and best wishes for the holiday season.  As I watched three little girls tear into a pile of gifts... both on Christmas Eve at my parent's place, and on Christmas Morning here at home, it caused me to reflect and take stock of what is really important...  

Family and Friends...   Good Health...   and Time.

Hopefully everybody gets a good dose of all three this holiday season and into next year....!!

Merry Christmas.

Mixed Bag

I processed a mixed bag of 4x5 sheet film last night.  This included some Ilford FP4+ and some Ilford Delta 100, a mixture of Normal and N+1 development, in Kodak HC-110 Developer.  Some of these images date back to the beginning of 2009, while others were just from a couple months ago.  A couple of interesting shots in this batch that I might take a stab at printing one of these days...

Winter Hockey - Game 16

The Renegades played a game against the Klondike Maulers on Saturday night.  This was a difficult game for me to organize as so many of our guys were busy right before Christmas.  We ended up with six full time players that could not make it.  We had enough skaters, but most of them were defense and several of those ended up playing forward.  Our goalie could not make it, and a couple days before the game our backup bailed out as well.  We scrambled and eventually found another back up.  He was an exceptional goaltender and played a really solid game to keep us in it.  Despite being outshot, we had the game tied 1-1 into the third period.  They got a third period goal to go ahead, and we just couldn't seem to get the bounces to tie it up.  We pulled our goalie with about a minute left and put on a strong push to try and tie the game.  But the Maulers scored an empty net goal for a 3-1 victory.  Now we get a bit of a break over Christmas and play Game 17 just before the end of the year.

Short Drive...

I took a short drive out to Elk Island National Park this afternoon.  Originally I intended to get up and out much earlier, but it was the "crack of noon" before I got my act together.  It was a rather dull and gloomy day due to the heavy overcast skies.  It was not pleasant, but still relatively mild considering the time of year.  The day time high temperature, out in the park, peaked at around -6C and fortunately the winds were very light.  There was a very strange mood to the sullen skies and even the wildlife seemed to have given up on the day.  The air was still, the sullen skies heavy, and not a hint of life around save for a few birds.  I took a few shots of some windfalls beside one of the lakes in the north part of the park with my 4x5.  This area is too wet to access most of the year and it is only the solidifying effect of the colder temperatures that make it possible.  By 3:30PM the light was getting even duller and I gave up on further exploration, and chose to head for home.  On my way out of the park I noticed two of the namesake ungulates of the park.  Although it is very common to see bison, moose, deer and coyotes, I didn't see any today.  But I did observe two very skittish elk, only the second time I have seen them in my many trips to the park.

Winter Hockey - Game 15

The battle for second place!  The Renegades played a rare afternoon game on Saturday, at 5:00PM.  We faced off against Papa Johns Pizza.  We were tied for second place in the division with these guys after 14 games.  They had fewer penalty minutes so were technically in second place.  These guys are a very young team of mostly Asian guys that really pass the puck well.  But, we went into the game with a plan; to not run around and chase the puck, defend against their speed and puck movement, and take our offensive chances when we got them.  We shut them down well in the first period and went ahead by two goals.  Then we had a bit of defensive lapse and gave them two goals back.  But after that we stuck to our game plan and shut them down.  We scored six unanswered goals before they finally got a late one.  The game ended as an 8-3 Renegades victory.  Word is that the league is considering moving the first place team up one division.  If that happens, we will be in first place.  For now we are satisfied with capturing second place.

New Negatives

Earlier this week I processed another batch of film.  This time around it was Fuji Neopan Acros in 4" x 5" format.  This is one of the three films that I have settled on for most of my future shooting.  I was not disappointed by the results this time around.  Most of this batch of 20 sheets were taken in 2009, with a couple in 2010, and a handful on the recent fall photo weekend in Jasper. Included is yet another image from my playground ghosts series.  The film is now washed and dried and I've scanned a few of my favourites.

Winter Hockey - Game 14

The Renegades played a rare morning game on Sunday, facing off against the Icebreakers at KofC Arena.  These guys had a strong team last season and we faced them in the finals last year when we won the championship.  Despite having many of the same guys on their roster they are just not the same team this year and are currently in last place.  We jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, winning the game by a score of 10-3.  This puts us in a tie for second place in our division as we approach the halfway point of the season.