Ouch

Well.... I went in to the clinic on December 30th and got my ankle x-rayed.  As soon as the technician saw the x-ray she immediately sent me to emergency.  It turns out that I have a broken fibula, and it is being displaced by having walked on it for the past two weeks.

Margarit took me to the emergency ward at the Grey Nuns Hospital.  Initially we had to sit there for almost two hours with a room full of sick people, hacking and coughing.  But soon after I was taken in and my injury was partially dealt with.  The doctor put me down under a general anesthetic and reset the bones in my leg.  He was expecting it to be very painful when he gently held my ankle and demonstrated what he was going to do.  At this stage of the game I have discovered that I must have a very strong pain threshold.  I played hockey for almost 45 minutes and then walked around on a broken fibula, including going up and down stairs multiple times, over a period of two weeks.  After re-setting the break a temporary cast was put on my leg and I was sent home. Surprisingly it only took about 4-1/2 hours from the time we arrived at emergency, until I was discharged to go home and stay off my feet.

After the last two weeks I feel as though I could easily walk on my cast leg.  But I am following doctors orders as much as possible and using crutches to bash my way around the house.  I've learned that it is really challenging to carry a hot cup of coffee while on crutches.

It really doesn't hurt much anymore and the worst part is dealing with the itching skin under the cast.  I have to wait for a couple of days to get in for surgery and have the break more permanently repaired.

So, needless to say there will be no New Years Eve celebrations for me tonight, and I will not be playing hockey again for a while.  But it is nice to know that the end is in sight now.

This will be my last post for 2024.  I was hoping to be able to upload an image of the x-ray but they would not provide me with one.  It looked rather hideous, in a painful sort of way.  I'm not really expecting a call from the hospital tomorrow as it will be New Years Day.  But hopefully I can get in and get the surgery over with very soon.  Last night I struggled with what I think we side effects of the anesthetic and I was jittery and sleepless for most of the night.

A Visit to Chipman

This is a scan of a recently processed 4" x 5" sheet of Ilford HP5+.  Just before Christmas, while nursing my sprained ankle, I retreated to the dark room and processed a batch of film.  In hindsight it wasn't such a great idea as it forced me to stand on me feet for about 90 minutes, making my ankle quite sore. In any event, I never claimed to be all that smart.

I shot this one way back on February 2nd of 2024, at about 8:40 in the evening.  Chris and Connie and I were visiting the Chipman Hotel for episode 10.0 of the Beer Parlour Project.  It had been a rather mild day, and a fair bit of snow melted.  By evening heavy fog rolled in and yielded this eerie mood.  I shot this with a really wide 75mm lens on my Ebony view camera.  It was difficult to focus in the dark but I made the best of it.  The short focal length helped and I stopped the lens down to F14 and hoped for the best.  The exposure was 16 seconds.

The town of Chipman should really give some thought to their dink-shaped Christmas decorations...!

Walking Wounded

I last played hockey on December 18th.  That was a morning game with my Vintage league.  About half way through the game, I chased a loose puck into the corner.  I lost my footing and my leg buckled underneath me.  I rolled down over my ankle with my entire body weight, and it bent in a way it's not supposed to.  No on was near me and I did not collide with anything, other than myself and the ice.  That inch or so of frozen water on top of a slab of concrete is not very forgiving.

My ankle was badly sprained, but I hobbled to the bench and tried to walk it off.  I tightened up my skate and then kept playing for another 45 minutes.  After the game I hung around for a holiday luncheon for a couple of hours.

Getting in to see my doctor and get it checked was problematic.  First it was a weekend, and then it was the Christmas break.  I was finally able to reach my doctor and had a telephone appointment yesterday.  My ankle is slowly improving, but my leg remains very bruised and swollen and is getting worse.  My doctors thinks I may have broken my leg, and I am scheduled to go in for X-rays on Monday.  In the meantime he told me to put on one of these walking boots.  When I wear it, and my leg has some support, it feels better.  When I take it off, within an hour or so my leg becomes very raw and painful and starts throbbing.  It seems the doctor's suspicions about being broken are likely correct.

I find this a little surprising as I continued to play on the leg for over half and hour.  Then for the next several days I hobbled around the house, ran some errands, visited my Mom, and went up and down the stairs repeatedly to my darkroom and my computer.

It seems I will not be getting back out on the ice for a while and am going to have to give this some time to properly heal.

Back to the Darkroom

On December 15th I spent a couple of hours in the darkroom and made a bunch of unsharp masks.  This is essentially a sheet of film, with a slightly out of focus positive image.  When it is properly registered with the negative from which it was made, the two are printed together.  I use a pin registration jig which punches some very small holes on the edge of the negative, to insure perfect alignment.  When the two pieces of film are printed together, it gives the illusion of increased sharpness due to the edge effects between light and dark areas.  It is very difficult to explain, and to understand, but it's real.

On December 16th I returned to the darkroom and printed three negatives using those unsharp masks.  The first one is a shot of Bryce Canyon down in Utah, that I photographed back in 2013.  This one will be included at the upcoming InFocus exhibition in early 2025.  The other two were both taken in the same abandoned house, back in the summer of 2023.  There is a pair of pants hanging on the wall, and a bunch of neckties, strewn on an old bed.  I am considering one or the other or perhaps both of these for the Apparitions project.  

Below are some phone snapshots of the three prints, sitting in a tray of fixer.  They still need a second fixing bath, hypo clearing agent, selenium toner, and final wash.  I will have to get after this right away and finish these prints.

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone all the best for Christmas and in 2025.  Thanks to those that continue to revisit my blog.  Looking forward to even more fun stuff next year...!

The Beer Parlour Project - Eckville Hotel - BP 17.0

Here is one more negative from that batch of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 that I processed on December 5th.  This sheet was rated at 320iso and given Normal development.  That was 9:35 minutes at 20C on my Jobo Processor.  

This is the Eckville Hotel, and I took this shot just after an evening thunderstorm had rolled through, on August 19th.  I was there with Chris and Connie, visiting for the Beer Parlour Project.  This was outing number BP17.0.

Briquette Press

This is the last image.... for now... from the Nordegg Historic Site.  During the various tours that I took part in last fall, I shot quite a bit of film.  I haven't processed much of it yet, so there will undoubtedly be some images shared in the future.

This was from a batch of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 that I processed on December 5th.  The film was rated at 320 iso and given Normal Development in PMK Developer, on my Jobo CPP-3 Processor.

This is one of the briquette presses at the mine site.  Pulverized coal was treated with steam and mixed with a binding agent and then pressed by this machine into briquettes.  They were very similar in appearance to the Charcoal briquettes that are used on BBQ's.  But these were coal, not charcoal, and were mostly used for home heating.

I shot this on September 30th at about 2:00 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a wide 75mm lens.  The exposure was for 8 seconds at F16.0.

Upper Bins - Company Store

This is yet another photo from my recent tour of the Nordegg Mine Site.  These parts bins are located in the Company Store, the oldest building on the site.  I tried this lower angel shot, facing upwards, to try and eliminate some of the glare and highlights that were coming from the windows.

I shot this on Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 film, rated at 400 iso.  I processed on Decembe 5 with my new Jobo CPP-3 processor in PMK Developer, for 16:40 minutes at 20 C.  This was Plus development, intended to boost contrast by one stop.

The photograph was taken on August 26th at about 3:00 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a Nikkor 210mm lens.  The exposure was for 8 seconds at F20.0.

Pegs

This simple image kind of intrigued me when I stumbled upon it.  I only shot one sheet of film of this composition, and fortunately it was not lost in a recent darkroom mishap.  I mixed my developer incorrectly while running a batch of Tri-X Pan 320 in PMK and lost ten images.  I had shot doubles of them all, with the exception of this one.  But it did survive, and ended up getting processed in the next batch, on December 5th.

This is the wall of the blacksmith shop at the Nordegg mine site.  I was on a private guided tour of the site on August 20th last summer when I photographed this.  The wall panelling here is sheet metal, as it was in close proximity to the forge.  Whatever hung on that nail must have been there for many years, to wear that swirled pattern into the steel.  Perhaps it was the wind blowing in through the open windows, or maybe earlier, is was the blowers of the forge.  In any event, it is now a mystery, as only the marks remain.

This was 4" x 5" sheet film, rated at 400 iso and given plus development in PMK.  The shot was taken with my Ebony view camera and a 125mm lens.  The exposure was F41.0 and a shutter speed of 30 seconds.

Tuckered

On December 9th we took Hank out for a walk at Nordegg.  Our friends Shelley and Eric joined us.  We were actually out for a couple of hours on a nice winter day.  The sun was shining for most of the afternoon, and the temperature peaked at about -1C.  Hank ran is stumpy little legs off and had a lot of fun out in the snow.  Afterwards we came back to the cottage for a coffee and visited for a bit longer.  Hank curled up in front of the fireplace and was pretty beat.  His stumpy little legs probably have to take ten steps to equal one of ours.  Plus he never runs in a straight line and always goes all over the place, exploring new sights, sounds and smells.  I checked my phone after the walk and we did a little over 3000 steps.  So Hank must have done at least 30,000...!!

Miners Shower

This is the soap tray in the Miner's shower at the Nordegg mine site.  The shower itself, and the adjacent locker rooms, are considerably larger than the small separate shower that was allocated for management.

This one was part of the recent batch of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320, rated at 400iso and given N+1 Development in PMK.  I shot this on one of my arranged tours to the Nordegg Historic site.  I used my Ebony view camera and a 125mm lens.  The lens had to be stopped right down to F64.0 to attempt to hold some semblance of sharpness in the background bucket and pipe.  This resulted in a long exposure, even with relatively fast 400 speed film.  The exposure was 1:40 minutes.

Manager's Shower

Back to some images from the Nordegg Historic Site.  These were taken during my guided tour this past fall.  This one is from the batch of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 given Normal development in PMK.  Development was on December 5th on my new Jobo CPP3 processor.  Normal development requires a process time of 9:35 minutes at 20C.

This is the managers shower in the wash house.  Management had a separate shower facility and did not have to mix with the lowly coal miners.  I shot this image on September 9th at about 3:00 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a wide 90mm lens.  The exposure was F36.0 and a shutter speed of 16 seconds.

Game Camera Photos

When I pulled the memory card from my game camera and found that "Alien" shot, I also had these.  Nothing really spectacular or unusual, but it's always cool to see what has been wandering around.  It was kind of cool to see the deer interacting with our resident fox in a couple of these.  These were all captured between early November, and December 2nd.

In recent months I seemed to only be getting images of animals at night.  This time around, despite the shorter days, I've started getting some images during daylight hours.  I think it is just because it is so much quieter out in the subdivision at this time of year, and there aren't nearly as many people around.

I believe that the clock in the camera is still displaying daylight savings time, so it is an hour out.  But the date, and temperature readings are accurate.  Next time I pull the card I'll have to reset the clock.

Elbows and Nipples

Here's another scan from my tour of the Nordegg Mine Site.  In actual fact I was allowed to tour the site on more than one occasion, in the fall of 2024.  Like my previous post, this one is also a sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 and is part of the batch that I rated at 400iso and gave plus development.  I ran this batch in PMK developer, on my Jobo Processor, for 16:40 minutes at 20C, back on December 5th.

This is a detail shot of some of the parts bins in the company store.  I shot this on August 26th at about 2:00 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a Fujinon 125mm lens.  The exposure was F16.0 and a shutter speed of 16 seconds.  It is quite dark in these old buildings, so even with faster film, the shutter speeds become quite long.

Wash House Valves

Earlier this fall I went on a private tour of the Brazeau Collieries Historic Site in Nordegg.  I'm just now getting around to processing some of the film from that outing.  This most recent batch was Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 developed in PMK, on December 5th.  This was a mix of Normal and Plus development [two separate tanks] on my Jobo Processor.

This particular image is some valves in the wash house.  Here the coal was washed before it continued down the line to the briquette plant.  I shot this on August 20th at about 3:30 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a Fujinon 125mm lens.  This is one of the negatives that received N+1 Development to boost the contrast.

Digital Photography

I have never been much of a digital photographer, despite the fact that I have a pretty decent camera, and a selection of lenses.  I much prefer shooting with film, and that is where I focus my efforts.  Most of the digital shots that I have taken in the past couple of years, and posted here on my blog, were taken with my phone.  In recent months I have made an effort to try to shoot a little more with my digital SLR.  The image quality is so much better than the phone, and I have some decent longer lenses that work better for wildlife.  So these past few days out at Nordegg, I actually shot a little.

Its been obvious over the years that the deer come around to my bird feeders.  I thought they had been eating spilled bird seed, and that was true.  But I watched a buck outside my window and realized that he was the one responsible for spilling the seeds.  He would bang the bird feeder with his snout and get the seeds to spill to the ground, and then he ate them.  

The deer are really hanging around a lot at this time of year.  Partly its that hunting season is just coming to an end.  I think the deer have figured out that it is safe to hang around in the subdivision, where hunting is not allowed.  At one point I had a buck walk up to within about ten feet of me.  I just kept talking to him, and he was a little skittish, but remained relatively calm.  Sadly I didn't have the phone or the digital camera with me at that point,

On December 2nd I took a drive up to Abraham Lake.  I thought that with the recent cold weather that the lake might be starting to freeze around the edges.  That was not the case, and the lake was still completely open.  I had my view camera along with me for the ride, but it was just a little too windy to bother attempting to set it up.  Maybe next time.

Alien

I headed out to Nordegg on November 28th.  Margarit was initially going to join me, but then we had the potato incident with Hank.  She wanted to stay home and keep and eye on him so that he didn't rip open the stitches in his belly.  Margarit's sister Natalia had a bad experience with one of her dogs once, in a similar situation.  

It was pretty cold when I first arrived.... with daytime highs around -17 and night time lows around -22.  The humidity was high at around 90% and there was a brisk breeze out of the east.  It wasn't really pleasant to be outside, so mostly I just relaxed and stayed in the cottage.  Towards the end of my stay it warmed up quite a bit.  There is only 2 or 3 inches of snow out in Nordegg... less than half the amount we had in Edmonton.

At one point I pulled the memory card out of my game camera.  It seems to be working better than the old one that I finally had to retire.  The focal length of the lens is shorter so it gives more of a wide angle view than the previous one.  If the subject is not particularly close to the camera, then they are pretty small in the frame.

I have no idea what this shot is, and my first thought was that our property is haunted.... or maybe we've had alien visitors...?  Unless some white bird flew by in a blur there is no other explanation for this.....??

Writing's on the Wall

This is the last negative from the recently processed batch of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 sheet film.  This batch of 4" x 5" was rated at 400iso and given plus development in PMK.  The batch was run on my Jobo Processor and given 16:40 minutes of development at 20C.

Margarit and I found this old house in the Rural Municipality of Reno No. 51, during our recent visit to southern Saskatchewan.  The house was full of stuff, and I'm not sure if someone just left or passed away, or perhaps it is being used to store junk.  The refrigerator and freezer were still full of rotten food.  Whoever lived there last had a habit of just scribbling stuff on the walls.  I'm not sure how clearly visible it is in this photograph, but it was intriguing.  There were phone numbers, reminders, shopping lists... the sort of stuff one would normally post on a bulletin board or notepad.

I shot this on September 16th at about 2:30 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a wide 90mm lens.

First Watercolor - Completed

This is not my first watercolor ever.... rather it is the first one in a long time.  It is also the first one of a subject from the Beer Parlour Project.  This is the side entrance to the Victoria Hotel in Bruderheim.  We visited it twice, in late 2023 and early 2024, for outings that we refer to as BP 9.0 and BP 9.1.

I took a little artistic license and colored the grass green.  In actual fact at the time of year that we visited, it was dead and brown.  Other than that, this painting is fairly realistic.

Over the next couple of years I intent to attempt a bunch more similar paintings of BP Project subjects.  Maybe if we do a gallery show at some point, a few of these can be included.  I've already started roughing out the next one, which will be of the Elk River Inn, from BP 3.0, in Hosmer.

Shifted Right

This is another negative from the recently processed batch of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320, developed in PMK.  Like my previous post this one was rated at 400iso and given plus development for 16:40 at 20C on my Jobo CPP3.  And also like the previous post, this one was from the September trip to Saskatchewan with Margarit.

We found this old church in a ghost town in the Rural Municipality of Coulee No. 136.  I was intrigued by the way that the porch had shifted, collapsed and pulled away from the main building.

I shot this on September 19th at about 4:30 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a Fujinon 125mm lens.  A #8 yellow filter lowered the value of the sky a little, and created some separation in the weathered wood.

Wood Head

Back to a few recently developed negatives from the Saskatchewan trip in September.  This is another of the Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 negatives, exposed at 400 iso and given N+1 development in PMK.  This batch was run on my Jobo CPP3 processor for 16:40 minutes at 20C.

This is a very well known abandoned house in the Rural Municipality of Arlington No. 79, in southwestern Saskatchewan.  I'm not sure what's up with this carved wooden figure.  I suspect that some local photographers left it here after shooting the house at Halloween.  It is locally well known as "The Witches House" and is regularly seen in online postings.  When Chris and I visited in June, the Wood Head was there.  When Margarit and I returned in September, it was still there.

I took this shot on September 16th at about 6:15 in the evening.  I used my Ebony view camera and a long Fujinon 250mm lens.  A #25 Red filter increased contrast in the foreground wood, and helped to drop the background off to a deeper black.

Vintage Hockey

I heard about a "Vintage" hockey league in Edmonton and decided to check it out.  It has become very challenging for me to keep up with the play in the Alberta Men's Hockey League.  That league is for players 18 and older.  It's mostly men, as the name suggests, but there are some women on teams in the lower divisions, including my Renegades.  I think I am one of the oldest players in the league.  I'm certainly among the slowest and least skilled.  My days of playing at this level are numbered.  I will continue to run the Renegades and play with the team as long as the guys will have me.  But realistically, that won't be too much longer.

The vintage league plays out of the Kinsmen Twin Arena which is only about ten minutes from my house.  They only play on weekday mornings, when the ice is inexpensive and available, so it is not a conflict with my Renegades team.

Players have to be at least 55 to play in this league.  There are no slap shots, no body contact, and no referees.  It is pretty much just an organized game of shinny.  I checked in with the league and they have over 400 players, playing at three different levels.  I was invited to come for a try out on November 21st.  I had a great skate with a bunch of guys that play in the second of three levels.  I went from playing in a league where I am the oldest and slowest player, to one where I am among the youngest and fastest.  It was a nice change.  Most of the guys are in their late 60's and early 70's, but there are a handful still playing that are in their 80's.

I was able to sign on with a group of guys for the rest of the season.  I will now play every Wednesday morning at 8:45.  They even have a private lounge area at the rink where they can hang around after the game and have $3 morning beers.  Next year, if I want to, I can sign up to play more than once a week.

So for the foreseeable future I will be playing a lot of hockey.  Once a week with the Vintage guys, and on average once a week with the Renegades.  On top of that there is also outside hockey at Nordegg, twice a week, whenever I am out there.

The ice in Nordegg is just about ready, though they haven't started playing yet.  I gave the guys a hand for a couple of mornings and helped them do the last couple of floods in advance of the games getting underway.  Hopefully next time I'm out to the cottage I can start playing there as well.  It seems like a lot of hockey, but there are certainly worse things that an old guy can do other than get exercise and stay healthy...!

December Image - David Thompson Country Calendar 2024

This is the image that I selected for the December page of my 2024 David Thompson Country Calendar.  These were for sale through the year at the Beehive Artisan Market in Nordegg.  I was surprised that the calendars continued to sell, even late in the year.  When I asked Celina, the owner of the Beehive, about it, she said that some locals had been purchasing them to frame the prints.  Obviously I'd prefer that they purchased my silver gelatin prints, but what the heck.

This shot was taken down near Shunda Creek, not far from Beaverdam Lake.  It's a simple image but I liked the pattern of twigs, shadows and snow pockets.  Its not always the grand landscape that catches my eye.

I recently had the 2025 version of my calendar printed and they have been available at the Beehive since early November.  Through the course of the upcoming year I will share the images from that calendar here on my blog, on a monthly basis.

Tipi Rings

The subject is obvious to anyone that knows anything about first nations people, particularly the nomadic tribes of the plains.  A tipi ring is a circle of stones left behind after a camp moved on.  The stones held down the edges of the cone-shaped tent.  To heavy to carry along, the stones were usually left behind, and new ones located at the next camping spot.  These rings dot the southern prairies of Canada and are relatively easy to find, if you know where to look.

To a city dweller, not familiar with the prairies or the first nations people, this may not be obvious at all.

I found this one in Grasslands National Park.  It was not marked, and there was no trail leading to it, or any interpretive signs.  Margarit and I were simply wandering along the edge of a coulee and came upon several rings.  The foreground one in this photograph was the most distinct, but there were several more adjacent to it, and a little further along the coulee rim.

I shot this image on Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 4" x 5" sheet film.  I rated the film at 400 iso and gave N+1 development in PMK to bring up the contrast a little.  I think this worked as the stones seem to have good separation from the grass.  Development was on my Jobo Processor for 16:40 minutes at 20 C.

I shot this on September 17th at about 2:00 in the afternoon with my Ebony view camera and a Fujinon 125mm lens.  A #25 Red Filter added further contrast, beyond what the plus development afforded.

A Return to Watercolor Painting

I finally made time to get back to some watercolor painting.  I headed out to Nordegg on Thursday the 28th.  Originally Margarit was going to join me, but the situation with Hank [see previous blog post] necessitated her staying home.  So I came out to the cottage on yet another solo trip.  This time around I didn't have any serious plans, other than to relax and unwind a bit, after a very busy couple months.

It has probably been close to two years since I have done anything serious in the way of watercolor painting.  Based on my past experiences I seem to be best at, and most enjoy, painting old buildings.  But, mine are not straight watercolors.  I use the paint to impart a color scheme on the paper, taking a little artistic license, and then fill in the details with both graphite [pencil] and ink.  With that in mind, I thought it might be cool to attempt to paint some scenes of old hotels from my Beer Parlour Project outings.  

The first one that I attempted is a shot of the side entrance of the Victoria Hotel in Bruderheim.  This dates back to Beer Parlour Project outings BP 9.0 and BP 9.1 in late 2023 and early 2024.  I was basing this painting on an image that I took with my big view camera, and working from a computer printed version.  Below are some snapshots of the painting as I worked on it.  At this point I have not yet begun to add any detailing with graphite or ink.  My thought is that someday, when we go to do an exhibition of images from the Beer Parlour Project that perhaps I can include a couple of these paintings.  I'm hopeful that over the upcoming winter months I can tackle a few more. It remains to be seen how any of this works out.....

Cellar

This is the last of my recently processed film from the Monochrome Guild Fall Trip to Drumheller.  I actually shot this one after the other guys had already left and headed back home to Edmonton.  This was a sheet of Kodak Tri-X Pan 320 film, rated at 400 iso and given N+1 Development in PMK.  Development was on my new Jobo Processor for 16:40 minutes at 20.

I exposed this sheet on October 18th at about 1:30 in the afternoon.  I used my Ebony view camera and a wide Rodenstock 90mm lens, with no filter.  The exposure was F25 and a shutter speed of 1/30 second.

There are several of these old cellars in the former mining town of Cambria.  There is still a little junk left inside some of them, and it appears that the locals were once using them for storage.  I really have no idea as to their origins.  Were they originally constructed as storage units, or did they have something to do with the coal mine...?  The mine site was just a short distance away.....

Potato Hank

A few days back Margarit was cooking dinner.  She made a dish with chicken, potatoes and vegetables in a cream sauce.  While preparing dinner she dropped a bag of baby potatoes on the floor.  She thought she had picked them all up, but it turned out later, that she had not.

The whole family had dinner and everything was fine.  There was even a little left over to share with Hank.  The next day, Hank was quite sick, and was continually throwing up.  We knew it was nothing to do with the food, as everyone else was fine. 

On the second day, Hank was still throwing up everything that he ate... even water.  Margarit was very concerned and took him to the vet.  Good thing she did....!!

The vet took a stomach X-Ray.  Initially they found a lump in his stomach, and thought that it might be cancer.  But then they did a second X-Ray, with barium, and discovered that it was a foreign object in his stomach.  He was booked in for immediate emergency surgery.  It turns out that he swallowed one of the raw baby potatoes that Margarit had dropped on the floor.

So, after a large vet bill, Hank is fine.  He just needs some time to recover.  In the short term, this cancelled Margarit's plans to join me out in Nordegg.  But other than making sure that Hank doesn't get too active and rip open his incision, he will be fine.

December Calendar Image 2024

Here we are at the beginning of December.  The year is already over 90% behind us, and we have the busy holiday season coming up.  In recent weeks I put together my calendars for the upcoming 2025 year.  The David Thompson Country one was done first, so that I could have it available at the Beehive Artisan Market for the Christmas season.  My personal calendar that I share with family and friends took the back seat.  I'm out at the cottage right now, but understand that the hard copies were just delivered to the house yesterday.  So I will begin the process of distributing these in the next couple of weeks.  With Canada Post on strike at the moment, some of the long distance ones might have to wait a little while.  I spend over four hundred dollars per year just printing those calendars that I hand out for free... so I don't have much of a budget left for distribution, and mostly try to deliver them in person.

Back to the moment....  This is the last image from my 2024 calendar.  I'm always lacking some winter images, as I just don't get out as much with my big camera in the winter months, as compared to the summer and fall.  So some of my interior shots end up getting used for the winter pages, and this past year was no exception.  I was out exploring with Arturo and we found these old chairs and this table, along with these playing cards, in an abandoned community hall.  This was the perfect image to use as it really has no indication as to the time of year.  I hope everyone that got one, enjoyed my 2024 calendar.  I will try to get the 2025 version distributed as soon as I can.