It's been one strange winter here in the Great White North. The city I live in, I'd have to say we've only had about 20 - 25 inches of snow all winter, at least that's what it seems like to me. Normally we could get that much in a couple of days. I think its safe to say we've had more rainfall than snow. Having a lot of rain and it being so cold, it hasn't been ideal weather to get out and do much photography.

You might remember me writing about falling and hurting my shoulder, I slipped on a muddy trail, not ice. It's been more than two months and the dang thing hasn't healed completely yet. I'm guessing older bones take longer to heal, yeah, I'll go with that.

I had to say goodbye to one of my photography friends, the gentleman from China. He went home in early January. I told him to keep taking pictures, make time for it. Life there for him is so busy, he told me there isn't much time for recreation. I've only heard from him once and he did send some pictures he took. I was able to meet a few other hobby photographers in my area when I was brave enough to get out, and they were also on flickr.com as well so its easier to stay in touch.

Through these guys, I've found out that we have coyotes in our area now and right in the downtown area. My city has grown a lot in the last 10 years with communters from Toronto; they are building in to and around the natural habitats for most of the wildlife. Other towns are becoming closer, there is no place for these wild animals to go except into towns and the cities looking for food.

Also spotted in the area are an American Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawks, owls, mink, beaver, foxes and of course deer. I think I have to get out more now, I just wish I was still able to drive.

In the pictures I have included here you will be able to take a flight or a stroll with the Canada Geese, sail the skies with the urban seagull. There are male and female Mallard ducks, my favourite, the male Hooded Merganser, a female common merganser on the log, a Pintail duck, a male woodpecker, the upside down Nuthatch, a grey Junko, a couple of morning doves, a finch and my all time favourite bird, the male Cardinal.

 

Have you ever heard the phrase, "one hand doesn't know what the other hand is doing"? No, this isn't going to be another masturbation blog. It isn't based on the real meaning of the phrase either, instead, my one hand had to learn how to do what the other hand normally did.

A week ago I had gone out with a friend for breakfast. As I got in the car he asked where my camera was. I am rarely seen without my backpack and cameras but lately, it’s been so wet or cold, for some reason this year I haven't had the same need to be out there. It’s winter here but there hasn't been much snow this year, just a lot of rain and it isn't good to be wet when the weather is this cold.

However, this particular day, it felt almost like spring. The sun came out so when I was dropped off, I got the camera and headed out. Well, I was walking along the river downtown and thought I'd go down this embankment to the edge of the water. Wrong decision. The trail was a little muddy and I didn't have much tread on the shoes I was wearing, I fell. I landed on my right shoulder and I could hear the crunching as I landed. Slowly it got sore and then got unbearable, I couldn't move it much without a lot of pain.

I pulled out my phone and called a family member to come and get me and take me to the hospital. I could sense the feeling of, "what did you do now"? Ummm, this isn't a common thing, I don't have many accidents.

It turned out it wasn't as serious as I had thought, just a slight separation of the collarbone and nothing broken. It sure is taking its time getting better. I have broken the left side collarbone twice and had the rotator cuff repaired before. I am right handed so this has been quite the opposite experience. Most things, I now had to do with my left hand, I won't list them all here but you can probably guess what the list would include. Raising my arm isn't that easy still, so I haven't been doing much typing on the computer, just clicking and reading things. Luckily for me, this isn't a world where you do much writing anymore.

I was explaining to Bob, my editor here on PositiveLite.com, that I may not get anything in to him for a while, I was on the injury list. He just told me to take it easy and send something when I could. He asked if I had taken anything interesting lately so I thought of doing this as a new blog posting, another one with some of my photos. These have been taken during the fall and some were taken in December and January. The one of the concrete carving of the head with a smoke in it, its the most viewed one on my flickr.com page. I put it out on twitter and it really drew attention, The last count I saw was 256 views, Most of my pics only get 20 or 30. It could be because I named the picture "Stoned". Hmmm!

I really want this shoulder to heal:  I want to get out and get back to my hobby.

More of my photos can be found here.