Bit of this, bit of that... July 9th, 2018

After a short flurry of a few new pics, my cameras are gathering dust again. This is a mix from a few weeks back. 

Some of you have seen this one. It was taken on an outing I went on with a camera club a few weeks ago. Actually I'd love to drive a tractor again and take you with me in the wagon. :) 

I have more than a few hours on tractors. One summer I tilled fields in southern Saskatchewan. A huge 5am breakfast before I started, and tilling until dark. Lunch was delivered to me in the tractor. Loved it.

This was on the same outing. This is what I call a "photographer's shot". I take very few of them any more. This and the next one are two of the only ones of this type I've shot in months.

I'm much more into people, or shots that show emotion or some feeling these days.

They just don't grab me the way they used to.

As a supporter of Second Marsh in Oshawa, and a nature lover at heart, I attended an event lakeside... Lake Ontario.

The hit of the event was this display of live animals. No one asked... I think we all just assumed that the skunk was 'de-skunked'.

Kit fox. Any baby animal seems to put 'cuteness' off the scale. I think it's so important to expose young ones to young animals. 

The chance of any of us seeing them in the wild is minimal. So I hope you'd take your young ones to events such as this. I think it's important to a child's development. I'm 'soap boxing' but it's one of my passions that children should be exposed to nature as much as possible.

There was an indoor portion at the event. The kids loved it. Adults did too though.

It gave us all the chance to see a Turkey Vulture up close and personal. They're common in our area now. Referred to as TV's by birders, they catch the thermals and float effortlessly as they drift in circles above us, wings upward in a 'V' shape. 

Try to spot them in the sky and point them out to the kids... soap-boxing again, but no apologies.

I took a break from the event and wandered a bit. This is 'snake spit' on wild plants. Actually it's spittle bug bubbles. The larvae is inside the bubbles. As a kid in Saskatchewan, we always called it snake spit. 

Not everyone is into nature... sad, but true, to my way of thinking. But maybe you've noticed that the press is stressing more & more lately how important it is that we should spend time in nature. Nature truly restores the soul for me, and millions of others I hope.

Our way of life doesn't encourage it. With fears of ticks, bears, and whatever else, I do understand. But I think it goes deeper than that. I think that too many people could care less about nature. They're too rapped up in the business of life today. Too many options. Too many choices. 

We're all too busy. But keep in mind, our kids learn what they experience. I think life offers too many options now. Just look at any shelf in a grocery store.

Kids can't become interested in things that they haven't been exposed to. Expose them. Find out what 'grabs' them.

I'm a soap-boxer at times as I've said. No apologies. Think of the kids in your life.

Bob
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