Winston Was Right

Winston Churchill, that is:

"The best thing for the inside of (a) man, is the outside of a horse!"

Its been a long week. I took my camera along this afternoon, when I took the garbage and recycling up to the dump, simply because one can often get good Bald Eagle and other larger raptor shots up there. Not today.

On the way home, though, I decided to take a mosey down a side road to see what I could see. Happily, I came across this friendly and talkative steed who came trotting across to say "Hi!" almost as soon as I pulled over.

Just that short drive, maybe 20 minutes, off my route, and 5 minutes spent taking photos of one of my favourite subjects, and I could feel the tension leaving my shoulders, and my eyebrows relaxing!

See larger versions on my website here.

HAPPY CANADA DAY to my Canadian family and friends!

New Prop & Kitten Toes!

Love this new prop for the tiniest kittens in ICAN's care!

It is just the cutest when those little toes are pressed up against the glass!

(Not to worry, free hands always nearby should anyone leap for freedom!)

More from this shoot here.

Kootenay Krusher 2013

Saturday was just the second time that I'd managed to get to the Kootenay Krusher, an endurance mountain bike race at the incredible Nipika Mountain Resort, to take photos of the action.

I had a great morning, alone in the woods, enjoying the fresh air, the quiet, the view, taking photos - and no bugs!

The View From Natural Bridge at Nipika

I was directed by one of the organizers to the Natural Bridge area. It was was great because I could take photos of both the oncoming riders, and catch them "in the scene", too!

Looking Down On The Natural Bridge

The only thing that I'd change about the day, would be that the lovely location wasn't at the top of a tough uphill section of the course! I'm sure more than a couple of the riders wanted to curse me as they broke over the top, only to see someone with a camera pointed at them, while they were still struggling to breathe, all red-faced, and battling to shift!

Just A Few Managed A Smile & A Wave

Next time, I'll try to find a technical downhill section to shoot at, guys!

To put the cherry on the top of my day, I saw a black bear with two adolescent cubs, one black, one cinnamon, on my way through Kootenay National Park! Made me realize how much I miss the front-country bears that we had around our Sea To Sky homes - not something that we experience here in the Columbia Valley.

To view the whole collection of photos from the Kootenay Krusher, go here, and to see more photos of the bear, go here. (Sorry, no photos of the cubs - they were too busy, heads-down, grazing on a sumptuous spread of delicious dandelions!)

Invermere Pet Adoption Drive

Today, ICAN (Invermere Companion Animal Network) is holding its Kitties on Parade adoption drive!

They have about 25 cats at the shelter at the moment, and hope to find loving homes for most of them today, between 10am and 3pm, at the shelter on Panorama Drive in Athalmer which is located between the industrial park and the railway tracks.

The adoption fee has been reduced to $40 for today only, for cats 10 months of age or older. (There are 9 young kittens available - their adoption fee remains at the regular $100).

More photos of these kittens and cats are available on my website.

Two-fer

We have a large dead evergreen (bit of a contradiction in terms, what?!) in our yard. We've noticed that it has become a fairly regular resting point for our summer visitors, the Ospreys.

A feathered friend was up there today, hanging on for dear life in the face of blustery winds heralding an incoming storm cell.

It wasn't until I went for the camera that I realized why he wasn't taking off ... he had not one, but two fish in his talons ... and was having trouble figuring out how to proceed without losing one or both of them!

The light was great today - bright-ish sunlight from the side, with dark clouds in the background - allowing me to get the shutter speed high so that these heavily cropped images (200mm on 7D) appear fairly sharp!