Winter Scenes 2024-2025

Well, at least we didn't get a blizzard this time around! Still a good amount of snow to stomp around in, and of course, WE were out in the cold and snow/ice. We have electric gloves and socks, but the socks get too hot being inside a shoe, and the gloves are warm, but the glove fingers are too thick, plus the finger areas are NOT warmed, and that's where it needs to have the wires. 

During the two arctic blasts, of course we ventured out for that too! Swans were plentiful this year, as they are each year, but often need to drive to see them - we don't fly - BUT this time we lucked out, and they were quite close - so close WE could walk to see, which is always a pleasure!                                          

It's cloudy out there

Snowy Niagara Falls State Park

A Winter sunset

The Beauty of the Aurora in Western New York!

I would have rather loved to seeing the northern lights in Spain but we haven't been there since 2018! I probably have a huge hill of old mail and dust awaiting my return to my apartment! 

I'm currently waiting for a 24-240mm Sony lens and it would have been very well-used last night. Instead I took my only wide full-frame 20-70 lens and that was luckily adequate for the whole show. I would have been happier with a lens just a hair wider, and thought of taking the very sharp and lightweight Sony fisheye adapter though that would not fit onto the lens I took!

Looking across Lake Ontario to Toronto at left

         

All the people amazed with the celestial event!

                          

The structures of Old Fort Niagara under the aurora

I even turned my camera to the south, snapping this image of the aurora over the bright Moon!

On the way home, we stopped at the Youngstown NY yacht club waterfront. 

Below and above images created while at the Youngstown NY yacht club waterfront

Again it was still easy to see the aurora, again with streetlights glaring and eyes again totally unadjusted to the darkness....  or rather, the brightness of the aurora! 

After the fact and looking at the Space Weather webpage hours later, again, I think it was so awesome that unknowingly, we had arrived at our selected viewing area of Fort Niagara during its peak levels; it apparently was almost a KP9, which is the highest it can get!! When we arrived at the fort, even with UNadjusted eyes to the darkness, I could see the lights faintly, through my three times operated-on eyes!!

Over the years the wife and I have discussed going somewhere where we could be guaranteed easy viewing of the aurora borealis... Iceland which is fairly "close" to us, and northern Norway, where even my brother has been now to view the dazzling colorful displays! 

Have you seen the northern lights yet?

Who can resist the Beauty of Trees?

There's a lot of gorgeous Trees in western New York....  heck, I've seen a lot of gorgeous Trees in my travels but still, Trees are a sight to see! 

Do you love Trees too? I just can't hug a Tree....  my many allergies causing me to be sneezing year-round, plus I despise insects and ants!

All of these fabulous Trees can be enjoyed on the grounds of the fabulous Niagara Falls State Park! Really! In some of the pictures, you can see parts of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada in the background!

Killing Time at the Falls of Niagara

Just a few memories while at the Falls to enjoy the fireworks. For the past two weeks we have been returning to the Falls and recording the fireworks from different spots. Of course we have our favorite spots...  less people. Quieter. No problem with parking. Good security. BUT to get to other spots ain't a bad thing either!

 

The Beauty of WNY Wildlife

 We were out again to escape the constant updates to our new home, and decided to go to a very popular and busy nature preserve in Buffalo where a Roseate Spoonbill had been sighted. We departed early and spent the better part of the day there....  over five hours there in the light rain, clouds and finally the sun broke through. Saw a bunch of birds which were the normal, but no spoonbill. Many others seemed to be out with long lenses and binoculars, so guessing we weren't the only ones interested in seeing the spoonbill. We have already seen spoonbills in the wild in SW Spain and in Florida, but spoonbills are a rare occurrence in western New York. Last year there was a wayward Limpkin in the area, and the year before it was a Virginia Rail. 

I kept joking that once we decide to leave, the spoonbill will make its appearance, and we will have missed it. That's exactly how it went: we were actually departing and out of the corner of my eye, saw something of a pinkish color fly in fast and low, then landed not even 42 feet away!

The one thing that always bothers me is that it seems human is such a controlling species. The humans really are the true invasive species of the planet, who have, for centuries and more, just gone any and everywhere, seemingly to explore new lands, but in reality we are now discovering that the true intent was to conquer and enslave other people, steal their treasures, their lands, and if that wasn't enough, humans just wanted to remove others from the planet. 

In addition to that goal, which they've done quite well through the centuries, is their desire to trash and pollute this planet everyone calls home. I haven't been everywhere, but I've been to a few countries, and the one thing I have discovered is the vast amount of trash left by humans everywhere! What is most disturbing is the amount of trash left everywhere, and seemingly, even in the most scenic, beautiful, natural and popular areas will be trashed and polluted the most! Even with plenty of trash bins and signs, humans do as they wish, and their main objective is always the same: to trash the area no matter how beautiful the area is. That doesn't mean that for some area not considered to be the best, should be trashed. THiS is our home: the Earth. There is only one Earth and it's already gone through centuries of pollution on a grand scale. While it's less now, it's still a lot more considering the trashing and pollution of our HOME affects eventually everyone, and all species. 

I have even seen people throw trash on the ground though there's a trash receptacle just a few feet away. It's not the responsibility of others to advise you of your trashing the area; WE should be able to remember that the ground we transit each day is not a garbage pit we think it is no matter where we are. We need to, and should have the common sense and personal responsibility to hold the trash till it can be disposed of properly.

Enjoy your day, week and season, and please remember to not trash our home nor our planet. It reflects on us as a species, and shows everyone what little regard we have for our own home, let alone for other people and species.

FogBow seen in my Past

 So the other day while working on moving my trillion and five image files from older external Hard Drives [eHDs] to smaller faster eHDs that fit within my folded hand, I've also been looking through some of the files for lost and great memories! Last night while Sheila was looking through her social media feed, she saw someone's post that displayed a rainbow, and that one rainbow post lead to another, so I searched online for how many types of rainbows exist and was shocked by the result! Soon enough my eyes stumbled upon the rare occurrence of a fogbow, which is a colorless bow usually seen during a foggy day. This got me thinking because I have seen a fogbow, and many times while in my foggy San Francisco, and waaay back in 2016 [below]while visiting friends in Norway! 

Have YOU seen a fogBow?  

Rain Showers means Rainbow Sightings!

We are tired and wanted to escape from moving and getting reorganized again. Whoever thinks moving is fun and reorganzing your Life possessions again is easy, is very welcome to join us! We escaped to Old Fort Niagara on the southern shores of Lake Ontario yesterday, and it turned out to be a good idea as we no sooner than arrive when we saw a rainbow. After that were the fabulous clouds - when aren't clouds fabulous? We look UP often - do you look too?

 

OoooH We have been busy!

 Yes, I and WE are still alive - just barely - and now moving too. Not too far, just a few blocks away BUT into a seemingly bigger place. It's been hell. A few problems thanks to the sellers BUT we are in general: HaPPy. Not exactly really content with the mess we were left with but in due time we WiLL be happy with the place, and have a lot of plans in our near future to spruce up the place! Everyone deserves a decent place to live and grow to love, and WE are hoping we are finished searching for that dream.

So, I'm still using my new phone, the Bison GT2 manufactured by UMIDIGI and it IS marvelous! As long as I don't zoom in, the image is fabulous at any of the phone cameras' six resolutions, of which the highest at 64mp gives me a filesize of 9280x6944 while the lowest resolution of 9mp is 4096x2304 is still sharp also, as long as there's NO zooming of course!

The total resolutions are the two mentioned above, along with 10mp/4800x2160, 16mp/4608x3456, 48mp/9216x5184 and 48mp/8000x6000. Very impressive and I am very pleased with the results!

Here's a cropped version of a pix of tonight and still as nice as can be expected. The below image was snapped in the highest 64mp mode, and cropped about 40%. Just click/tap to see this image in its entirety!

New Month New Camera

Three weeks ago my newest - and my last - camera finally arrived. Seems everytime there is a huge snow or ice storm affecting the area, I am waiting for a big heavy package to arrive....  hopefully on time.

It's another Sony and is just about the same size as my old A6000 which I picked up several years while still living on the West Coast. 

The A7c at first sight looks like that old camera and I can even use my old lenses that were on that older Sony, though at a lower resolution and with a blacked-out border depending on whether I've zoomed in or not. The best things about this new camera is its small size, and very much lighter than all the cameras I've had in the last year. Having a built-in digital teleconverter is very nice too, and am discovering that it's quite sharp! I've mentioned I'm using my older e-mount lenses with this camera, and no matter that I lose a bit of resolution, the images are sharp. Last and not least, I am using my 65w Baseus power bank to power the A7c while on the streets, and when it goes to sleep due to inactivity, it charges the battery too!

Now into my third week of using the A7c, and it really is a fabulous camera BUT used to heavy camera bodies, I am really finding out how light this camera is and NOT  heavy! I know I'll adjust as I have done in the past, through so many camera of film and digital!

Western New York Storms

I've been reliving my past histories around the world and seeing great hot weather, cold and rainy locations, and of course a lot of stormy conditions that I didn't mind at all - during those younger years - getting out into and splashing around!

Now in the current life on the East Coast, the memories of those vast and varied weather come to light, as the past mixes with the present. Does this happen to you too, when an event, a moment, or even clouds can spark a sweet (or not) memory for you? 

Here's a memory in the recent past, snapped as the pandemic was beginning. 

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/strike-one-at-grand-island-ny-fototaker-tony-lost-at-night.html

I just cannot resist the color, mystery, danger and beauty of a thunderstorm!

Still alive into the New Year

I can barely believe we are into the 21st century, and now already into 2022! WoW!!

Sheila and I are well - thank goodness - and we still wear a mask at the ready hanging around our necks. That way we know the masks are readily available and easy to begin wearing; all we need to do is pull the mask up and viola, we are protected!

It's been a "mild" Winter in western New York, with little or no snowfall at all during the period of Autumn's end till the end of 2021. Though the Winter here was cold - it's been freezing even through the Autumn, it was eventually record-breaking snowfall in the area, though the highest snowfall fell close to the end of December and into January. In a normal area Winter, we'll get regular snowfall most every week, and the records show that in a regular Winter, we get an average of 63" of snow. This current Winter we got just a few snowfalls that started at the end of December and continued into January, but that amount we got in those few snowfalls totalled over 80"!! WoW!!

Yes, as you can guess, we got out into the snow to get a few snaps. Of course! Winter is absolutely a thrill to see and get out into, and though it's just a very few times I've lived in a snowy location, it is always nice. Last Winter of 2020-2021, I got what I thought was a bit of frostbite on both feet though the left foot was affected more. That kinda "healed" slowly and all was "well" by August. This current Winter the signs of frostbite returned - going out into the snow didn't help at all, and after having my poor black and blue feet almost healed, I had thought, but still looked as bad as it was almost a year earlier! My feet were seen by a foot doctor in early February, who did not say it wasn't frostbite, but didn't say it was. The doctor also pointed out a foot problem with both feet, probably attributed to my wearing sockless and archless footwear for a few years. I was then fitted with custom insoles for my shoes, and amazingly enough, though I've been using that new arch for just a few weeks, the arch and foot problem is healing quicker than I would have imagined! I started with those zero arch shoes about a decade ago, going from very thin and flat running shoes, and eventually moving up to flat archless hiking shoes. Though I felt NO pain in the arches of both feet, it eventually gave me problems that - though I never thought it was major - caused enough problems for me to see a doctor, and I am glad I finally did!

I remember the first year I began wearing those flat archless shoes while living on the West Coast. I took those shoes to Spain, where I have a few friends nearby my location in SW Spain who run on a regular basis, and they all stared at those flat shoes I wore, and warned of pain and bad arches! As I mentioned before, I've never experienced pain, but unknown to me, the problems were apparently building up! I haven't wore those flat shoes in many years, but am now feeling the distress of having worn them!! Beware!!

Otherwise, life is going as well as can be expected. We are grateful to be well during these past years, and I think good health should never be taken for granted. Hoping you and yours will remain safe, and till the next time!

    The river ice is nearly gone and daytime temps are warmer, Can't wait till Spring!