New Year's Eve- High res

Here's today's picture from my Canon-

And for more pictures of our walk in the woods today check out my regular blog- here and here :)

Last walk of 2010

Early today, but it's beautiful out: about 42F. Lot's of people in the woods, and lots of dogs for Holly to play with :)

Don't let me down
The Beatles
Mono Masters

Thursday- the penultimate day of 2010

Still lots of snow even though it's quite warm: 40.7F.

The snow on the main trails is fairly hard packed and icy in places, so I've switched from my snowshoes to my old, faithful YakTrax hiking crampons.

Devils's Slide
Joe Satriani
The Electric Joe Satriani

Wednesday

Just another beautiful day in the woods :)

Warmer and almost no breeze: 37.4F.

Still listening to the conclusion of Romeo & Juliet

Winter Wonderland!

Damn, the woods are beautiful like this!
There are more tracks than yesterday, but the trails are not packed down at all so the snowshoes are still pretty much a must (and these Tubbs Frontier 25s that Jackie got me for my birthday are awesome!). We did the 3 mile loop today, and it's certainly harder work than when there's no snow, but if you just keep plodding on it's fine- and so worth it!

Warmer today, with fast moving clouds and a stiff breeze: 35.6F.

I'm listening to Romeo & Juliet that popped up at random on my phone. It's the audio from the production featured in the BBC documentary "When Romeo Met Juliet" done by two schools in Coventry. For some reason it goes rather well with today's snowy walk.

Snow hi-res

And here's today's picture at higher resolution from my Pentax camera :)

Snow!

Complete with snowshoe tracks :) At the start of our walk Holly and I were the first to break the trail on the virgin snow, but the extra tracks you see here belong to a black lab called Thor and his owner Nathan who we met up with about halfway round- see my regular blog for more pics :)

About 24F and sunny with a stiff breeze- fabulous.

No music- it's too nice out!

Boxing Day- part 2

I had my Pentax with me on our walk earlier- so here's a slightly
better version of today's bridge picture.

Boxing Day

Very appropriate that we sang Good King Wenceslas at church this morning!

This ia apparantly just the beginning of a major snowstorm- so hopefully tomorrow's pic will include my snowshoe tracks!

Cold and light snow: 26.7F.

Being Green
Mandy Patinkin
Dress Casual

Merry Christmas!

Out with my niece Danielle while the rest of the gang set up appetisers back at the church.

Cool and clear: 30.3F

No music, just pleasant conversation :)

Christmas Eve

Lovely cool and sunny day in the woods: 38.7F.

it's great to spend a quiet hour with the dog and some Christmas music on Pandora before going home to shower and head upstairs for the first of 3 services this evening- and the first one is usually the craziest of the bunch with upwards of 400 people in the church!

Baby it's Cold Outside
Martina MacBride & Dean Martin
on Pandora

Thursday

I can't tell you how nice it is to get out into the woods and away from the frustrations and work at this time of year! I'll have to go back to work when I get back because of a wedding (yes, a wedding) that ran way late this morning, but I shall do so in a much better frame of mind from having spent an hour in the woods with my doggy!

Colder and breezy: 36.6F, and it has the smell of snow in the air- hope it holds off 'til Sunday like they say it will.

Papa Loves Mama
Garth Brooks
Double Live

Wednesday afternoon

A bit late today as work was a little crazy! Cool and breezy: 38.5F.

Old Joe Clark/June Apple
Tony Trischka
Solo Banjo Works

Tuesday Lunchtime

Snuck out for a walk between printing bulletins at the church as we didn't really get a proper walk yesterday. Not too cold, cloudy and a bit breezy: 40.2F.

Honey Don't
The Beatles
Beatles For Sale (2009 mono remix)

Sunday between bits of church

Lots of people in the woods, a bit warmer still: 41.3F, so of course Holly's headed for the stream :)

Money
Pink Floyd
Dark Side of the Moon

Another nice day

Slightly warmer still (38.8F) and most of the snow is gone.

Robert De Niro's Waiting
Bananarama
Greatest Hits Collection

Georgeous Friday

Truly beautiful day in the woods, just above freezing (34.5F), sunny and a light breeze. Holly is in the stream- silly dog- good thing I have a towel to dry here off when we get back to the car.

Blue Christmas
Harry Connick, Jr.
Harry for the Holidays
(I'm listening to Christmas music on Pandora in an effort to get myself into the right mood to go home and wrap presents)

Tranquil Thursday

Lovely and quiet on the upper trail, though Holly found lots of chums to chase around with on the lower trail earlier. Still coldish: 31.7F.

Those Canaan Days
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
American Revival Cast

Wednesday late walk

Still pretty cold and the snow hasn't all melted yet: 25.2F.

Tubular Bells (Part One)
Mike Oldfield
Boxed

Snow!

Significantly colder (21.7F) and a nice breeze, and I was right about the snow.

Holly is snug in her coat and is staying out of the stream!

Super Colossal
Joe Satriani
Satriani Live (Disc 1)

Murky Monday

Cooling off again, 36.9F, and it almost smells like snow.

Within You, Without You
The Beatles
Sgt Pepper

Crazy weather!

They've got a huge snowstorm in the Midwest, Minnesota of all places is under a snow emergency, and I'm walking the dog in a T-shirt as it's 54.7F! All the frozen mud is now just a squishy mess as we had major rain this morning and are due for more this evening, luckily I came out to walk the dog in the lull between.

Papa Gene's Blues
The Monkees
The Best Of The Monkees

Saturday

It's warmed up a touch, 42.7F, so where's Holly? In the stream of course. There's ice around the edges and big icicles on the rocks, but she jumped right in anyway (see today on my regular blog, blog.crispian.org, for a picture).

The Ricky Gervais Podcast
Cambodian Midget Fighting League

Freezing Friday

There's a wonderful quiet stillness in the woods today (would be even better without the traffic in the distance, but you can't have it all): 28.7F.

Paranoid
Black Sabbath
Greatest Hits

I've just realised the weirdness of talking about a lovely stillness and then noting that I'm listening to Black Sabbath- that's just what was playing as I crossed the bridge, it's very random, it was Dvorak before that!

Hat & Gloves Thursday

Colder still: 27.1F. Had to break out the hat and gloves to go with the coat- lovely and brisk :)

A little priest
Angela Lansbury & Len Cariou
Sweeney Todd

Wednesday walk

Snuck out a little early so we could actually walk in daylight. Cold with a stiff breeze- first below-freezing walk: 31.1F, had to break out my 686 snowboard jacket :)

Everybody to the limit (live), Homestar's secret song bit
Strong Bad
Strong Bad Sings and Other Type Hits

Twilight Tuesday

Another late one- I'll be glad when we reach the solstice and the days start lengthening again! Not quite as cold as yesterday: 34.2F

Open up your heart and let the sun shine in
Frente!
Saturday Morning Cartoons

Late Monday walk

Running a little late today, getting dark and right on the freezing mark: 32.0F. Holly's in her new Ruff Wear coat (not really cold enough yet but I thought we'd try it out), another bargain from geartrade.com.

I love America
Craig Ferguson
A Wee Bit O' Revolution

Sublime Sunday

Absolutely beautiful afternoon in the woods! Cold and sunny and clear: 35.8F, noticed some of the mud is frozen and spotted ice in some sheltered puddles for the first time. CJ is at SCUBA and Jake has hit the grocery store while he does that; my job is to pick up some firewood on the way home so we can spend a cozy evening in front of a roaring blaze :)

You've got to hide your love away
The Beatles
Help! (2009 mono remaster)

Solo Saturday

Jackie has taken Crispy into NYC to see the sights while I had to work a funeral this morning. Nice cool day with a brisk breeze- first day I've broken out a hat (well, I did get my hair cut pretty short yesterday): 41.2F. Nice smell of woodsmoke in the air.

Song of Patriotic Prejudice
Flanders & Swann
At the Drop of Anotherr Hat

Friday walk

Nice brisk day, sunny and a light breeze: 43.3F

Last Christmas (Pudding Mix)
Wham!
The Final

Cooler Thursday

Calm and quiet in the woods today, and cooling off again: 43.2F

Empty chairs at empty tables
Les Miserables, Orig. London Cast

Wild and Wooly Wednesday

Pissing down but still ridiculously warm: 59.5F

In My Life
The Beatles
1962-1966 Disc 2

Monday

Calm and quiet in the woods this afternoon: 43.7F

So What
Candy Dulfer
Saxuality

Dark walk...

...in the twilight- which is quite appropriate having just seen the long and VERY dark penultimate Harry Potter film.

Nice sunset and 40.1F

You won't see me
The Beatles
Rubber Soul

Beautiful day!

Absolutely stunning day to be out in the woods! Sunny, brisk and breezy, about 39F (random strangers on the bridge).

Merry Happy / Little Red
Kate Nash
Made of Bricks

Quiet Friday

Far fewer people in the woods today- guess they're all at home sleeping off yesterday's turkey or napping after hitting the sales this morning.
Calm and cloudy: 50.5F

For You
Bare Naked Ladies
Live at Universal Studios

Happy Thanksgiving!

Busy with lpts of people taking a Turkey Day walk. A bit overcast and 44.4F

Our Town
James Taylor
Cars soundtrack

Tuesday afternoon

Still waiting for the weather to get colder: 56.4F

Gran Bwa
RAM
Puritan Vodou

Back together

Back together after Holly's weekend at the kennel and our's at Great Wolf and Skytop. Weather is still crazy warm: 59.4F

Buckaroo Holiday
Aaron Copeland
Greatest Hits

Thursday lunchtime

Lunchtime walk before dropping Holly at the kennel for our weekend away.
Sunny and a light breeze: 56.5F

The Alan Davies Show E1- Shipping & Trucking

Windy!

Lovely windy fall afternoon: 56.3F

Peer Gynt Suite #2
Edvard Grieg

Back in the woods

Snuck out at lunchtime today so the dog gets a proper, daylight walk as she just got a darkish run in the park yesterday 'cos of the new satellite dish being installed.
Damp & muggy: 55.9F

The continuing story of Bungalow Bill
The Beatles
The White Album

Nice Sunday

Still warmish: 58.6F

Standing outside the fire
Garth Brooks
Double Live (disc 1)

Saturday

Another warm one, consequently very busy in the woods today.
Calm and sunny: 61F

Paper Gangsta
Lady Gaga
The Fame Monster (Deluxe)

Weird weather!

Can't believe it's nearly the middle of November and I'm walking the dog in a T-shirt!
Nice breeze & 64F

Bangers and Mash
Peter Sellers & Sophia Loren
The Peter Sellers Collection

Family Walk (part 2)

I had my DSLR with me, so here's the same shot at the same time as the one below taken with that.

Family walk

As we all had the day off together :)

Unseasonably warm and sunny: 52F

No music, just pleasant conversation

Back to the woods

Missed a day yesterday as I had to change a flat and get a new tire for Jake's van, so we just went to the park by the beach.
But we're back today- warmish and late afternoon sunshine: 55F

Porpoise Song
The Monkees
The Best of The Monkees

White balance?

Here's another pic I took at the same time as the one below.

I have been fooling around with various camera apps for my G2 Android phone (apart from the stock one that comes with it), and for now I think I have settled on Pro Zoom Camera 5X, which seems to have lots of features, not least of which is that it's auto white balance setting seems more accurate than most. The picture above was taken at the "auto" setting, while the one below was taken using the "cloudy-daylight" one. And now I look at them I think the auto one is actually a more accurate representation of what I was looking at in the twilit woods.

So I think I will try and stick to using Pro Zoom's auto white balance for the pictures I post here unless it looks wildly off (and I'll try and note if I use a different setting).