117 posts for me

I have posted 117 photos since the inception of my blog. I didn't know this until Shalee posted her count and then being the competitive type, I had to check mine. So, am I going to follow in her footsteps and post 100 (or 117) things about me that you didn't know? Nope.
It's not that I don't want you to know 117 or even 100 things about me, it's just that well.... I can't be bothered doing it. Why? Well, number 1 thing about me..I'm lazy.
Besides, I don't think I'm all that interesting.
So - the best thing to do is to go back and read Shalee's very funny blog. That lady is really funny.
Go make it a good day and look after each other.
Steve

My Mom, I am so very proud of her

This is a photo of my Mom, taken today, March 30, 2006. She is shown shaking hands with Mayor John Mutton of Clarington while receiving a plaque and certificate of appreciation for her generous donation of a Public Access Defibrillator. The defibrillator has been placed in a facility that cardiac rehabilitation patients use to recover from heart attacks. My brother Tim is seen beside her smiling.

Mom is the first individual to donate a Public Access Defibrillator in our town and the Mayor said this morning that since Mom's story was in the local paper, several organizations have come forward to announce that they will donate defibrillators as well. Way to go Mom!! We are proud of you!!

Guest Photographer - DBP

This amazing shot was taken at the Canadian International Airshow in Toronto a number of years ago by a friend of mine. I recently re-discovered it in my files. It shows a Canadair CL-215 water bomber dispensing a load of fire supressant on a hay-filled barge deliberately torched for the air show.

Boy in pool with ripples

Here is Jake back in the pool after dunking his Mother. You'll note that Jake does not appear to be 20 years old, so his doting-spoil-the-little-beggars-at-all-cost Grandfather must have interceded on his behalf. The colour of the water and the ripples make for an interesting visual.

Watch out Red Baron!

As Snoopy would say, "Here is the WWI flying ace looking for the Red Baron". Actually, it's the cockpit of a Waco UPF7 bi-plane we were in overlooking the Ontario countryside near Ottawa.
A cool way to travel.

This volcano is old enough to smoke

Dawn - the Pacific side of Central America - winds warm, sea calm, nerves not. I am looking at my first volcano and we are going ashore in less than an hour to a place where the mountains can erupt. What the heck, it will probably be okay. If it's not then I will take some interesting photos. If the camera survives. (Details from my diary)

Cool 3D effect

It might be just me, but I get a cool 3D effect from this photo.

Charles Atlas' favourite beach

Do you remember Charles Atlas? "The World's Most Perfectly Developed Man" (his words - not mine) used to have body-building ads in comic books and in them, a bully on a beach would kick sand in a skinny guy's face and then take his girl. That skinny guy would be safe on this beach.
"Dear Charles Atlas, have completed course, please send muscles."

Keeping you on your (pedicured) toes

Every once in a while, I'll throw in a photograph that you might not expect from me.

The newest Canadian Game

This game was recently invented and has (so far) only been played once. The object of the game is similar to hockey and hide-and-seek, and is played on a frozen pond covered with trees. Players are free to use slap-shots anytime, and there is no need to worry about breakaways and lost time skating up and down those long pesky wide-open ice rinks. Goalies are not really needed since no one has come close to scoring anyway. Paramedics and trauma teams are handy - if kept close by. The really tough players however, play only on moonless winter nights because lights are for sissies.

This one is just for fun

Here's a riddle for you. Get it and you get the title. The riddle is: "No Bam-Bam"
Meteorological note - winter's over. Yahoo!

Conflagration

Never having been to hell, I don't know what it looks like, but if I ever get there and it looks like this, I won't be surprised.

Today is all about me

This is my Mom's favourite photo of me. It shows me receiving my second award of the Governor-General's Emergency Medical Services Exemplary Service Medal for 30 years service from Major General Richard Rohmer, Canada's most decorated soldier and Honourary Chief of Toronto's EMS service.

SUPRISE! It's me!

Well, now you know what I look like. Kinda wrecks the image you had made up, doesn't it?
This is my sweetie and me ballooning. Happy Birthday to me.

Halifax Cemetery

Tomorrow is my birthday and so I will be posting a special photo.

Spooky Legend

On December 6, 1917 the largest man-made explosion in history (prior to the advent of the atomic bomb) happened in Halifax when two ships collided and blew up in the harbour. This photo is a window in St. Paul's Anglican Church in downtown Halifax. The legend, around for decades, says that the pastor of the church was killed in the blast and his silhouette was left on the pane of glass as a ghostly reminder. Believe it or don't (changed to avoid copyright infringement). Happy St. Patrick's Day!

More on the Halifax explosion

Apologies for the out of focus shot, but I wanted to show you these items. The foreground item is a rudder shaft blown off one of the ships and the background item is part of the ship's hull. These items are solid steel, showing the force of the blast. Parts of the ships (weighing hundreds of pounds) were found almost 2 miles away in the Northwest Arm.

And now for something completely different...

The West Coast of Canada. Vancouver, B.C. This is Canada Place. The "sails" are a tribute to the days of yore with wooden ships and iron men.

Halifax Harbour

The schooner in the background is the "Bluenose II", a made in Nova Scotia replica of the world-famous schooner found on the back of a Canadian dime.
Oh, don't forget - "Beware the ides of March"

My black & white period

On a dark rainy night, I pretended to be the worst kind of lawyer.

Size does matter

Sometimes anyway.

Hey Poppa!

Manna Go Fwimming? I Mot a Moo Mast.
Translation - Wanna go swimming? I got a new mask!

They Never Listen

I don't know how many times I've told them, "You're using too much chlorine on the Orcas".

A beautiful beach photo

They told us if we wanted to swim in the ocean, to go about 20 miles west. I didn't realize why...until I looked closely at the water. Then I knew.

Two of the dumbest things I've ever done in my life

One - eating at a sidewalk cafe. Why? It started to rain and it took me 2 hours to finish my soup.
Two - waiting for this horse and buggy ride to start. Stupid horse. Probably still there. Good thing I left. Wasted 3 hours in Central America. For what!?

Don't look at this until Friday

I have to work Friday so I'm posting this on Thursday night. If you look closely you may notice that this is actually a black and white photograph.

The Adventures of Jake and Emma

See Jake and Emma in the pool.
See Jake dunk Mom. See Jake laugh.
See Mom bubble. Bubble Mom, Bubble.
See Jake laugh. See Jake grounded.
Grounded Jake, Grounded.
See Jake turn 21 before he swims again.

You think you've got a bug problem?

This is a photo of a Canadian mosquito caught in a net surrounding our house. You can clearly see the stingy-thingy poised to attack and drain all the blood from my body. Sometimes, it only takes 3 or 4 of these monsters to carry off small cats and thin kids under 2. There is no natural enemy to these things, but there is some research underway by the Royal Canadian Mosquito Patrol (RCMP) in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan to see if they can be gentically modified so they taste good to fire ants. Then it will be a simple job to import the ants from Texas and our problems will be over.

Honest, I took this photo without even Blinkin'

One of the most remarkable statues ever produced. I posted this photo as a way of saying "Thank you" to the nice people in the USA who say kind things about my photos.

Oh my aching back - something else I didn't know about Canada!

I came across this memorial a while back and thought I should post it. It reminded me of a 3 Stooges skit where Larry asked Curly how long he'd had a weak back. Curly says "Oh, about a week back". Funny stuff when you're 8 years old. Nyuk Nyuk

For Billy

Billy - this is a fish. A fish. Now, you try saying it.

Painting with light

This is what happens when you have: A) a lot of time on your hands, B) a light stick, C) a tripod. If you look closely - and use a fair amount of imagination - you can make out the letters S-T-E-V-E. My God, I'm clever.

Just because

Ever have a photograph that brings back good feelings of a good day? This one always does it for me. I wonder if they will ever bring back dirigibles as a method of transportation? If they do, I'm buying a ticket.

A photo of a professsional at work

This is a kid. That's his job. He's very good at it. I hope he keeps his job for a very long time.

Slippery when wet

My daughter, Becca, wanted me to post this. So I did.

Is that a fin?

I don't know what Emma was looking at, but she didn't seem to like it.