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Happy Halloween everyone! If you've any plans tonight, I hope you have fun and stay safe!

I have to work late tonight, so any plans I had kinda went out the window..... bleh! However if I get home before the little kiddies are done coming around I might still be able to hand out a bit of candy. (The little kids in our neighbourhood are usually done around 6:30 ish.)


And....... the winnah is.....!!!!!

The October Photo Competition at Opacity was just won by "Epiphany", who had this stunning entry:

"Together Forever"

I LOVE that photo!! Congrats to you Epiphany!

And to see all of the entries this month (they're really great!) here is the link:

OCTOBER PHOTO COMPETITION

Enjoy!

Take good care of each other, and until next time.......



BOO!!!









Love Jude

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WINTER WONDERLAND, EARLY!

Definitely winter, sudden and cold! Blowing wind and snow to go with it. And it's not even Halloween yet!


Or, Click Here

Lexy would SO hate it here right now! Although I haven't heard, she might have the same thing out east..... ?

There is one wicked storm that is HUGE up north and northern B.C. and Alberta are getting the tail end of it..... so thus the snow and cold. It's a bit soon for it to be THIS bad, although not completely unheard of.


It appears a bit "dark" as it was overcast and still snowing some when I took these. The leaves on so many of the trees aren't even ready to change colour let alone fall off yet, as is evident in these pictures:





"Snow! Wherefore did thou come from in such haste??"

"I doth protest!!"

"As do I!!"

"And us, as well!!"

"We ALL do! We doth protest this snow so soon!!"


Ah yes...... it looks so freaking weird, and it's all over the city like this...... blankets of green (and some coloured) leaves all over top of a bunch of snow.











The Tools Of The Day:




Evidence they've been at work already:

This poor Mayday tree hadn't even had the chance to change it's leaves colour yet, and was hanging on to them until the fierce wind blew some of them off through last night.










I know what some of you are going to want to comment: "Jude, you can have it!! It's such-and-such warm degrees HERE right now!" LOL Well, I still wouldn't want to live where there aren't all 4 seasons, and snow is very beautiful and refreshing. It's just not fun when you have to scrape your car, or drive (or walk like me!) on ice. There are some pros and some cons to winter, yes. But if I had to live where it was pretty much summer all year you might as well just take me out and shoot me.

Having said that, and because I adore autumn so much, winter did come far too soon for us this year. Dammit.

Only 5 more weeks and my Christmas Tree is going up! Yeehaw!

Take good care of each other, and I hope your weather suits your preference right now. Until next time........

PEACE!
Love Jude

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OCTOBER PHOTO COMPETITION


It's that time again, and this month's theme over at Opacity is "Graveyards". Here are my 3 entries:


Leaning On An Old Friend





Petals Under The Giant





Stark Reality



I can't WAIT to see everyone's entries, this should be one of the most fun so far. We should have the results in by Tuesday morning if it all goes as usual!

When that happens, I will post the link here so that you can see all of the entries.

Hope you all have a terrific weekend, I'll catch you here later. Take good care of each other!

PEACE!
Love Jude

Well damn if it isn't ANOTHER birthday for the Big Guy on Wednesday!

I sure hope someone spoils the heck out of you too, you surely do deserve it. You know if I was there I'd make you a feed of good ol' Ukranian Borscht and some birthday cake.

And hey Bob, do you see yourself in here??? ......

YOU KNOW YOU'RE GETTING OLD WHEN:

You and your teeth don't sleep together.

You try to straighten out the wrinkles in your socks and discover you aren't wearing any.

It takes longer to rest than it did to get tired.

Everything either dries up or leaks.


In actual fact, Bob is very young at heart and not over the hill yet. He's just..... "cresting". Hee Hee



Please go on over to TRUCKER BOB'S and say Jude sent you to say YOU'RE HOW OLD?? HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Hope you enjoy your day Bob, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! (from a young chick)

Love Jude

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ODDS AND ENDS

Still recovering from that rather evil stomach virus and feeling better. When I get completely back to normal I think I'll go out and celebrate. Wanna come?

It's been rainy and cloudy here for the past while but I think we're supposed to get some sunshine again this weekend. Looking forward to that!

It's a week away from the next Photo Competition over at Opacity, and this month's theme is "Graveyards". As I've had so many shots in cemeteries (no kidding!) I had to keep in mind the whole time to hold back anything I might want to consider submitting. I eventually got it down from 7 to 5...... and today I finally made the decision which final 3 to keep.

I thought I'd post the 2 that I decided not to submit although I really like them, it's just that we're only allowed 3 submissions. I've also found a few others that I just never posted, and I thought I'd post them all today instead of letting them just rot in my computer. LOL


A few of these I had similar shots of the same thing:










And I like these but hadn't posted them..... I like 'em just because they're SPOOKY!






And...... these are the 2 that I decided to boot out of the upcoming competition only because I can't have that many to submit.

This one I had called "Sword of Death", and yes I played with the colours to make it more dramatic:



And dammit I really love this one, I called it "Sheltered Rest".




As usual, to really capture and appreciate the photos it is so much better full size! A lot is lost when they have to be this small for posting, but you get the idea.

Well folks that's about it for this chick today...... I think I'll go vegetate in front of something I don't look at too often anymore; the T.V.

Have a great weekend, and take good care of each other!

PEACE!
Love Jude

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ON THE MEND, AND WHAT IS A "SKIFF" ANYWAY?

Feeling a bit better today, I still have a little way to go but I'm feeling a bit more human again. My stomach still feels queasy and I'm weak and dizzy but not hurting everywhere! Thanks for the good thoughts and wishes.

Maybe it's a Canadian word? My Canadian buddies know what a "skiff of snow" is, but in the past I've had a handful of American friends ask, "what is that?"

This is a "skiff of snow".... a light dusting, a light covering. It often covers the streets and sidewalks as well, however it wasn't cold enough for that this time.......



Yes, we got this skiff the other day, our first of the season. It didn't manage to stay around long though because as soon as the morning sun hit it, it melted away. We hardly ever have a Halloween anymore without some white stuff on the ground, even if it doesn't stay for long.















I'm SO behind on all your blogs..... I haven't really been online at all until late last night. I'm going to try catching up with all of you over the next couple of days, so bear with me, and hold that thought!!

Take good care of each other, and until next time..... PEACE!

Love Jude

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SICK AND TIRED

Sorry I haven't been around folks, I've been hit very hard with a stomach/digestive system semi-truck. I haven't been online as I can't sit here, but I wanted to let you know I'm still kickin' and I'll be back soon as I can.

If you are so inclined I could SO use a prayer for a speedy recovery. This sucks the big one....

Love and Peace
Jude

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BEAUTY IN A FOGGY MORNING

I had to grab the digital and head outside this morning, it was so serene and pretty with the fog. And yes Bob, there were a few choiping boids too!



OR CLICK HERE




I went out back, got a few shots from the backyard, and a few from the back alley:








Out in my back alley:






I walk to work down here in the mornings:








Bird in flight.... can you see it?






Then I headed out front:










On another note, we can't remember what this bush is.... I know when we bought it we chose it for the red leaves in autumn, and it wasn't a "tree" but rather a "shrub" or "bush". Anyone know what it's called??


Here's a close up of one of the leaves:


***EDIT*** I just found it.... it's an Amur Maple! Link here: AMUR MAPLE

I'm nursing a sore mouth today, as I had a wisdom tooth extracted yesterday. Advil is my friend..... Hope you all have a great weekend, take good care of each other ~ we're all we have!

PEACE!
Love Jude