Who..who..who.. are you?!

While I was visiting Aunt MaryAnn and Donna, Jim & the kids they told me of the havoc the owls were causing for the outdoor sports at the school. Seriously? What "problems" can owls cause??? They rid you of vermin and insects! Not so in south Florida. The Burrowing Owl is protected in Florida and therefore...where it burrows is sacred ground. Unfortunately for the sports field of St. Bernadette's...its now home. So while at the school carnival, Emily and her friends volunteered to take me to see this trouble-causing owl. I expected to see a whole field of the critters...instead, I was led to a 3x3 fenced off area smack dab in the middle of the field! Never did I think I would get THIS close! Really...not using any zoom! He was just standing there in front of the entrance to his abode looking at me like..who the heck are you?!


So..we just watched very quietly for a few minutes....hoping to see something spectacular from this 8 inch tall owl. Instead we just pretty much had a stare down. The kids were quite surprised at its calmness...they say it usually hisses.











He didn't look like he intended on retreating to his burrow anytime soon....













Finally...something spooked him and he took several retreating steps...time to leave.

Olympic Fireworks

Fireworks are one of my very favorite events to photograph. Unfortunately, after the Olympic Torch Celebration Ceremonies had come to a close, I only had a very small amount of space available on my chip. Here are my favorites, with the crowd proudly waving their flags that were handed out earlier!

Olympic Flamekeepers

After the torch festivities had concluded for the evening, it was time to extinguish the cauldron. However, the flame itself must be kept to finish its travels across Canada and arrive in Vancouver to light the cauldron there on February 12,2010! No simple feat mind you as the flame left Greece months ago and has travelled by land, air, and water to even make it this far!







As it was explained, this evening, 2 aboriginal Canadians will capture the flame from the cauldron and place it in a lantern, and keep watch over the flame all evening, until the next morning when it will light the torch of another Canadian as it prepares to leave Windsor. I was very excited to be in the very front row by this point to experience something so interesting!

Success, as soon as the flame in the lantern was stable, the flame in the cauldron was extinguished. You can see in the close up its just an itty bitty flame.

Olympic Flame

On Wednesday December 23,2009...the Olympic Torch Relay ended for the evening in Windsor, Ontario. The city of Windsor nominated 15 year old Matthew Charbonneau (seen to the left of the cauldron in white, holding the torch) to be the last torchbearer of the day and consequently the one to light the cauldron in Windsor. Matthew carried the torch in memory of his older brother Cpl. Andrew Grennon who died while proudly serving his country in Afghanistan on September 3, 2008.

Olympic Torch arrives in Windsor, Ontario!

So, I KNOW what you're thinking....WHY am I soooo infatuated with the Olympic Torch to travel for more than an hour and cross into a foreign country! Well, I'm not really sure....just seemed like a life experience that would be worth having...and I'm still bummed out about not seeing it while I was in Churchill!

So, time drew closer, and my prime spot moved 3 times already, not by my choice..but due to the bringing out of barricades and of course, the 5000+ people who arrived out of nowhere, less than 1/2 hour before the arrival of the Olympic torch! By now, I no longer had the best vantage point, but I could still see the large screen display in the park below where the "celebration" was going on. Until now...everyone had seemed quite friendly and enthusiastic! But...a rather rotund Canadian now entered my area and within only a few moments became quite obnoxious. I'm not sure if he was mentally handicapped or drunk, high, I just don't know. But I was quite irritated to hear him continually scream "I want the torch, I wanna see the *&^$ing torch!" over and over again. I did reassure him that it was on its way and just be patient, that didn't help. Then he started with "*$#^ you America...America sucks!". I had never felt like a foreigner or unwelcome in Canada prior to this, I felt very alone, and very unwanted and unwelcome. After taking in a very deep breath and trying to hold back tears (while telling my mouth not to open and tell him where I was and that I was very offended) I put on my brave face and kept my mouth shut and tried not to look out of place. So much for the torch being a "symbol of peace, hope, inclusiveness, equality, joy and fraternity" as the website touts.

A few moments later, I was ushered to the other side of the street as I was told Olympic vehicles would be blocking my view of the torch, and if I wanted photos, I should cross the street now. Like the 5000 other people WOULDN'T be blocking my shot?? At least I left the mouthy guy behind. Others kind of crowded me out and in order to take photos I had to lift my tripod as far as I could skyward while still being able to depress the button with my right hand! I sooo need a remote for this reason! I thought about going 8 feet behind and standing on the guard rail and leaning against the fence like some others were doing.....but they were probably not accident prone. Better to stay safe and in 1 piece than get the perfect photo. So here you see the city bus and some torch assistants handing out small Olympic and Canadian flags on small sticks to the crowd and next to the bus (in white) a torchbearer from earlier that day! Their outfits were especially designed for the some 12,000 Canadians who will be carrying the torch thru the communities of Canada.

Here's some of the locals proudly waving their flags while bundled up for the chilly evening festivities.

I think I would have been fine on the other side.....too late now!

Coca-Cola and RBC were 2 large sponsors of the torch relay and had special vehicles for the parade.

Now the torch frenzy starts, and everyone starts pushing in excitement!

Here you can see the torchbearer in white carrying the Bombardier-designed torch thru the streets of Windsor on day 55 of the 106 day torch relay throughout 1,037 communities all across Canada.

Below, you can see the torch and flame but not the individual carrying it.

Now, on to the celebration site in the park below....perhaps I may find peace and fraternity...there...

Detroit Skyline

My plan for Wednesday December 23rd was to go to Windsor, Ontario to see the Olympic Torch as it passed through the area. Not knowing exactly what to expect, I arrived 3 hours early. With nothing to do, and wanting to keep moving to keep warm, I wandered the boardwalk on the river.

I rather enjoyed the brisk day and took full advantage of the lighting to take photos of Detroit from Canada!
As darkness approached the lighting changed and presented yet more opportunities! I really enjoyed seeing the lights from this side of the river at night!

Unwelcome Visitors!

On my last full day in Churchill, I went on a 1/2 day excursion with Paul from Nature 1st. We went to see the Ithica, Miss Piggy, Cape Merry, Polar Bear Jail, and a few other scenic places. When we were at Miss Piggy (an cargo plane that crashed in 1979 right near the airport) we heard crackers being fired off! We didn't explore too much and stayed VERY CLOSE to the bus! We loaded back on and went down a nearby road when we came across the intruders! A mom and 2 2 year old cubs were wreaking havoc in the outskirts of Churchill! You can see them to the right to the right of the utility pole at the bottom of the trees.

The cubs went right for the greenhouse, which was about 25 feet at the most from the open bus door where I was taking photos. No WAY I was going to step off that bus! No real need to get closer anyway....why tempt fate!

This one at the top looked like it was going to try to take a bite out of the side of the greenhouse!

Pretty soon, they decided to follow mom up the driveway toward the house! It's just so unreal that this is a daily occurrence up there. Kind of like me chasing the squirrels out of my yard...except they are a WHOLE LOT BIGGER than squirrels and can eat you...or at the least do a whole lot of damage to your property!

It cracks me up how they always walk in a single file line! No pushing or shoving....nice and orderly.

Suddenly, mom makes a b-line toward the house to investigate it. At this point, our guide is deciding if he should set off a screamer (its like a noise like you make if something is falling out of the sky that comes from a small pistol).

Instead, the owner....very worried about them being near his car....sets off his car alarm. The one cub was absolutely fascinated by the blinking lights! It really didn't seem to bother this little family at all though.

Mom got closer and closer to the house and I believe our guide set off the screamer.

By now, momma bear realized she was not welcome here and slowly let her family back in the direction they came...notice the one cub is still very inquisitive about those flashing lights!

Mom (front left) kept leading her family up to the rocks...back in the direction of Miss Piggy...

At this point, someone somewhere decided that they weren't moving along fast enough so they shot off a cracker! Notice how everyone looked and that really got their attention!

They quickly started hoofing it....you can see that the crackers can sometimes be quite effective in getting them to move along!

They scampered up onto the rocks for a better view and then took off to the left out of sight! I wish I would have had the presence of mind to video this like the owner of the house did!

The Birds & The Bears??!

On November 11th, this curious fellow was walking towards our Tundra Buggy directly to the left of another buggy that was parked almost nose to nose with ours. I was hoping for that "I'm going to put my paws on the buggy right beneath your camera and look into your eyes" shot. Instead, I think I actually witnessed something much more amusing and interesting! Nanook had spotted a bird nest from last summer that had blown around the tundra! So....curiosity sets in and he decides to stop and investigate!

Gee whiz! I smell something...but where did it go???

Maybe I'll just pick it up and shake the bird out of it!!

Yuck! How do I get this awful taste out of my mouth!

Oohhhh...I DID shake something loose!

At this point, I could see old feathers from chicks floating out of the nest and blowing away.

Hmmmm....what is that smell????!!!

After about 5 minutes or so of exploring the vacant nest he decided it was time to move on and explore our buggy!

This was such a neat viewing opportunity...you really got to see how inquisitive and aware they really are!