FOTOS BY ERIKA

They married on a blazing hot day, in a private enclave, on a beach on Jamaica’s north coast .  From what I can tell, it was casual, relaxed – no long boring speaches – and fun.  Good luck to you both, JJ & J.

Charlie and I got to Square One about 6AM.  They were still setting up but there were quite a few people there already, warming up, jogging up and down a little.  The portable toilets were all set up waiting for them.

The crowd kept gathering.  In the end there were nearly 12,000 participants.  Mayor Hazel McCallion gave a rousing speech urging them on and then – BOOM – the cannon went off and the marathon began.

You just have to admire that woman.  She is 87 years young.  Her voice is strong and so is her handshake.  She has run Mississauga for the past 25 years or more and never campaigns.  Despite that, she ends up with 97% of the vote.  Go figure. 

Back to the race.  As soon as the cannon roared, they were off.  I can only imagine running for 42 kilometers.  Are you kidding?

We drove around to what we thought would be a good place to take en-route pictures.  After waiting and waiting, I started to take other people’s pictures and, wouldn’t you know it, Arnold came whipping around the corner and I MISSED HIM.  He yelled out at me but he went too fast and I couldn’t take the picture in time and then he was gone.

The nice cop at the corner talked to Charlie and suggested we go to this other place to hopefully catch Arnold again.  It worked.  We had just parked the car and I had just got to the front, focused and – tada – he was there and I got him.

Well, now it was time to head to the finish line.  After being stuck in traffic, we ended up turning around and taking another route to the park where they will be ending up. We found Jo or, should I say, she found us.  We waited and waited and finally I saw him.  Wouldn’t you know it? I was stuck behind some people and no matter how much I yelled  “Move!”, they didn’t and a blurry picture was the best I could do.

Well, it’s better than nothing, right?

I’m sure I’m speaking for Arnold when I say that this day must have been one of the highlights of his life. After all, you never forget your first time, do you?

Good work, Arnold and Jo.[slideshow=id,width,height]

Anyway, here are a few for sharing. Enjoy.

For April 19 it sure got hot. 82F, at one point. Walking up and down the stairs by the falls while carrying my gear, was tough. At one point I sat on a rock and got my posterior wet. Oh what we won’t do for “that” picture.

Had lunch at Kettle’s Restaurant around Chatsworth.  Had their enormous lunch.  It was great.  Fries and all.  Then we headed out again.

Didn’t get home till after 7PM. Boy, was I tired.

Now, they are the sweetest couple of people you’d ever want to meet.  Both of them high tech specialists.  Amazing how they seem to love shooting birds.  They’re not the only ones.  There is a group at the club that are bird-shooters.  Period.  They fly off to the Florida wetlands and bird sanctuaries and line up with all the hundreds of other bird shooters to catch the darlings as they preen and hunt. 

I watch in awe.

Now, I like birds as much as the next person and I know the difficulty in shooting the darlings but I have no interest in shooting birds.  First of all, I don’t have the equipment to do a good job.  Secondly, I don’t have the interest. 

So, it never fails.  You just can’t win if you’re up against a bird entry.  So, I’m pissed off.

Oh, I should lighten up.  I won 2nd prize and 3rd prize.  OK, but I want first for once.

Anne and Jerry met me in our parking lot at around 6:30 Friday morning.  We piled into Anne’s car and headed out to Campbellville.  The drive was easy.  I was surprised, given it was a workday.  Oh there was traffic but nothing to panic about. 

We got to Campbellville by 7:13.  Wow, way too early.  We’re supposed to meet them at the racetrack at 8AM.  No problem.  We found a great restaurant called Mohawk Inn or something.  It was connected to a Motel.  They were open.  The place was wonderful.  Very country with lots of wood panelling.  It looked so cozy.  We had coffee.  Then we headed to the Racetrack.

Our people from the club were there and after we got our security passses, we were given a tour of the place by a very nice young man.  We were not allowed to use flash as the horses get very skittish.  No problem. 

Then we started shooting.  I thought “OK, this is better than sitting in front of the computer doing data entry.”  We went inside the paddock.  I took a couple of shots.  Most of the shots were shit anyway but I got one good one, I think.  Then I went outside to talk to the staff.  One of the girls suggested I take a ride in the start car.  I went over and asked if I could go along.  The driver said sure so in I went.  The other man sat on a structure in the back seat.  They were great guys and had been doing that for over 25 years.  Now that’s a great job to have.

What a thrill!  I was up close and personal with the racing horses as they had to run behind the gate that was controlled by the folks in the car.  When they dropped me off after going around for a four races, I was met by almost a cheering crowd.  Well, my fellow club members were impressed. 

We shot some more and then it was time to pack up and go.  But before we did, we wanted to take a group shot.  Well, here you have 10 photographers, most with incredibly expensive equipment – trying to set up a tripod and timer so we could all be in the picture.  What a riot.  I must have taken the better part of 15 minutes before we finally got it organized.

We then all went back to the Mohawk Restaurant for lunch and then got on our way.  A beautiful time was had by all.  I got home around 2PM

The rolling hills, lovely country homes, brightly painted barns and silos and, oh, the little villages where, I’m sure, everyone knew everyone else.  It all gave me a warm and cozy feeling.  I wanted to be part of that lifestyle.  I want to live in the country.  Fresh air, wide open spaces, good down-to-earth people.  I hate the city with all that noise and traffic and people.

About an hour from Port Elgin, I started calling hotels from the list I brought. To my horror, they were all booked – except Super 8. They had one room left, so I took it, sight unseen. It turned out to be a very nice room so I shouldn’t have worried. It was on the main street. Not my favourite place to be since it’s a very busy street. Oh well, that’s what I get for not booking ahead. Apparently, the town’s representatives were on Jay Leno to promote Pumpkinfest, which turned out to be the biggest in North America.

After checking in, we took the shuttle, which was a school bus, to the fairgrounds. It was hot as hell. Hot and sweaty. I can’t believe this. It’s Thanksgiving, for God’s sake. It should be in the 60’s, instead we’re hovering around 88 and humid. It felt around 95. Some of those pumpkins looked obscene. They weighed plus or minus 1000 lbs. I took some pictures but it was just too hot for me. Plus you should have seen all those kids. There must have been a million of them. Well, maybe not but the fair was geared towards families, that’s a fact. Rides on elephants and camels too. Wow.  Get me outta here! But then we heard about the antique car show, so we went to see what was what. There were some really super looking antiques but I’d had enough of the heat and the people. After taking some more pictures we flagged down the shuttle and went back to the hotel. We cooled off and went to dinner at the Chinese restaurant next door. It was raining buckets. Good thing we had out umbrellas in the car. Good thing we were next door. It was a very nice buffet. Not the Mandarine but that’s OK.  Very reasonable, too.

Next morning, we got up and out by 6:15. Charlie moaned a bit but, other than that, was pretty good about it. I wanted to get down to the beach and catch the sweet light. It was foggy, misty or whatever you call it. I like that, in a way because it gives a somewhat mysterious or surreal feel to a photo. I got one shot I really like. Imagine, one shot. I took many pictures of the sand and the lake that we couldn’t see. But, that one shot made it all worth while.

Next to the marina was a structure that looked like it might be a restaurant. We went over to it to check it out. It was and the nice lady opened up and let us in and gave us coffee. It was ten minutes before opening time but I took that opportunity to take a couple of pictures of the interior.  Well, they didn’t turn out.  Maybe I was hungry and not in the mood.  Maybe the mood had passed.  Anyway, we had some time alone in there. Right at 8AM, the other doors swung open and in came a hoard of people. All of them, it seemed, local residents. Lucky stiffs. We had peameal bacon and eggs. That came with hash browns and toast and coffee. We spent around $12.00, would you believe?  Not Toronto prices, that’s a fact.  We then went back to the hotel, showered and dressed. This day we will find interesting things to shoot – I hope.

We got out of the hotel around 10, I guess.  We drove along the coast to Southhampton, then to Sauble Beach and on to Wiarton and Owen Sound. We explored and poked around. We were amazed by the grand homes built along the lakeshore. You didn’t know where to look first, I swear. Tucked away, some of them, behind trees and overlooking the lake. (That would be Lake Huron and then Georgian Bay.)  We had a picnic in a park in Wiarton, home of Wiarton Willie, the albino groundhog.  We always watched him everyFebruary 2nd, anxiously waiting to see if he’d see his shadow or not.  Sadly, Willie died.  Moving along, back to the picnic, we had tuna, pita, oatmeal cookies. Nothing special.  I took some pictures and we moved on.  And this is how we spent the day.  It was fun.  We were in a good mood and so relaxed. 

We got back to the hotel around 5 or so and went to dinner at the Chinese Restaurant – again.  We didn’t have a choice.  It was the only restaurant open, that we could see.  People were at home having turkey and the trimmings.

Next day we were off again, heading home.  We took the long way via country roads.  The fields had been cleared, in many cases.  Manure had been spread and it had been spread recently, judging by the pungency in the air.  Other than the smell, everything seemed so beautiful, peaceful and serene.  Ah, but that smell.  I don’t know.  I’ll have to rethink moving to the country. 

Last night we were at a photo shoot in Niagara Falls for the Festival of Lights. It was OK but I should have skipped the various lit up reindeer etc and concentrated on the Falls. But, by the time we got to photographing the falls, my battery was empty, so I ended up looking at the beautiful lights on the falls and taking pictures with my eyes. Damn.

I must have seen these falls thousands of times but, each time I see them, I’m in awe all over again. Last night the coloured lights were shining on them, add to that the mist coming off them mixing with the below freezing air, it had a mystical charm.

The night was pretty cold and raw. The bricked areas became quite slippery. The salters roared up and down the broad walkways to spread the salt in order to keep the slippery surfaces in check.

We ended up packing it in and heading to the nearest Tim Horton’s. There, I had 10 Tim Bits and a hot chocolate. Boy, did that feel good going down.

The drive back home was uneventful but we were all pretty tired and pretty quiet all the way home what with all that cold, fresh air. We got home around midnight.