FILTER FORGE

It's amazing what kind of crap you can find when you're surfing the internet.  In some cases, it is worthwhile crap or at least, interesting crap so I usually find myself exploring further and at least giving the crap a 30 day trial.

Today, I came across filterforge and to be very fair, this program is not garbage and I highly recommend it if you use photoshop.  As you may know, the filters in photoshop are very limited (and most of the time a complete waste of time) but with photoshop, the filter possibilities seem endless and most of the time, they are pretty freakin' cool.

I played around with a couple of them this afternoon and turned some photos into tricked out wonders.  I decided to make a collection of some countries that I have visited.

First up, we have Cambodia of course, my latest obsession.  I have always loved this photo.  It came together at the end of the day when two monks were wandering around the famous Ta Prohm temple.  The original photo isn't quite in focus so the photo is improved when it is "disguised" with a little filter magic.

Next up, we have Canada.  This is Lake Belwood situated about an hour outside of Toronto and on a warm August morning, it is one of the most beautiful places in the world--in my opinion, of course.  Summer doesn't last long here; by the middle of September, it's all over till the following June.  

The DR, as most people like to call it.  An island paradise where the people are friendly, the beers are cold and the music is hot. If you come here, you'll spend some lazy days unless you get diarrhea and then you're running a lot to the bathroom.  Bring some pepto and don't drink the tap water!  

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I really miss France.  I lived outside of Paris for a year just before I entered University and I fell in love with the whole country.  One of my favorite spots is Mont St. Michel which is the large Abby situated in the northwest corner of France in an area called Normandie. In the picture below, the large red splotches are actually poppies.  Not the best use of filterfoge (it looks like an impressionist painting that was left out in the rain) but it took me quite a while to do so I'm putting it here.     

You can check out filterforge at www.filterforge.com.  And yes, they do have a free trial.  

Computer crashes and other adventures

I remember reading somewhere that there are three major stressors that one can go through in life ...

Death of a loved one
Divorce
Loss of a job

I would like to add another to the list.

Death of a hard drive.

There is nothing worse that seeing the blue screen of death pop up unexpectedly after booting up.  Now I fully realize that this is a problem unique to first world countries because, for example, people in Somalia  don't have the same fear about electronic devices.  They don't have electronic devices.  And if they did, they would probably try to eat them.  

But it doesn't diminish the problem when it happens to ME.  And it DID.  And I FREAKED OUT and went into serious depression.   Yes, I did have a backup but I wasn't entirely sure that everything was saved and if you have ever had a hard drive go down, you know what kind of a headache it can be loading everything back into your exorcised computer.  It's just a royal pain in the ass.

It took me a couple of days to figure out what to do.  And if anyone is reading this with the same problem (and you're using vista), you have to download a "rescue disk" (because the idiots who sold you the computer are trying to save $.50 by not including it in your start-up kit) and use that as a boot disk.  Unless your hard drive is really toasted, then that should work.  And thankfully, it did with me.

So now I can post pictures of my recent trip to southwestern Ontario where I grew up.  That's Canada, eh and not Ontario, California.  We have a cottage on a lake which on a good day is post-card perfect.

Here it is, Lake Belwood.

This is what constitutes a tourist attraction in southwestern Ontario.  The "kissing bridge" in West Montrose.

The farmer's market where the Mennonites sell their produce.  Hmmm, corn and tomatoes that don't taste like cardboard!

The town of Elora with the Grand river running through it.  

I just happened to be there on a day when there were flower reflections in the water.  Doesn't happen very often but sometimes I get lucky.  

This animal was seen during our trip to Collingwood which is on the southern point of Georgian bay.  Not sure what he is.  An otter?  I'm a veterinarian.  Maybe I should know these things.  

My dad doing some water skiing.  Pretty amazing for a guy who is in his 70s.  

And the beautiful canoe trip down the Grand river.  It doesn't look as idyllic as it appears.  Most of the time you tip over or hit rocks or get attacked by other canoeists.  Only the brave survive.  

This part of Canada is a very beautiful place.  Sadly (for me anyway), it will all turn grey and cold in another two months.

The Canadian Autumn

Autumn is certainly not my favourite season because it means that winter is right around the corner. 

Not that I have to worry about snow anymore since I live in Southern California, but I still have those lingering memories of six feet snowdrifts and having to shovel out my car before I was able to drive to university in the morning. 

I was blessed to have the chance to travel back to southwestern Ontario last week and experience the beauty of the fall season.  I have always said that you have to be away from something before you can truly appreciate it and there is no better example of this than my trip to the family cottage for the Canadian Thanksgiving. 

The colours were brilliant at this time of year.  I was never into taking pictures of leaves before and yes, it isn't terribly exciting but at least I'm not showing you ALL of the pictures I took. 

Here is the family cottage.  It is like a tough old lady, braving all the Canadian elements and so far, she is still standing.  The bathroom is a little like Quebec in the 80s--it desperately wants to separate from the larger structure--but as of this writing, the cottage with all its parts, is still intact.   

The Blue Jay was out and about.  Eating the peanuts we fed it.  Not sure how the Toronto Blue Jays did this year--I was never really a fan which is probably quite disgraceful since they probably need all the support they can get. 

One day, we went to the St. Jacob's Farmer's Market where you could buy massive pots of flowers for $5.  That's impressive and before you say that Canadian money is like Monopoly money, I would like to let you know that the Canadian dollar is almost AT PAR with the American dollar.  And it briefly went OVER PAR in Europe.  So it deserves a little more respect.

And St. Jacob's is the center of the Mennonite community in southwestern Ontario.  They are very similar to the Amish--they like their clothes on the black side and they like to farm.  They also make great summer sausage and if you have never tried it, you should jump on a plane and get yourself up to Canada to taste some as soon as possible.  Hmmm, on second thought, it may not be available right now so you'll have to wait till next year.  Oh well.   

The Mennonites travel arround in buggies which is a little unfortunate since cars tend to hit them.  You see that big triangle on the back?  There's a reason for it.  Give them the right of way, please!  We want them to make more summer sausage! 

And here is the famous West Montrose covered bridge.  This is what we call a tourist attraction in southwestern Ontario. 

It is considered a kissing bridge because you are out of sight as you cross the bridge and can lock lips with your cousin if you so desire. 

According to the plaque, it is the last remaining covered bridge in Ontario and was built in 1881. 

Lake Belwood is just outside of Fergus which is about an hour outside of Toronto.  The lake has many different personalities.  At the time this picture was taken, it was in a particularly pensive mood. 

There is no denying that winter is on its way. 

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!  For the record, I hate pumpkin pie but I like the idea of it.