AmplifiedLIFE

The amount of hot steam rising from the building across from my apartment tells me just how cold it is outside this particular winter's day. It's my own personal thermometer.

My backyard pond provides a protected, comfortable and natural environment for my neighbourhood critters. Birds, in particular, love to bathe in my waterfall/pond. Lots of sparrows, chickadees and blackbirds, but today - it’s a pair of cardinals! The bright red male sits high atop a telephone pole, keeping lookout while his female partner takes some Me time to freshen up. Female cardinals - unlike the bold red of their male counterparts - are known for their subtler, pale brown coloring with gentle reddish tips on the crest, tail and on their wings. They have the same color of bill and the same black face mask. Normally, pairs of cardinals stay together throughout the year and may breed for several seasons. They live an average of one year although there have been records of longer life spans.

Almost every evening, a small flock of Chickadees make their way to my rock pond haven, with comes complete with overhead camouflage, secure natural rock walls, cool flowing water and branches for perching and drying. While one is bathing, the others are in the nearby trees and buses, taking their turns as watchmen. I’ve slowed everything down for closer observation. Enjoy these zen moments. They say their name comes from the fact that they call out a distinctive "chick-a-dee-dee-dee", sound. In actuality, their normal call is “fee-bee”, and the famous chick-a-dee-dee-dee is an alarm call. And get this - the number of "dees" depends on the predator.

The key features of Norwich Terriers is that they are: Alert. Curious. Affectionate. Gregarious. And loyal. Yes! But … can they play badminton? We set up our game on a dirt surface at our Quebec, Canada cottage. That fluorescent green birdie we were using, really caught Russell’s eye and he was determined to get a hold of it. Norwich Terriers are plucky little dogs named for their hometown in England. Standing no more than 10 inches at the shoulder and weighing about 12 pounds, Norwich are among the smallest working terriers. Beneath the hard, wiry coat is a stocky, substantial dog. Norwiches may be toy-sized but they were originally bred as tough and fearless ratters. They are happy-go-lucky, fearless, and sometimes even bossy. Norwiches are energetic enough to play fetch all day, but affectionate enough to enjoy hours of lap time with their favorite human. It’s a clever but sometimes stubborn breed. Three words convey the overall dog: cute, cuter, and cutest.

We ordered a cord of wood for the soon-to-be-approaching Canadian winter in our cozy cottage. Did you ever wonder what exactly a cord is? It is 128 cubic feet of stacked wood. So you just measure your stacked pile, and multiply the Width x Height x Length and divide that by 128. That will tell you how many cords you have. And as you can imagine, there is a huge difference between a full cord of firewood, and other types of wood - most likely with a lot less space between the pieces.

A sweet, late September afternoon in Chicago. MY favourite kinda weather. Uber pickup by a big youngish guy in a big youngish vehicle – tells us he’s separated AND has six kids to take care of! Yet he seemed quite happy-go-lucky. Jared squeezed in time to join us before his evening flight, by just dragging his luggage right along with him! Richard led the way – or maybe Richard’s GPS led us, back and forth, forth and back … whatever – there was always something new to look at, no matter how many times we doubled back. Being downtown was exhilarating. Jared had suggested the Navy Pier as our destination, as it was a central tourist area. Here, there, up and down … just soaking it all in, we drifted to the river and found ourselves at a burger joint. And a mighty fine one at that. And fast. Just as well, as Jared was pressed to make his Los Angeles flight. More boats and people and architecture and dogs and birds and street musicians of renown. “A taxi is a dangerous way of living,” said our 60-ish Uber driver as he coaxed his Escalade through downtown Chicago and back towards the suburb of Burr Ridge. “Uber’s much safer. We don’t carry cash.” With his station set on soul and funk, Pharell’s 'Happy' moved us out of the city and on our way back home – or at least as far as our hotel.

Standing atop the Flora footbridge, overlooking Ottawa’s Colonel By Drive, I spot an odd site. A fellow on an electric skateboard - managed by a remote-control in his hand, following behind a zipping-along electric toy car - managed by the remote-control in his OTHER hand.

When I was a child, I often rode my bicycle to my local library, and with card in hand, I would make my way to the very furthest reaches of this wondrous building, in search of books that covered UFOs, unexplained phenomena, and tales of mystery and imagination. Now, my “library” has expanded to my own backyard where my newly-purchased trail camera picks up on motion, either as an infra-red heat signature or as frame-comparing motion. If even the tiniest mouse creeps by in the middle of the night, my trusty camera awakens and records. With this new toy, the possibilities for discovery are endless! Last night, my camera started filming in the dead of night, for no discernible reason. There were no animals or anything that could cause extraneous motion that might alert my camera sensors. But … what have we here? I have slowed my captured footage of this luminous floating object down considerably. I have enlarged it. I have motion tracked it. And I have increased the contrast and the overall detail so we can all get a better look. What do YOU see?

Using my iPhone X at 1080p and 240 frames per second, I’ve captured some interesting, close-up, slow-motion footage of sparrows landing, snacking and taking flight again. Being able to observe frenetic bird movements at a more leisurely pace, helps to reveal their wonderfully precise and flowing movements. Sparrows are common to Ontario backyards, and my backyard in particular since I do welcome them with yummy treats. It seemed to me this one was trying to call his comrades and let them know there was a buffet on offer, but nobody joined him, sadly. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow.

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I recently bought a trail camera, and I’m having great fun with this amazing piece of technology! No, I’m not out on the trail. I’m right here at home, and this camera is doing a great job of helping me discover who visits my backyard when I’m all tucked in at night. I just set it up, and the camera sleeps until it gets triggered by heat or motion. (The camera can sleep for months, if necessary, but with my backyard being such a popular wildlife night-spot, I don’t think that will happen much around here.) Once triggered, it starts shooting 4K video … with sound! So, guess who showed up last night? Why none other than, Pépe Le Pew. Mr. Smooth himself. I had set the camera very low to the ground, and the skunk woke it up by bumping right into it. The skunk did a little bit of thrashing, perhaps surprised by this unknown entity. But skunks probably don’t have much fear, right? Who would want to mess with one? Day or night. Satisfied that the camera was a benign addition to the scene, the skunk aimed its very intimidating backside at us before walking towards the pond to enjoy some fresh water. It took a while to find the right spot, finding the front too steep for a prolonged cool drink, but the stone plateau that has fresh water bubbling over it was apparently just right. A skunk’s stripes all lead to their weapon — that well-known noxious spray, which when fired can reach up to 10 feet! It’s believed the dramatic markings give potential predators fair warning as to where the danger lies. Skunks always prefer to intimidate rather than spray. And for good reason. After firing off that shot, the skunk is helpless for nearly 10 days! That’s how long it takes its body to ‘reload’. Skunks have great night vision and usually come out after dark. They’re smart, curious, and according to pet owners, they have individual personalities just like a cat or a dog. It had been a hot August day in Ontario, and this particular Mr. Smooth was obviously very thirsty tonight. I was glad to provide the amenities, and also glad to get some great shots of this esteemed visitor. When he’s finally quenched his thirst, he slowly heads off into the night, relaxed and confident that anyone with any sense would never mess with him. In fact, most would go out of their way not to bother him. Not a bad situation - if you are the skunk.

While road-tripping high in the Sierra Nevada mountains, near Lake Tahoe and Reno, we came across a herd of wild mustangs grazing in the hills next to the highway. Of the approximately 10 million horses in America, about 70,000 of them are wild and living on protected public lands. And over half of these wild horses live here, in Nevada, many of them clustered around Carson City, where we’re driving at the moment. Nevada is the seventh-largest state in size, and almost 90 percent of its land is owned by the federal government. Wild Mustangs are icons of American culture. For Americans, wild horses are symbols of freedom. And their heritage is honored and protected. They are descendants of escaped, domestic Spanish horses brought to this land by early Spanish explorers. Horses are naturally curious, so pulling over to the side of the road and taking some video of them was easy enough. They certainly are majestic beasts to behold.

Waking early, on a mid-August morning at a lake in Quebec, I saw my chance to get a shot I’ve been wanting to get for a while now. Coffee in hand, I walked through the fog down to the edge of the dock, propped my trusty iPhone X against a wood railing and proceeded to capture a time lapse of last night’s blanket of fog slowly drifting away with the rising sun. The day began with an overnight low temperature of 56°F (13°C), on its way to a mid-day high of 81°F (27°C). Ah, August in Canada! - warm summer days and brisk - perfect for sleeping - nights. This cottage is located on a narrow section of a very long lake called Lac Saint Pierre. The slow and subtle burning off of the fog took about an hour in real time, and this time lapse transforms it into a 20-second, soft, swaying dance.

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A quiet lake. An old wooden floating dock. My Sperry Top-Siders :) They say that when you drop a pebble into a pool of water, the waves go on forever. I wonder how far will these vibrational waves will go if I use a long, undulating dock on a foggy morning? Perhaps all the way to the sky?

My back yard and pond attract a lot of interesting wildlife. It’s a challenge to capture all that activity 24/7, so I bought myself a trail camera. With enough battery power to remain on stand-by for many months, this video camera tracks motion in two ways. It uses infrared technology to detect heat signatures while motion-detection software detects changes between two consecutive video frames. When triggered by motion or heat, even in the dark, it starts shooting silently, keeping the animals unaware. As I set the camera up by my pond around sundown, I wondered if even the tiniest animals would trigger the trail cam. The next morning, I had footage of this tiny field mouse, who so far is the winner for smallest creature captured by the new camera! (The camera model is: Topvision Wifi Trailcam)

One of my favorite backyard visitors is the red-headed woodpecker, a medium-sized woodpecker common here in Eastern Canada. Almost everyone can identify the very charismatic and colorful woodpecker. Some of its whimsical nicknames include flying checker-board and shirt-tail bird. My back garden attracts these birds (and many other forms of wildlife) with its combination of fresh seeds, lovely sheltering trees and bushes, and the chance for a cool bath in my fountain-pond. I’m sure it was a welcome stop in this little bird’s day. He didn’t even seem bothered by the neighboring rambunctious pool party in my usually serene neighborhood. After all, woodpeckers can be noisy themselves, with a variety of harsh “churrs” and rising “query” calls. Woodpeckers love my backyard garden (as do all birds and animals anywhere nearby). The combination of fresh seeds, lovely sheltered trees and bushes and the chance for a cool bath, I’m sure make it a welcomed stop in this little bird’s day. Oh, and please note, there’s some rambunctious pool party audio in the background of my usually-serene neighborhood. It was a HOT day!

Birds love to take baths in my rustic pond, and in the meandering canopied, stony creek that trickles its way down to it. A moment of serenity for you. A simple sparrow. Luxuriating in its bath in luxurious surroundings. After a brief time, I slow the footage down so you can have a keener look at how these birds wash and preen themselves. A simple sparrow. All gussied-up with fresh pond water. Ready for his day.

My friends and I visited Funchal, capitol city of the Portuguese Island of Madeira, where our main intent was to ride toboggans. Really! This totally unique tourist attraction got started way back in 1850. The people living “up” in the city of Monte, needed a fast and easy way of getting themselves and their goods down to the big city of Funchal below. So they came up with a very unique solution to the problem. They decided to SLIDE down! Of course, the invention of the automobile overtook the practicality of the toboggans many years ago, but the tradition lives on as an attraction that brings thousands of tourists every year. Everyone wants to try the exhilarating and unusual experience of sliding quickly down the narrow, winding streets to Funchal. Each toboggan car is made of eucalyptus wood and wicker, and has a two-person upholstered passenger seat built on two wooden slats. (The seats are padded which is much appreciated on the somewhat bumpy ride). These cars glide down the pavement on wooden runners, pushed and steered by two men called “Carreiros,” traditionally dressed in white cotton clothes and straw hats. The drivers grease the slats with tallow to help them slide. There are two holes at the ends of the slats, called muzzles, where rope is inserted, with the ends coming out of each muzzle. Not exactly precision steering, but it works! An ‘old-fashioned’ toboggan ride. - careening through city streets - pushed by strange men at wild speeds. With people and vehicles randomly appearing here and there. Sure. Completely safe. :) The 10-minute downhill ride is very picturesque, offering views of the sea and the island neighborhoods you zip along for a total trip of about a mile and a quarter. The toboggans can reach speeds of just under 30 mph! Don’t be alarmed, but our friendly “Carreiros” have only their rubber-soled boots to use as brakes! People always talk about tourist attractions that “cannot be missed”, but this really is one of those, because you will not find this particular experience anywhere else in the world! It’s adventurous while at the same time, relatively safe. (Careening through city streets people and vehicles randomly appearing here and there…I did say “relatively” safe :)

I took a relaxing ride through Barcelona on a September afternoon atop the famous hop on-hop off tourist bus. Since I was relaxing, I only took a few shots—most of them focused on the 38-story bullet-shaped glass building, the Torre Glòries. The tower stands in the Poblenou neighborhood of Barcelona, where it marks the entrance to the new technological district of the city. Designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, the Torre Glòries stands over 144 meters high and cost 130 million Euros to build. When it opened in 2005, it had the name “Agbar Tower”, after the multinational group Agbar, whose corporate headquarters it houses. In 2017 the building was purchased by Merlin Properties, who changed its name to Glòries, the name of the adjacent square. The architect said he was inspired by the shape of a geyser rising up into the air, as well as by Montserrat, a mountain near Barcelona. Also, he described the tower as “phallic” in character. The tower has inspired many nicknames over the years, such as “the suppository” and the “shell,” to name the milder of them. This double-decker tourist bus has three different routes, going by all of Barcelona’s top landmarks and attractions for a single ticket price. The bus provides a free audio guide (available in 11 languages), and as its name suggests, you can hop on and off as many times as you like.

How's that for a headline? You never know who or what will cross your path on a busy summer’s touristy day here in downtown Barcelona, Spain. And I think the best thing about it is that passersby hardly give Mr. Horse a glance, and if they do, he makes them smile. Oh, and there’s a beautiful church at the end.

Saying farewell to a group of quiet but interesting friends I met while visiting other friends in Austin, Texas.

Del Mar (Spanish for "by the sea”) is one of the most fetching places in California, or in the entire USA for that matter. The shoreline yields an interesting mix of variously colored rocks and sand, and waves and wind mix and match it all. If you soften your gaze, you’ll see magic appear… Even the shallow waters of the Pacific can be quite brisk in January. I held on tight to my iPhone X as I shot this video during a bare-foot walk on the beach. And because wind and microphones don’t always get along, I have opted for some subtle music to accompany the visuals. Relax and be soothed by the wind, sea and surf of Del Mar, California.

It’s a warm September night here in Austin. We took a short walk over to the Congress Avenue Bridge to see, what has become a major Austin tourist attraction. The largest urban bat colony in North America live under this bridge in the gaps between the concrete. Two million Mexican free-tailed bats. For some perspective, there are only 900,000 PEOPLE living in Austin. Every evening from March through September, the bats come out at dusk, forming a black bat-cloud that spirals out into the sky. This nightly bat-feeding was initially met with fear by the locals, but slowly an appreciation developed for these gentle and incredibly sophisticated animals. Now as the sun sets, a crowd of people gather to watch in fascination. During each nightly foray the bats manage to eat an estimated 30,000 POUNDS of insects, moths, beetles, dragonflies, flies wasps and ants! This spectacle attracts as many as 100,000 tourists annually and it gives an $8 million economic boost to the city of Austin. Did you know that Mexican free-tailed bats are widely regarded as one of the most abundant mammals in North America? They are only about 3 1/2 inches long and weigh about .75 oz. They used to roost in caves and in the halls of trees, but now many bats prefer buildings and other man-made structures. They hunt their prey using echolocation. Bats are also very efficient pollinators. In fact, their pollination of sugarcane, as well as their consumption of insects damaging to sugarcane, is why Bacardi rum features the Mexican free tailed bat as its icon.

A November sunset, circa 2018. Chicago O’Hare airport United terminal, just before my 7pm flight to Ottawa. Watching this footage brings several songs to mind… “All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go… I’m leaving, on a jet plane. Don’t know when I’ll be back again.” John Denver - Leaving on a Jet Plane “But my heart keeps calling me backwards, as I get on the 707… Big ol' jet airliner, don't carry me too far away.” Steve Miller - Jet Airliner “Out on runway number nine, big 707 set to go. Hear the mighty engines roar - see the silver bird on high. She's away and westward bound - far above the clouds she'll fly.” Gordon Lightfoot - Early Morning Rain “See the clouds adrift so far below. Ever changing as they come and go… On this airplane comin' home to you. Sometimes I think I've flown my whole life through, as I wing my way to you.” David Gates - Suite: Clouds, Rain “Revvin' up my engine. I’m like a 747, baby, shiny, lanky, long and lean.” Burton Cummings: My Own Way to Rock