Then and now...

As my friends know (and soon you will too), I love taking pictures.  I think my camera and I rarely part, I do wonder sometimes what would my camera say if it was to speak. It would probably ask to retire! I believe I have fully used and abused it ;-) 

It is a simple camera but I love the quality of its pictures, and its been with me for quite a while now, during hot and cold, on land and in air!

I mainly like to photograph nature, (specifically trees in autumn, I might add. Along with clouds -absolutely beautiful Saskatoon Skies-, flowers, scenery.... anything that catches my attention). I like to take plenty of pictures when on trips, to make a beautiful photo album of that trip to remember later on. I also like to compare the same shots in different seasons or after some time, just to track the differences and bring back some memories. 

Today while browsing one of my many albums (thank God for Picasa!), I came across the following picture. This was the view of the main Admin building at the University of Saskatchewan exactly one year ago. It was a chilly -22 degrees (Celcius):

Fortunately, this year I could say that we are lucky (so far!). The following is the same view today: 

It is a wonderful 4 degrees (Celcius) outside, with no snow. 

Is it going to remain like that or are we expecting drastic changes? I guess we all know its inevitable...

I'll try to dig up some of my favorite photos and post them later on, but for the time being, the idea of a much warmer day than last year keeps me warm and happy ;-)

Day and night...

This photo is absolutely beautiful. Be sure to read the text below to have a better understanding of what you are viewing. It is historic too, as it was taken during the last mission for Columbia.

The photograph above was taken by the crew on board the Columbia  during its last mission, on a cloudless day. The picture is of Europe and Africa when the sun is setting. Half of the picture is in night. The bright dots you see are the cities' lights.  The top part of Africa is the Sahara Desert. 

Note that the lights are already on in Holland, Paris, and Barcelona,
and that's its still daylight in Dublin, London, Lisbon, and Madrid. 

The sun is still shining on the Strait of Gibraltar. The Mediterranean Sea is already in darkness.  In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean you can see the Azores Islands; below them to the right are the Madeira Islands ; a bit below are the Canary Islands; and further South, close to the farthest western point of Africa , are the Cape Verde Islands.  Note that the Sahara is huge and can be seen clearly both during day time and night time.  To the left, on top, is Greenland, totally frozen.