“It’s gone again, that beautiful summer, that summer that started back in May! Ah, you thought there would be no end to it, but before you know it, that summer will be long gone.” A Dutch song from 1973. I can remember that one as if it were yesterday. Well, perhaps last week… In Manitoba, we can say the same thing: Summer’s gone. Fall will set in and colour the landscape in red and gold.

So before fall really sets in with cold and misty weather, let’s take a good look at what we did this summer. It seems like we have had no time to do anything and it only started last week.

Read more: Summertime

When the skies decide to wreak some havoc down below, you’d better be prepared. But prepared for what? Some people go and hide in their basement, which may be a very good idea if Mother Nature throws a fit. Others, like me, will grab their camera and try to stay safe and dry, outside of the danger zone and shoot. Shoot as much as they can of the mighty clouds and winds.

Storms by night are the easier ones to photograph in case it is a thunderstorm. Lightning will stand out against the dark sky no matter what. Doing it during lighter hours or daytime is a lot trickier.

Read more: Prairie storms

Little did I know about a feature in Lightroom that could change a certain number of my pictures dramatically. For a while now, I have had this post on the shelves in my office, waiting to be published. Somehow it didn’t make the cut, even if the evening out in the desert was a great one.

No, the reason for not publishing it was that the pictures I had were not publish-worthy. They were lacking something that made me think “YES!”. Usually when I blog, the pictures accompanying the post have a story to tell on their own or accompany the story itself.

Read more: Desert evening or split

Blogging is exhausting. Every so many days you need to come up with something new. Finally, when you have no more ideas, you start to write about something from the past and then repeat yourself. Unless you have a blog dedicated to a specific subject like Lightroom or the Secrets of Baking Cookies. And even then it’s easy to get stuck in that rut that gets deeper and deeper.

So what is the solution to this problem? Get out there and find some new ideas. Easier said than done.

Read more: Bone breakers

Everybody does it in their lifetime. Looking for that rare piece of gold. That piece that will last you for the rest of your life. A few days ago I left for Bissett with a friend. In fact, we had in mind to go to Beresford Lake to spend some time on a campground.

When we arrived at the “Skinny Bridge” at Lac du Bonnet, there was a line-up of over a kilometre to cross the bridge. After seeing the (non) advancement of the line in five minutes we decided to turn around and take the alternative route. It was slightly longer.

Read more: Searching for gold

There is something magical with the feeling of floating in the air. Most people will have this feeling only in a dream. For some it turns out a nightmare, for others a wish to pursue once awake. I have always wanted to make a trip in a hot air balloon. The feeling of quietness and weightlessness is something to experience for sure. The closest I ever got to this feeling was when I went diving in the Mediterranean.

But that was a very long time ago. A few days ago I finally got a reservation on a hot air balloon. This year seems to have been very bad for flights for the pilots. Too much rain and wind, so when finally the flight was not cancelled, up I went!

Read more: Lighter than air

Provincial Parks tend to take up a lot of space, it seems. At least here in Manitoba. Some of those parks take up the entire surface of my original country of The Netherlands. And we still call them just Provincial Parks. Last winter I went to a small park, only a few acres big. In Seven Sisters Falls.

The Whitemouth Provincial Park is tucked away behind a lot of trees and a fairly long unpaved road. Last winter I went there with a friend in his truck and we had no issues getting there. Later I tried it again with my own car, also a 4x4 but didn’t make it through the 12 inches of freshly fallen snow.

Read more: A small park