Pocketful of Memory Cards

Weekends in July and August have been filled with household upgrades and organized events so hiking has taken a low priority.  Though we've managed a daily hike up to Mission Ridge, it's been much too hot to spend more than an hour hiking over the dry Kelowna landscape.  Yesterday I decided I'd better start challenging myself if I wanted to be able to hike to a decent elevation on this year's BC vacation location:  Cathedral lakes . Here's a few photos from our morning hike up and over Knox Mountain. For me this is the most challenging way to get over Knox Mountain.  I leave the car at the Poplar Point parking area and head for Paul's Tomb, veering of the main path at this sign to head up and over the back of the mountain.   Wondering where the marmots are. 

The poopers and I took an extended walk along Mission Ridge this morning, accompanied by my new Samsung S6.  I've been an iPhone gal since I bowed to the social pressures and bought a cell phone five years ago.  I switched to the Samsung since I wanted a bigger screen -  as I get older, it's become more challenging to read incoming texts. I've been hobbling along with the shattered screen on my iPhone for a few weeks now, thinking because of the length of my contract, I wouldn't get a deal on a new phone for at least another month.  Turns out there are lots of deals on at Bell Mobility right now, and likely other carriers as well.  The $699 phone ended up costing me $25. Here's what we saw with the new Samsung. Here there be deer! The long hike takes us up to Westpoint Drive to IMHO an area overpriced homes.  This is what happens when it takes many years to sell out a subdivision.  You have this: Next to this: ...

I recently joined Lynda.com - because I forgot to cancel my membership before the one month trial was up.  I have no regrets though, as I've discovered a great series of courses taught by photographer Ben Long.  I'm currently working on the Exposure course and when I took the dogs for a walk yesterday I practiced my aperture and shutter prority modes using my new Nikon 50mm 1.8 FX lens.  It was a lot of fun and I discovered I'd really learned a lot.  And I really need to practice more.  Luckily practice is fun!  Here's a few of the shots that I like.