What's It All About, eh?

Cape Breton evokes deep memories and strong emotions for me as well as a deep appreciation for the beauty of my adopted island. My hopes are that you too might find the photos evocative - maybe a view you've not enjoyed before, or an 'Oh I've been there', or if from away that you may be encouraged to visit this fair isle so that you might come to love and breathe Cape Breton as I do. One word about place names that I use - some are completely local usage while others are from maps of Cape Breton that I've purchased over the years. I frequently post travel and other photos that are of interest to me - and hopefully you.

On the right hand side bar find my take on Single Malt whiskey - from how to best enjoy this noble drink to reviews (in a most non-professional manner) of ones that I have tried and liked - or not. Also musings, mine and others, on life in general.

Photographs are roughly 98%+ my own and copy-righted. For the occasional photo that is borrowed, credit is given where possible - recently I have started posting unusual net photographs that seem unique. Feel free to borrow any of my photos for non-commercial use, otherwise contact me. Starting late in 2013 I have tried to be consistent in identifying my photographs using ©smck on all out of camera photos I personally captured - (I often do minor computer changes such as 'crop' or 'shadow' etc but usually nothing major), and using ©norvellhimself on all photos that I have played around with in case it might not be obvious. Lately I have dropped the ©smck and have watermarked them with the blog name.

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Houston, We're Ready For Lift Off


© 17 Nov '12     photo by smck
© 17 Nov '12     photo by smck

© 17 Nov '12     photo by smck
As the hot propane flame heats the air inside the balloon envelope (photo 1) one of Captain Mike's helpers, Alexander I think, is pulling hard to keep the envelope stretched to its' full extent (photo 2).  (If you look closely at photo 1 you can see him in the distance to the right).  We start heading toward the gondola when the balloon is fully inflated to climb aboard with Mike.  The sturdy wicker gondola fits the four of us and Mike rather snugly - room enough to man our cameras but close enough to give us the feeling of a close-knit group.  The two young men, Andrew and Alex, will drive the 'chase' van with the small trailer to follow our flight as best they can on the country roads while keeping in cell phone contact with Mike for updates on flight proceeding.  The balloon is controllable as to altitude by judicious use of the propane flame heating the air but directional steering in the horizontal plane is determined by the direction of the wind.  Wind speed at lift-off was about 10 mph (@ 16 kph).  Flight go or no-go is determined strictly by the wind velocity - both at time of lift-off and by predicted wind speeds during the flight - but actual direction is somewhat capricious.   We know where we are leaving from but where we are going to is somewhat of a mystery.  The chase-van, to pick us up at the end of the flight, only has a general direction to start proceeding on the road, thus the air-to-ground cell phone contact.


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Visitors This Week (ending today)

 I am pleased to see the countries around the world that visit my blog!
This week the visitors are:

Canada
China
Croatia 
German
Ireland
India
Sweden
Ukraine
United Kingdom
United States



















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Balloon Inflation

© 17 Nov '12     photo by smck
After the balloon fabric has been attached to the gondola and stretched along the ground to its' full length, two large gasoline powered fans (lower left of photo 1) blow the cold morning air into the mouth of the balloon slowly giving it shape.
© 17 Nov '12     photo by smck
 Mike, the balloon Captain, gave us permission to photograph into the partially cold-inflated balloon capturing the hemispherical shaped inflated portion and the flattened edges along the ground slowly being pulled from the center mass of the rest of the bag's fabric.  (photo 2)

© 17 Nov '12     photo by smck
Now that the balloon has a goodly portion of its' inflation from the cold air fans, it is safe to fire the propane heaters attached to the gondola to slowly give lift to the massive balloon.  (photo 3)
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Setting Up For Our Early Morning Balloon Flight - I



© 17 Nov '12      photo by smck
 The gondola is dropped off in the parking lot of the small community of Muddy Creek Forks. We had gotten up about 4:15 p.m. to get to the pick up by 6:30. Then we drove another half hour to get to the lift-off area shown.  The morning was chilly with frost covering everything.
© 17 Nov '12      photo by smck
© 17 Nov '12      photo by smck
In the second photo Andrew and Alex prepare to tip the gondola for the attachment to the huge balloon still on the transportation trailer - which is being unloaded in this third photo.
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Leaving The Information Center ,

© 10 Jul '12     photo by smck
About an hour later than the previous photos on route to Gros Morne, as we were leaving the Information Center the table mountain in bold relief caught my eye.


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