A. E. McRae

Random Thoughts on Traveling

2011-11-07T11:09:00.000-08:00

I love traveling. I love being at home too, but as someone that works from home I spend a lot of time looking at the same walls (my work environment = my home environment) and I spend a lot of time alone. I love the opportunity to explore and enjoy being away from home. This past month has given me quite a lot of those opportunities.

I spent a weekend in NYC, working a trade show. Our hotel was right on Times Square, and it was a fascinating experience. I expect I'll go back some day, but must say that it is not high on my list of places to revisit. It is a busy, busy, hectic place and the logistics of getting from one place to another are overwhelming.

This past weekend, Daryl and I visited Vancouver. We had just about a full day together to explore, although we were in the city almost 48 hours. Vancouver is one city that I would contemplate living in, right in the downtown core. It's also a city that I would not live in if I couldn't live right downtown - transportation here is still difficult, although the Sky Train is a great addition and a very civilized way to travel.

Vancouver is breathtakingly lovely. Gorgeous views every direction. No -40C to contend with, rare snow, gardens that grow more or less year round. I may be in love.

It was also really wonderful to spend the time with D, away from the routine chores and distractions of home, enjoying the time together exploring the city. We really need to do so more often, and should be able to now that the kids aren't quite as demanding. I'm really looking forward to it, in Vancouver and where ever the winds may take us!

On the eve of my 49th birthday

2011-09-17T17:25:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling a bit reflective, I guess. Thinking about 'where I am at' and I'm pretty satisfied overall. I have accepted many things, such as not being a world class researcher with a life altering discovery, not being ridiculously wealthy, not maintaining that youthful figure I once had! I know that even though, at the moment I have a figure to rival 'Mama Rosa', a generously proportioned grandmother figure from my child hood, I have the power to change that, if not the will. Despite that, I still 'clean up quite nicely' and have been known to rock some great shoes!

I am pretty content with who I am and what I'm doing. I have a great job that I know I'm good at. I have a great husband, friend and life partner. I don't really have concerns about what 'we'll do' once the kids leave. I can think of a billion things to fill our days!

There is one thing, though, that I spend time worrying about. As I am about to release three young adults into the world, I just can't keep from thinking that my 'job' as parent is incomplete. They aren't ready; the world isn't ready for them. I don't think I've had any real influence over their actions, other than funding them, for several years already. I'm not sure how to or if that can be changed. I also really don't know what should have been done differently. I think I made good parenting decisions most of the time. I wanted them to think for themself, to be risk takers and decision makers. I was not a helicopter parent, never did their homework, was not in their teachers face. Now that they share their decisions with me I am just not sure! I suppose, as my dad is fond of saying, 'Only Time Will Tell'.

It's Spring, I think

2011-04-25T10:34:00.000-07:00

April has been an unpleasant month. More than half my yard is still covered in snow, and that which is not is either under water or covered with snow mold. This time last year I had a significant amount of garden clean up done. This year, not so much!

Even the birds are late. Robins arrived this past week. There are some raptors around, and the red polls may have finally moved on. The rabbits that have been feeding under the bird feeders all winter are starting to turn color - and they are brown! Not quite the right color of a jack rabbit. I'm starting to think they are escapees from a former neighbors hutch! The porcupines are back, and so are the chipmunks.

Yesterday was actually warm, and we were able to sit outside for an hour or so, checking out the yard, planning where to plant the vegetables this year, and what to plant in the new planter. I still have this idea that we could produce all of our own vegetables, at least a couple of months supply. I've had fantastic gardens at our other homes, but of course the difference has been unlimited access to water for them. Here, since we get water via truck, we don't water quite as recklessly. Note to self: I now remember that one of the things we were going to install this spring was some really large rain barrels.

The other sure sign that spring has arrived is the start of construction (destruction, actually) in the field across the road. Bright and early this morning the rumble of graders and back hoes started. The road is strewn with the parked cars of the workers, apparently a small army's worth. I am of mixed emotion about the development across the way. With it will come city water service to our crescent (I hope) and at the very least, a fire hydrant within workable reach of my home! It should also bring competition for internet and television providers, which should bring me faster connection speed. Building homes in the field should buffer the current 'background' noise of the Henday. A neighborhood will be less unattractive than the plantless expanse of dirt that has been there since the developer ripped the crop out of the field three years ago. The wildlife that used that field for home have been more or less AWOL since. Since it isn't possible to turn back time, it is better to find the positive in the change than to spend too much time lamenting it.

Spring is here, and with it a sense of new inspiration. Time to embrace change; time for new growth.

Maui 2011: Above and below the cloud

2011-04-05T13:34:00.000-07:00

After the great snorkel trip Saturday, Sunday was a much more laid back day. We hung around the condo a while, and then headed south to do a bit of shopping, and a bit of beach, ending up at Polo beach in Wailea. Another beautiful beach, and for mid day on a Sunday, there was hardly anyone there. The surf was much, much calmer here than at Big Beach, and there were many novice boogie boarders and body surfers. This beginner caught our eye:

Katie and Daryl spent a couple of hours hanging out in the surf. I, having broken the second swim suit clasp of the trip, had to stay put and hope my bathing suit top wouldn't fly open! At about 2:30 we headed back to Kihei for a late lunch. Word of warning to future visitors - lunch pretty much ends by 2 p.m. and most places close for a couple hours before dinner. Our late lunch habit is not one to emulate in Kihei. We chose the Maui Coast. The restaurant (Spices) was deserted, but we sat out in the shade, and shared their appy platter. Fantastic! Coconut shrimp, Calamari slices and chicken. Something for everyone, well prepared, hot! Yum!

We also decided to go out for dinner Sunday, and chose Cuatro. Katie was leery of the menu - mostly fish, beef or pork. The single chicken dish contained ham! However, she ordered it, with rice instead of potatoes, and was impressed. Everything here was great - beautifully prepped food, attentive service, fabulous experience. I had almost given up hope of a good meal out for the trip. When we quit reading guide books, and just picked places, we did much better.

Monday we headed up Haleakala. Another of the many 'must sees' that we had not managed to see on prior trips. The road up to the top is pretty winding, and I would suggest taking gravol with you. The trip is fabulous and totally worth the drive. We were about half way to the park when I realized that I had left my camera at the condo! Un-freaking-believable! Katie had her little Sony P&S, and saved the day!

From Haleakala, we went to Makawao for some shopping and lunch. Once again, we pushed that 2 p.m. deadline. We walked into Casanova at 1:58, so we were seated and allowed to order lunch. Good thing too, because this was another really stellar meal! Daryl got his t-shirt fix in (bought 5!) and Katie stocked up on gifts for friends. At an art gallery, we saw some beautiful sunset photos from Big Beach and Makena Beach, so we headed back south to pick up the camera and get to the beach for sunset. The sky was full of angry clouds, and the sun not visible for the first hour, but it did eventually break through and gave us a great show. Not having my tripod last night was a problem, and the photos suffered somewhat because of this. I wish that I had been able to have the camera higher (I had it on top of my camera bag, at beach level), and been more mobile to change positions more. But, the display was still awe inspiring, and I won't complain any more than that!

The most amazing snorkel trip ever!!!

2011-04-03T19:31:00.000-07:00

I had to give this day it's own post, because it was a really amazing, totally awesome, wonderful day!

We've let KT pick the direction of our activities, and she really wanted to snorkel at Molokini. So I checked pricing for various tours and decided on the Pacific Whale Foundation mostly because I have a soft spot for whales, and conservation societies, and it seemed like a good fit. I could argue in it's favor with D because the Molokini/Lanai'i trip was a really good price to boot, and left from Ma'aleia at 8:30 a.m. (as opposed to Lahaina or 7:30 a.m.)

The trip itself was wonderful - a nice, well maintained vessel, friendly and professional staff, decent food (muffins or bagel and fruit for breakfast, bbq for lunch, drinks after snorkeling). The crew kept tabs on the snorkeling from kayaks in the ocean, rather than from on deck. Floatation devices like life jackets and noodles were included. Wet suit tops were available for $10 each. Bring your own towels, and plenty of sunscreen as well as gravol because the trip across to Lana'i is pretty rough even on a perfectly calm day like yesterday.

Our first wild life encounter was a school of bottle nose dolphins on the way to Molokini. A brief stop to watch them swim, before heading on to Molokini "before the winds pick up".

My preference for a boat trip would have been a whale watching tour. I had never 'successfully' snorkeled. I don't swim, and I am not super comfortable in the water. KT felt very strongly that I should try snorkeling again, so I did. I listened to the captains instructions on what to do if you got water in your mask, etc., put on a floatation belt AND a noodle, and headed into the ocean. My first several attempts to put my face into the water were met with a desire to hyperventilate. I could see fish just below the surface, and could feel them swim past my legs, but I just could not get my face into the water and still breath. Shortly thereafter I found Daryl and KT, and she was able to convince me to get my face submersed. She promised to hold the breathy dealy up so that I didn't have to worry about the water, and I managed to have a look. I found humming to myself helpful, for what ever strange reason.

The reef itself, and the fish, and the beautiful clear water at Molokini, were the most amazing thing I've ever experienced. Many, many different species, colorful, flourescent fish, interesting shapes and colors of coral. Being able to relax completely, float on the surface and just watch the activity on the bottom of the ocean was a zen like moment.

After an hour in the water we were off again, across the 'washing machine channel' to Lanai'i. Not too far along, we spotted a 'competition pod' of humpbacks. As the captain slowed down, the pod actually mobbed the boat, swimming in front, behind and under us! It was amazing. There were 6 or 7 individuals in the pod, and they stuck really close to us for many minutes! I couldn't have been happier! I was able to get some really cool photos.

Once the whales moved off to a safe distance, we were on route again, and at Lanai'i after lunch. The captain found a beautiful spot for us. The water was much deeper, meaning the creatures much farther away. But the diversity was just as good, and the water almost as clear. Katie led me around to see all of the cool things she had discovered. Sadly, D had technical difficulty with his mask, and got out early. Right before the call to get back on board, KT found a sea turtle, and was able to swim after it for some photos.

What's not to love about a beautiful, hot day on the ocean, complete with awesome snorkeling, dolphins, sea turtles and the most impressive Humpback display ever???

Maui 2011: the marvelous middle

2011-04-03T09:40:00.000-07:00

Once we had all luggage accounted for, groceries and other 'necessities' purchased, the relaxing could begin. Wednesday morning we headed to Big Beach. Stunningly beautiful, and hardly anyone there. Big surf though, so no water sports for us. Just hanging out, watching the boogie boarders enjoy the waves and getting a sun burn.

Late lunch in Kihei. Ended up at Fred's for tacos. Nothing spectacular there. We watched some humpbacks frolicking just off Kam II as we ate, a sign of good things to come! Headed up to Iao State Park in the late afternoon, and were treated to a light rain shower, and a rainbow.

Thursday was our day to drive to Hana. Beautiful weather, gorgeous drive, spectacular views. Every bit as gorgeous as the hype leads you to expect. We'd started this drive on previous trips, but hadn't gotten to the half way point. This time, we not only went all the way to Hana but also the rest of the way around. There must be a dozen different Eco systems along the route, from lush rain forest to barren desert, all with stunning ocean views. We stopped at one of the road side banana bread vendors, as well as for 'ice cream' at Coconut Glen's, where KT had an interesting chat with the girl running the stand about wanderlust.

We had take out burgers from the Hana Ranch restaurant. They were expensive, not properly cooked, and pretty bad! Dinner out that night at Maui Masala. This is a small buffet style cafe, and not what we were expecting, but the food was good.

Friday's plan was to head into Lahaina for some t shirt shopping and general hanging about. After lunch at Captain Jack's, which was pretty good, we headed further north. On our first trip here, in 1994, we drove this road and giggled at the signs instructing you to honk when negotiating the blind curves in the road. The road is much improved, and an easy drive. The rain rolled in, leading to some very pretty skies,

and when we stopped in Ka'anapali for some beach time we were treated to another rainbow. Headed back to Lahaina for Cheeseburgers in Paradise, got a parking spot right on Front Street, watched the sun set while we waited for our table.

It's been an awesome trip so far, and I'm enjoying the company. I think we made the right choice to not force Alex along, at least from the point of avoiding the petty bickering and general grumpiness of the two kids together! I just hope the house is still standing and not too badly abused when we get home!

A trip to Maui, the comedic beginning

2011-03-30T02:05:00.000-07:00

We finally decided to take Daryl's sister up on her offer of a week at their condo, when the temps hit -35C AGAIN. We'd been trying to come up with a week that would work for all 5 of us,and just couldn't. In the end, it's D, KT and I.

The trip began benignly enough, with a quick check in and security at YEG, but the flight was ever so slightly late which cut into our time to change planes in YVR. That wouldn't have been a problem, except....

At U.S. customs we were missing a bag, and delayed again. Special protocol for not having the bag identified means another delay. Get to the gate as they call final boarding call - missing a passport. Search everywhere, panic, and a retracing of steps. The gate agent let us know the missing bag was found and on board.

D finds the missing passport,runs through the airport and we get on board, only to find our seats given away, and we are asked to sit in the exit row. As repayment for agreeing, the stewardess promises comp'd first class wine. Not too bad a deal, and the wine flowed freely.

Sadly, the gate agent at YVR was mistaken, and the bag was not on board. Katie is without her stuff, and not so pleased.

Spent the first day getting 'essentials' - shorts, t shirts, swim suit for Katie, food and alcohol at Costco. picnic lunch with whole foods salads and some time watching kite surfers and wind surfers near Kahalui.

After a bit of downtime and a margarita, we head to the beach for our first sunset, tripod and remote shutter release, beach chairs and books in hand. Pretty enough sunset,

but to my chagrin, my tripod plate is no where to be found. Heavy sigh.

We've just heard from the airline, and the bag has been found and is on it's way. Tomorrow awaits, just another day in paradise.

Act your age

2011-03-20T11:24:00.000-07:00

Rumour has it that I will be 49 this year. The aches and pains in my joints, the grey hair in my eye brows, and the prescription for stronger progressive lenses support that fact.

On a quest for new glasses. The frames have to accomodate the prescription. Lots of classic, even elegant choices but I want a pair of glasses that are funky, playful and in vogue. Maybe a pair with a bunch of bling. Something that makes a statement.

We don't need a mini van anymore. I want a cool little vehicle. Not a sports car though, a small SUV or hatchback I think. Bright red, or maybe electric blue. Perhaps a pretentious brand name. Something that will stand out. Something that doesn't say mom.

Need to renovate. Kitchen layout, baths, main floor flooring, garage, and probably the roof. The finances aren't in place for this but I don't want to have to care. Throw caution to the wind, and get it done.

Want to travel. Just leave everything at the drop of a hat, pack a bag and hit the road.

I want to spend money with the reckless abandon of the son, engineering coop student with pretty good income, living at home and with few expenses, rather than with the caution of a 50 year old trying to get three kids through post secondary! Is this one of those mid life crisis moments? If I were a guy would I be shopping for a sports car and a younger woman?

Thinking about writing that Christmas letter!

2010-12-13T14:09:00.000-08:00

I can't remember if I wrote anyone last year - I think not - shame on me. So I went back through my blog for the last two years, and found this gem from January 2009:

So, what will 2009 bring? Who really knows?
My goals?
Do more photography, maybe even earn a significant portion of my income from it! Actually carry through with a PAD project. Travel and shoot more.
Get into shape! The Wii fit that we got for Christmas is going to kick start that! (So much fun!)
Travel more.
Get somewhere with the house - renovate, remodel, rebuild....pick one!
Shoot more.
Continue to watch the kids grow up, and be amazed at how time flies.
Travel more.
Continue to watch mom thrive under dad's care, continue to be amazed by dad being retired. What will he do next, now that the garage is organized?
Shoot more.
Visit all of the relatives again!
Travel and shoot more!
Grow a decent crop of vegetables.

Enjoy my days. Relish the moment. Do something that matters.

So much time has passed, so few differences in goals!

2010-12-01T20:20:00.000-08:00

My 2011 Calendars:

A night full of adventure

2010-09-18T17:03:00.000-07:00

Last night I was invited out to a girls only wine and cheese, and had a really nice time. I got home about midnight and was unwinding on the sofa, playing this stupid game called BubbleXplosion on my iPad, and watching the tail end of Urban Cowboy. Really addictive time wasting game! Anyway, shortly before 1 a.m., my eldest child returns home from a 'Full Moon' party, without his shirt. One of those things that makes you shake your head, but not for long. Sometime after going to bed, I hear the next child arrive home from her evening out, and hear her bring the dog into the house. At 3 a.m. the dog wants to go outside, so I grudgingly and groggily grab my robe and go to let him out. Robe not fully on, I am shocked to see headlights on on my driveway. I know oldest and next oldest are in the house, so I get my robe on properly, then return to the door, suspecting that the youngest has snuck out of the house. I watch in fear/anger/disbelief as this young male approaches the front door, hood up, trying to get the dog not to bark. Thinking this is the youngest trying to sneak back into the house, I steel myself. The door opens, and in steps a young man (not my son) with brownish red marks all over his face. I recognize him as a friend of my eldest son, but cannot figure out why he is walking into the house at 3 a.m. or what the markings on his face are. At first I am thinking wounds, but then realize it could be face paint. Indeed, he confirms it is facepaint, and that he has forgotten something in CBs car and needs the key.

As astonishing and surreal as this is, the nocturnal activity doesn't end there. About an hour later, I hear a very muted and strange moaning sound. Worried that it might be my youngest, the diabetic, I get out of bed again, and have a look around. Because I didn't see him in his bed at 3 a.m. I go to the basement first, to find that he isn't there either. Heart pounding, I come back upstairs, and have another look for him in his bed. He is indeed there. Alright, the moaning is not coming from any of the humans in the house, so wtf is it? Outside to find the dog; instead the noise is much clearer, and is a distant dog bark. But where is Kelso? Rattled and wide awake, I look out the back window, to see the little porcupine in the bird feeder. Wait, there is a large dark shape on the ground too, and it is moving toward the house. WTF? The large porcupine is here too. Back outside to find the dog before he finds the porcupines. Finally, he lumbers up the front step, quite uninterested in being brought into the house. With the dog and all humans accounted for, I risk going back to bed, heart still racing, head pounding, hoping for some sleep, which does eventually arrive.

Will the fun ever stop?

Our daughter returns from her adventure

2010-06-18T09:58:00.000-07:00

On August 22, 2009, our daughter left for an exchange trip to Germany for the school year. The exchange was fraught with difficulty from the beginning - we were late to join up so host country choices were limited. Then, after coming to terms with England as her home for the year, a change in VISA requirements resulted in a change in host country. With Germany the only viable option, our sweet young lady decided "I will go to Germany then, because there is no F-ing way I am staying home with you another year".

Such is the precarious relationship between parents and their teens. It is far more challenging to parent a proto adult than a baby, although I am sure that I won't convince any new parent of this!

Katie left us an angry young lady, uncomfortable with her place in life, as so many 17 year old girls are. Life is difficult for so many young girls, especially ones with parents so difficult as us!

Her exchange trip was full of challenges, starting with not knowing a word of the German language, through problems being accepted at her first host family, and a bit of home sickness to boot. She rose to the challenges, and stuck the year out, and I am certain that the young woman that we will meet at the airport in 13 hours will be a much different, and much more secure and comfortable person than the one we said good bye to last August.

I feel melancholy for her having to have the great adventure come to an end. Saying goodbye is difficult, and I am sure she will miss her host family, friends and life. I am certain that she has grown so much from this experience. But I am really excited to see her, and can now say publicly how much I have missed having her here!

Welcome home, Katie!

The Garden Diaries #8

2010-06-07T13:13:00.000-07:00

May has come and gone. Very, very wet month; good for the plant life here. Other than the fact that a good deal of the precipitation in May was snow, it didn't slow us down too much. The cucumber plants that I put into the ground mid May succumbed as did the Millwoods Soccer Tournament (canceled due to snow!).

May was a fabulous birding month here. I have set about getting a great shot of every species that I see. I have hundreds of shots of the birds......I have one or maybe two that are great!

The front yard is looking really nice, when the dandelions are beheaded. The hammock is up, tulips are in bloom and the front porch planter is all done. If the rain would stop, I could work outside and admire it all.

Installation of water service, and possibly sewer, as well as reconstruction of the road is on track for next summer, and so any major redesign and installation of hardscaping in the front is now on hold, since digging the yard up twice in two years would be stupid.

Which leaves me with the back yard as my major focus for this year. Planning some nice 'island' garden beds, full of trees and perennials. The new patio and garden wall are a maybe. The clean up of the crap behind the garage is a must. There is virtually no grass at all in the back - moss (which is also dead), weeds and dirt. A fresh start, adding some hardscaping and planters before we reseed the grass, will be a very good thing.

Rainy days - what grand designs are made from.

Happier Than (and as dirty as) a Pig in Shit

2010-05-15T15:11:00.000-07:00

I've been gardening, all weekend long. Digging, planting, digging, planting, watering. It is absolutely gorgeous out: 25C, clear blue skies, no wind. The back yard is a hive of activity, with about a dozen bird species doing the mating dance.

We put the sunflowers and sweetpeas in the ground Thursday, all around the perimeter of the 'cage'. Yesterday, after getting my hair cut (too short, says DRB), we went to Millcreek Nursery and then to Salisbury Greenhouse. Bought some lilacs, a rose, a double flowering plum and some perennials. Got them all, plus my glads, into the ground today.

Alex mowed the front lawn, Daryl power washed the front porch office. The forecast for the rest of the week is glorious, and I do believe that I will be ready to plant my planters full of annuals, put the hammock out, and sit back and enjoy the weather! Daryl grabbed this (NOT VERY) charming glam shot of me:

The Garden Diaries #6

2010-05-10T14:03:00.000-07:00

The first weekend in May, I was in Calgary photographing the Highland Dance Provincial Championship competition. We came home Sunday night, and I had a good solid week of photography work to do, so the significant snow fall on May 4 was perfect timing!

It is quite lovely out again, so I have spent another day working in the garden. Yesterday I was able to pull the significant number of dandelions from my front planter, and finished just before it started hailing! Daryl planted some of the seeds we bought from the seed bank yesterday as well. Today, I planted an Astilbe, a black Asiatic lily and a bleeding heart in the front planter, as well as about a half dozen gladiolas. Then I raked more twigs and leaves from the front yard and the garden to the east side of the house. It is amazing that I can haul 13 large garbage bags of yard waste to the curb, and still suspect that a visitor wouldn't know I had even started my yard clean up.

There are lots of tulips poking through, and the raspberries out front look great. The irises do too, so that garden should be really nice this year.

Signs that My Children are Growing Up

2010-04-22T08:28:00.000-07:00

Things they have said recently!

Colin, reading 'Freakonomics' while sitting in the sun in the backyard yesterday, watching a female Pileated Woodpecker: "It's so awesome that we have cool birds like that in our yard".

So, does that mean that you are over hating living in 'the middle of no where'? ;-)

Katie, on Skype this morning: "Mom, how often did we fight?" Um, like every day! "No, I don't remember ever fighting with you" Really - well I am so happy that you don't remember! Onward.

The Garden Diaries #5

2010-04-17T08:29:00.000-07:00

Thursday, I visited three locally owned landscaping businesses, with the intent of hiring a crew to work on my landscaping projects. The first project requires some major equipment that I don't have access to - large branch chippers, scrub cutters and a skid steer or cultivator. The first business didn't offer those services, and couldn't recommend anyone else. Fair enough. The second business was a bad choice on my part, I know, but they don't even know what I wanted since they did not acknowledge me at all! The third one is really the subject of this post because the guy I talked to would have willingly had me sign up for his $600 an hour design service, glowingly told me about all of the big wigs he has done jobs for, pointed out that he has $6M of equipment sitting on his lot, but would not send his $85 an hour crew and skid steer over to my house. "no, I need to see the project first" Fair enough, when can you drop by (my house is about 5 km from his shop). "Oh, well I'll be there some day" Uh-huh. I'll expect you then.

So instead of having his idle equipment bring home a little bit of revenue, it sits there depreciating. I subsequently went to the local Home Depot and found that I can rent a really large chipper for $100 for the day, a really large rototiller and a chain saw to take out the scrub. I can do the work myself. His crew can go work paving over some large lot residential home of my neighbors. And I will probably save a bunch of money in the process.

There truly is a new standard in business and a new norm to customer service.

The Garden Diaries #4

2010-04-12T22:31:00.000-07:00

Well, not much work as the weather has turned. However, I have been able to 'illustrate' (well, okay, rather poorly) my grand plan for the yard. You can see the details in this gallery.

Daryl got a kick out of the inclusion of Kelso here:

Weather is supposed to warm up Thursday. I would love a couple days rain. Happy gardening.

The Garden Diaries #3

2010-04-07T20:09:00.000-07:00

"At our old house" - a phrase used by the kids fairly regularly, although as time has gone by they talk about it less and less. We do have lots of fond memories of 225 - we designed it and built it, and we worked our butts off landscaping it! I had a gorgeous, if somewhat overgrown and informal, flower garden there. I would nip outside every opportunity, which of course was nap time! Pulling weeds and transplanting plants made for very happy days. Some of my favorite garden photos from there:

I've been working at recovering old photos from old dead hard drives, and have found some fabulous photos of the kids. Snapshots, but really, that's what I wish I had more of - those wonderful candid moments.

Among the great pics of the family, there are my garden pics too. I think that they are what is helping to inspire me to turn 104 into what I have envisioned all these last 6 years. The plan exists, in my mind, but two things have kept me from bringing it into existence. The first is money - and I still don't have that. The second is the time to do the work myself, and I finally do have the time.

Today, I did more pruning and scrub removal. It has occurred to me that I can do this with my hand pruning saw - no chain saw required. As well, despite all the nay saying about taking out trees, if I do it when Daryl isn't watching, he doesn't notice! :-) Kinda like when I was 12 and got my ears pierced, without my mom's permission. It was weeks before she noticed!

There are a few old, large hard wood trees to take out still. I will need help with those. The next major step will be to have the garden cultivated - not sure if we will need to hire someone for that.

And then, well, it'll be time to plant!

The Garden Diaries #2

2010-04-05T22:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterdays success, and the fact that my old tired bod didn't ache all over today inspired me to continue giving trees haircuts. Today's victims: the patch along the east side of the property, where we were once thinking raspberries would grow. Got rid of lots of scrub, but got pretty scratched up in the process. I finally realized that one reason that this is currently an enjoyable task is that the mosquitoes aren't out yet! I can sit on the ground with no danger of a major allergic reaction! With that in mind, I hope to get all the pruning done over the next week and hopefully beat the little buggers in the process!

The Garden Diaries #1

2010-04-04T22:31:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day, above average temps, clear blue skies and nothing official to do until 4 p.m. Most of the snow is gone, the ground is thawed enough to do basic garden clean up. I have decided that I will have a great garden this year, full of thriving flowers and vegetables. So, I carpe diem'd and spent the day in the yard!

The first task was to turn the compost over. On Friday, the compost pile was absolutely vibrating with buzzing bees. I knew the best opportunity to turn the compost would be before it was warm enough for the bees to be active, so headed out about 8:30 this morning, despite the fact that the noisy teenagers that live here kept me up until 2:30 a.m. I was surprised and pleased that the composting is working and we have some actual rich loamy usable compost.

I want to get the wood pile moved, and so Daryl is building me a nice structure for it. Since he was busily building that, I picked task #2: clean up/prune trees in the front yard. I don't think I really set out to give the whole yard the hair cut it received, but am thrilled with the result. I really cleaned up the largest willow, getting rid of all of the suckers and other saplings growing at it's base. Did the same for the other 2, and then tackled the dogwood shrubs, cutting them back significantly and taking out any unrelated shrubs.

I love how the 'forest' handles regrowth - how these shrubs are thriving in the remnants of old dead trees, and how, because they have been protected from the lawn mower, evergreen seedlings can flourish.

There is quite the pile of tree branches for me to deal with, but day one of Garden 2010 was a success. Now if only I could find someone to do the inside the house work for me while I enjoy myself playing in dirt! :-)

Still Searching for my Personal Nirvanah

2010-02-21T07:30:00.000-08:00

The addiction began in February 1994. After discussing the merits of a beach vacation with other moms at the Peanut Butter and Jam playgroup, we headed to Kihei, Maui. This was my first tropical vacation, and we had an amazing time. Colin was 3 and Katie was 1, and mom came with us. Two weeks of sun and sand, beautiful scenery and I was hooked.

We visited Kihei again in 1996, with the Sr. Burd's, and 5, 3 and 1 year old kids. Weather wasn't nearly as good and the Sr. Burd's didn't like chilling (literally) on the beach, and so we looked for a new paradise.

In 1998, it was Club Med in Ixtapa, Mexico and the addiction changed to include not just tropical beaches but All Inclusives!

In March 2000 we returned to Kihei. Alex came down with Chicken Pox, and came home to be diagnosed with diabetes. We have not returned but I can hear Hawaii calling my name!

In 2002 we had an amazing, fabulous time at Club St. Lucia. Saint Lucia is a paradise and everyone in our family would rank our time in St. Lucia as the best family vacation ever, I believe. Saint Lucia also calls to me.

2003: California for both San Diego and Disney.

2003/04: Sirenis Resort at Punta Cana, D.R. Our first time traveling at Christmas, another tradition I would love to keep. This is where the biting insect troubles begin. Our first day at the resort, a rain storm clears the beach. Daryl and the kids go out into the surf. I watch from the comfort of a beach chair, oblivious to the sand flies biting me to bits. Covered head to toe in tiny, itchy bites that blistered and popped before drying out. :( After this trip, mosquito bites at home became a problem, swelling and blistering. Deep Woods Off became my best friend.

2005/06: Grande Bahia Principe at Punta Cana, for Christmas and New Years. A good trip, but it is here that the bug bite allergy causes a problem. After the '04 trip, I knew to wear repellant in the evening, but didn't realize I was at risk daytime in the sand. Pool side sun loungers became necessary, after a day on the beach resulted in some very large, ugly bites that got infected. A trip to the resort doctor was needed for IV antibiotics. I am not anxious to return to the D.R.

2007/08 New Years Eve at the Grande Bahia Coba on the Mayan Riviera. Pretty resort but much too large, and resort food continued to be disappointing. Good news this trip - very few bugs. Bad news, coldest weather on record for that area in 30 years. This trip was one of the least enjoyable, and my love affair with All Inclusive resorts came to an end.

All Inclusives certainly have their benefits. The kids clubs are fabulous with younger children. Proximity to other families with teens is another. The ability for the kids to forage for their own food, yet another. But a resort cannot provide the glimpse into the real local conditions: it isn't the way to find a permanent bit of paradise.

So when the opportunity arose to spend a week in the village of Sayulita, Mexico for SmugMexico 2010, I was thrilled. I work for a wonderful company, SmugMug, and really enjoy my job. SmugMug is renowned for customer service, and have a philosophy that is completely in synch with mine, so doing my job is a pleasure. The fact that SmugMug believes in treating their employees with a corporate retreat is an amazing bonus!

I had never heard of Sayulita, and would never have found it on my own. I doubt I would ever have ventured out of a major resort city in Mexico on my own, so am so grateful to have had this opportunity. Sayulita is a gorgeous village; the rental properties amazing, the beach beautiful, fantastic restaurants, safe and friendly and inexpensive. Sayulita could be my personal nirvanah. There is only one thing that keeps it from being so, actually. Biting insects! Despite my best efforts to keep slathered in DEET, the little buggars got me 4 times on the first night, and another three times later in the week. The bites follow the exact same pattern of swelling, blistering and popping. I feel ill as my body goes into histamine overdrive. Antihistamines help, but make me dopey and nauseous. Tequilla helps too. :D

And so the quest continues, to find the perfect location for a long term, semi permanent, tropical beach to call my own. Only thing necessary is for it to have no biting insects! I am open to suggestions, and quite willing to do mas research over the next few years. Will it be on the Caribbean Sea, or the South Pacific? As my dad says, only time will tell.

Making Feb. 1 the Offical Start to My New Year

2010-01-29T10:57:00.000-08:00

I made the usual list of goals to kick off 2010. I went so far as to set Immediate, Mid and Long Terms goals for myself.

With January coming to a close, I must say I am disappointed with the direction things have taken!

One of my short term goals was to get rolling with the remainder of our renovation, hoping that we could have our upstairs bathrooms redone before spring, and the new garage and studio space finished (at least the exterior) by July 1. I set these dates because I didn't want one to interfere with the other, and more importantly because I wanted things to be in place for a party the July long weekend.

You see, Daryl and I will be celebrating 25 years of marriage this year, and I want to have a party :) His parents are celebrating 50 years, so we actually were planning a combined party weekend. Until someone decided to ask the Sr. Burd's for an invitation list. After a bit of mulling it over, they have let us know they do not want a party. Period. :(

We had the contractor that we hired to renovate the basement quote the baths. His quote came in on the high side. Now, if he had been 50% higher than expected we probably would have said, okay, let's get this ball rolling. But he wasn't. His price is between 75% and 100% higher than we were budgeting and expecting. WOW. I don't think the features that I was requesting are really $500 per square foot. Of course I really won't know until I get another quote, but that process will certainly delay my timeline, and make it more or less impossible to do both projects this year, even if I could find the money.

So no reno + unwilling participants = no party.

Another of my longer term goals for this year is to participate in a photography workshop in Alaska this summer. It will require both $ and a level of fitness that I haven't had for a few years ;-). So to meet that goal I am trying to get fit. D gave me a trial at a personal trainer as a gift for Christmas. I had my first session yesterday, and it is a great feeling to be exercising and looking for muscles under all this flab. I am really surprised that I am not at all sore today, and that has me questioning whether I could do more than what the trainer thinks I can. Once again, this service is much more expensive than I had really thought it would be, and so I am again left trying to decide if this is the right path. I have two sessions next week, and then signed up for a 6 week strength class. February will be my month of fitness trials.

There is one short term goal that I made for myself, that I will finish in January. Reworking annmcraephotography.ca is almost finished. A few final touches and I will be ready to start the advertising process to generate business this summer sports season.

So, with January almost done, and my hopes for new baths, a garage and a party all but foiled, I say move along. February 1 can be the start of my new year.

A Walk along the Golf Course

2009-12-18T11:21:00.000-08:00

It has warmed up. About -10C at 9 a.m. so we got our new winter clothes out and took the dog for a walk. Headed down the hill to our new favorite walk along River Ridge Golf Course. We were the first humans to make footprints on that path since the snow fell, but certainly not the first beings. The path was full of scents for Kelso and his ears were perked the whole way, waiting for 'something' to run out of the surrounding bush.

Walking in 6 inches of powder snow is hard! Really hard. I was gobsmacked by the difficulty of moving my feet. The clothes are great - neither of us were cold, in fact when I got back into the house I was actually sweating.

Despite the multitude of animal tracks, ranging from very small to really quite large, the only mammal that we saw was a coyote. She ran across the river as we were coming down the path. I didn't have time to get the 300mm onto the camera body before she was across and into the bushes on the other side.

Poor dog needed booties! He had huge ice balls in the pads of his feet and had to stop several times to try to remove them. He was successful with his front feet, but not his back and I actually had to let him off his leash so he could run up the hill, his traction was so bad at the end of the walk.

Spent yesterday Christmas shopping and I was pretty dang successful. Finished shopping for 2/3 nephews, 1/1 nieces, 1/2 sons, 1/1 husbands, and of course we were finished for 1/1 daughters a while ago. Now I have a week to get my head around gifts for parents, in laws and two boys. Should be able to manage that!

I guess I should figure out where to put the Christmas tree this year as my next task.

December 14 Happy Birthday Alex

2009-12-14T13:18:00.000-08:00

We had a great weekend, starting with dinner at for the Belec and Co. Christmas Party. Amazing, but honestly I have never had a meal with so much (awesome) meat and so few vegetables.

Saturday I helped at HELP PORTRAIT Edmonton, and was awed by the experience.

Saturday night the SWU 94s played KC 93s at U18 indoor soccer, and played amazingly well. They have not played with intensity or passion like this in a while so this was very nice to see, and very exciting. Got the blood pumping for sure.

Edmonton set new temperature records, the coldest it has ever been on these dates. Sunday it was the coldest place in North America and the second coldest place on earth.

Despite the cold, we met mom, dad, Rob, Heather and Tori for dinner to celebrate Alex's and Dad's birthdays. The meal was good, the company great. Tori has grown quite a bit, and it is looking more and more like I will really be the runt of the family.

Tori is having surgery today, and we are hoping all goes well. And my thoughts are also with my boss, who is having hip replacement surgery today.

In honor of Alex's birthday I have made Sugar and Spice cookies. What better way to spend the daylight hours on a brutally cold December day?

Southwest United 1994 Boys Provincial Champions!

2009-08-16T21:06:00.000-07:00

The boys had a great season, with 16 wins, 1 loss and 1 tie. They made great strides as players and came together as a team. This weekend was provincials, in Calgary.

The weather sucked, rainy, cold, cloudy, windy. The fields sucked - clover, not grass. Puddles. Standing water and actual mud puddles.

The boys played Calgary II on Friday night and came away with a 2 - 0 victory, easily handled Ft. Mac Saturday (6 - 0), played West Warriors (Edmonton II) this morning and won that 3 - 1, and finished the tournament by playing Calgary I to a 1 - 0 result.

Congratulations, boys and coaches. Well done!

A Most Spectacular Fall

2009-07-24T09:25:00.000-07:00

I am a fairly clumsy person. If you know me you know that. Two weeks ago yesterday, I was barely awake, and quite possibly pinging, when the carpet guys arrived to do Colin's room. They didn't like Kelso so I got up to get the dog, tripped over either my camera bag, a USB cord or the battery that was lying in the middle of the floor. In any case, I knew I was falling, but there was a chair right beside me, so I grabbed it. Thought I would catch myself. Instead, I continued falling and dragged the chair over as well. Slid across the hardwood floor until the wall stopped my head from going any further. The first intense pain was my face and my thumb. And then I realized I had badly bruised my left forearm and right thigh. How? I don't know. The bruise on my thigh was epic! At first it had a very phallic look to it, but it grew to be more watermelon like. If you know me you know my thighs are not small, so a bruise that covers my whole thigh, all the way around, is big! The bruise is mostly gone, but there is this hard piece in the center of it, getting smaller, but still there and occasionally still sore. Weird thing is that my thumb is still very swollen and very sore.

In any case, a fall like this highlights the fact that I am not as young as I used to be. No more picking myself up and dusting off, and getting right back to what I was doing.

We are still waiting for the final installations downstairs - cupboards, sinks and counter tops are supposed to be here Monday. Fingers crossed.

Why does everything take so long, jaques?

2009-07-06T07:38:00.000-07:00

So the painters arrived Tuesday afternoon and spent Tuesday through Friday prepping! Gawd! I just wanted to grab the brush and roller and do it myself! By Saturday the back portion was finished, and we were able to install the new washer dryer! (Thanks mom and dad), get much laundry done, and get the shelving set up for the pantry.
We had bought IKEA 24" wide pantries, which would have been beautiful. But once the space was finished, it was 2" too short for their 80" of height, and modifying them would probably have ruined them. So they went back to IKEA, and we replaced them with Bestra units. 75" tall, 48" wide, but only 15" deep. Now, will this cause us grief, or to be less pack-rat-ish?

And, I just really want to test this new SmugMug feature!

w00t! Isn't that the coolest!

Happy Birthday to DRB today too! Bike ride time!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

2009-06-29T21:38:00.000-07:00

Quiet Day. Started with a bike ride bright and early, since we don't have to herd kids to school these days. You would think that an early ride at the end of June would be good - avoid the midday heat. Well, I nearly froze! It was about 9C at 8 a.m. today, with a light drizzle and a not so light wind. We changed the route up a bit - went Windermere Drive to Ellerslie, then in through Langdale and Ambleside and then home. Not sure if that is a different distance than our usual or not. After the ride, DRB went to the office and I puttered around, working on photos, cleaning house. Cleaned the locker room of evidence of Ginger, so we can now figure out if Spot is destined for the same fate or not. CB and KT both worked, Alex had training with Benfica. We had fajitas for supper, and I just finished work.

Not really a big party for the anniversary! But a good day, without trouble or strife. What more is there to ask for!

On a different note, the painters did not show up today. We are so danged close to being finished, these sorts of delays are getting to me. I am planning, in detail, all the finishing touches, and I am growing weary of waiting!

Gingersnap doesn't live here any more

2009-06-26T22:49:00.000-07:00

So bizarre. I mean really - surreal, even. Gingersnap has been a great pet. Loving, cuddly kitten. But, when we moved (maybe before?) he started peeing in inappropriate places. This was made worse when he developed diabetes. When we decided to have the basement done, we knew that his time with us was limited. No way can we afford to replace the carpet only to have it ruined again.

So, the basement reno started n April, but it wasn't until the carpet timeline became a reality that we made the appointment at the vet. This was really hard - how would the kids feel? how will the other cat adapt? is this the right decision - the cat is otherwise healthy ( to our untrained eyes anyway). But then every time there was a new load of laundry that reeked of pee, or I had to wipe up pee in the locker room, bathroom or my bedroom, or anytime I stepped on the warped flooring at the front door, I knew he needed to go. So the appointment was made. And today was the day.

Well, D & K and Ginger, who fought getting into the carrier, headed out at 4:45. D returns to tell me that the vet suggested having Ginger become a clinic cat. Pay a surrender fee for NOT putting him down. Would I have done this? iDunno. Was it the right decision? iDunno. I still feel as though he is my responsibility. The fact that he is living there, rather than here, makes me feel guilty. I am left wondering "will he have a good night? will he wake the folks up there at 4:30 as he did here?" Why was I unable to get him to stop peeing everywhere? How will Spot adjust?

Honestly, this was a really hard decision, and having it turn into a non decision, does not make it better. Not tonight anyway.

Basement Reno ticking down

2009-06-23T21:51:00.000-07:00

Things are looking really good! The finishing has started - trim on doors, shelves built, and the tile is about a third done. I have a full gallery documenting the renovation, and will keep updating it as it progresses. It will be very nice to have the second TV back, for sure. Though some coping that is being done is watching movies on the laptops, on the front porch.

I have to stop myself from running out and buying new accessories, decorative items and bath supplies! I can't wait to get it all set up, that is for sure.

Time Flies

2009-06-17T21:47:00.000-07:00

Wow! My head is spinning trying to keep up with the photo work I have done and need to deliver and the new jobs that I need to get done! Seems like I haven't stepped out of the office since the first of May!

The spring has been very dry, was fairly cold and my garden would have sucked anyway! There, that will be my excuse!

So no garden, probablty will plant some planters, but not much else. Hope to be able to hire a crew to at least clean up the yard, maybe start the backbone of the new landscaping.

The good news is that the basement is nearly done! I've been keeping track of it in a gallery here

I am really excited about the outcome. I suspect that the room that will make the most difference to the family is the bathroom. Daryl is most looking forward to the new office space, which he has firmly planted his stake into. For me, it is the laundry room! Hands down - laundry room.

I have ordered a 7 ft long counter top, standard 2 ft deep, mounted at 36 inches off the ground. Folding table. No longer will stacks of folded laundry stay on my dinner table. No longer will Colin need to get dressed in the dining room. No longer will there be stray socks all over the family room! Yep, for me, the laundry room reigns supreme.

The rest of the changes down there will be great - a nice open space, games table area, bar area, nice family seating area with the TV and fireplace as focal points, all very nice indeed.

Should be finished by the end of the month! Hopefully this will coincide with the end of the photo order backlog, and the start of summer yard work season!

:-)

Basement, thy time has come!

2009-04-06T21:36:00.000-07:00

We have cleaned out the stack of unpacked boxes that have been there since we moved. We have cleaned out the storage room! Wow, it seems like a huge feat, and only took about 8 hours total! Many boxes of things to Goodwill, many others to trash. A few to keep! A few treasures were uncovered, like Katie's diary from 2000, and Colin's father's day poem from grade 3! And photos, snap shots from the early years. All safely tucked away into plastic totes to be retrieved 'in the future'!

With everything gone, we can now start to imagine how the new space will shape up, and even had a new, good idea! We are getting closer, closer every da-ay. I don't know who gets credit for that line, but thanks!

I took some before photos on Saturday - really amazing how you don't 'see' things when you look at them every day. The basement really is a disaster - holes in the ceiling, clutter everywhere, smelly cat smells. I've walked through the new plans with the kids, and they are all quite excited. I am sure we will have many conflabs when the time comes to choose the finishes. I have a plan tho - Colin gets first say on the bath and his room, Alex can be primary on the color and carpet for the common area, KT gets dibs on the upstairs bathroom and I get veto power on it all! Muwhahah!

This is gonna be great!

Progress without the evidence!

2009-03-21T22:58:00.003-07:00

Okay, I FAILED at taking potos of the disaster that is my basement! But I have made some progress since I last wrote.

First, last Friday I climbed onto the roof (while D was still here) and shoveled snow all morning.

It was actually invigorating and fun, and turned out to be very necessary. I discovered that we had a very large ice dam in the west eave, under the spruce. D cam home and cleaned that out, and we have not had a problem with melt water in the hose or porch

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On Monday, I emptied the boxes that have sat on the desk in the basement for however long. Many books into storage, many to go to charity. All in just a couple of hours. Thursday, D helped me by hauling boxes out of the storage room. We sorted through a couple of dozen boxes: stuff that we moved and did not unpack, stuff that has been taken out of the kids bedrooms, yada, yada. Ended up with some treasure:

My first teddy bear:

Alex's kindergarten scrap book, Katie's sixth grade writing, a full set of Portmeirion dinner ware (who knew that was sitting there all these years).

And we ended up with a van full of stuff to take to Goodwill.

Wednesday, ATCO arrived (unexpectedly, and with the house looking like a tornado hit) and they will be moving the meter this spring. Timing is good, I hope, and their work can mesh with the reno. However, outside they will need to dig up the front yard!

The renovator came by for some measurements Friday and so things are really progressing! A few more days of emptying and sorting, aggressively getting rid of 'stuff' and we should be ready to finally whip that basement into shape.

The next thing to get into shape will be me!

Projects

2009-03-12T20:55:00.000-07:00

So I have some pretty big projects underway, and I really need to focus my efforts better, so I am hoping that writing about them and keeping track of them in photos will keep me on track.

First is basement clean out and renovation.

A big part of cleaning out the basement will be figuring out where to put or what to do with our "stuff". A possible storage location would be the garage, but then that would need to be cleaned out first! :-)

Anyway, I shall take some "before" photos tomorrow, sometime between shoveling the roof and my shift. And I will take a progress photo once every two days, minimum!

Other projects include my two big photo shoots this spring, and getting fit.

It's March!

2009-03-06T09:35:00.000-08:00

Good grief, time really has been flying by. March 6, 2009. And it is -25C today! Bleck!

I've been working for SmugMug for a month now, and it is great! I am quite enjoying the job, settling in to a new schedule but still struggling with using my other time well.

I had intentions of walking with Kelso daily, but the truth is I am a fair weather pet owner, and the weather has just not been fair most of the month. We have gone out a couple of times, and that has been great.

I also intend to get the basement totally cleaned out and get rid of all that junk. The thing that will force me to do this is we finally have a renovator lined up. YAY! And we will be giving the basement a really good makeover, starting with moving the laundry into the back corner, building a bath between the laundry and Colin's room and then opening the whole remaining space into one large room. The little space on the back side of the fireplace will become a guest room. I am really looking forward to this; there is so much space down there but it is soo poorly organized. And right now, it is just full of junk! We are getting close to setting a schedule, so the junk must go.

I want to have that well under control so that I can start garden clean up as soon as the snow is gone. I will have a great garden this year, and I will get some serious landscaping done.

I also have not done very well at a PAD project. I figured that I would at least make some progress with that by using my iPhone and SmugShots! But, I just don't take a photo a day, and am not sure random snapshots are a great way to "push" my skills.

We are still waiting for resolution with our two insurance claims. Katie slid into a tree with her car, and it has been written off. That claim is mostly finalized, but her replacement car is not in her hands yet.
The repairs and replacement of all things broken or taken during the "party" has been finished, and now it is up to the insurance company to process that claim. It will end up being a $10K "sweet sixteen" :(

Last Day

2009-01-28T21:42:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, Jan. 29, 2009, is my last day working at Micralyne, Inc. I started there late November 2005 as a contractor, engaged to help hire 30 new employees. I started a full time salaried position with Micralyne February 1 , 2006.

It has been a very good three years. I have learned so much about MEMS in general and MEMS processing in particular, and also about business to business sales. I have had great coworkers and a wonderful, supportive and intelligent work environment.

And yet, I have made the decision to move on. I have a new job starting Feb. 2 that I know I will enjoy, but my decision to move on wasn't motivated solely by the new opportunity. The decision came because I believe that I had reached the end of the growth available to me at Micralyne.

So it was time to move along, down a different path on this journey of mine. I am very hopeful that this path will have many photo ops along the way, and that I can take advantage of those to explore this passion of mine and really start to get creative with it.

Tomorrow will be a melancholy day. The hardest part is over - making the decision and then letting people know was very hard. I have some very good friends at Micralyne and I hope I will be able to maintain those friendships. Saying farewell to customers has also been difficult. Tomorrow will be hugs and maybe a few tears, and hopefully a few beers as well!

The Dentist

2009-01-25T21:36:00.000-08:00

I have a totally irrational fear of dental work. Avoid it like the plague. No regular check ups in this girl's daytimer! And it is truely irrational, as I've never really had a bad dental experience.
Last fall, a molar that was giving me 'grief' for many months finally broke. There was just no way around it, I had to finally go to the dentist. Hadn't been in something like 12 years! (If it aint broke, why fix it!).
I have pretty good dental benefits, so not only did I agree to having the tooth fixed, I had them all cleaned. Fixing the tooth required a root canal! Yikes! Memories of my last root canals just aren't all that pleasant.
Dr. Frank had some really cool gadgets at his office, including a very slim syringe for freezing. No more giant silver needles in your mouth, just this unobtrusive needle on the end of some very thin rubber tubing. The root canal was no where near as unpleasant as the anxiety before hand would have predicted. The freezing came out quickly, with far less trauma than I remember.
Step two was prepping for crowns for that tooth and its neighbor, also a root canal tooth. That happened Thursday, and that was more unpleasant, more uncomfortable, but still not equivalent to all of the fear and loathing that I have for dentists.

So, what about that wisdom tooth Ms. McRae? You know, the one that was supposed to come out 15 years ago, the one that has erupted sideways and pretty much hurts all the time? Well, thanks, but it can stay where it is for now!

Happy New Year 2009

2009-01-01T21:03:00.000-08:00

Well, here I sit, attempting for the third time to start this post! I am torn between the classic New Years type of message, reflecting on the events of this past year - and there are many - or a more forward looking post, outlining my goals and hopes for the year ahead. Perhaps both are necessary: the past lays the groundwork for the new year.
I read through last years posts: frequent in the first half of the year and then non existent in the last quarter.

Some things have not changed: I still hate winter!

Others have: I no longer attempt to follow the 'Eat to Live' diet, my mothers health is greatly improved.

My garden was an unmitigated disaster! 20' x 30' and a yield of one meal of potatoes! The raised planters were much more successful, and I ate fresh baby lettuce all summer long! I cannot even say that I grew a good crop of sweet peas this year! Didn't finish any other garden projects. Didn't finish any other house projects!

I have a new boss, new job description as the whole department gets a shake up. I am still not convinced that this is the right job for me, for many reasons (decision making structure, my lack of technical expertise, the whole desk job thing, and the list goes on). However, with the media perpetuated 'economic downturn', I may be lucky to have a job. And, this job has many positive attributes too. I have travelled to Boston twice, Chicago once, Toronto, Vancouver & Seattle, for work. I've managed to incorporate photography on each one of those trips! I enjoy working in a scientific environment, with some really great people and truly great clients. But, I was too long my own boss, setting my own hours and making my own decisions. I want that kind of responsibility and that kind of freedom again. The call of photography is sooooooo strong.

The kids continue to grow up and have each had many 'life lesson' moments this year. Both Colin and KT got their drivers licenses this spring. They also both bought their own cars. We are now a four car family, and as ridiculous as that sounds, it does have benefit in that it greatly reduces the amount of time I spend on the road.

Colin has had some driving 'experiences' that have hurt his bank account, but not him. Katie, so far, has a clean slate in the driving department. And Alex has just turned 14 so is actually eligible for a learners permit....I am certainly not ready for that.

Colin returned from Germany in December 2007, and finished Grade 12 in the second semester (Feb - June 08) this year. He made the decision to apply at the U of A, Faculty of Engineering. Initially I was really put off by this - he could be off somewhere more interesting than Edmonton, playing soccer and doing an undergrad degree. However, he is here and really seems comfortable and to be doing well in engineering. The U of A is among the very best Engineering schools in North America, so there is no fault to be found in that decision. He isn't playing soccer right now; however, he did finish his 'youth' soccer days on a high note. His team won Club National Championships in October; a gold medal finish to so many years of dedication.

One of the biggest 'life lessons' this year was experienced by KT, and by us as it was probably our most difficult parenting thus far. At the end of it all, the only damage was to property, the offender has served the deemed punishment and is expected to make retribution, and we all (I hope) have learned from the experience. It has forced KT to return to the workforce, giving her spending money ( & money to pay for retribution & speeding ticket money) which she relishes.
KT does well at school, could do better, and currently has aspirations of med school.

Alex has changed soccer teams; he moved on from the team he had been with since U10, and from being coached by his dad and some close friends. He is on a team that he really enjoys (with a better record than his old team) and thus far the move seems like the right choice. The old team certainly provided him with familiarity - perhaps too much. With the new team he needs to earn his spot and the respect of his teammates, and he seems to be doing so. What this has meant for us is a move outside our comfort zone, away from friends that we have spent so much time with. We miss that group dearly, but must say that the new team has certainly given us a warm welcome!

We also travelled as a family a bit: to Medicine Hat for Alberta Summer Games with Alex, to Tofino for a vacation with KT, Alex and KTs friend, to the GTA for soccer nationals and finally to Vernon for Christmas with the Burd clan.

So, what will 2009 bring? Who really knows?
My goals?
Do more photography, maybe even earn a significant portion of my income from it! Actually carry through with a PAD project. Travel and shoot more.
Get into shape! The Wii fit that we got for Christmas is going to kick start that! (So much fun!)
Travel more.
Get somewhere with the house - renovate, remodel, rebuild....pick one!
Shoot more.
Continue to watch the kids grow up, and be amazed at how time flies.
Travel more.
Continue to watch mom thrive under dad's care, continue to be amazed by dad being retired. What will he do next, now that the garage is organized?
Shoot more.
Visit all of the relatives again!
Travel and shoot more!
Grow a decent crop of vegetables.

Enjoy my days. Relish the moment. Do something that matters.

Happy New Year!

At the end of the day I need to know I did the right thing

2008-08-19T21:42:00.000-07:00

That is one of those truisms that we all hear over and over again. That one, and others like Seize the Day, Live life to the fullest, Live like there is no tomorrow, and many others. They are smug, possibly even trite. But you know what???? There is merit in them all. Really and truly, at the end of the day YOU (and I) need to be able to look yourself in the mirror and say I did the right thing today. The right thing by all of the people in your life, your boss, your neighbor, strangers, and of course not least your family. Time is fleeting, you rarely get a second chance, and you do not know when all will come to an end. Live each day like it is your last, and in such a way that at the end of the day you know that you acted with dignity, honesty and integrity. And at the end of the day you can then look in the mirror and know, no matter how tough it was, that you did the right thing.

Dedicated to a very special friend, KD-G, and thank you for reminding me that no matter what load we struggle with, someone else's load is greater!

June 29, 1985.....Happy Anniversary

2008-06-29T16:48:00.000-07:00

Twenty three years ago we danced to Sea of Love by The Honeydrippers. We got married outdoors, on a warm sunny day. The bridesmaids wore mint green and carried umbrellas. My bouquet had an orchid, spiderplant and pink roses. The guys wore grey, Daryl's tux had tails.

Those years have gone by quickly and yet feel like there has never been anything else. We have always been together and always will be together. It was and is meant to be. There is such a sense of peace and comfort from that.

Those 23 years have been full of experiences, full of joy, sorrow, adventure. We've visited England, Austria, Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto, San Francisco, Vancouver, Seattle, Maui, Waikiki, Ixtapa, Saint Lucia, Punta Cana, Akumal, Las Vegas, New Brunswick, Halifax
We have three children, teenagers, young adults - ready to experience things on their own, ready to come to know who they are and who will bring them joy, peace, security, heartbreak (hopefully not too much).

Today is the Sunday of a long (4 day) weekend. It is hot out - probably 29C. We ate breakfast pastries on the patio, did some yard work, watched Spain win the Euro 2008 final, sat in the shade and are going out for dinner. What a great day to celebrate 23 wonderful years. So,toast, to many more. And to enjoying each and every moment along the way.

Peasant Farmer

2008-05-18T07:42:00.000-07:00

My ancestors were farmers. Mom's family were peasant farmers from Germany, via Russia to Canada. They were settlers here on the prairie a century ago. Dad's family also has ties to farming and setting in Saskatchewan. I think its in the blood.

Yesterday, day one of the May long weekend, and the temprature is 29C. Amazing. 29C is a brilliant August day. The May long weekend is the traditional start to summer; the agreed to date at which it is safe to start gardening, and the first big camping weekend of the summer. 29C is lazy, suntanning, sipping frostys kind of weather.

So, despite the call of the local patio for a few cold ones, we stick to the plan to work in the yard. That's two weekends in a row for yardwork. Maybe we will get somewhere this year! This weekends task is to get a large vegetable garden cleaned and planted. The east side of the yardhas been very good to perennials, and to a few veggies that we have tried planting, but not so good for our raspberries. I believe the raspberries were planted far too close to the large aspens and got no nutrients. So we picked a patch further south and further west than the raspberries, marked it off with the former 'container'(sections of chain link fence), and prepped the soil. Our rototiller would not start, so we rented one from Home Depot. Not quite as powerful and not self propelled, but Daryl got the job done for me. I moved several raspberry canes into the garden, but hedged our bets by leaving several outside as well. The raspberries haven't really grown well and have yet to produce fruit. This spring, many more than usual seem to have sent out new suckers, so I am hopeful.

We planted 4 daylilies and 2 iris along the gravel path leading to the garden, and made a plan for the space between the garage and vegetable plot: the new garage will have a south door, and space for the lawn mower, bicycles and other seasonal things at that end. Therefore, we need to keep an access path for the lawn mower to reach the rest of the yard. We will plant another fruit tree (or trees) south of the exisitng apple. Clean out all of the scrub and dead wood on the east side. Replace the dead trees along the east with lilacs and conifers. The space behind the garage, up to the first apple, will be utility space but hopefully not a general junk yard. I think that we should have a small cement pad poured for the dog, dog house and dog run that starts behind the garage and allows him access to the front. He won't be content unless he can guard the front.

We mapped out the shape of the new patio and Daryl's wall. We've agreed to rebuilding the existing patio so that everything is level and there isn't a slope or steps between the portions. It will be a nice, large area and I am looking forward to the finished project.I can see finally hosting the garden parties I had hoped for when we moved here.

I finished planting my annuals but have alot of bulbs to get in yet. We bought two bags of lilies, a bag of iris (120 little bulbs) and a bag of glads at costco. I wasn't prepared for the quantities in each bag, and finding enough free space has been challenging.

I have red potatoes, red onion, white onion, beets, carrots, zucchini, peas, and multiple bags of lettuce seeds to get into the ground.It is currently raining, a nice gentle rain that will be great ofr what I planted yesterday, but would be better if I had all of my seeds in. The forecast is or it to stop by noon, so I will wait.

So my peasant roots really show when I can be happy as the proverbial pig when I spend a day working hard, and getting dirty. I really have a sense of accomplishment and a day well spent. I am a peasant farmer at heart.

Through the Looking Glass

2008-05-15T21:37:00.000-07:00

That was the theme for Scona's class of 2008, the 100th graduating class of Strathcona High. Tonight was commencement, and the ceremony was well executed and classy. The key note speaker, Rudy Wiebe, was brilliant. Many positive messages about moving on, taking chances, growing up.

I was amazed at the names called that were in the GHL kindergarten class of 1995! Many of those kids have been in the same school all 13 years.

The ceremony was at the Jubilee, and the seats were assigned. I knew we were in the balcony but wasn't sure how removed from the stage that was. I guessed about which lens to bring, and decided on the 135mmf2. The 70 - 200 may have been a better choice - more reach. But as it was I think I ended up with lots of motion blur at f2, so 2.8 may not have been enough even with the stage lighting. CB agreed to hold still for a couple shots afterward. I missed some great photojournalistic moments. I really have much to learn on that front.

in any case, my first has graduated from high school. He approaches adulthood and all the rights and responsibilities there of. WOW. Time really does fly!

A Great Weekend

2008-05-11T21:59:00.000-07:00

This weekend had gardening, soccer, photography, family time and good weather. What else could any one ask for? I spent all day Friday, lots of Saturday and some of today gardening. The weather was mild and almost warm. I have a sense of accomplishment and a plan in mind for the next steps for the garden.
Alex's team played an exhibition game yesterday, so I shot that game. CBs first regular season game was today, so I shot some more today. I took garden shots today as well.
We had breaksfast with mom and dad and Rob today too. Dad's cooking has put 12 lb onto mom in 18 days - pretty damn good.

All in all a good weekend, folks!

Ahhh, JOY!

2008-05-09T19:19:00.000-07:00

I spent all day in the garden.It was glorious. There is still enough to do that I can spend all day tomorrow in the garden too.
The sound of bird chatter is almost deafening here! I am so glad. It's really important to just be outside for a while, not rushing back and forth, but observing and listening. A robin marched along the planter after I had cleaned it up - oblivious to me, finding seeds and treasure. I saw at least a dozen species of bird in my yard today. Many squirrels too.

Today accomplishments:
The planter on the front veranda cleaned up and planted with pansies, nasturtium seeds and basil seeds. The whole works are edible, though I've never eaten pansies or nasturtiums.
The dog debris under the pine and around the front step has been cleaned up.
The new planters in the front yard have been weeded and inspected. Looks like most of the roses made it,some of the perennials(transplants from my yard better than new ones, it seems).
Daryl moved planter #1 and filled it with garden soil. I planted peas, carrots, beets and mesclun mix in it. Too much for the space but I'll deal with that later.

I weeded the new planter under the family room window. I absorbed alot of heat from the sun doing so, so decided that we needed to buy more tender plants for that location. If they are going to survive anywhere in this yard, i will be there. So we planned a trip to the garden center.

Marty the vac truck driver was here and told D that NGT has gone out of business again. Daryl was telling me this as he was backing the van off the drive, and for whatever reason, he backed into the car! Huge scrape along the passanger side of the car. Scrape on the back end of the van. A two-fer! Oh, heartbreak - the van has made it 18 months scratch free. The car is cursed. Maybe it's a good thing it didn't end up as the kids car. So, a call to the insurance company and off to Holes.

We bought some perennials, and a few annuals but prices are way up. Not surprisingly, since utilities and wages are way up.

Tomorrow, assuming I can move, I will finish cleaning the front drive and the back deck. Alex has soccer all day, including an exhibition game in the afternoon. CB has his first league game Sunday.

Next week will be very busy, with soccer, soccer, soccer, and Colin's grad.

Garden Time

2008-05-08T21:38:00.000-07:00

Well, my favorite time of year is here. Tomorrow is a day off of work for me and my plan is to garden! All day long. I have a significant amount of clean up to do: a winters worth of dog debris, blown around garbage, dead plant matter. Then I have two large planters and a compost bin to get D to make for me. And then comes the fun stuff! I've just been reading NatureScape Alberta again, and can't wait to get out there and design and plant food gardens for me and for the critters that live nearby.
This winter, inspired by advice on dgrin, I've been eating a diet much higher in vegetables (especially raw) than ever before. I've had mixed results in terms of weight loss, but in general I have felt much better, especially wrt joint pain.I read Michael Pollan The Omnivores Dilema, and quite enjoyed it. He describes things about industrial farming that I 'knew' about, but really didn't think hard about. He makes a very strong case for growing ones own veggies. I've read other stats that claim that eliminating meat from your diet would reduce your carbon footprint by 25% and that growing your own veg reduces it by 20%. Don't know if those things are cumulative, but I think its worth doing. And gardening is fun!
Garden seasoon is very short here. I usually get stuck waiting for the May long to plant, and then encounter delays. And have had pretty mediocre results gardening here, without the ability to water at will. This year, I am going to risk planting before the magic frost free date and hopefully will get good results. We intend to buy a couple rain barrels so that should help with the water problem (maybe we will have services next summer!)
This summer I have big plans for garden design: veg gardens, flower gardens, the beginnings of an outdoor portrait studio, and features to attract birds, bugs, butterflies and bigger species in to the yard. Photo subject matter! I'll try to diarize the progress here, through words and photos! Fun, fun, fun.

Family and Friends

2008-05-07T20:17:00.000-07:00

So I've been doing a bit of traveling for work. I've been to Boston twice, once in February and once in early April. I am very impressed with Boston and hope I can continue to visit. It is a beautiful, historic city with fantastic brain power. On my second trip I tried to arrange a shoot with locals, and ended up with something bigger an better. I met 12 other dgrinners in D.C. for a shoot on April 12th! What a great day!! I was graciously hosted by Christina, who had joined the preshoot trip last fall. We started early and met a whole bunch of grinners over the course of the day. Some we had known from the Montana shootout (schmoo & zwiebluemen, davev & katev, grimace & kendal), others were new to us(visualxpressions & cassisp, eorin1). It was one of the best days that I've had the pleasure of experiencing, and I hope that I can wrangle many more like that.

Last week I went to Vancouver on a course, then to Seattle area to visit a customer and friends and relations. Unlike the DC trip, this one had very little photography. It was about touching base, getting to be face to face, catching up, rekindling and building relationships. It was very, very good and really reinforced the message that, whether one is talking about business relationships or friendships old or new, nothing - absolutely nothing works as well as being together!

Progressive lenses (or embracing middle age)

2008-03-23T10:47:00.000-07:00

I got my first set of progressives on Thursday and am still not quite adjusted to them. They are solving my recent eye sight problems, but getting used to the changing field of focus is a bit difficult. I cannot keep the whole width of my 21" monitor in focus at the same time - it requires turning my head. They do let me see small things close up - like the small print on labels, or the hairs on my chin!

When I was having my eyes examined, the optometrist asked me how I would feel about having progressive lenses, as I guess I could have gotten by for a while longer without. I told her that I was okay with having them if they would solve my vision issues. After all I am not afraid of aging!

Not nearly afraid of my getting old as I am melancholy about all of the things that are getting old with me!

Like my parents, and their health.

Like my kids, and the worries and stress that having teenagers brings: learning to drive, learning to drink (not at the same time as driving), learning to be independent, taking on responsibility, making decisions about their futures......where did the years go, and did we build a strong enough foundation for them to base their future on. Financially, emotionally, morally?

I am not afraid of aging, and actually looking forward to some of the events in the next years. Seizing the moment and not waiting 'to be old enough to retire' has actually become really important to me. Why is there an expectation that life will follow a certain course - that you must do things in order: go to school, get a job, get married, have kids, work to 60, retire and then embrace life and enjoy yourself. Why is their a mindset that one cannot be fulfilled by something other than a challenging career or that a challenging career must keep you tied down and centered?

I am not afraid of aging (or of progressive lenses). I am not afraid of change. I am not afraid of challenge. I am middle aged!

Moose Sighting

2008-03-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

Fresh Snow. Commitment Free Weekend. Temps about 0C. A trip to Elk Island Park seemed in order. The dh agreed, and off we went. With the eastern end of the Anthony Henday open now, it is a very quick trip from here to the park - maybe 45 minutes.
We drove through the plains bison side of the park, spotting a few buffalo far off in the distance, and a lone coyote hunting. We decided to cross the road and go for a walk on the Wood Bison side. Got about ten steps along the path, and the dh says "It's a moose" in the calmest voice ever. There she was, about 30 feet away through some pretty thick aspen forest, just watching us. I got the shot of her, and tried to find a spot where there weren't as many trees between us. As I moved forward on the path I saw that she had a calf with her!

Amazing to see and share space with such an awesome animal. We spent about an hour in the woods, found many different footprints and several pieces of dung, but only came across another coyote in the distance.

A great way to spend an afternoon. The landscape is so bleak at this time of year, even with fresh snow cover, and especially under cloud covered skies. The next day was brilliantly sunny, but much, much colder.

The Winter of my Discontent

2008-02-18T07:32:00.000-08:00

So far 2008 has proceeded on a rocky path. After ringing the New Year in in Mexico, we have come home for

Bitter cold in January - I hate being cold! We had three or more weeks where the temp was below -20C greater than 80% of the hours. The first really cold day, I got the van stuck in the parking lot at work. I ran in to the building for help as I was pretty much blocking passage for other vehicles. As I was running to the building I smacked my hand on the post for the vehicle plug ins. Ended up with a huge haematoma, but I had full range of movement, so ignored it. A month later and it seems obvious that I broke the knuckle. I've been stuck twice more. I never get stuck, never have car problems. Til this winter.

It has finally warmed up - gorgeous day Friday - about plus 9C. Snow melting furiously. Reveals that my new, $20K roof, leaks! Absolutely flooded the front porch, small leak in the house, all at the peak. Now, this is the third set of 'leaks' we've had since the roof was replaced, the contractor had been here once to repair it too.

The fellow that was to become VP Business Development at work chose to take a different job, leaving us leaderless for even longer. An internal candidate has been appointed, and I am very uneasy with this. When I started this position the Sales department had 8 members. We are down to 3. When I decided to stay in this position last fall, it was because I really believed I could learn and grow under the current VPs direction. Imagine what a bombshell feeling I got when he shortly thereafter told me he was leaving. This is not the position I stayed for, not the great group of coworkers, and not the same leadership or mentorship.

And finally, the son has emphatically decided NOT to pursue opportunities at universities other than the U of A. He has absolutely no idea what he is giving up, and what he will never be able to have because of this decision, and my trying to persuade is having really negative results.

Today is day 4 of a 4 day weekend for me. I spent Friday running errands, buying exciting things like new laundry hampers, Saturday working on decluttering and laundry, yesterday more of the same, with a special 'flooded laundry room' to shake things up. Today it is finishing touches of housework, hopefully a trip out for some new work pants, and then a houseful of folks for a team meeting this p.m. How I wish I could write that I'd spent the 4 days putzing in the garden and taking photos! Or hiking in the mountains or at the ocean. But, I've got a sparkling clean laundry room.

"Spring" Cleaning & the new buffet

2008-02-10T06:43:00.000-08:00

We have started doing projects around the house again. Slowly, very slowly, but things are getting done. A couple of weekends ago, we put more shelves into the huge armoire in our room. This gave us both reason to empty our clothes out and sort through them - eliminated some, really need to go through again and eliminate more. Also need to do the same with my hanging closet.

That same weekend, we replaced one set of kitchen cupboards with drawers - IKEA kitchens are really wonderful for this - you can walk in to IKEA and out with replacement cabinets. Anyway, that led us to empty out the cupboard under the phone - three years worth of clutter and junk- and throw a bunch of it away. It also allowed me to put the massive amount of pens and pencils into a drawer and clean off one end of the kitchen counter.

I also did a total reorg on the linen cupboard in the main bath.

This weekend, we bought the new buffet and hutch for the kitchen. When we did the reno, we built a spot at the end of the kitchen to hold a specific piece of furniture - 18 inches deep, up to 6 feet long and as tall as 8 feet. I had that furniture piece in my mind from day one. This year, before Christmas, we found a Canadian furniture manufacturer that could custom build one to our size requirement. They have beautiful furniture, and the price seemed reasonable at $5K. So we thought about it, and set out to order it my last EDO. We ended up out in Sherwood Park and stopped at Costco because we couldn't get in to a restaurant for lunch! There, at Costco, was a buffet & hutch that matched our dimensions and was really similar to the design we had in mind. It did not have upper cabinet doors though. It also had a matching, counter height table of the right dimensions for our kitchen! And, amazingly, the buffet was $710. Not much of a decision, but still one worth thinking about. So, this weekend we set off to the Costco near us for the buffet. The price at the local Costco was $390! So for less than a tenth of the price of the custom made one, we have a hutch that fits perfectly into our spot, matches our kitchen well, hides the clutter that was being stored on a set of bookshelves in the 'interim' (if 3 1/2 yrs is interim). Beautiful. We now have a well organized kitchen, a nice peice of furniture and $4500 left for other projects! The bookcase has found a new life too, functioning as a bookcase in the office, replacing the credenza that had a wider footprint and less storage space.

Of course, this barely scratches the surface of cleaning, decluttering and projects that need doing. We could be on one of those H&G channel shows - either the reno disaster ones or the clean up your home ones!!!! But it is a great way to fill a bitterly cold winter weekend.

Winter, Still

2008-02-07T19:02:00.000-08:00

Oh dear, it has been a long time since I said anything! We've had some interesting, busy days since Christmas. With Colin home the driving has increased exponentially. So have the food bills :-)

We spent the week of New Years at a resort on the Riviera Maya. Not our best vacation - had some cold weather, staff shortages at the resort that resulted in less than stellar service, and 6 of us with different points of view on what made a good day. However, I definitely want to return to that part of the world, and I definitely need another tropical vacation ASAP!!!!

The weather here has been outrageous and apparently will continue with severe cold snaps for the next two months! I am getting old and grumpy because I really hate the winter here and really wish I lived elsewhere during December - February, or more!

I have been in a major photographic slump, with no team photo work and no scenes that are photographable when I am not at work i.e in the dark!

I have been trying to eat according to the Eat to Live model of Dr. Fuhrman - mostly fruits and veg, very little meat, little oil...I have experienced a major decrease in joint pain in my hips and hands. I have a new complaint of pain in my shoulders but I think that has more to do with the ergonomics of my chair at work than anything else. When I pay attention to how I sit, its not so bad. I am not experiencing huge weight loss. I lost close to 10lb last summer, then plateaued for quite a while, then have lost a few more. Still have not lost 20, but then I am not rigorous to the plan. Daryl is such a wonderful cook and I cannot impose my choice too greatly onto him.

Have been spending lots of time dreaming about owning property in the Caribbean or Yucatan... lots of time dreaming about this. I love being Canadian but I don't love living in Canada right now.

Season's Greetings

2007-12-24T16:32:00.000-08:00

Christmas is upon us and for the first time in many, many years I feel ready for the event. I'm usually rushing to finish shopping, struggling with what to get those difficult people (dad's come to mind) or how to stretch too few dollars too far. Dinner is here tomorrow, with the whole gang coming over. BUT, mom insisted on having the meal catered, so little work for Daryl or I!

We have several days off work (Daryl has appointments on Thursday & Friday) and hopefully we will manage to visit friends and have a relaxing time. And I'm sure the kids are going to want to go and spend the Christmas booty too.

2007, like every year, has had it's ups(more financial stability, great photography trip) and downs(health problems for family members). Days go by, some are bad, most are good, we all get older and well, I think someone wrote a song like that already.

Merry Christmas, and Best Wishes for 2008.

The latest from my wacky world

2007-12-02T15:47:00.001-08:00

Well, probably the 'news' that interests the most people is the creation of Soccer Edmonton. A mediator has successfully negotiated an end to the EIYSA-EMSA stand off. Check the EIYSA website for a link to the press release.
One 'new' organization, with representation from both boards, running youth soccer from T1 through to Tn. 'Club Soccer Edmonton' will have control of T1 & 2, and 'Soccer Edmonton' the others. This sure sounds like a step in the right direction.

Last night, just after supper, the dog started barking like mad. Someone was approaching the door, and he certainly took notice. So did Katie - perhaps she saw the vehicle from her bedroom. It turns out it was an Edmonton Police Service Constable, visiting households to inform us about a not so respectable neighbor. Kind of a freaky thing, really. What purpose does informing the neighborhood do? Is there an imminent raid being planned? What are the real dangers of having this person as a neighbor? I still don't really have a grip on why the officer was visiting.

Colin comes home in early December. I am looking forward to seeing him, hearng his experiences in Germany and seeing how he handles being back home. Will he behave like a kid or an adult? Which will he want to be treated as?

Who Am I?

2007-11-24T09:24:00.000-08:00

Gluwater (one of my travel companions on the preshoot this fall) sent me this photo that he took: me shooting sunrise at Waterton. This photo really draws me in to it, despite it's elegant simplicity, because it takes me to a moment where I was just me.
So what do I mean by that? Well, I guess I am many things to many people: wife, mother, daughter, employee, soccer mom, volunteer. Not to mention things I have been (PMS Bitch from Hell was how some former employees referred to me).
But in this photo I am just me - alone, with only my own thoughts and expectations to deal with. Able to set my own timelines, leave when I want, linger if I like. Meet my own deadlines, push my own limits, rise to the challenge, crash and fail, dependant only on me and the choices I make, affecting only me.
Clearly there is great importance in being all of those other things, and in fact, those other things make me who I am. They keep me grounded and balanced, bring me joy and heartbreak, allow me to be successful on other peoples terms, to be measured by social measuring sticks.
Life is about balancing the inner and outer self.

This was driven home for me yesterday when I stopped to help a motorist who was having car troubles. Many things had gone wrong for this person both with respect to the car trouble, and as it turns out, to life overall. She was struggling financially, emotionally and with her health. For whatever reason, she had lost that balance. She gave me reason to be thankful for what I have, where I've been and where I am going.

And, I think she also pointed out the importance of not escaping to that isolated place in the photo - to know it is there and can be had, but to realize that who I am is really a sum of the interactions of each individual piece - wife, mother, daughter, employee, photographer - each of them add to the whole.

What's Your Value Add?

2007-11-11T17:58:00.000-08:00

I've been working on a few things lately - a project at work that has me thinking about 'value added' price models and other business things. I've also been helping out with Alex's team fundraising. This isn't my first foray into fundaraising. It isn't my first volunteering either. In fact, i first volunteered in Junior High, at the Canadian Handicapped Games (okay, I actually don't remember the true name of the event), and have continued to volunteer my entire life. When we first moved to Brookview, it seemed a good way to meet neighbors. As we owned our own business, volunteering also gave us a means of having peers and even friends. I have been worker bee through to President of a wide variety of different organizations. I do this because I enjoy the people I meet and the feeling of pride at giving back. One thing that has become very clear over the years is that there are always people willing to debate and argue points but very few willing to put their money (time) where their mouth is. As well, it is impossible to achieve consensus, and thus seeking opinions often leads to more work than value. I have the experience to know how to get things done, the willingness to take on the task and a pretty no nonesense approach to these things now. I don't really need the headaches that volunteering brings - the arguements and the disagreement, the lack of appreciation. So why do it? Well, I think it all comes down to the question 'what is your value add?': what is it that you (I) contribute to this world?

Farewell to the smartie room

2007-11-10T16:57:00.000-08:00

Katie's room was the first room painted when we bought this house. She was about 10, IIRC, and picked bright blue and bright purple - 2 walls each. It was a great color combination, and it really was the color of blue and purple smarties.
I've just finished putting the first coat of primer on her walls. She has picked a new, more refined color scheme. I am pleased though, that she has no fear of color. She will have 3 walls in a nice soft creamy peachy color, and a wall in quite a bright orange. She is basing her color scheme on the duvet cover that she picked at IKEA - it is orange and red. So orange will be her wall color and red her accents and perhaps her couch color. This will all coordinate nicely with her IKEA wardrobe with mirror doors, and IKEA headboard/shelving unit. It will transform her room from a kids room to a young ladies room.

And really, that's the point of this post. My babies are growing up.They are all teenagers now, are all as tall or taller than me now, are independant and more or less responsible young people. This brings us closer to the independance of empty nesters, although we still have 41/2 more years here at a minimum. It is a bittersweet kind of feeling - pride at getting them this far along, worry about the remaining years when the dangers are clearly greater than they have been before, and missing those adorable moments from years gone by.

Bringing us up to date...

2007-10-20T21:42:00.000-07:00

Well, as I wrote yesterday, there have been many exciting things going on in our lives these past few months.

From September 18 until Oct. 3, I was away from home on a photo journey through the Canadian Rockies, ending in Glacier when we met 47 other photographers for the Dgrin shootout. There were 4 of us on the preshootout: Skippy, Phyxius, Gluwater and I. We are detailing the trip in a thread on Dgrin, though it is taking quite a while for each of us to contribute.....This was an immense amount of fun, and I definitely learned alot. I am reediting some photos, and creating panos like crazy with the new computer and PSCS3. Learning new skills and pushing beyond the routine I had established is a good thing, and should keep me sharp for a while.

Colin was home for a week from Sept. 30 to Oct. 6. He has returned to Leverkusen, and seems to be doing well. He is taking the soccer seriously, and understands that this is the point of being there.

Alex's team is planning a trip to Germany for spring break. Plenty of fundraising to do between now and then. I am torn between sitting back and letting others do their thing, and jumping in with my past experiences to draw on.

The crescent homeowners formed a homeowners association this fall, to facilitate the possible installation of city services to our homes. Somehow I have ended up as VP.

And I tried to quit my job! I had another job all lined up - one that would allow a more flexible schedule and the ability to be immersed in the photography community. One I am pretty sure I would have enjoyed a great deal. However, when I discussed this with the bosses at ML, they suggested that I take a promotion there instead - more challenge, more decision making stroke, and of course more money. This was a really tough decision for me - I was being given the opportunity to infuence the things at ML that were frustrating me and causing me to be dissatisfied. I was also being given the opportunity to work in a community of photography lovers, and this would have let me grow my photography skills and business. In the end, I chose to stay at ML and accepted the challenge of trying to make positive change to the business.

Latest To(-y-)ol

2007-10-19T21:49:00.000-07:00

I have joined the Mac world!
After months of disgruntlement with Vista, more than months of disgruntlement with the shared computer/monitor with the family (constant battle against fingerprints, sticky keyboards, and access) and a recent change to financials, I have purchased an iMac plus a second monitor. I am sitting at my treasured oak antique desk, with a 20" and a 23" monitor in front of me. these are both really lovely displays and I cannot wait to try editing photos on them. I purchased PSS3 as well, since PSP is not available for macs. Tomorrows task will be installing it, moving some photo files over here and having a go.

I do not intend to put any microsoft programs on here. I still have access to the family PC, the dh's laptop, and of course the windows box at work. This will be strictly for me and my photos.

I am about half way through the photos from the dgrin preshoot and shootout. I have many 'panorama's' to stitch together. One driving impetus for the switch to PSCS3 was the new photomerge, reported to be wonderful. My stitching program, Panorama Factory, is still in purgatory on the infected harddrive. I would rather not risk infecting everything else so this will certainly assist me on that front.

The preshoot/shootout was absolutely amazing. I cannot remember when I last had so much fun!!!! I have plenty of stories and photos to share from that trip, and a few other new developments in my life in addition to the new 'puter. Guess it is time to start writing again.

And we are off - Shoot Out here we come!!!

2007-09-17T21:34:00.000-07:00

Skippy arrived Friday. We have been to McBain Camera twice, and Vistek once. We have been to Mountain Equipment Coop and to Costco. We are pretty much set for tomorrow. Nick and Christina get here at 1 p.m. We will collect them from the airport and drive to Jasper! WooooHooooo! Two weeks immersed in photography and fellowship. I am looking forward to all aspects of this trip, except perhaps leaving the family behind for two weeks. The preshoot will be great, with the four of us and the scenery that I know to expect. The shootout is going to be great for scenery, and to see the others returning from last year.

Skippy and I also spent yesterday shooting, first at Beaverhill Lake, or the remnants thereof. Beaverhill Lake was a large migration spot but it is no more than a small slough now. We found lots of insect species, but couldn't get anywhere close to the millions of geese that we could hear.

We then travelled to Elk Island Park, did a very pleasant 2.6 km hike and had an enjoyable afternoon. Leaving the park we came across the bison herd, and were able to get many good shots of them. The number of bison in the park is really impressive now, and great to see. No other large mammals were encountered, nor were any small animals. As we hiked the second half of the trail we came across a bison pattie about every ten feet - mostly quite fresh in appearance. All of a sudden skippy turned to me with the realization that we might just come across one of these creatures face to face! Shortly after that, a family of grouse flew out of the shrubbery, making one heck of a racket.

2007-09-08T15:37:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was spent putting new storage systems into Alex and Katie's rooms. We cut the front walls of their closets off, built Ikea wardrobes and put them into the closet space. This is a really functional idea that I've copied from my dad. The Ikea wardrobes fit into a standard closet really well, and are much more functional and store much more stuff. Alex's mess has been removed from his floor and dresser top, and both he and Katie have managed to store everything of theirs into the wardrobes, allowing them both to get rid of their dressers and cabinets.

This weekend, I've begun to put the drywall mud onto the new drywall in the office. We bought trim and D has trimmed out the kids wardrobes, and the closet and door frame in the office. These reno tasks are frustrating because overcoming the inertia is often more taxing than actually finishing the tasks. I should be able to finish the office (perhaps not paint) by the end of the week, and this will allow me to buy and set up the iMac.

Colin is still in Germany and has an offer to stay for the season with VFL-Leverkusen. He has decided that he wants to stay until end of first semester, for sure. This is a really cool experience for him.

Next week, I am off on my grand adventure - a week touring the Canadian Rockies with 3 fellow dgrinners on our way to the shootout in Glacier. Trying to get some last minute details finalized for that trip right now - like wondering if I'll need winter clothes. It absolutely poured today, then the next cloud brought hail. Most trees have not yet turned color, so that looks hopeful for our trip.

Whirlwind of activities

2007-08-24T21:53:00.000-07:00

Been an eventful few weeks around here, it has.

Soccer season ended for us with none of the kids going on to post season play...thank goodness, both from the perspective of having a few weeks off and from the perspective of having to deal with the EIYSA/EMSA/ASA/CSA politics of the last month!!!!

I decided to take a week off work, thinking that we might go away for a few days. I searched hard for a last minute deal to some beach, talked with D about going to visit relatives and finally decided to stay home and get some of the much needed work done in the yard and house. We had built two really great planters in the front yard earlier this summer, and have a miriad of projects thought of but not started. So, this would be our week to do them.

Meanwhile, an opportunity arose to have Colin travel to Germany and try out/train with some German programs. Details were sketchy and ultimately we made a leap of faith that the risk was worth giving him this opportunity. It all came together such that he left on Tuesday this week for an as yet to be determined amount of time. So, we spent Sunday preparing for his 'going away party', Monday running last minute errands for him, Tuesday sending him away and kind of getting used to the whole idea. He is near Dusseldorf, starts training Monday, is a bit homesick and struggling with the time change, but I am sure he is up to this challenge and will give it his very best shot. We are a bit torn on this, because of course we want him to do very well. However, that could result in him not coming home for a while. His brother and sister are lining up to claim his room - just what Alex needs - more space to make a mess in.

So we got the second planter filled with soil and plants Wednesday, all laundry out of Alex's room and the first dent into the storage room clean up yesterday. D and Rob built the 'path to no where' as well - the first installment in D's Grand Plan for a large patio with stone wall on the east side of the yard. Today, D put drywall and window trim up in the office; first step to finishing the office/buying a Mac for me. And I mostly finished a task I've been procrastinating on for at least a year - cleaning out the back basement storage room. This is part of my Grand Plan to finish the basement renovation by moving laundry and bath to the east side of the house, opening the center up and making it a large games room with wet bar. I have one more major clean out in the basement - the former bathroom needs to be emptied too. Oh, and then there is also Alex's room - we need to come up with an alternative to his system of piling his clean clothes onto his dresser, or on the floor.

And school starts up in another week, too!

Like I said, an eventful couple of weeks.

The 'Comfort' (aka granny) bike

2007-08-06T21:19:00.000-07:00

I bought a new bike a couple of weekends ago. Riding my previous bike really bothered me - my hands, my shoulders and my seat all grumbled and complained and so I just didn't ride. So this one has a much more upright posture to it (higher handle bars allowing me to sit straighter) and a great big wide seat! Looks dorky, but I can ride it.

I got to a point recently where I just had to say no to bigger size clothes, had to drop some pounds and gain back some fitness.

So, thanks to an inspirational thread on dgrin, I've been paying really close attention to what I eat, and I've been riding a bit. Our first big ride was in midday sun on a splendid 29C day. We headed south through Windermere and made it all the way to 41 Avenue SW. It turns out that is an 8km ride, one way. It was great, and although my knees complained along the route, I was fine the next day.

This weekend, we rode through Terwillegar town to the top of Rabbit Hill - what a great view those homeowners will have. Then today we rode to 41 Avenue again. I was 'don' by the end of our ride today - but then again, we decided to finish it with a ride aroudn the crescent and the hill got me. And I worked for 6 hours doing hockey photos today too.

And, as far as following the vegan diet recommended by the thread on dgrin, I'm not strictly. I am just trying to really eat way more fruit and veggies and grains than meat, making sure meat is less than 10% of my overall diet, and the meat that is included is fish or extra lean, avoiding all processed food and fast food and overall trying to be cognisant of what I eat. And it seems to be working. Maybe I will have the same success that some fellow grinners are having.

Boy time flies

2007-07-23T22:40:00.000-07:00

The U20s are over and Argentina (YAY) have won. Too bad the final was in T.O. Would have really enjoyed that, but as it was I enjoyed those games that were here.

Colin and Randy helped to build the first of the planters in the front yard, and I was able to fill it (almost) with perennials from the yard. Bought a few extras from Hole's yesterday.

We are having a wonderous summer thunder storm right now - lots of lightening, thunder and rain!

For an update on the ASA ruling, look to the EIYSA homepage. They have links to the documents in circulation right now. I really do hope that change is coming. I do. But I believe that this will require critical mass from the soccer community and a show of support (force?) to the ASA. I do hope that someone out there cares and has the free energy to spearhead this. I wouldn't mind being involved, but right now I am still recovering from the financial affects of loosing a business and just cannot spare the time.

Summer in the City

2007-07-06T22:28:00.000-07:00

So, it's been a busy few weeks. Last weekend the boys were in a tournament, so lots of shots to get processed. I also had an allergic reaction to bug bites again. Had about a dozen bites total and thought I had the flu - chills, really severe cramping, nausea...it dawned on me two days in that I was feeling like I did in the Dominican. So, I started treating the symptoms like an allergy, and they went away.

The FIFA U20 World Cup is here, and we've been to see three games so far. Good soccer, great to be outside on a beautiful summer night. As I mentioned at work, I usually have to pay thousands of dollars to sit outside and sweat - last night I got to do this in my town! (it was plus 33C). I am looking forward to the rest of the games, despite Canada's poor showing so far.

The flower garden is showing nicely, and I'd really like to get the front yard done this month. First step is to hire a bobcat and possibly a crew to put in the pathways. Then a few flowerbeds and some perrenials, a fountain and a bench. I can visualize it all - now to make it happen.

A few weeks ago the Alberta Soccer Association held their AGM. They made a ruling (after something like 10 years of not bothering) about EIYSA/EMSA and their right to send teams to Provincials. Making a decision is a good thing. Leadership can be a good thing. However, this decision is being applied to the current, in progress season. It affects this seasons provincials, after at least a thrid of the games are finished. The decision is to eliminate playdowns and send one team from each organization to Privincials. It affects the second place team from each league in that they no longer have the ability to play for the opportunity to go to provincials.
I say, Bravo, for finally making a decision. I have a REAL PROBLEM with having the decision affect the current playing season. I also understand the underlying politics, and they are not pretty. The only potential, and yet to be determined, upside, is the possible outcome of one soccer organization in Edmonton. In order for this to be a positive outcome, the executive/admin of both leagues would need to resign and allow a whole new set of volunteers (and paid admin) to come in.

Grade nine grad

2007-06-15T17:45:00.000-07:00

Tonight. Katie is gorgeous....really! I let her get her hair done, her girlfriend came over and did her makeup. She is wearing a really cute black party dress. I took the two of them outside to have photos. Beautiful. You would never know they are 15 and 17. Unless you were here right now, watching them play Wii in their party dresses! :-)

I am totally opposed to the ball gown and limo thing that I saw some of the girls do for Colin's grad. But every little girl needs to be a princess every once in a while. And tonight is her night. By Sunday, she'll be dishing it out on the soccer pitch once again, and this little moment of beautiful femininity will be but a memory.

The Perfect Weekend (and an update on the banned coaches)

2007-06-02T22:05:00.000-07:00

This is how it has been so far:
1. Yesterday was an 'earned day off' for me, so after dropping the boys at the bus to the tournament in Saskatoon, I spent an hour visiting my mom, went downtown to get folios for soccer photos and got the info I needed about printing trader cards, and then went to my favorite greenhouse (actually, I love all greenhouses, but Holes is truly my fave) for bedding plants.
2. The girls played a pretty darned good soccer game against a very physical team and ended up tying it.
3. I spent the first half of my day working on the T & I photos (ready to go to print), planting my bedding plants, doing some general yard clean up and working up a sweat, as it is a glorious, hot weekend. Did a bit of kid driving too.
4. The girls played another good game and came away with a decisive win this afternoon.
5. I finished the vacuuming and the bathroom cleaning.

And just at dusk, a really large porcupine walked into the yard. I am keeping my fingers crossed that he is not eating my new, beautiful bedding plants!
The yard, and most neighborhoods, smell amazing right now. Flowering fruit trees are in bloom,
lilacs are in bloom, there is an amazing feast for the senses happening.

Last night, at 3:45 a.m., a young coyote howled and I swear it was right under my bedroom window! So as I sit here now and listen to the hum of the traffic on Henday, I recognize that it is background hum, and that the wildlife and stars and tranquility are here still. They have changed, and will change again, but can still be enjoyed. I know that this noise is different than the noise and light pollution of 225.

FWIW, the EMSA admin has decided that Dale and Tim have no grounds for appeal. So, they have spent their $ to have a voice and have been shut out once again. If, by chance, you read this and have children playing soccer on an EMSA based team, I urge you to ask questions, think about how your registration fees are spent and about how the soccer experience for your child should be. It is time for a change; unfortunately there is no means of voting with your feet in this case. There is no alternative to EMSA if your child plays community soccer. Realize that Mario Charpentier, President of EMSA, is also a paid administrator. Read the bylaws, look to see if petitions or plebiscites are available to you. Ask how many years each of the zone directors has been involved. Ask if maybe some new perspectives are needed. Find some means of generating a change of guard at EMSA. Then maybe the whole soccer hierarchy in Edmonton can be changed as well.

Photo challenges and Pests

2007-05-23T21:42:00.000-07:00

The deadline is fast approaching, especially since I have a very busy weekend shooting team photos coming up. I have been shooting a bit - a few soccer games, shots through the day Sunday while doing yard work, tried to find the perfect barn against dramatic sky Monday morning, but I just don't have a great shot yet. And I have not been inspired by any subject to set a shot up yet. I don't mind entering last minute, I just need to be careful to leave myself enough time to analyse and edit the dang thing!

The U18 boys did well in Tacoma, with two wins and two ties. There is lots of talent on that team, and I wish them all success in finding their place in the soccer world.

We did a bunch of yardwork on the weekend. It felt so good to do physical labour. (I really miss that in my current job.) I still need to plant seeds, and buy annuals for flower pots. It came very close to freezing last night, so I am glad I didn't have too much stuff in the ground yet. And then there are the big landscaping jobs to be done - putting the front yard back together, replacing decking front and back, putting in flower beds in the back, the list could be endless if our bank account were.

Still no information from EMSA for those coaches that appealed the banning - they paid their $ for the privilege of being ignored! Not surprised, just saddened I guess.

Anyway, hoping that the photography inspiration bug will bite, or the perfect sunset happens right in front of me! And speaking of bug bites - if you are heading to my town, bring your mosquito spray. The mosquitoes are overly abundant and ferocious. Between mosquitoes, potholes and road construction, Edmonton is not a very inviting city this year.

The Goalie

2007-05-17T21:41:00.000-07:00

Goalies are a special breed. At least that is what I've been told. So why is it that I have 2?!! Goalies are either the hero or the goat - there is no middle ground.

Colin has played goal since forever. He is both technically competent (or proficient - he is in the NTC program) and mentally competent. He can accept his strengths and weaknesses, and both do what is necessary to finish the game and accept his own shortcomings. I have come to accept him as goalie, and look forward to him playing the position. I used to dread games where he played goal - partly because it is such an unforgiving position- now I look forward to that spectacular save.

So, the other night, Colin played striker for his team.

He has not really had this opportunity since U14. I was once again the uncomfortable parent, watching him play a position that he hasn't trained for in years. Bu it was kind of fun. and he did alright.

He is at a scouting tournament in Tacoma right now. I hope that he plays goal. And I hope he impresses he right person by doing so. He has never had any other passion. He has never wavered from the goal of continuing to play soccer. He has worked hard to get where he is, and shown great dedication. I hope that this effort pays off for him.

Ookpik

2007-05-16T21:19:00.000-07:00

This evening I found a quarter with an ookpik on the "tails" side. This brought back a flood of childhood memories, including my 'ookpik' boots, and time in Yorkton. I also was reminded of mispronounced words from childhood(s) - my own, my sister, my kids...Shalame was my word for elephant, dadoo was Colin's word for Cookie Monster. Funny how a simple image and a quiet moment can result in such free flowing thoughts.

And then I had a completely different thought. I'd spent a lot of time trying to come up with a name for my photography business, something unique, something other than just my name. Well, Ookpik might be it. It is Canadian, it is unique, it has a personal meaning to me. So, maybe I should call the photo business Ookpik photography. I see there is another blog called Ookpik's Negativity.

So another 'word' that is unique to me is 'shalame'. Maybe Shalame photography works?

Hmm, so what do you think?

Last Photographer Standing

2007-05-15T21:36:00.000-07:00

Well the semifinal contest time has come. Those of us that made it as final 10 in each of the first 5 rounds of this complex contest now have to enter a new shot within this two week period, fresh, without a theme. Best 10 shots, as chosen by a panel, win prizes and go on to compete in the final at some later date.

So I am trying to figure out strategy: Should I just shoot a lot, shoot each sports event, all opps in the garden, every sunset I come across?
Should I think hard about what kind of shot to set up?
Should I look through my galleries to figure out what my best shots have been and try to recreate that?
Should I go on a special road trip to find that perfect landscape?
This is going to be tough. Lots of the other contestants are accomplished at 'creating' shots, be it still lifes or portraits. This is not my typical style, although I have had some success when I've tried that.

It is certainly going to be an interesting and challenging week. Luckily, we have a very quiet weekend coming up. Unluckily, there is rain in the forecast.

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

2007-05-13T12:41:00.000-07:00

HeHeHe! Let me be the first to say it!

Today, the alarm went off at 6 a.m. This is because I did my first freelance photography shoot today. Several months ago, when I was looking for work, I answered an ad from an event photog in B.C., looking for shooters. He kept my info and contacted me about a month ago. I agreed to shoot a road race for him today. Really interesting process - paid me and another photog hourly, he provided cards which we filled and couriered back to him. I am curious as to how the photos will turn out. The job was to get one shot per participant at the finish line. 10K and 5 k run & walk. 1700 registered participants! I can't confirm the results, but think they were pretty good, from the bit of chimping I did.
Weather was great, so that made things easy and enjoyable. Sitting at the finish line, watching families cross together, did make me think that maybe that would be something for us to do next year. We could certainly manage a 5 K walk. Now I need to sort out if I will do it again.

Finished that up at just past 11 a.m. and headed home. Stopped at Fresh Start Bakery and bought myself some pastries. Walked in to the house and it is all spic and span. So the dh did the house cleaning while I was out shooting. That is a great present for me.

Yesterday we were out being kid taxi all day long. CBs team played at 5, and due to player injuries, he played as an out player. First time in a very long time that he has had field play. It was fun to watch.

The sunshine, after all that rain, is really bringing the garden to life. Mom and dad's neighbors tulips are blooming, ours are just barely budding. Will spend some time mucking out there this afternoon, and with luck spend a whole weekend next weekend, whipping things into shape.

White Knuckles, Grey Hair!!!!

2007-05-11T21:08:00.000-07:00

Colin drove to and from his practice tonight - about 40 km each way, across the Henday, through traffic, at rush hour. OMG, it was sphincter tightening to say the least. Going to, traffic was very heavy and stop/go/bumper to bumper in some places. Coming home was not as difficult. He did very well, but has three main things he needs to do better: manage the brakes, his speed when cornering, and his shoulder checking.

Shoulder checking has gone from NOT to a full out Look ALL the way behind me (picture an owl turning its head) while travelling 100kmh and not keeping an eye forward......

Slowing dwn for the turn happens AFTER the turn is complete.

And coming to a full stop doesn't happen until just before the welding of bumpers.

But he has to practice and he IS getting better.

While he was at practice, I had some camera time. I found the access to the river in St. Albert - the Sturgeon River - and it has a lovely walking trail, bridges, trees just leafing out and all kinds of water wildlife. I was able to shoot a couple species of ducks, and the most cooperative beaver!

On the drive home, there were a pair of juvenile moose in a field by 137 Avenue. No room to stop, but a really cool sight. There were also flocks of very large birds flying north - I didn't get a really good look but I have a feeling they were birds of prey, maybe eagles. And finally, as we crossed onto Terwillegar, there was a really spectacular sunset going on.

So, despite the grey hair and white knuckles, I had a pretty good evening.

Latent Tree Hugger

2007-05-07T21:35:00.000-07:00

Thinking a bit about recycling in terms of the results of our bottle drive this weekend

Our collection totals were:
Pop cans :10816
Beer cans: 3096
<1l plastic bottles: 6549
<1l glass bottles: 2220
>1l plastic bottles: 1046
>1l glass bottles: 72
>1l tetra containers: 832
<1l tetra containers: 1320
'cooler' bottles: 1296
beer bottles: 2472

The one stat there that sticks out for me is the 6500 under 1 litre plastic bottles - I sorted most of those, and they were primarily bottled water bottles. This totals 22% of all of the collected containers - for drinking water readily available to us in our kitchens. I happen to buy bottled water so I contribute to this issue, but I only do so if I am away from work, where I drink tap water. At home, sad to say, we drink water from a water cooler. This is a direct result of not really being sure of the quality of our cistern. In any case, bottled water is a bad environmental choice. I guess I will need to think twice about opening a bottle of water rather than drinking the tap water.

The latent tree hugger in me gets agitated when I see construction crews plowing through tree stands. Tonight, as I was leaving to get CB to his game, a large piece of machinery was starting work on the west side of 170 street. It had just plowed through the trees. Now I know that these are just scrubby poplars and cotoneasters, but they are also home to nesting birds, small rodents, perhaps Spike's relatives, and whatever else is breeding right now in Edmonton. I find it really annoying that this machine operator chose to blast through the tree stand rather than go around it.

I am not opposed to the development of my neighborhood, not a nimby at all, but I do wish that it could be done with a modicum of respect for the existing residents (not necessarily the human ones0 and the environment.

10816

Of Friends

2007-05-05T19:26:00.000-07:00

I have had a day full of friends. The younger boys soccer team held a bottle drive today. It was a great success. We sorted the bottles on the driveway here - a lot of work, not without it's frustrations, but this is such a great group of families that it was fun. The boys did really well, too, with both collecting and with helping to sort afterward.
I was really worried about the drive. It has rained almost all week, with very heavy rain all day yesterday. Then, when we woke up this morning, there was snow on the ground! Just a skif, but snow none the less. No one really knew what to expect from the weather at the beginning of the day. The rain had stopped though, and the sky gradually cleared up. The sun came out in the afternoon, and it was quite pleasant.
The collecting went so well that we ended up having to sort several hours after we stopped collecting. All the families pitched in and got the job done, and the team did very well as a result. And I think we all had fun doing this.

This is why being part of a community is such a great thing.

Of course, the other community that I belong to is the photography community that hangs out at DGrin
Sadly, today, a wonderful member of that community passed away. Ginger Jones was a passionate photographer, and produced lovely images with a marvelous dreamy quality. She was an active participant in the forum, and she will be missed.

Garden Clean Up

2007-04-29T21:29:00.000-07:00

So I spent several hours getting rid of dead branches on the big dogwood and the lilac in the front yard. These are tasks that I put on the to do list last summer, for early spring when the interior old growth would be accessible. So I really feel I've accomplished something today. And the muscles necessary for pruning, reaching, bending all feel like they have accomplished something today too. Wonder how I'll feel tomorrow!!!

Macro Photography & Garden Photography

2007-04-29T09:54:00.000-07:00

I love the garden. It provides so many opportunities for observing and capturing natural settings and beautiful scenes. Our garden here isn't nearly as developed and lush with flower beds as our past garden. I also haven't really figured out how to do great macros with my Canon equipment yet. The 100mm macro is pretty high on my wish list.
I just participated in a thread at dpreview about lucky shots - and a couple of the ones that I chose were garden macros. A pair of mating spiders, dew drops on the whirls of a mallow blossom.

A reminder of how much I used to shoot in my garden, and how I should get out there and shoot some more.

I came across a site with some truly inspirational garden macro photography recently, MacroArtInNature
There is really beautiful work there, and technical discussion. I suspect I will visit it often.

The problem for me though is that garden season here happens to coincide with soccer season, and my time to do both is limited. I know there are some cool photos from last summer, not yet edited, on my hard drive.

So, here is to a great summer and a great season of garden photography.

LPS 4: Symbiosis

2007-04-28T21:59:00.000-07:00

So I have entered the following shot into the DGrin contest Last Photographer Standing 4:

I, of course, struggled with time to photograph something appropriate. Had wanted to go tothe farmers market today, but I just had too much driving and other stuff to get there. Not sure I'd manage to take a 'street shot' anyway. And come to think of it, what would a farmers market in Edmonton sell in April, that would say 'organic'.

So I entered this one - shot it on Tuesday evening around sundown. I like it. I will certainly include it into my study of tree textures.

Today was a great wildlife day in the yard. Started with a Hairy Woodpecker at the suet feeder this morning. Tonight, a porcupine was wandering around the yard. We aren't sure - but it looks too big to be Spike. Haven't seen Spike for several days. As well, on the very top of one of the poplars in the forest, I spotted the silhouette of the owl. And that is why I live in the middle of no where.......

EMSA Discipline Again

2007-04-28T08:01:00.000-07:00

EMSA has posted another letter on their homepage, justifying their actions in this matter. Apparently it is okay to invite people to a hearing to discuss their fate, change the time of the hearing and notify them post hearing of the result. In order to put up any kind of defense, EMSA is charging these people $125 each.

This matter will be discussed today, Saturday, on CFRN 1260 by Soccer Steve ultimatesoccer@cfrn.com

Another body to express opinions on this to would be the Edmonton Sport Council

As well, all meetings of SWEMSA and of EMSA must be open to members, and as a fee paying parent, you are a member. SWEMSA is having a board meeting Sunday night. Of course, they are not advertising this right now, so I cannot be sure that it is at the Derrick at 7, but that is my guess.

I've been thinking that it may be worth moving these items to a blog of their own. I've been tracking hits and several have come from people searching for information about these suspensions. I wonder if this will be the issue that finally gets enough support from the general membership of youth soccer in Edmonton to affect change.

I do hope so. I believed, years ago when I first heard about the issues between leagues, that the issue would outlive my kids soccer playing time. I hope I am wrong.

Anyway, I have photos to take!

.

Stranger and Stranger

2007-04-24T14:54:00.000-07:00

There has been a great deal of publicity surrounding the suspension of these 4 soccer coahes - lots of media coverage, a planned rally in the parking lot of the meeting facility, letter writing.

Well here is the result - a letter cancelling the meeting:

EDMONTON MINOR SOCCER ASSOCIATION
6250 Roper Road Telephone: (780) 413-EMSA (3672)
Edmonton, Alberta T6B 3K8 Fax: (780) 490-1652
Affiliated With: Alberta Soccer Association
Canadian Soccer Association Internet Home Page: www.edmontonsoccer.com
April 24, 2007
Mr. Daryl Burd

Mr. Burd,
Effective immediately you, Tim Simpson, are suspended indefinitely from all EMSA related
soccer activities.
Our original invitation for a meeting to discuss your situation is formally withdrawn. The
invitation was intended to prove our intent to go above and beyond the requirements of the
EMSA rules and regulations to resolve the situation.
The discipline committee meeting of April 24, 2007 at 2:00 PM unanimously agreed to cancel
the discipline meeting due to:
• Recent actions are detrimental to the EMSA as per our Bylaw Article 4 Section #13:
“Any Member who, through their actions or behavior, violates any Bylaw, Rule or
Regulation, in part or in whole or who is acting in a manner detrimental to the objectives
of the Association, may be:
b) Suspended for a period of time as determined by a decision of any Discipline
Committee or Board of the Association.”
• EMSA Rule #505.2 – Coach / Director Conflict of Interest
“If the Edmonton Minor Soccer Association (EMSA) becomes aware that one of its
coaches or directors has moved to any other local minor soccer organization as a coach,
assistant coach, manager or director, it shall immediately notify the individual in
writing that he is suspended indefinitely from all related EMSA soccer activities.
The individual has the right to appeal as per EMSA Rules and Regulations.”
To appeal the suspension you must submit a written request to the EMSA Discipline
Committee. The appeal must be received in writing by the EMSA office and include the
grounds for appeal, within 72 hours of this written notification being sent out (excluding
Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays) and must be accompanied by a certified cheque or
money order in the amount of $125.00. These funds will be forfeited if the decision is upheld.
The EMSA Discipline Committee

Notice that the author of this letter did not even bother to change the text to match the recipient's name.

More on the Banning

2007-04-23T22:23:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note because it is way past my bedtime.

EMSA has posted 3 letters discussing the Spark issue:

You can see them on the EMSA Homepage.

The one thing that has struck me tonight is that instead of a thank you gift or a years of service plaque (or whatever it is that proper manners would deem appropriate for a volunteer that is moving on after a dozen years of service- even a mug of beer would do!), Daryl is being "disciplined".

There is a point in the letter from the SWEMSA president posted on the EMSA homepage that really stands out for me. It reads:"EMSA and SWEMSA firmly stand behind all of their coaches and volunteers for their tremendous work in organizing community soccer." This is clearly not true.

What this whole episode is screaming to all parents of children playing minor soccer in Edmonton is 'don't spend your precious time volunteering for your kids'. What it should be screaming at them is 'it is time to change the administration of minor soccer in Edmonton'.

There, that's off my chest. I can go to sleep now.

EMSA Disciplinary Actions

2007-04-22T12:52:00.000-07:00

Last week, the dh and three other coaches received notice of disciplinary action by the Edmonton Minor Soccer Association. The root of the disciplinary action is having broken this bylaw:

A recent addition to the EMSA Bylaws, from the EMSA AGM of February 28, 2007; ITEM #22

Rule 505.2 - Coach/Director Conflict of Interest (New Rule)
If the Edmonton Minor Soccer Association (EMSA) becomes aware that one of its coaches or directors has moved to any other local minor soccer organization as a coach, assistant coach, manager or director, it shall immediately notify the individual in writing that he is suspended
indefinitely from all related EMSA soccer activities. The individual has the right to appeal as per EMSA Rules and Regulations.

So the upshot of this bylaw is that you cannot coach for Edmonton Minor Soccer if you coach for EIYSA (Edmonton Interdistrict Youth Soccer Association). Anyone familiar with youth soccer in Edmonton knows how extremely disfunctional it is. Despite all of the involved organizations having a mandate to provide the best soccer experience possible for all kids, they fail. The underlying cause and history to this all is far to lengthy to go into here. What I would like to present here is the history of the dh's involvement in youth soccer in southwest Edmonton,a history that encompasses 12 years of volunteerism, working to promote a love for soccer among young people, motivated by the desire to make sure that all players had every opportunity to play at the level that they wanted to play at.

Daryl first started coaching Colin at U5. He coached Katie at U4. He continued to coach all three of them through their first years of playing the sport and is still helping by being assistant on Alex's U14 team. During the early years, Daryl not only coached but volunteered on the board of Riverbend Soccer. He was a director, and the U10 girls coordinator at the same time that he coached at least one team. One year he was coach, the U10 girls coordinator and the U8 coordinator. He moved from the Riverbend board to the SWEMSA board. He moved from coaching Katie at community to competitive soccer, by becoming a Sting coach. As our kids stayed interested and moved to play at a more competitive level, he moved with them, and he eventually became chair of the Sting program.
In the early years with Sting, the program suffered from past years without leadership, no common vision, no real sense of being an actual organized competitive program; it suffered from a complete lack of volunteers. A very small number of people looked after a large number of tasks, and there was much work to be done.
About the time that Alex started playing U10 competitive, Dale McNeely introduced himself to Daryl. Dale has a long, long history with sport. He has background knowledge of national level competitive sport through his participation in gymnastics. Dale was unhappy with the soccer experience that his children were having and wanted to get involved to make the programs better. Dale shares the same vision of providing kids with the best experience possible, to play at the appropriate level, for as long as possible, that Daryl has.
Dale and Daryl and a group of other volunteers spent a great deal of time and effort making improvements to the organization that their kids played for: specifically the Sting program of SW Edmonton, a member program of EMSA. Hours and hours of effort to reorganize the program. The Sting program has thrived under their influence.
Unfortunately, these remedies were only local. Overall the competitive programs in Edmonton still compete for players, lack the same vision of providing great experiences for all players top to bottom, and ultimately do not provide an equal opportunity for individual players to advance technically or through the more elite programs such as the select program at ASA.
EMSA had tried to set up a program to directly compete with EIYSA at Tier 1 and Tier 2; however EMSA really did not have the full backing of their membership and, despite efforts from organizations like Sting to put together properly tiered teams, this initiative floundered.
Dale and Daryl both have sons on the same U14 boys team. That team played in EMSA outdoor 2006. The team went undefeated, and unchallenged. Finishing first in their league won them the opportunity to go to EIYSA-EMSA playdowns to play for the privilege of moving on to provincial championships. They got spanked by the EIYSA teams. This really solidified a decision for Dale and Daryl - for the sake of the players on that team looking for the highest level of competition, and thus the best opportunity to improve, the team needed to change leagues. So, for fall 2006 that team moved to EIYSA as a Scottish United team.
About the same time, three SW Edmonton soccer programs decided that if the governing organizations could not put together a program that allowed kids to move between levels, depending on their development at any given season, the programs could cooperate to help this happen. The programs were Sting, Spark and Scottish. Unfortunately, the governing bodies could not see the way to allow this to happen.
Dale continued to be the chair of the Sting program, as he still had a child playing at Sting. Daryl remained in a more or less informal advisory capacity as he had had such a long history with the program. Daryl performed more volunteer activities for the two organizations, booking and organizing practice facilities for them, organizing outside technical training for both programs, and continued to act as assistant coach on the boys team. Our daughter continued to play in the Sting program that season as well.
If you know volunteer organizations, you know that volunteers are few and far between. Volunteers that spend over 10 years working for the betterment of the program, for their own children to be sure, but also for the benefit of all of the children in the program, are a rare breed. Daryl has done this from his heart, because he loves coaching, he loves soccer and, despite the s&a, he has enjoyed his involvement in this. We have made many dear friends through soccer. I once read that you could tell the coaches house - it was the one where the lawn wasn't perfect. Spending this many hours on volunteering has to be because you enjoy what you are doing, because other things do get left undone.
He came home from helping with tryouts this season - he had helped work on the field with a group of U10 girls - and said 'they are so darned cute, I almost volunteered to coach them!' Only someone that truly loves coaching would say this!

If EMSA is successful in banning Daryl, Dale and the other two coaches, they will be doing the Edmonton soccer community a great disservice. Banning committed volunteers is truly shooting oneself in the foot. These men won't stop working with soccer players, they won't stop committing hours to soccer programs, they just won't be able to do so for EMSA any longer! From our point of view, this is not necessarily a bad thing. All three kids now play in EIYSA so we won't be stopped from volunteering for our kids if we cannot volunteer for EMSA. Being forced out of volunteering frees up hours for other things. But, being disciplined based on decisions to volunteer for two volunteer based organizations at the same time, implemented through a retroactive bylaw, is just wrong.

Today's Fitness

2007-04-22T12:28:00.000-07:00

Hmmm, when I feel worse upon waking up than I do during the day, I know I need to do something about it. My back just aches like crazy these days - back, hips, back, hips. Only one solution and that is to get rid of this excess strain on my joints.
So this morning included a brief workout: elliptical trainer, bowflex biceps, elliptical trainer, bowflex legs, etc......I figured that the interjected aerobic exercise might help out. Then I had to give CB a lift to a teammates.
We are doing some spring cleaning outside. It is a really dull day, but calm and about 5C, so not unpleasant. So I am picking the garbage on the driveway left by 'the dog was in the garbage again' and by the roofers: little tiny pieces of tar paper, insulation, plastic wrap. And dh has been emptying the garage, which unfortunately (but not surprisingly) flooded this spring, so there is lots of soggy cardboard to deal with.
Anyway, shoveling dropped leaves and pine needles raking, bending and probably pruning count for physical activity. And, honestly, this kind of spring cleaning I enjoy. Give me days of yardwork over hours of housework!! and I will be a happy camper. My farming heritage, I guess.

Student Driver!

2007-04-20T21:39:00.000-07:00

After months (and months and months) of prodding, our oldest has got his learners permit. He is almost 17 - so he has been eligible for this for 2 1/2 years. In fact, his younger sister has had her permit since 3 days past her 14th birthday. The snow is (mostly) gone, so we have been letting the two of them practice driving - on real streets with real traffic. Last summer, I would only let our daughter drive on quiet country lanes. I foresee lots of held breath, lots of 'slow down' or 'speed up', and lots (and lots and lots) of slamming that phantom brake on the passenger side. Things like adjusting mirrors, managing signal lights and headlights, and (gulp!) shoulder checking are not second nature.
Our driveway is very long, and it is challenging to back off of. In fact, this past winter, two experienced adult drivers ended up in the ditch on the end of the drive. So this will be a great learning opportunity for the kids. I offered to get the van to the end of the drive for the boy, but he wasn't giving in - nope, he had started and no matter how many tree branches and reflectors he took out, he was going to finish it!
As much as we really would benefit from having a third driver in the household right now, I really felt that if he wasn't ready for the responsibility then he shouldn't be pushed into it. Some things are worth pushing, and others, like being responsible for a 2 tonne lethal weapon, just aren't. And driving the car is not the same as driving the ride on mower, after all!

The Dgrin shootout is about 5 months away. In fact, skippy says it is less than 150 sleeps until she leaves Oz to come to Edmonton! I really need to get into shape for this. I did a bit of prep for the 06 shootout, and suffered through the heat and climbing in Bryce. Then last September Ha Ling Peak in Canmore tried to kill me. The reality of my desk job is that I just do not get that base level of activity that I used to get. And the reality of our schedule for so much of the year is straight from work to soccer commitment to soccer commitment to.... with no real time for hitting the gym. Anyway, I am probably in the worst physical condition of my life and I need to change that by September. My joints, particularly my hips, ache all the time. This does not bode well for hiking the wilderness like I hope to do this fall. I will attempt to keep track of my training here, hopefully a public record will be a motivator. So, today we did a workout on the bowflex, primarily upper body stuff.

A Soccer Mom with a Digicam

2007-04-17T17:13:00.000-07:00

My first digital camera was the Sony DSC F707. If you are familiar with that camera at all, you will know that it was the highest end 'prosumer' camera available at the time. The 707 was a truly wonderful camera, and the closest that the average bear could get to a dslr at the time. I bought it, after doing 'research' in magazines and on line, because I thought it would allow me to take action shots of my kids playing soccer. That was in late 2000 or early 2001, when the kids were 10, 8 and 6!!!! The 707 was an amazing camera, and it actually did a decent job of taking action photos - outside, in good light, with the Olympus teleconvertor. But it did a decent job. I read photography forums, and sports photography forums and spent a lot of time learning the basics of good exposure, good composition, good sports shots. I was soooo proud of those photos, and worked very hard at being sure that they were more than snapshots. I shared them through my first on line web gallery, pbase, and was immensely offended when they were lifted without permission. I shared them on photography forums too, especially the Sony Talk Forum on dpreview. I got lots and lots of feedback, mostly good. I discovered a passion, and was driven to improve.

Looking back, the 707 probably wasn't the right tool for the job. It was very, very good, for the time and the price, but it wasn't a sports camera. It was, however, better than good at still life and macro photography. The swivel body and large lcd made getting the 'right angle' on insect or flower close ups a peice of cake. And it was exceptional as a teaching device. The feedback loop of digital photography, combined with the basic lessons of exposure and composition, makes learning fun and immediate and inexpensive. I took very many good photographs, including good sports photos, with that camera, and credit working with the 707 and wanting to progress at sports photography, to leading me to where I am now.

Which brings me to the title of todays post. I started as a soccer mom with a digicam - a label that I really, really resented when it was used to describe me by an 'old school' sports photographer. But, looking back, it fit. However, what I did with that digicam and the resources that I sought out to learn more about the art of photography, has led me to feel confident in my ability to get the shot, and to deliver product to paying customers. However, the fact that I have a dSLR is no longer unique. The option of shooting with a dSLR has become available to interested hobbyists, as shooting with the 707 opened the world to me. So I need, more than ever, to be able to deliver/provide a product that stands out - to get the shot that goes beyond a technically good photograph. Which, of course, gives me more fuel to stoke the fire of this passion.

I love photography. It is the one thing in my life of which I have control - I choose when, I choose what, I choose how long. It is an activity that I want to do alone, but share the results with everyone. It is an activity that I enjoy discussing - I love to talk gear, technique, result...anything photography. It is my passion. And I am still a soccer mom with a digital camera.

POST SCRIPT:
Interestingly, as Andy mentions in his comment, the NYT recently wrote about moms & cameras. One of the interviewees of the article has posted this

My Changing Neighborhood

2007-04-15T21:36:00.000-07:00

We have lived in Windermere since July 2004. It has been an idyllic slice of rural living on the edge of the city and it has been wonderful. We have enjoyed many wildlife visits, a huge variety of birds, brighter night skies than neighborhoods just a few miles away. It has been wonderful.

As you've probably concluded, this is changing. Crews are working hard at getting services (water and sewer) into the farmers fields around us. Houses are going up like wildfire in the neighborhood on the east side of 170 Street where services were finished last summer.

So, there is ugly construction mess all around us. There is equipment, dirt piles, pipe, traffic, all of the things that go with development and building a new neighborhood.

The long term gain to all of this will be an increase to our property value, with city services to us and upscale homes built around us, an increase in local services such as grocery stores, and some new city amenities like walking trails and parks. All good things.

The price that we will pay, I am sure, is a loss of local wildlife and the quiet, sleepy community that we now enjoy. Another price will be light pollution.

We walked with Kelso for the whole length of Windermere Drive tonight - all the way to 4th Avenue. Along our way, we saw several Canada geese in the fields, glowing in the early evening light. Shoulda had the camera... On our way home, we saw 5 deer grazing in the field. They listened to us, and loped away as we got close - peered at s out of the tree stand. Seeing the deer got me thinking abut whether that particular tree stand would stay or go. And that got me thinking about my changing neighborhood.

Will we move because of the development? Not likely. Will it make our lifestyle better or worse? Probably some of each. Will it greatly affect our quality of life? I guess this will be the difficult question to answer. I love the quiet. I love the dark, dark night sky. I love the wildlife visits to my yard. How much these will change has yet to be seen. So, as my dad would say 'Only time will tell'.

Finally, it might be spring

2007-04-13T21:44:00.000-07:00

Sign one is that there are robins around.

Sign two is the snow is mostly melted.

Sign three is that we have 11 soccer commitments this weekend!!!

It is the last NTC scouting weekend for Colin, the first goalie training sessions for Alex and the first team practice for Katie.

Yesterday evening I did my first set of basketball team photos, and it was a blast. They were a team of U14 girls and a real pleasure to shoot, very cooperative, very willing subjects. Sure made my job easy.

I'll be getting quite a bit of sport shooting done, but doubt that I will get an entry for LPS 3, although I did have a couple of ideas come to mind while driving downtown today. One is to shoot the corner of the city center mall, from an angle that includes the trolley lines- lots of right angles from an unusual angle might be 'irregular'.

The light at Clarke tonight was really, really nice for the first half of the game. Should have a few good shots to offer for the NTC Prairies web site.

A Mauve Day

2007-04-10T19:58:00.000-07:00

Way back when dh and I were looking to buy our first home, our realtor introduced us to the term 'menopause mauve'. She used this term to describe the decorating schemes typical of homes owned and decorated by middle aged women, back in the days before 'staging for sale' was the thing to do. I have adopted the term lately. Mauve days are days when I am agitated, emotional, generally out of sorts and it is all the fault of those damn hormones (or lack there of).

We woke up to fresh snow! (That is enough to throw anyone into the emotional dumps, and I'm no exception there.) We have had snow since very early October - that's more than six months folks! Enough already.

I took the camera to work with me (after all fresh snow should be good for something), hopeful that I'd find a LPS 3 entry en route. Nope. On the way home, I drove south through the farmland. Nothing really inspiring, although I did come across a driving range and picnic grounds under several inches of water. May go back when the sun is shining because there could be a shot there.

The highlight of my day was to notice Spike sitting on a bough of the spruce tree - about 15 feet up. A good wind would have blown him out. What possessed him to climb up the spruce tree and then sleep on a bough will be one of those great mysteries. In any case, he eventually climbed back down and ate the bread left out for the birds. (Yep, birds, cuz dh knows better than to feed the wildlife). Having Spike hang around has really been a good experience for all of us - we are all keenly interested in his well being and antics, and are learning things about a fellow creature that we would otherwise have no reason to even notice.

In many ways, this is what photography has done for me: Although I have always been a naturalist and paid attention to the world around me, photography has drawn me deeper into my surroundings, given me a reason to slow down and look, to focus on both the sweeping broad scene and the minute details within it. I am feeling the need for a photography fix. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find the right inspiration.

Soccer Season Gears Up

2007-04-09T21:07:00.000-07:00

How long has it been since provincials and tryouts? Two long weeks, I think. But as I sit down to update the calendar I realize it won't be very long at all before we are running all over the city from soccer event to soccer event. The off season, unfortunately, coincides with early spring (or fall), when the photo ops are few and far between and it is still too cold to garden in any significant way.

Our yard will need a lot of work this year. The new septic went in last September and it snowed so soon after that that we had no hope of doing any clean up or landscaping work. So, we have a thick layer of leaves on top of mud. And there is still lots of snow to go. I just hope that we can manage to get the landscaping done well, around all of the soccer things this summer. I am envisioning designing a garden that will lend itself to family and individual portraiture. I hope to include benches, pathways, and flower beds as backdrops, and if I do it right these will also be attractive to birds and butterflies!

What's a Sunday about, after all...

2007-04-08T20:28:00.000-07:00

Today was a real 'do nothin' day. I spent some time in the early morning searching the yard for a LPS 3 entry. Maybe, maybe not. Will see what else I come up with over the week. I've put the possible shots here.
Did some general housekeeping, and some more fussing over my smugmug site. It is really coming along, but with each step forward I come up with a new thing to try. It may always be a work in progress. But, because of the wonderful help from the customizing forum on DGrin, I am really making progress with it.
Had ma & pa and nephew over for dinner....mmmmmm, ham. I love ham. DH hates ham. I feel the same way about turkey, so traditional holiday meals are either a trade off or whatever 'mom' makes!
Spike made an appearance. Katie, Kelso and I were out back. Kelso stopped at the spruce to check something out, and sure enough it was Spike, way underneath up against the trunk. He came out after we put the dog in the house. Got a few more shots of him. This evening he came out into the yard, and found apple pieces waiting for him. Ma and Pa were able to get a good look at him. I don't really believe the descriptions that say porcupines have a poor sense of smell. He seems really adept at sniffing out fruit.
Work tomorrow, and hopefully some t & I shots for a couple of basketball teams tomorrow evening.

Last Photographer Standing

2007-04-07T19:20:00.000-07:00

DGrin
is hosting a great photography contest that they are calling 'Last Photographer Standing'. The contest runs a year, with 50 two week long qualifying rounds. Each qualifying round has a pair of diverging themes to meet (pick one). Stakes are pretty big: over $25K USD in prizes. Details found here.
I have entered each of the first two rounds. I am also keeping a gallery of my trials and successes here. My entry in round one was chosen as a qualifier for the judging round.
So I find myself thinking about how to interpret the theme and get the shot all the time....This rounds themes are 'Irregular' or 'Picturesque". Well, if you've ever been to Edmonton in the early spring, you no picturesque isn't happening without a road trip.
I'm not sure I'll get a shot this time, but you can be sure I'll keep looking for the right one until the very last minute.

Spike has moved in

2007-04-06T13:41:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I saw a porcupine walking through my backyard. The porcupine climbed up the large poplar tree in our yard and had a nap. That evening he came down and started eating compost. Well, he has since chosen to hang out under the large skirt of branches on the blue spruce besides our back patio.

He has a wound on his rump, that seems to be healing well. I suspect that it is from an encounter with a coyote.

So far Kelso has managed to stay clear of him, but we are keeping a close eye on both the dog and the porcupine.

Spike has done a great job of cleaning up all the compost from the winter, and is now eating fresh apples and other garden scraps.