Capturing the Beauty of the North

Fiery Dragon in the Clouds

Here in the north we have come to expect the unexpected. Hopefully when the unexpected does occur there is a camera near by. My daughter, Mariah, and I snapped a whole series of sunset photos the evening we took this one (not sure which one of us captured this photo). We thought it looked like a fiery dragon hovering over the lake.

No matter what the season, there is opportunity for photo taking. Sunsets, new fallen snow, delicate flowers bursting forth in brilliant colours, they are all calling for us to take notice and capture their beauty before the moment has past. There have been so many times the perfect photo opportunity has appeared before me and I didn't have my camera on hand.

I love my digital camera because I can snap as many photos as I like and can delete the ones that do not meet up to my standards. Slowly I have been learning the functions of all the buttons and dials of my camera. It can be quite intimidating, but I know that a good picture can be a great picture if the right settings were used in the first place.

Another way I have been trying to capture the beauty of the north is to paint. In this medium I am just a beginner and have a lot to learn. Art journaling is another way I have used to capture the north, not only by using pictures/sketches, but by including fanciful words to describe the feeling the moment evoked.

Moments only last for.....well, a moment. Go out and capture it so you can savour those moments again and again.

The Rare White Robin

THE RARE WHITE ROBIN

This robin was a wonderful sight to see. I just happened to be carrying my camera that day and I snapped a few photos of her. She was very skittish so these are the 2 best shots I took of her.

She had a nest just outside cottage #4 at the camp I work at. I don't believe her eggs ever hatched because of the cool, wet days we had at the time. Her mate, as you can see by the bottom photo was a regular black and red male.

After snapping these photos I went home and googled "albino robins" and "white robins" and was very surprised to see that they weren't as rare as I had originally thought. I did learn though that out of all birds, robins are the most likely to have this albino trait. They are also the most likely bird to find mates as colouring isn't all that important in their mating rituals. The white gene is passed on to some of their young, but the majority are the common red and black colour.

If you get a chance you should google this rarity. It is quite interesting. I found that once I started I got interested in googling other albino animals just to read about it. Check it out. It is quite interesting!

Photo Sampling from Project 365

Today I thought I would share some of the photos I have taken the last few months. I hope you enjoy them.

The crocus' were growing on my lawn. I love taking close up photos where I can.

There was just something about the pile of bricks out behind my house that attracted me. Perhaps it was the patterning.

The windblown tree photo was taken where I work, cleaning cottages. It was a cool rainy day that day.

The racoon was checking out our compost bin. We had another coon, later in the season, fall into the bin and wasn't able to get out until I rescued him. He really stunk to high heaven since all I had in there was an ichy sludge at the time.

The old, abandoned toy trucks look so natural laying amongst the leaves and dry grass.

I liked how the fungi on this log was layered. I don't know if you can tell, but the shades of blue in the rings are gorgeous.

I hope you enjoyed viewing my photos, I know I enjoyed taking them.

What We've Been Up To This Summer

Time has a way of passing by without notice, at least that is how I feel this year. Lots has happened since I last posted, but I really don't know where the time has gone. Perhaps it is all the rain that we've had that has made my days all blend together. It is like summer never came at all this year and the new school year is just a week and a half away.

This spring I tried to take the challenge set before me of taking a photo at day ("Project 365"-on facebook), but I only lasted a month or so. I did however; take some pretty creative photos. My children became interested in the photos I was taking and started snapping some of their own. I have to admit that a few of their pics are really, really good.

The antler photo is an example of one of the photos my youngest daughter took. She is nine years old. Pretty impressive if I do say so myself. She took quite a few photos, but this one is my favorite. Digital cameras are great for taking lots of pictures and then weeding out the less than perfect photos.

I also built those window boxes this summer that I talked about earlier in my blog. I never built them before because of a lack of cofidence in myself, but this year I just went ahead and did it. I decided to add shutters to the windows of my shed as well. My husband came home and was surprised and impressed. He said he always knew I could do it, I just had to find that out for myself.

We have also been working on the front yard this summer. We moved our small fish pond a bit further out from the house and added a second one with a waterfall inbetween the two. We also have been pouring a patio infront of the house. It's been a slow process, but I feel it will look good once we are finished.

Spring Fever

Spring is here and with it comes "Spring Fever". My pets are all going crazy wanting to get out side. Well, my pug Bug is always crazy, but he is even more so now. Mia, my other pug, is normally very quiet, but even she is starting to run around. Hopefully she won't give herself a heart attack as she has gotten quite heavy over the winter months. Klinger, my old cat, has come out from hiding under the blankets and has been meowing at the door. Mind you, as soon as he gets out he wants back in since it is still very cool out.

The spring gives me a fever too, but with me it is to clean and to organize and to build. I keep looking out at our shed made of barn board. The attractive gray building, with its two windows, seem to be calling out for a couple of window boxes. I am thinking about pulling our old smoker apart and building the window boxes out of it's wood. I may even have enough wood to build a window box for my Mom's shed as well.

My husband and I have been talking about building a worm condo for outside this summer. I wonder if they will do well out there or if it will be too hot? I guess the only way we will find out is to put some out there and try it. I will definitely keep some in the house as I don't want to lose them all if it is too hot and dry out there.

We have many projects in the house going on right now. Sometimes I wonder why we don't finish one job before beginning another. Our dining room and kitchen are pulled apart, ready to receive a face lift, our computer/scrapbook/crafting room is partially done and waiting for attention and our basement is in shambles as it is the catch-all for all the rooms that are pulled apart.

I am itching to do something, but I am unsure where to start. Oh well, I guess it is best to dive right in and just DO something. That will get the ball rolling. Look out Spring, here I come!!!