Sigh

 Just love this girl!

She could sell iPhones.....

My little boy turns 30 today

Where has the time gone??

and then there is the Winnipeg Firefighters Calendar 2014 due out any day. :)

Get your orders in now. :)

Tea Party

Grandpa and I attended about six tea parties this weekend and loved every one of them! We ate sooo much cake and drank sooo much tea that I am not sure Grandpa and I will ever get these extra pounds off. But oh my Eva makes and serves delicious cake and tea. ;)
I don't remember ever playing this as a child - perhaps I did. But I do remember Allison playing tea party and these were her little cups. Most of them leak now so I am on the lookout for a really fun set to get Eva and Norah for their visits.

As you can see, Eva takes serving tea very seriously!

Eva's Visit

Well Eva was with us from Sat am until this afternoon and we had such a wonderful time together. We baked, went to the park to play, had a party with friends (we ate shrimp, Eva played play dough), had about 6 tea parties, read books, had a bath and did our hair and went to church this morning.....we had such a fun time and I think all my grand daughters should just stay about 3 years old for an extra year because this is the most wonderful age.
I have enough photos of our adventures to fill a book but, well, I am tired. VERY tired. We entertained both nights this weekend  - there was a lot going on around here and tonight I plan a hot bath and early bed.
So here is one photo that captures our weekend and hopefully as the week unfolds I can post more. :)

She is so beautiful inside and out.
We are so very blessed.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend too!
Thanks so much for visiting!

Spring walk

iPhone photo taken on a walk this very cold wet spring.

Not bad for an iPhone photo but Lightroom 5 helped me out. :)
Eva is here for a sleepover with G&G so look for some photos tomorrow. :)

Distracted With Wonderfully Good Things.

I headed out into the back yard to wipe down the furniture - dinner party tonight - yeah and the weather says we can BBQ!!

I saw this beautiful spider web in the morning light and had to go grab the camera and macro lens. But as soon as I returned the web was folded in half.
awe...
I like in anyways....

I walked about a little......
and took photos.....

....because I am obsessed with capturing feelings.
Good feelings
And my garden gives me wonderfully good feelings. :)

and one day it will snow back there......
But I can look at these photos and remember those wonderful feelings. :)

(I avoid looking at the weeds) lest you think I have this fabulous garden. I don't! I just know how to make you think I have a fabulous garden. ;)

I finally came in, poured a cup of tea and settled into LR5 to take a look.... updated a few other photos, searched out some photos of Mark who turns 30 next week (what!!!) and now I am posting todays garden photos...

Yes, I am not getting a whole lot of domestic stuff done.

I guess I had better get back out there and clean the furniture.
I might have to prepare a little food today too :)
and take a shower.
and have a nap.
Cause it's my day off and we are having a party tonight. :)

Did someone say shopping?

Eva's very favorite thing to do!

Taken with my iPhone
shop, shop, shop, shop, shop
.......

hmmm I am starting to think this could become a problem.
She REALLY loves to shop!

 oh, oh, oh, oh, staying alive, staying alive........

Alert!

Alert!

Norah has the cart!!!

Norah is really just along for the ride.

Ballet

Oh my I seem to be photographing a lot of ballerina's these days! :)

I picked up these tutu's in South Carolina last fall and I finally dressed the girls up and chased them with my camera for an hour.
They seemed pretty excited about being ballerinas.
:)

Memories

I printed this photo of  our grand daughter Jane the other day and it was sitting on my desk when I happened to come across this Heidi Swapp clock overlay this weekend. Now how old is that item!!
So I put them together. :)
The ribbon I bought back when Tanis was due - coming up 4 years ago. That is probably when I bought the flowers too.

Sweet Jane - I do miss those girls.....

Adorable

Sometimes I happen to have my camera in my hands at just the right time!

Love these!

I am so sorry to have to put that distracting logo on there.......
I just might print these ones.

Earls

iPhone photo... again!!
Yup! I finally got some photos off my iPhone.

Sherpa and I occasionally meet here for a romantic lunch in the middle of our busy day.
Loved this chichen sandwich!

Memorized it (took a photo and wrote down the ingredients) and made this at home  - once I found the fig spread.

Fabulous!
Both times!

from bottom up...
Ciabatta bun
fig spread
grilled pears
bacon ( I left this out of mine)
grilled chicken breast
warm brie cheese
spinach

yup! a keeper

Next lunch on the deck with guests.

Oh I Want THAT one!

I am such a sucker for these grand daughters.

"Thank you Grandma!"

Poached!

Had a minor craving for a fried egg.... but since that is not good for me I went with poached.

Life is good!!

Now on to my Day off!
Should be vacuuming the kitchen floor  the whole house! But one of my favourite book company's has a sale! Starts today and ends on the 30th....... so I had better make some books!

This is not good.... sitting and eating all day.

And doing what I love to do. :)

Coffees On Food Emporium

iPhone photo

Found a place we like to go Saturday mornings.....
It's new!
In Sutherland.
Gray and Central Ave
Check it out!

I think we just might mosey on down there this Saturday morning.....

update Sat July 20th..... we did mosey on down there at 8:40  this am and found out it doesn't open until 9 am. :(
Went to Grainfields and ate all the wrong food!!

Miss Eva

tries to evade the camera but I caught her....
In B&W and in Colour!!

Miss Norah

...continues.
The outdoor busy photos.

Miss Norah

Babysat Saturday evening and oh my this little one is very busy!!

The Weir, an ND filter and a slow shutter

I bought an ND (neutral density) filter for my wide angle lens about a year ago. I never get around to using it although I did use it to get some great shots of the ocean in Mexico.
So today I decided to head downtown and use it to get some sweeping architecture and skyscapes. The problem was that downtown was so congested and parking a pain so I headed to the weir. Maybe Sunday afternoon it will be quieter and I can take my Sherpa with me and head downtown. :)


First shot is 2.5 sec at f20
second is 1/5 at f6.3
Can you see the difference?

First 3.2 sec @ f22
Second 1/100 @ f5.6
See the difference?

Not the bird!
I mean in the water!

I much prefer the long exposure (the first) shots. That is what an ND filter allows me to do - shut down the aperture all the way and slow down the shutter.
:)

And that's what I did today!

And in other news.... Chatelaine Magazine has picked up one of my photos and is actually paying me to run it in their September issue. This is BIG news. Feeling pretty good tonight. I don't really put my stuff out there in wide circles, so when it gets noticed I am happy.
So Yup! published and paid. Nice to have someone actually ask and pay rather then just steal the photo for publishing. :)

I am almost fully booked for August - which just means I have so many gigs I probably won't take any more. Life is grand. Loving the MkIII. Still fighting with my 85mm 1.2 - time to take it into Don's and let them have a look at it. It either gives me incredibly fantastic photos or crappy grainy photos and I haven't figured out why yet. It is the only lens that does this to me.

Thanks for reading everyone!
Feel free to comment - really  - it is okay to comment. :)

Have a fabulous weekend!!