Thursday 22 December 2011

Tuesday 20 December 2011

In the Bleak Mid Winter



Give Jesus your heart this Christmas.
It's the best gift you will ever receive. 

Sunday 18 December 2011

Direct Client Funding

Well, if any of you wondered what I do 40 hrs a week with the Saskatoon Health Region, here is a video put together by SHR media department on the pilot project I have been so involved in for the past two years.

Tuesday 13 December 2011

This video from the small Yupiq Eskimo Village of Quinhagak, Alaska, was a school computer project intended for the other Yupiq villages in the area.  Much to the villagers' surprise, nearly a million people have viewed it.
5th graders creatively having fun with Hallelujah and entertaining close to 1 million people on YouTube in the process. Love it.

Thursday 8 December 2011

Pirates of the Caribbean

Jarrod Radnich playing his original arrangement of themes from Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean".

Tuesday 6 December 2011

The Drummer Boy

Posting this because I liked the video.... even though I am a traditionalist when it comes to Christmas Carols, but also because it was taped in Winnipeg and I recognize most of the areas.

Sunday 4 December 2011

LIGHT Painting

I crossed Light Painting off my photography bucket list today when capturing a photo for my 365.
YEAH!
Time lapse photography and LOTS of travel photography still on the list. :)
I was so happy with the results that I had trouble picking just one. Harold picked his Favorite so it is posted on the 365 HERE. These photos won runners up.

What's your favorite?

Allison's choice.

Don't forget to check out Harold's pick for the 365 of the day.

Monday 28 November 2011

Adobe Lightroom 3

I use Lightroom 3 for all my photo editing. It is all you really need...  I do use Photoshop CS5 but 95% of my photo editing is done in Lightroom.  White balance, noise, minor flaws, color tones, perfect subtle vignettes, perfect B&W, saturation and just keeping everything organized - it does it all. Direct uploading to facebook, zenfolio, animoto and organizing all your photos and their edits without touching the original file - no loss, ever. Love it.
If you take a lot of photos and want to edit them and keep them organized then you will want to check out Lightroom.
...and it is on sale. :)

$100 off the Full version of Photoshop Lightroom 3. Only $199 for a limited time, ends Nov 29th.

Sunday 20 November 2011

Playing with Smoke

because I was getting bored with water?
Here are the runners up for today's 365 photo of the day. The winner is posted on the 365 here.


 The Trumpet or a Phonograph?

The Candle from Beauty and the Beast (see his face?)
A Scroll Unraveling
The Dancer

Do you have a favorite?
Any thoughts on naming any of them?

Saturday 19 November 2011

Playing With Liquids

The theme this week on the 365 group I belong to is "liquid" So I have been playing with various liquids this week - water, gin and club soda actually. :)









I love these challenges. They get me away from photos of stuff and force me to really think creatively.
Okay - tell me your favorite photo from the bunch.

Sunday 13 November 2011

Angela and Blair


October flew by - I was in Saskatoon for only 9 days last month and working 8 of those days. No complaints though. I wracked up those air miles and I was able to experience Niagara Falls, Hawaii and my whole family being together during October.
But time away from the ole MAC meant time away from editing photos.
I am now almost caught up and this weekend I was able to focus on a few slide shows.

Here is Angela and Blair's engagement photo session. The tender love these two very quiet people show for one another warms my heart.



I am so looking forward to their special day March 31st ..... also looking forward to a new grand baby March 28th or whenever she decides to make her appearance. Here is hoping she does not arrive the day of the wedding or I will miss out on those wonderful newborn photos. Remember Eva's slide show from her first few moments of life? One of my first and favorite slide shows.

Angela and Blair's slide show is also posted to their private gallery for all of Angela and Blair's family and friends.

Friday 11 November 2011

Miss Eva Discovers Chocolate

Because when you are visiting Grandma and Grandpa  and Grandpa is having chocolate pudding, well it just makes sense to put chocolate on Eva's bananas.


 
And of course milk goes with chocolate....
We are having a hoot but apparently we have to give her back at 9pm.

Sunday 6 November 2011

First Snow

It has arrived and so begins winter and all its beauty and challenges.
 

Saturday 5 November 2011

Monday 31 October 2011

Saskatoon Photography ~ Wedding

Here are a few of Kathryn and Duane's Wedding photos.
It was a beautiful fall day and the leaves were spectacular. Unfortunately the cold fall wind forced us indoors.  But it was still lots of fun and Kathryn was a stunningly beautiful bride - as you can see. :)
 
 

 



I will be posting the rest on my web site in the Private Gallery sections by tonight.

Sunday 30 October 2011

arrrgh

I wanted to post some photos of our family vacation tonight but I can't. We arrived home late this afternoon having started the process at 10 am Hawaii time yesterday so lets just say....boy, that took a long time. There was fun  on the way - like lunch with just my sweetheart at Dukes (romantic and brought back fond memories) and Dinner with the whole gang at The Cheesecake Factory in Waikiki. Do you remember the photo I posted of the restaurant in Niagara on the Lake that brought your bill in a folder labeled "The Damage"? That came to mind yesterday late afternoon. Do you think it is reasonable to charge $12 USD for a mai tai?
I don't either.


Anyways, after an hr doing the gas up and van rental returns followed by the shuttle back to the airport (with 10 people), we checked in. That is everybody but Eva -  we had to wait 45 min to actually get a ticket for Eva. See this photo? Us wondering where the heck the ticket agent disappeared to for 30 minutes!
Have you ever noticed that when you have to stand for a loooong time it helps to lift one knee. Or maybe this is some Cortens gene thing...   :) Oh , and it simply must be the left knee or it won't work.

We did eventually board our plane (big sigh here). There was not a single empty seat on this big bird because apparently United cancelled the flight earlier in the day. Two more planes later, we are all now home. I just heard from Paul and Mark and everyone is home safe and sound. Holiday is officially over - sort of.  Sammy and Allison don't have heat in their house and may be moving in with us but other then that, things are pretty much back to normal.

So Sherpa and I shopped and restocked the fridge and ...... rather then do laundry it seemed much more fun to play with photos in Lightroom. However the laptop with all my photos and edits is losing power and I don't have the power cord to charge it. That is because the power cord is in luggage that United bumped in Denver when it also bumped Sammy, Allison and Eva. Yes - they were informed as the plane was boarding. They did finally get them on.... but not Allison's luggage and since (warning: this is complicated) United tagged one of our bags with Allison's name instead of the baby car seat, it pulled our bag.

Can I tell you how I feel about United Airlines right now?

pause
deep breath
grace...

They have very nice stewards who take good care of you and the flights were on time and pleasant and if you don't have to actually deal with purchasing a ticket and paying for checked luggage and then retrieving said luggage.... well they are a pretty good airline.

However, I am loving WestJet all the more. ;) LOL I can't count the number of times someone in the gang said. "should have flown WestJet" or "WestJet never charged us that!" "I have never lost luggage with WestJet".
I am even starting to like Air Canada a little. Our last flight with them was really quite nice and they even joked (just a little) with their passengers.

But do stay tuned because when that power chord does arrive along with my makeup and Dave's golf shoes, I will share more photos. And I am thinking I might need my makeup before he needs his golf shoes. In the meantime I do have a photo from today on the camera of Colorado that I will upload to my computer and post for the days 365 which you can find on the 365 blog

If I don't fall asleep on the key board first.

Oh! GTG Allison and Family are at the door..... guess that furnace isn't working.
Must be the "year of the furnace" because our furnace was condemned 5 days before we left on holidays. But that is another story for another day (and more air miles to accumulate on that worn out card).

BAGGAGE UPDATE: Monday am update -  the United Air Baggage claim 1-800 number is in India. Just thought you should know. Sooo I phone India to ask if my bag has arrived here in Saskatoon (?)....   I think he was speaking English but at times I really wasn't sure. It took a lot of brain power (and a few extra minutes) to decipher the accent.  I am not a fan of call centers in India. When you are a tad disgruntled about service it does not help if you cannot understand the person you are calling for assistance.
Apparently the bags have arrived at the airport (I think that's what he said) and I have updated them with all the info - because there is no one at Allison's cold house - they are all here with a working albeit condemned furnace.  And life goes on.

Saturday 29 October 2011

Snipits from our Holiday

The family fun in the sun has come to a close and tonight we are packing, cleaning, putting things away and planning our long day tomorrow. Some of the kids are now getting in one last game of Scum - Mark and Paul are heading back from their day trip to the BIG Island of Hawaii where they saw an erupting volcano - looking forward to seeing their photos and video. I am posting my 365 and then heading to bed - there is lots to do before 10am tomorrow morning. sigh....
We don't catch our flights until almost 9 pm and have to be out of our rental at 10 am.... so this could be a trying day for us all - especially the babies.
Here are a few photos from the past two days.
Grandpa's shoulder always works like a charm no matter how much Miss Eva is resisting her nap.  

 This little fellow was less then an inch long. He was hanging out on the stairwell today, posing for me. I knew there was a reason I dragged my macro lens all the way to Hawaii.

 Tonight's sunset.
The moon was out too.

Okay, I now have to pick and post my 365 from the 60+ photos I took today.

Tuesday 25 October 2011

The Heavens Declare

...the Glory of God
Taken today at 5am Hawaii time.

Can you find the belt of Orion?
Alnilam the middle star in the "belt" is approximately 1340 light years away from earth and is 375,000 times more luminous than the Sun. Thought you would like to know. :)
“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion? Job 38:31

Monday 24 October 2011

Water Logged - and Loving it!



 
 
 
 Totally LOVIN' this photo!!
This is what happens after 2 hours in the water boogie boarding and a huge bbq salmon supper. Love it!