My Attempts at Manual Photography

Last week I had the opportunity to spend an hour learning a bit (very very small bit) more about our DSLR camera.  We have had it for almost two years and I really (with shame) only use it as a point and shoot.  In that short hour (I was sure it was only 15 minutes) I learned a few tips and tricks.  Not enough to even make me dangerous but enough that I want to know more.  I want to experiment, I want to create. The other people in the room felt the same way so there should be another seminar in a couple of weeks.  The photographer that is conducting these workshops (free for our employees) LOVES sharing his knowledge and has suggested a Photo Club.  That I would definitely join.  So here are a couple of attempts with this new knowledge and you will see I am not doing so well.

Taken with manual settings

Similar shot now with the camera doing the work *sighs*

This was where I was glad I brought my camera on the walk (yes I know Jill " never leave home without it "), but I am just not wired that way ....yet.
When I arrived at the meeting spot I drove past the city hall, several months ago an artist was commissioned to paint the trees (non-toxic paint).  This was the artist's way to raise awareness of the deforestation in so many countries around the world.  This was done in March and "no trees were or will be harmed in the process".  I was thrilled to see that the blue is still there and now in full leaf it looks pretty spectacular.

Yes I believe these were done with automatic settings.

Looking forward to learning more.

Vacation in British Columbia

I had hoped to play along with a blog challenge this month but as always I didn't read the directions and I am now a few days late to the party -- pretty much the story of my life.  But it can't be all bad I am in the middle of a vacation in Beautiful British Columbia.  The picture above is where I am right now as I type this.  Here are a few spots along the way to getting here.

Shannon Falls just outside of Whistler (home of the 2010 Olympics).  The picture doesn't do it justice but this past winter was record snow fall (about 10 months too late for the Olympics) and the run off for these falls is pretty spectacular.

Same can be said for Cayoosh Creek north of Whistler.  We choose to take the back country roads which added about two hours of driving but took us through some amazing geography.

From Alpine Mountains on one side of the trek.

 To arrid hillsides just one canyon over and about one hour on the road. The Nicola River is much calmer than the Cayoosh Creek (??)

Two rivers meet in the middle of the province.  The Mighty (or muddy) Fraser on the high side of the picture and the Thompson in the lower half. 

Current home is on Okanagan Lake I grew up coming here every summer.  Its a gorgeous huge lake with several communities. Orchards and wineries top the list of what to do here, but just lazing on a beach is tops on my list.

Watching this mom with her babies was as strenuous as the morning got for me.

Admiring this old beauty on the lakeside, but then one must head up to wine country to get some local product - all in the name of supporting local companies - right??

View down to the lake from the Dirty Laundry Winery -- lets just say the Hush Blush is pretty darn fabulous and this is from someone that likes her wine white and her roses pink.

Vancouver 2011 Riot - My Thoughts

Its taken me a week of review and probably every emotion that a human can go through to finally put my words down - "lest I forget".

On that Wednesday night I sat downstairs with my Hockey Fan.  I gave up on the game midway through the second period.  I mean my goodness my home team wasn't going to win and I had an episode of Masterchef on my DVR.  I was on FB when the game ended and was surprised but not shocked when I saw a note that "it" had started.  A car had been flipped downtown and unrest soon turned to violence. This was in broad daylight the exact corner I had stood just 5 days before enjoying being in the middle of the hockey crowd.  Next emotion was overwhelming sadness and the desire to will this to stop while watching it unfold on TV.  Within 30 minutes I couldn't watch any more - I hoped that if we went to bed it would stop and in the morning I would wake up to just minor damage downtown from a few rowdies.

Sadly my wish went unheard. Next emotion overwhelming gut wrenching anger.  Watching the news in the morning brought tears to my eyes, the downtown core of our city was torn to pieces by a mob of young people.  While watching the videos I was horrified to see the crowds cheering on the initial instigators. This enraged me as much as the riot itself.  I discovered I wasn't alone, upon opening Facebook it was encouraging to see how many pages were created overnight to post pictures of the instigators and revellers.  Purpose to identify and notify the authorities.  Elation!!!

Over the next few days I saw with delight how the people of Vancouver reacted to this horrific event, love notes were posted on boards, a police car was covered in post it notes and thank you cards, one of the affected department stores put on a pancake breakfast to thank the hero's that tried to stand up to the thugs, the volunteers that showed up Thursday morning to clean up.  The pride and joy I felt for this outpouring of good will was something I began to really enjoy.  I preferred to focus on the good.

By Monday more and more of the instigators, thugs, thieves and camera muggers were being outed online. I enjoyed seeing everyone of them ID'd and information sent to the police.  I argued with my husband that all these people deserve everything that is coming to them.  Let them be fired, dropped from teams, expelled from school, charged by the justice system.  Even the people whose biggest crime was staying downtown and posing in front of a burning car -- the crime is not chargable but it is disgusting in my opinion.  I know enough young people that were downtown when this started.  The second they sensed trouble they got the hell out - one with his friends had to walk over an hour to catch transit home - but the main thing is they got out - anyone that said they were "caught" I say "CRAP"!!!

Today I am softening some of my "hang em high" opinion on some of the people that have been outed online.  I still say they deserve what is coming to them but I am seeing far too many hateful postings on so many places online.  Reading comments about one young woman who was caught stealing with a huge smile on her face.  Caught in the moment - yes - guilty - absolutely - deserved to lose her job - yes - lose her place on a team - yes - expelled from school - not so sure. Deserving of the spiteful hateful comments -- NOT AT ALL!!  My biggest fear is that one of these "good" people that were caught in the moment might be driven to do something drastic.  Please lets hope I am wrong.

One of the good things about following the reports and FB pages I can see how my fellow citizens have felt during this time.  One such discovery was Tatum's Blog, she is very eloquent and shared with us some of her fabulous pictures of the Citizen's wall downtown.

I see in news reports today that one of the businesses that was severely affected by the riot has launched a civil suit against the rioters.  Not the province or the city but the rioters - AWESOME!!!

In closing all I can hope is that there is no repeat.  Unfortunately thought thugs and low-lifes will always dwell within our society. But good will always come out to clean up.

Venting - Been a While but I am ANGRY

I know I shouldn't let ignorant people get to me but I can't help it.  I am going to vent out here because the person its directed at would never find my blog and my dear friend that is in the middle doesn't visit here either.

For the last few months my husband and I have become invested in American Idol.  We started because of Steven Tyler and were pleasantly suprised.  Then we were introduced to James Durbin.  This talented young man has an incredible future.  AI didn't push his back story but my goodness - his father died when he was very young, he has Tourettes and Aspbergers.  These only added to his talent and in my mind didn't detract.  Fast forward to this past week when he was eliminated (nuff said about that).  I really feel that we are seeing the emergence of a star (IMHO). 

So today I am in Facebook and see a note on one of my dear friend's wall.  Her "friend" said and I quote " good to see that screaming, dumbo eared twitchy face is gone"  I lost it!!!  I can tolerate a lot and some of the message boards have had some ugly people posting but I have yet to see anyone make fun of his Tourettes.  I do NOT get that mentality and this person is a lawyer (maybe that explains it).  I made the mistake of getting into a  pissing contest with this idiot.  I wrote privately to my real friend and apologized for getting into it with him.  But I still have problems with someone saying anything about another person's disabilities. 

I watched some interviews with this amazing young man and his attitude about everything just blows me away.  This is a young person that spent most of his life being bullied and beaten up for being different.  He embraces his imperfections and just looks forward to having a long successful career.

There that feels better.  Long live Rock and Roll!!!

My Titles - No Princess Isn't One of Them

Well in the most technical terms I have never officially been a princess.  But it got me to thinking about all the different titles in my life --

October 8, 1955 - daughter, grand-daughter, niece, cousin.
September 5, 1959 - sister
in the 60's - friend
September 1961  - student
October 8, 1968 - teenager
in the 70's - girlfriend
August 1971 - employee
June 1973 - graduate
October 8, 1974 - adult
June 1978 - fiance
April 7, 1979 - wife, sister-in-law, daughter-in-law
August 24, 1980 - mother
February 1, 2001 - widow
October 18, 2008 - wife (again)
April 29, 2011 - grandmother

The one that is missing is Aunt -- I am an Aunt through marriage but will never officially be an aunt.  I hope to never be a widow again and I hope I remain a daughter for a few more years - but I think there are other forces more powerful than my wishes that won't let that happen.

I can't allow that to cloud my utter joy of being a grandmother -- sometime in the future I hope to hear him say it  -- whatever it comes out sounding like.

Was There Another Parent Involved???

So we are a few days into our new lives with Eli.  I don't think I absolutely understood how much I could love a little angel that wasn't from me.  But WOW do I EVER!!!  Its been amazing to compare pictures.  So I was looking at a couple of pictures I had on my computer at work and tell me - which baby is which??



         Give up??  The top picture is my son, the bottom picture is my grandson.  I am amazed too!!!        

Diary of a New Gramma

So as a little wedding was taking place on the other side of the planet my grandson decided April 29th would also be a cool day to enter the world.

We were geared up for a May entry into the world but some things are beyond our control and now that he is here all healthy and gorgeous its fabulous.

On the 28th as I was driving home I got "the call" (yes I pulled over to answer the phone).  My son and DIL were at the clinic and the contractions she had been feeling all day were not the fake ones.  By 5pm they were off to the hospital and we were on doggie duty -- YAY!!!

I talked to my son about 8pm and things were progressing nicely -- we were just in holding pattern.  I decided to get to bed early so that I could get some sleep (ok it sounded good in theory).  I think I woke every hour on the hour and by 2am I couldn't just lie there anymore.  I decided to go watch the other event happening that day. 

By 5:30am there was still no news, so I jumped in the shower to get ready for work.  Of course the phone rang 3 minutes into my shower.  My grandson Eli Darryl entered the world at 5:22am on April 29th - he was 7 heathly pounds and his parents were over the moon.

I got to meet him just after 2pm that afternoon and I was in LOVE.