Because she wants a print of the Goldenrod close-up from Friday. I'll send it to you Mom, but I have to say that I like THIS one better:
The Princess loves posing for me. I need to concentrate on Sweetpea for a while though or I'm going to have more photos of one girl than the other, and that will NEVER do!
Actually, Autumn sounds better, doesn't it?
Either way you say it, it sounds PERFECT to me! I want to be among the first to welcome my favourite season of them all. Fall is a majestic lady, a feast for the senses. The sights, the sounds, the smells, the feel in the air....
Ahhhhhhhhh.
Dear September and October:
You guys know I love you best. You're really much too good to me. Please, keep being you. You bring me nothing but happiness. You know in a perfect world I would hang out with you guys non-stop. I dedicate every love song and sappy poem to YOU. You rock!
Love and rainbows,
CanadaCole (especially happy about that Canada part today!)
(Ok, these are technically last morning of Summer photos, but they all say fall to me.)
If you'll excuse me, I'm off to find my fall wreath to hang on the door. And I might need some mums....because it's a little early for the pumpkins, right? Right?
Around this time last month a couple of things happened at about the same time. First, several of the photographers I follow had updated their studios and were giving blog tours of the updates. Second, I attended a late night crop at the LSS and got talking photography with Vicki, who I've done photos for before. We were talking fall photos and she wondered if I knew of any place that had those cool old barn boards.
As a matter of fact....
This is our barn. Handy, huh? Once I started thinking about it, I took the Princess around the property with me to highlight some of the great features of my all natural home studio.
Features like the big field of goldenrod that looks so pretty near or far:
Or how about the money-sucking, headache-inducing building? It's got to be good for something, right?
Of course life got crazy and I never got around to posting the tour of MY "studio", and now Mother Nature has redecorated it. The goldenrod seems like some 70's flashback. Harvest Gold appliances anyone? (I grew up with them thanks!)
Anyway, apparently red is in right now. I really like the new scheme, and I'm dying for an excuse to do some portraits with my new and improved backdrops.
(The above photo courtesy of my morning walk--and look--still some leftover harvest gold!)
If you're in the neighbourhood, I'd be happy to have you over any time. (Early morning and later afternoon light is the yummiest though!) It's that or trick one of my kids into being a model again!
Thanks to you the bird has been identified! It is an Immature Great Cormorant. Many of you got Cormorant right off the bat and it was a matter of figuring out what type. For a couple of hours on Friday I thought it might be a White Breasted Cormorant, which would have been a bit rare for these parts, but I was wrong. There were also a couple of people who suggested that it might be an Immature Double-Crested, but apparently they were also wrong. I submitted the photo to a bird watching group on flickr and they and my in-laws got back to me at about the same time with a definite on the proper ID. I had forgotten that my in-laws are bird watchers, so it was fun to get their email. Now I know who to ask next time! My Dad also chimed in a few hours later to let me know that he believes that these guys may be considered a nuisance here in NB and appear on varmint licenses (which means you can shoot them any time). Perhaps they're a nuisance to fishermen but I kind of liked him, so he's welcome to hang out at my lake any time. The only shooting I'll do is with my camera. It was a fun little game though and I enjoyed the participation. Also? I keep looking at the photos on the internet and I'm afraid that all the cormorants look pretty much the same to me. I guess I don't get my bird-watching badge just yet.
I also got a couple of comments on my wood-pecked telephone pole that I posted on Friday, pointing out that it looks like a face. I totally missed that when I posted it, but as soon as you mentioned it I saw it! You guys are so imaginative! My Mom thought it looked like it was singing, and my funny Hallowe'en obsessed Caligirl thought it looked appropriately Hallowe'en-y. I had a little chuckle at her ability to see everything as fitting into her favourite holiday BUT
When I went for my walk this morning, I noticed that that pole isn't the only one that has been pecked into a home. There are actually 3 in a row and THEY ALL HAVE EYES!!!!
That is TOTALLY Hallowe'en spooky and now I'm going to have dreams about them coming to life at night and wandering around. Thanks a lot Caligirl!
I have some photos from the weekend to share, but I really need to hurry and get off the computer. I have shopping to do (kids need fall/winter wardrobes filled out), laundry to sort, a lesson to prepare, and a house that exploded over the weekend.
Before I go, I just wanted to welcome my newest little sister into the world! She was born on 09/09/09, at 9 minutes to 9, weighing 9 lbs 2 ozs. I'll let the numerologists go crazy with that one!
They say good things come in 3's and it must be true! I now have 3 full brothers, 3 half sisters, and 3 step-sisters. Then of course I have my own 3 kiddos!
Here are my 3 little sisters:
I have a confession:
My metabolism has reset.
Really. Up until I hit 30 I was able to eat pretty much what I wanted and exercise just a little and be just fine. Hitting 30 was like hitting a wall though. Suddenly I had no energy. I would pant after jogging up the stairs. I would chase my kids for 3 or 2 minutes and then they would catch me because I was too tired. I immediately started being more conscious of what I was eating and how much and I tried to make opportunities for more exercise. But it was all to no avail, because by the time I hit 31 I had lost a lot of muscle tone and gained a solid 10 pounds.
What. The. Hey-Now ?!?
Ok. Work harder. Eat less. More fruit. More fibre.
No good. I am staring down the barrel of 32. I have more energy thanks to the magic of vitamins (I still love you B12!) but the weight? Oy. I've put on another 10 this year and the year isn't out yet.
I am a very unhappy mommy.
(And I dream of time travelling to meet up with my very fit young 20's self and giving her a little slap for being critical of her body. Twerp.)
So with all my babies off to school and me having ME time, I thought I would take the golden opportunity to take action. My master plan is to walk to the bus stop with my 3 amigos and then go for a brisk walk once their bus comes to carry them away. I am committed to walking in any weather (ok, maybe not sleet) and I'd like to go a little further and a little faster every day. Then when I come home I can do one of the many exercise videos I've picked up over the years, shower, breakfast, and even have some time for some personal study and reflection before booting up the computer and getting to work.
Sounds good, right?
I got started this morning. Went out with the kids, took lots of first day of school photos of my Boy, waved the kids off and then started marching along the road.
But I still had my camera on me.
Hey! Carrying weights while walking? Awesome! I am on my way to getting fit again!
But look at the way the mist is rising off the lake....
And look at those flowers....and those flowers....and the sun shining on that field....
I mostly kept myself marching but had to stop now and then. HAD TO. When you see beauty, you should take a moment.
It doesn't take a genius to realize that walking for my health and to shed a few pounds isn't going to work if I stop every few feet to get a photo.
The debate began. Should I carry my camera with me every morning and capture the beauty around me, or should I leave it at home and work on walking as briskly as possible, getting my heart rate up and stopping for nothing?
But if I leave my camera at home, how will I document the new house being built on our road?
How will I see what's left of the neighbour's gardens?
How will I.....HELLO WHAT'S THIS????
Oh pretty fellow, how close will you let me get to you?
I spent at least half an hour stalking this guy, watching him at his toilette, playing with angles and light and exposure while he pretended to ignore me.
When he finally decided to hop down and swim away, I continued for home, snapping photos and at peace.
And the debate is over. The camera comes with me. The thrill of moments like these are good enough for the heart, right?
Wordless Wednesday? After that last post?
Hahahahahahahaha!
{wipes tears from face}
Sorry, sorry. Feel free to pretend that that post never happened and that this really is a Wordless Wednesday, prompted by Caligirl commenting on our great fall lighting yesterday.
Of course, for it to be wordless, I need to stop talking.
(here's a taste of fall, all photos taken this morning)
As you can see by how shiny the leaf above is, by the time I saw the girls off to school the lovely frost was pretty much gone. But I did find this web that had been in the shade...
And remember how I spent all spring photographing the same branch, waiting for the buds to become leaves? Look at it today:
One of my big regrets about the trip home for the big wedding is that I didn't get MORE photos. I know that's going to sound kind of weird, considering how many I took, but it's absolutely true.
First of all, I had planned to spend some time getting detail shots. You know; the flowers, the rings, the dress. I was running around doing some last minute decorating "stuff" in the morning though, and when I got back to the house I discovered that there had been a mix up. *I* thought the official photographer was coming at 1 PM, but he was actually coming at 12--and hey--he was even a few minutes early! So when I came dashing in at 12:10, thinking I'd have JUST enough time to get my shots and get into my own dress....well...WHOOPS! Mom was dressed, the kids were dressed, the BOYS were dressed (amazing!) and half the posed shots were already done. Whoops indeed!
Secondly, I was honoured to be my Mom's Matron of Honour, which provided WAY fewer opportunities to pick up the camera than I had imagined. Boo! (But it was still an honour. No regrets there, Mom!)
Third, I really didn't want to "Uncle Bob" the pro photographer. I did follow him around a bit (I was there anyway!) but I really, really tried to stay out of his way. Which means I missed several opportunities.
Still, I managed to get off a FEW sweet shots.
...one of our little ring bearer/show stopper:
And speaking of show stoppers...look who's the cutest girl in all the land...
(her Mom's very pretty too! Do you think cutie will keep some of that red in her hair as she grows up?)
This one was a request from Mom. She LOVES roses. In fact, it's kind of a tradition. Her grandmother loved and babied her roses, her mother loved and babied her roses, and now she loves and babies her roses. She has a generational rose garden with everyone's favourites.
(Except mine, because I am a brat and don't much like roses. I prefer tulips. Or daisies--both of which she also grows--because she loves me).
Any-who, here's the bride taking time....well, to smell the roses!
And here she is with our Princess. Grandma surprised her with a tiara for the special day. Perma-smile ensued!
Someone is missing! Better include one of Sweetpea....except, ha ha, remember that part about not getting the shots I wanted? I don't actually have one of Sweetpea, except for this one taken at the stylist's in the morning:
Missed shots. They haunt me. So this is a share and a second shout out for photos. Debbie? Did you get any of my kiddos? Please?
Mom, I've got more, and I'll edit them as soon as I'm done with Ruthie's photos. In the meantime, I'll e-mail you with my choices from the pro shots later tonight.
Everyone else, feel free to share stories of the one that got away in the comments. I know we all have them!
I've tried to get away from discussing the technical aspects of photography on the blog, but I had to share this one.
First: catchlights--what are they? Well, they're the little white lights reflected in a person's eyes. When drawing, you put that little white dot in to make it look more realistic. When taking a photograph, you want there to be enough reflection to get good catchlights. Without catchlights, eyes look dead and, well, a little spooky.
When I take photos of people, I'm looking for good light and bounce so I can get good catchlights. So when I took photos of my ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE niece when home for vacation, I made sure to catch her with a window at my back for some good catchlights.
BUT
My brother was also gaming on the TV behind me. So what I got when I finally opened up the photo in LR was this weird double catchlight.
(isn't she SWEET!)
Anyway, having now looked at this photo from super-duper zoomed in, I'm not sure whether it's a keeper or not. My objectivity is fried. Do the catchlights make her eyes look funny or is she ok? I know you guys won't be afraid to tell me!
Well, actually just one song. But the kind of song with heft. The kind of song DESERVING its own musical. The kind of song that stays with you and has you humming merrily for hours.
We'd been waiting a long time to get to sing it*.
But the sun shone and the breeze was perfect and before we knew it...well, we could sing.
Here's to you {Mom}! Jesus {and we} love you more than you will know. (Wo, wo, wo)
And awesomely enough, her new stepdaughters and the rest of the groom's family serenaded her at the reception. How cool is that?
Congrats Mom and Terry, and thanks for making us a part of it all. We're so very happy for you!
*though only the chorus applies, right Mom? Ignore the rest of the song, everyone, but feel free to hum your congrats if you see this beautiful woman!
I met Ruthie and Kirk when I did some engagement photos for them back in November. They're a warm, fun and beautiful couple and I had so much fun with them. When they asked Shandee and I to be a part of their wedding I was tickled. (And terrified. But shhhhh on that last part.)
I should have known that two such lovely people would have a dreamy sort of wedding. Every detail was incredible.
From the hair...
....to the makeup...
From the dress...
