New blog, new focus

As this past year brings reflections I have decided to separate business from personal blogging. I am working on a new website for sweet earth as my web designer is in Regina fulfilling her dream to become an RCMP officer, and my website lays discarded at the side.

I am taking my work into my own hands and should have the new site up this week. I am in awe over my own personal growth in the last year and a half. I have learned so much and so the design and managing of my own website no longer intimidates me.

My family and my own creative journey will fill these pages and I will keep the paid work elsewhere.

I am currently stationed in an old army barracks with children running amok everywhere around me. I am trying to catch up on wedding fair details and yet remember that I am on a family mini-vacation.

A rainy Sunday afternoon.

This is my superstar sister-in-law. The little one and I met up with her at the pumpkin patch and we took her home with us. Eldest daughter stayed home with dad as she was quite ill.
So Aunty C hung out with us all day....to be young and have a whole day free and choose to chill with the fam...you gotta love the freedom.
She was unsure of how to help me while I was preparing our meal. As you can see, and as I told her, she was doing the most important job. While eldest daughter cuddled up and eventually fell asleep on her lap she entertained youngest for a good solid hour looking at pictures, asking questions, playing make believe, all on the couch in the quiet of the afternoon on a rainy Sunday. This is a gift.
Aunty C is Australian and has been here now for a year. Who knows when she will depart us to continue her exploration of the world. When she is gone it is a moment like this that I will remember and cherish. I hope we have many more.

A visit to the outback....Imagine them BIG.

My garden is in a state of decay. The grass in back section hasn't been mowed in.... I don't know how long. The daughter's garden is an eclectic graveyard of found objects, overgrown weeds and the last of the fall flowers. Gardening this summer was a bit of a luxury and the space was let to go wild. I abandoned my flowers. It is quite established so I just let it go.
This afternoon I reconnected a little bit. I am trying out a new lens on loan from Beau Photo for a job that I have next week photographing bioplastics. My brain has been in overdrive the last few days trying to figure out how to make the products look more dramatic that what I have seen out there.
And then I got distracted. I screwed the new ( to me) lens on to my camera and then went exploring... out to the 'back 40' as I like to call it.
Wow, it is pretty cool back there now. As nothing has been cut back the dead and dying flowers are offering up their seeds for next year's crop. And this lens ..... I think I need one for my own. It is not as if that is going to happen anytime soon so I must enjoy it to its fullest before I need to return it.
I want to blow up all these unadultered images into massive portraits that I will hang all over my home and absorb their images of decay and celebrate the amazing colours and textures that nature offers. Wooohoooo!!!

Ah, this one still has life. I imagine the anther and stamen parts as little faeries dancing around the faerie ring.

These next three can be a series perhaps.

I have not retouched them although I think a little brightening in photoshop would help, but when to stop?? I started playing and was overwhelmed by the subtleties of each change.

To have completely creative time to myself is like gold. I so enjoyed indulging myself in some play time. I did that recently on a one night-overnight with two girlfriends. I felt as I had been freed. I need more time like this.

Who is laughing now?

I have connected with so many parents after chatting about the incident with my youngest yesterday. My story pales in comparison to what experiences other parents have gone through. I have actually found the whole situation somewhat amusing as every parent really does have a story. I felt today as if I was a witness to some kind of contest as parent after parent relived the most horrific and horrendous events involving their children and they always ended with humour in their eyes. Yes, they can laugh about it now. I am not there yet.

I felt reassured that yes, crazy things can happen with our kids and they do survive. New health and safety procedures are in place and we shall move forward.

My child strolled into busy traffic this morning just as a exceedingly large semi-trailer was driving past. I was 5 feet away and a little clueless as I was handing off the children to grandma who is watching them today. A voice called out in warning and I ran to the other side of the car and grabbed my little darling.
She was clueless as well. She had no idea of the danger she was in. Luckily the trailer was just coming from a red light and had not picked up speed.
I keep going over all the little things that didn't happen.
I didn't want the kids to see how I was barely keeping it together. I put them in grandma's car and then had to hide out in mine while I lost it. This was such a close call that I need to believe that some kind of spirit/energy force is out there looking out for me because how did this not end in disaster???

I am a mother first above all in this busy life and I let the craziness of the morning distract me from my baby. This is a wake up call for me to be more present in the lives of my children. It is not easy to balance being a business owner with ensuring that my husband and my children receive the attention from me they need.
My stomach is still turning and my eyes still raw from reliving the morning's event.

Vancouver is a pretty cool and open-minded city!

On Monday I received a phone call asking for my services for a very intimate wedding the next day. Karen and Lisa had flown in from Australia the day before, saw how open and amazing Vancouver is for sex-same weddings and decided then to organize a ceremony for the next day. They managed to pick up a licence, find a marriage commissioner, find moi aka the photographer, pick out rings, make hair appts, and have bouquets made.
They left the next day to head down to San Fransisco where initially they had wanted to tie the knot, but of course were thwarted. A quick side trip to Vancouver to suss out the situation here was very rewarding.
I would just like to say for the record that these two beautiful women were a joy to photograph. I often felt as if they didn't even know I was there. I believe these nuptials were a long time coming for the two of them. They were so obviously in love and felt very comfortable in Vancouver. I asked them about their experience and commented that is not always a gay-friendly city. For them everyone went out of their way to help them set the details and thus my faith is restored.
I seem to have had a few faith restoring episodes in the last little while from all angles. I was very pleased that they found me and I wish them the best for the future.

Watching a butterfly come to life.

One of my best friends who home schools her lovely children brought over a chrysalis for our family to observe morph into a butterfly. Her family has studied the life cycle in detail and we were blessed to catch some of that process.
Our butterfly, 'Flower', as she was quickly named, emerged after a week of waiting patiently for the magic to begin. On the day she emerged from her cocoon I had the camera there waiting to record the moment. Unfortunately I missed it by mere minutes but we were all jubilant none the less.
We knew the rain was coming so after a day we had to let her go and this was not an easy affair with a 4 year old. We talked it out and after many tears we said our goodbyes and were all left with a greater appreciation for life.