A walk in the woods.

This past weekend I visited a site in the little village of Egmont on the Sunshine Coast as I will be shooting a wedding there in June.
On the way my husband and I went for a walk to Skookumchuck Narrows. This is the first walk that the two of have taken alone in many many years. We were childfree for the late morning and thoroughly enjoyed the crisp winter day along the trail.


A very old truck met us as we began our journey. I love taking photos of old objects, especially found objects and this truck was right up my alley.

It was very chilly and I was a little underdressed.

The sun was glorious and against the forest backdrop I felt privileged to witness its glory.

My husband is a keen geo-cacher and here he is searching for a hidden cache.

A photo of my ill-equipped footwear.

Here is an eddy as we watched the tide ebbing.

One of my favourite westcoast flora.

New Years with friends and family

We rented a house in Fort Worden for New Years with two other couples with children. The turn of the century officer's home was the perfect place to gather with 6 kids amongst us. The layout was very child friendly and the kids literally did not stop moving for 4 days.

We started the children's party at 8pm, with noise makers, funky glasses, crackers and those blowy things.

My child as seen through funky glasses.

Oh, my these two break my heart.

Too much noise for this little one.

Once the little ones were off to bed we began our own antics. I know it is only a game, but way too much silliness happened that I am sure we shall be reminded of for years to come.

**note our festive handmade New Year's bunting banner made by a most talented friend.

Day 5 - 'go for a walk'

Today was not the most smooth in our household. Crankiness reigned supreme and I was a little tired and easily frustrated. We had to drop our kids off in Coquitlam at my mom's for an overnight so I suggested going for a shoreline walk in Port Moody as I love the flats at the end of the inlet.
By the time we headed out the door the sun was setting, but despite the cold which we didn't mind as we were bundled, we were well rewarded as the crows arrived in their numbers and Canada Geese came in waves to settle amid the reeds.
The trip was short but beautiful and we did it together.

One of my most favourite photographic finds is found natural beauty. I love the textures and the colours of these little scenes I randomly encounter and that I am there to witness.

Eldest daughter quite fancied the lovely silvery leaf as well and yanked it off from its resting place. She is also a collector of items.

The sky filled with crows.

The reward at the end of our jaunt was a lovely warm hot cocoa which in itself is becoming a tradition with my youngest. She loves nothing better than 'going to the coffee shop'.

Finding our traditions

Our first proper winter scene table with objects collected on our way to and from school this past week.

Can you see our advent calendar??

I do not remember having any really special traditions that marked the winter, from my childhood. Well, that is not true...I was raised in a religious home and now as an adult and a parent I follow my own path and find myself searching for something to bring light into the darkness of coming winter.

My dear friend who always inspires me discussed with me her family ideas of making this time of year more about celebrating the changing of the season and deflecting the attention off of Christmas itself. I want my kids and us to celebrate this together and marvell at how amazing mother nature is.

I second her notion of finding meaning in the natural world around my family and me. So, as December 1st approached I hurried to establish what shall forever onward be our winter tradition.

It is not solely from my dear friend that I found all my inspiration. The idea began weeks ago with a great posting from yoyomama and a template shown from a very great children's artist, Liz Clay of Cici Art Factory. It was a advent calendar full of silly acts that you can print out and hang as you please. I printed out the lovely 24 days and added a few activities to get us doing more as a family.

So far we have 1.written a letter to Santa, 2. collected items for our winter scene and set it up, 3. baked cookies, 4. make sparkly decorations (a little slow on this one) and 5. go for a walk.

The only problem I had was that I didn't copy out what I wrote so each day is a mystery for me...exciting and terrifying at the same time (hence not being as prepared as I should have for day 4).

playtime...more pics from Guemes overnight.

Have you ever driven the Chuckanut Drive from Bellingham to Mt. Vernon? It is such a lovely drive; a great improvement over Hwy.5. The above pictures were captured back on the flats.

I started a natural series years ago and I shall add this to the collection. I need to get a personal gallery started on my website so that I can put up my own personal work. I love finding 'nature's art' in the randomness of found colours, textures and discarded objects that I find when out wandering.

I loved this island bulletin board located by the ferry terminal. I so enjoy catching a glimpse into the every day lives of the communities I visit.

Guemes Island appears to really like cut out people. I saw a few more on the other side.

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.