Picture Day - Water-proof

Last year I bought a new water-proof camera. I had it in my mind that I could get all these amazing shots that I was missing out on if only I had a camera that didn't make me run away from water. So after some looking around and a bit of research I came away with a new camera and high hopes. Instead what I get in reality is photos that usually end up looking like this one:

Whee I got bubbles. Artsy some may say but not very memory capturing. I won't deny that I've gotten a few nice pictures from this camera but it's fallen way below my expectations.  OK, so actual underwater shots may not always turn out well (and boy do people make funny faces holding their breath) I can get some nice shots in a pool area without panicking my camera is going to get wet. Right?

Then again maybe not.  Problem number two with a water-proof camera, water spots. unless I'm constantly clearing off the lens water droplets tend to make pictures a little...well spotty. Yes these are my toes, don't you love the nail colour?   

Long story short I've gotten some nice pictures from this camera in settings I wouldn't dare take a regular camera but until I go somewhere outdoors with great lighting and crystal clear water I think I should give up on actual in water shots.  Out of all those I've taken so far this is the best under-water picture I think I've taken so far.

Concerning Hobbits

This picture is from the Assiniboinne park conservatory.  They often change the displays found amongst the tropical plants and this little hobbit style house that appears from time to time is by far one of my favorites.  It's not big enough for real hobbits, if indeed there was such a thing, but it goes well with what I've been talking about this week (my new reading list) and so I couldn't resist sharing having just completed reading The Hobbit.

Picture Day - Hoar Frost

Picture Day – Ornaments, the old and new





Our tree has many special ornaments on it some very old and some very new.  Each year we mark our celebrations with a new ornament and so each year which follows brings us back to a certain memory or reminds us of a special event in our lives. Some are fun, some are a little more serious, but each and every one is beautiful and is loved.

 

Picture Day - Winter Cottontail

A bunny has moved into the space beneath our deck and so a certain quote from bugs bunny has been running through my head on an almost constant loop.  

"Just what I always wanted. My own little bunny rabbit. I will name him George, and I will hug him and pet him and squeeze him..." 

Picture Day - Getting into the Spirit

It's that time of year to once again to start decorating, shopping, baking and having fun at every turn.  The Christmas season requires a lot of "dressing" and it is just about time to get into the spirit of things.

Picture Day - Favorite Vacation Shots



Main Entrance







Epcot, Spaceship Earth





Mickey and Minnie Mouse





Festival of The Lion King





Cinderella's Castle Night





Cinderella's Castle Day





Me With Chip N' Dale



Osbourne St. Lights





Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular



Main Universal Entrance



Studios Entrance



Across Islands of Adventure Lake



Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry





Aztec Entrance



Picture Day - Disneyland Past

Two "projects" have come together this week.  One my continued scanning of pictures from my childhood and secondly my own kids trip to Disney World.  While still unaware of that trip sharing pictures from this trip has been one of many little things my husband and I have been subtly bringing up knowing perfectly well that it is making our kids oh so desperate to go.  We've been "flaming the fire" so to speak so that the day we tell them the day will hold as much excitement and anticipation as possible.

Each of these little hints have been given in such a way that it hasn't made them suspicious in the least. They've been small hints after all and always related to actual going ons in our house.  Individually they don't mean much but I'm sure when they've found out they will look back on all these little hints with dawning recognition.

Now onto the pictures of the week, my first and only Disney trip to Disneyland with my family and Aunt.  

Despite having few memories the overall feeling I get when I think back to this trip is happiness and I know I had fun.  From all the pictures it's clear that we really did love each and every minute of it.   Fingers crossed that this years Disney trip results in just as much joy.

Doggie Dressup - Picture Day

He may not think it's so great but I love to include the dog in dress up time around halloween. He is after all part of the family and when we are all getting dressed up why shouldn't he get a turn at it?  So I present a really hairy potter, a four legged jester, and a perfect princess. He must really regret the day he mastered the "hold it" command.

Picture day - Dog or Cat

I think I understand why some people will often say that they are dog people or cat people.  Many people will when asked if they prefer one pet over another will answer quite resolutely. I’m a dog person, or I’m a cat person.  I almost always find that those answers stem from a single childhood experience which was good or bad or sometimes even neutral that they had with a pet.

I was quite lucky to have had wonderful experiences with pets of all shapes and sizes growing up and into adulthood so I am neither I just love all pets. Wait scratch that I wasn’t too fond of my husband’s tarantula, icky spiders.  One thing is certain for me however and that is that my home is not complete without an animal wandering about.

Some pets are of course recalled with more affection than others.  Three stand out in my mind.

Scooter my cat.  It’s not hard to reason why she will always be the first pet I think of as I got her at the age of 5 and she remained a part of my life for 24 years.  She was affectionate and smart and she worshiped the ground I walked on.  I was her person I suppose you would say, she allowed me to dress her up in bonnets and doll clothes without complaint and never failed to choose my lap over someone else’s.

Duchesse the first dog I really remember was silly and not all that smart but loveable all the same.   She is also the mother of the dog who really did capture my heart.  Born under my brother’s bed I was the one to find him and after exclaiming “there’s a puppy under here!” Kody was cemented into my memory as one of the best things ever.

My two favorites got along in a way that many cats and dogs do not, they played together slept together and sometimes cuddled with me together.  It is something I’ve always hoped my own children would get to experience with their own pets and luckily enough Lucy and Chase are as great a pair to them as Scooter and Kody were to me.  

Picture Day - Old vs New

It's not quite a one room school house but it was by no stretch of the imagination a large school with, if I recall correctly, 6 classrooms.  There was no gymnasium and by the time it was replaced several temporary classrooms had been added to house it's growing student population.

Just a few short years before the school was replaced the towns student population was so low that the school division had been considering closing it's doors. Parents in the area balked saying to give it time, that the town was growing and so too would the student population. The powers that be decided to give it a few more years; in the years that followed the student population did indeed grow. A decade after the division had considered the town to small for even it's small 6 class schoolhouse the student population was practically bursting at the seams and a new much larger school was needed.

  I spent two years in the new La Salle school and yes more than 20 years later in my mind it is still the new school. It no longer is and like the division who couldn't imagine needing a school in the town at all I can hardly imagine that now a second school or a junior high is needed as well. 

Millenium Library Park

Picture Day - Fall at Oak Hammock Marsh