Photography

Where's the snow, Dude?

We’ve got Shaun White, snowboarder extraordinaire, in the tank!  Yes, another betta came home with the biocube filter.  Funny how that happens.  We went to the LFS to get a new filter and found the bettas.  Since we just have the community tank running, this guy *HAD* to be laid back.  So we found the VTs and looked for the most “don’t worry, be happy” betta we could find.  This little guy was swimming around but didn’t jump or flare when we moved his neighbour close.  We put him back, looked at others but kinda liked his white body and red hair.  Two name possibilities arose:

- Stephen Harper, the current Prime Minister of Canada (since the fish was *obviously* Canadian with his colours, eh!)

- Shaun White, the

U.S.

snowboarding champion, AKA the Flying Tomato because of his flaming red hair. 

I sighed.  Said a fishie prayer.  And said ok.  So Shaun came home and was introduced to the community tank.  That was two weeks ago.  He has yet to nip a neighbour or flare at a reflection.  He is one laid-back-betta! 

My son decided he was more of a Shaun because he was like, totally laid back, dude.  Totally.  Nothing flips this boy out.  He swims slowly, no zipping around, man.  That’s bad for your mind, or sumptin’.  No noshing on the neighbours.  We even have baby platies in the tank that would fit in his mouth… and they swim right next to him.  Now, I fully expected there would be some, ah, losses but so far, none.  Granted the adult Platy Brats are larger than he is.  They are… well fed.

He did colour up a bit after a few days in the tank.  His pale white body got some colour and a sheen of blue showed up in his fins.  And like most adorable redheads, he has very cute freckles!  (“D’oh!” says my son “Stephen Harper IS a conservative, Mom!  They’re blue, too.  You didn’t expect him to wear bleeding liberal red ties forever, did you?”)  Oh ya…but we named him after a snowboarding dude, not an uptight politician.

The name Shaun stuck (with a few nicknames)… this fish embodies the laid back Californian.  He loves to ride the filter flow down, the bubbles up and chill out on the java moss deck to catch some rays.  Dude. 

And he has little white socks! 

Oh yes he did!!!

Yup!  Gimme five, number five!

Sports photog

Yes, I secretly yearn to be a sports photographer... and I guess I am a little closer after posting 4000 pictures of my son's team on my smugmug site!  I photographed the son of a coach on an opposing team.  We are only an "A" team and they are "AAA" and they are always, always gracious and exude good sportmanship.  They are a pleasure to watch!  Here are a few photos.

Niagara Falls

We took a quick overnight trip to Niagara Falls... I love seeing the Falls and all the kitchy souvenirs that spill over the shelves in the local shops.  Alas, we didn't shop much this trip - or get to Clifton Hill - for some tacky fun! 

We walked along the road parallel to the waterway to view the Horseshoe (Canadian) falls and the American Falls.  Last trip Matthew and I braved the rude tourists and boarded the Maid of the Mist, but he wasn't interested this trip.  Back at the Hilton we had dinner in rooftop restaurant.  Matthew chose an 8 oz Beef Tenderloin with a red wine reduction, garlic mashed potatoes and fresh green beans.  I have never seen him eat so much!  I enjoyed a seafood fettuccine and Steve had the grilled chicken.

   

We had a great view of Casino Niagara (who KNEW there were so many stretch limos in Niagara??!) and front row seats from our hotel room for the fireworks display! 

Finite readium

Back soon... reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!!!

Baby Photo Session #1

I did my first baby photo shoot for a friend of a friend of a friend from work (got that?) on Thursday.  I required a model 0-2 years for my photography homework and offered up some free photos. 

Baby was A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!  And only a few weeks fresh!  She was asleep when I arrived so I turned the focus beep off and snapped a few.  Light was horrible... North facing window with another house right there on a cloudy, rainy day.  I did manage to get almost an hour's worth before Baby and Big Sister had enough of me.  I didn't get any full baby shots, as she can't get on tummy yet (imbilical stump is still healing), but I did get my close ups.  We were supposed to be shooting "baby botianicals" for this week's lesson.  When I first read that, I screamed "OMG she wants us to shoot Anne Geddes stuff!"  But no, it was more like macros of baby's best features such as toeses and noses and feets and nursing blistered lips. 

Please meet little Allison, a pleasure to photograph!

The Boy Who Caught a Fish

We spent the weekend at a friend's cottage in The Kawarthas over the weekend.  I don't think I have ever had so many layers of clothes and jackets on in July!!!  Where the heck is summer?  I don't like this hot June, cold July trend...  Regardless, we ate well, enjoyed a rather longish game of Star Wars Monopoly and managed to get out on the lake on Sunday.  The weather just couldn't decide what it wanted; sun, clouds, rain... and not 10 minutes after we arrived home, there was a tornado warning for our region!  Yikes! 

                            

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         #1 Waaaaaaaay too cold for July!

#2  Nicki - Angela and Ron's dog.

#3  Matthew helping Mom with photography class homework

#4  The Boy who Caught His First Fish!

#5  The Caught Fish

#6 The Caught Fish being released

#7  Daddy's fish - also caught and released

#8  Tubing!  Yes we got wind whipped and soaked! 

Take me out to the ball game...

Yep.  More baseball.  We should be on the field practicing right now but it's raining.  We have a game Thursday and an all weekend tournament that starts Friday night, so I'm kinda glad we didn't have to go...

Canada Day brunch

Even though I am tired of eating in restaurants after a week of business travel, we went out for brunch.  Poor Matthew has 5 (FIVE!) cankers in his mouth and has barely eaten in the last week.  If anyone out there has a way to stop these, please let me know!  We've tried probiotics, yogurt, Pepto Bismol and liquid antihistamines, salt rinses, anti-bacterial rinses, cutting out acidic foods, adding more vitamins, Kanka... you name it.  He is at his wits end with them, and so am I!

He did manage to eat and I received a few funny "MOOOOOOOM STOOOOOOOOOP" faces worth recording. 

Happy Canada Day!

We celebrated the Canada Day weekend in the usual style... eating fresh lobster flown in for a gathering of friends and family.  Each year our family friend George has a case of lobster flown in from Nova Scotia.  They are wild-caught, cooked, put on ice and flown directly to Toronto.  This year's catch was especially sweet and tender and makes me want more, more, more!  Love these wild Canadians!