Eyeful of Canon

Scenes in BC

2010-06-22T19:16:00.000-07:00

A little salute to the beautiful British Columbia.

Last of the Fields of Tulips

2010-06-11T14:01:00.000-07:00

Singles

2010-06-10T11:17:00.000-07:00

Fields and Closeups

2010-06-08T12:34:00.000-07:00

Only a few more days of tulips for you

2010-06-07T13:10:00.000-07:00

I went to see the tulips blooming, can you tell?

2010-06-06T15:06:00.000-07:00

Tulips, as an apology

2010-06-04T11:54:00.000-07:00

Straight Out of my Camera

2010-04-14T13:05:00.001-07:00

What are Saturdays good for?

2010-04-10T12:30:00.000-07:00

I'll tell you. THIS is what Saturdays are good for:

Household Obsessions

2010-04-07T13:21:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure I've ever mentioned this, and I'd have been right to keep so mum about it, but it's time to spill the beans. In my house, we have a lot of penguins. A lot, a lot. And it's not even my fault. Now, don't get me wrong, I like the penguins, and penguins in general, but I didn't know how much I liked them until I met my husband. And let's just talk about him for a few minutes since we hardly ever do that.

You remember when you were a kid and you were obsessed with something? A toy, or a doll, or a cartoon, or an imaginary friend. Well, my adorable husband learned about the flightless birds and latched onto what I'm sure will be a lifelong obsession. The table names at our wedding were named after different kinds of penguins, I mean, THAT'S how much he likes them. So when Christmas came around this year and we got a fluffed and stuffed envelope in the mail from my in-law side, I was not at all surprised to see the likes of a penguin pulled out of the envelope. What I was surprised about was that he was a purposeful penguin. A warming penguin. A penguin to keep my cafetiere cosy. Yes, a coffee cosy.

Observe:

iPhone shot, processed with ToyCamera App.

Looks like we're going to have to come up with another name for a penguin over here!

The best vegetable on earth

2010-03-25T13:25:00.000-07:00

Artichokes: Not just tasty - also pretty!

Half and Half

Near and Far

2010-03-15T13:35:00.000-07:00

While I'm processing the idea of taking WHOLE NEW PICTURES, please enjoy some more shots from the archives.

Near

Far

Over the Weekend

2010-03-10T15:26:00.000-08:00

So this past weekend was a bit of a downer at my house. I didn't get out and take a bunch of photos like I'd hoped, but I did mope around for a bit. I squeezed in some brunch and some shopping between all the moping. Until I get out of this funk we may have to just go through the archives and post the shots I've always meant to post but never quite got around to....

Even the flowers around here are moping....

Downcast

Flower Art

2010-03-05T13:15:00.000-08:00

Van Dusen Botanical Garden pictures, part 2.

Needled

Hydrangea

Lily

Like Art

2010-03-04T10:30:00.000-08:00

I went to Van Dusen Botanical Gardens a while ago. Artsy flower pictures coming up!

Evidence of Rain

Wispy

This or That?

2010-03-03T15:28:00.000-08:00

Let's play a new game called This or That?

This?

Or That?

Less Words, More Pretty

2010-03-02T09:38:00.000-08:00

Bright Sun

Not a Little Bit Phallic

Bring it Into Focus

About that Curling

2010-03-01T11:29:00.000-08:00

So, I'm going to carry on talking about the curling and the Olympics, and I'm going to act as if you've not been to a curling event so I can continue to astound you with surprising facts about Vancouver's Olympic curling events.

I still don't know what the ACTUAL proper words for most of curling are, bear with me. Curling halls are, well, they're multitaskers. There's four whole lanes in a curling... alley? Like a bowling alley? The seating is a little different - its stadium seating so everyone can see, plus there's seating on 3 sides, and the food is much the same as you might find in a bowling alley (plus beer) but I'm certain the food and beer at the Olympics is a tad more expensive (*cough*SIX DOLLAR HOT DOG*cough*)... What the hell was I talking about?

Oh! Right! There's 4 lanes, and there's always someone throwing a rock on ice somewhere. There's always something to watch or some team to pay attention to while another team is talking or scoring or losing HORRIBLY and being boring - see the right-most lane where the Swedes are taking a break.

Down the Lanes

Now, understand, in Canada, curling's pretty big, despite it having been invented in Scotland. So the Great Britain team, it should be good. I know, I know, there were a ton of Scottish immigrants to Canada, but they realllllly like their curling here. We somehow managed to get tickets to the one match that the Canadians weren't playing - which was perfectly fine by us because we DID get to see the USA v GBR game and since my house is made up of people from those two places? It was a good time to go. Holy bejaysus, tangent.

ANYWAYS, look, they get into the curling. They get so into it, that they do the wave. SEVERAL TIMES.

On the Right

Going into the event, I was presuming, despite expecting the USA teams in all other events to be stupendous, that I'd watch my country's team hand the Great Britain team an easy win. That's not at all what happened. Can you see what happened? Can you see that??

Overtime Win

That's right! WE WON! I don't really know, but I think that was like one of two games the USA won. But there were flag wavers and USA chanters in the crowd, albeit not many of them. They sure did outnumber and outshout the GBR fans though.

Old Glory and Union Jack

So, you know, it's been all, "USA! USA!" in my house ever since. AND RIGHTFULLY SO!

We Saw some Athletes, Guys!

2010-02-27T10:58:00.000-08:00

I think I've already mentioned that we have some birthdays here in February, so this year, the coincidence of the Olympics provided an easy out on the gift buying.

Yeah Huh

So here's the thing. No one in my house actually knew the rules to curling until after we got home from the event. Because, really, knowing what is going on at sporting events is so cliche! Also? We like to make up the rules for things like curling while watching it live, in front of die hard fans in the stands. It doesn't make for an uncomfortable situation at all... if you speak quietly... which you can't do really when six thousand people are SCREAMING and CLAPPING and CHEERING and CHANTING all around you. Thankfully no one around us actually took the time to explain the real rules, as that would have made our normally anti-social behavior kind of awkward. Our rules were nowhere near the real rules, but they made sense at the time.

Someone is Screaming

Russian women beat the snot out of the Swedes, which was a shame, and the Swedes ended up conceding after 7 rounds (or as I later found out - ends). Someone explained why but at the team we just thought they were lazy, and or bad at rolling rocks on ice. We were wrong on all fronts. Considering they were ranked 2nd for most of the .... uhh tournament? At any rate, at some point there was some debate about something for scoring, and this guy came out of a garage or the basement or something with this contraption.

Settling the Score

There were some more surprises while we were there, and I'll save a couple for tomorrow. The last thing for today might shock you to your core.

Did you know that curling teams have COACHES? Yeah, I always just thought they were kind of like dart players - the kind of athletes that drink beer and talk shit with their fellow competitors and don't really have....coaches. I figured curling is a skill much like shooting pool - you don't really need a coach for it, but then I could probably benefit from a coach for shooting pool.

Strategizing

More curling action coming!

Dinners In

2010-02-26T11:43:00.000-08:00

Most of the month of February is just one big excuse for date nights or celebrations in our house, what with birthdays and Valentine's Day. We like to cook dinner for each other because we're party animals. That's how we party. With food.

Not Yet Frozen Sorbet, Birthday

Coq au Riesling, Holiday

Curried Cauliflower

Mangetout with Sesame Sees, Curried Cauliflower and Chili Pork

Don't Trust Technology!

2010-02-25T18:42:00.000-08:00

Ha! I just realized that all the posts I had scheduled to publish all week haven't actually published! Excellent!

So I'm going to jam some of them together starting tomorrow.

Russia is hosting the next Winter Games. They have a nice location to show off their country here at these games.

Sochi House

Party like it's .... 2008?

2010-02-19T13:34:00.000-08:00

Dedicated Fan

Logos

2010-02-18T23:27:00.000-08:00

Vancouver Olympics logos as made by Vancouverites on False Creek.

Foreground Inukshuk, Background Olympic Village

Olympic Housing

Drawing a Crowd

Surfing

Around Vancouver

2010-02-17T19:30:00.000-08:00

Last week, when I wasn't stuck on the couch bundled in sweats, a robe, three blankets and a fever, I went outside. It was a pretty place, with people and coffee and even some sunshine.

Downtown

Stones

A few of the 20,000 cops in town

Canada House, Aussie House, Olympic Village

Russia House (Science World)

Truth in Signs

2010-02-15T13:07:00.000-08:00

What with the international feel to the city, I felt this was appropriate. The shot was taken on my iPhone, and edited with The Best Picture app.

Opening Ceremonies, a la German Style

2010-02-13T19:31:00.000-08:00

I spent the Opening Ceremonies night with the Germans. And I thoroughly enjoyed the cheese-factor of the band that will be performing every single night of the Games. If you're in town and looking for some entertainment, you'll find it at the German Fan Fest Tent!

Magical, Indeed

I'm Baaaack! And EN FUEGO!!

2010-02-12T15:33:00.000-08:00

After a long hiatus, let's just get straight to the new photos, eh?

The Olympics? They're in the city where I happen to live. So get ready for a lot of Olympics centric photos! They'll be over at the end of the month-ish.

I've several shots from today's torch relay in Downtown Vancouver. The torch went all over Vancouver this morning, going over the Lion's Gate Bridge, through Stanley Park, around east Vancouver, to Granville Island, through the water in False Creek, around Yaletown and finally landing at the Library for a rest before the Opening Ceremonies tonight. I stayed home and took shots with my telephoto from my balcony for the False Creek and Yaletown legs. Observe, for we have fire in Vancouver!

Please note: I bookended these flame shots with shots of City Hall, Vancouver for the reason that before and after the torch relay through Yaletown, the Canadian Flag flying over City Hall was lowered to half staff. During the relay this afternoon, the IOC confirmed the death of Georgian Luger, Nodar Kumaritashvili. He died on his second of two training runs on the most difficult and fastest sliding track in history. It is such a sad event to start off the Games in Vancouver, and one can only hope his family finds solace in such a difficult time.

City Hall before the Torch left Granville Island

Pacific Blvd. Before

Canadian Armada

Leafs and Flames, co-existing happily

A Sea of People on Pacific Blvd.

Yaletown corners
(Apologies for the Where's Waldo feeling of this one, but the atmosphere in Yaletown looked so fun!)

Reflections of the Flame

City Hall, After the Torch lands at the Library

It's still Fracking Raining

2009-11-23T16:20:00.000-08:00

For the past several days, I haven't been able to upload any photos, which is putting a damper on the whole website thing.

I have some great shots from before the rains started, and I would love to show them to you, but it seems not only is the weather being crap, so is the blog. I'm attempting to fix the problems. Please stand by.

It's raining here

2009-11-10T15:33:00.000-08:00

In order to avoid the gloom and doom of the grey skies, I am resorting to old pictures taken when the sun shined a lot more often. And yes, that is a miniature rubber ducky, what's it to you?

What we're doing around here today

2009-11-08T17:23:00.000-08:00

Starting last night, I began moving around all of our books into new bookshelves and tidying up the place. Seems I'm not the only one on a little cleaning spree.

Something colorful for the grey day in Vancouver

2009-11-07T14:22:00.000-08:00

The weather here has seemed to turn to the grey grey winter. I need a pick me up, so I'm going to look at these shots for the next 5 hours. I know, right? I spend my time doing the most useful things.

Natural Textures

2009-11-06T17:07:00.000-08:00

The holder of the bunny rabbit

2009-11-05T12:31:00.000-08:00

Can you tell that I had a weirdo dream last night?

Because it's coming up on Christmas soon

2009-11-04T13:02:00.000-08:00

Changing, 2 of 2

2009-11-03T13:35:00.000-08:00

Overwhelming colors of the changing leaves at the Van Dusen Botanical Gardens.

See:

Changing, 1 of 2

2009-11-02T14:25:00.000-08:00

The leaves in Van Dusen Botanical Gardens look like they're on fire.

Observe:

My cat wanted a word with you

2009-11-01T14:32:00.000-08:00

"Hey betches. What's goin' on?"

I lied to you, and it might not be the last time

2009-10-12T13:14:00.000-07:00

Last night, after about 2 months of walking right past it, I dusted off my camera and went about getting prepared to download all the pictures from my camera to my hard drive. I checked the battery - good to go. And then I spent 2 hours intermittently wandering around in the office and looking at the cupboard where all my camera gear normally resides when not in use to find the cable - a very important piece of equipment if you're attempting to copy files from a camera to a laptop, without which the very act of copying is unpossible. I spent some time looking at the top layer of my desk, which sits about a foot above the desk's surface and is comprised of god only knows what but probably stuff that I should organize at some point. I rifled through my one desk drawer and noted to myself that because the drawer rifling was somewhat therapeutic that I needed to sell my desk and buy a new one made of drawers for just this situation, as I expect it will happen several times again in the future. I tend to lose things, or as I like to call it, misremember where I've placed many items I often need to use at a later point in time.

And not 30 seconds after complaining very loudly that I couldn't find the STUPID GODDAMN CABLE to no one in particular but Doing so in the same room as my husband just so someone could register my complaint, I went into my bedroom to flop on my bed in a fit of WAHHHHHHHH and nearly tripped right over the very cable I'd been tearing apart every other room in the apartment looking for. Of course.

Long story short, I haven't even looked at those pictures yet, but this morning, after ignoring the fact that it's Canadian Thanksgiving (in October!), I decided to try to get a little artsy and take some shots of our wedding rings. And that's why I lied - sort of - and will now show you something else that happens to be wedding related - kind of.

I think I've drawn this out long enough

2009-10-09T10:22:00.000-07:00

I think from the following picture taken by Melissa it is clear that I do not wear a lot of dresses.

Also, purple clutch to go with the purple toes.

And now I will stop it about the wedding.

Accessorizing

2009-10-08T10:03:00.000-07:00

So a few days before the wedding, my mother took me to get a manicure and pedicure. Of special note is the fact that my mom had never before had a pedicure and she didn't once break out in hysterical laughter from her feet being tickled incessantly. I was most impressed. AND! And she only nicked her nail polish once! That's practically a miracle. While my mother was white knuckling the arms of her lazy-boy recliner from trying so hard to not laugh or wriggle away from the tickle-monster, I was searching through all the available colors for a purple polish. Because when questioned, my fiance had expressed that he'd like it if my toenails were painted purple for the wedding. And I obliged, because I'm all kinds of sweet like that.

Witness:

Of special note: I wore these shoes until about an hour after this photo was taken. And then I went barefoot for the rest of my wedding because I'm ALL CLASS and also a big fat weenie when my shoes are incredibly uncomfortable.

Now that we've established that I could never have a real corporate office job since my feet are whiny whiny bastards, let's move on to the hair. When I dug this puppy out of my purse and handed it over to my ridiculously awesome hair dresser, she laughed and asked, "No really, what the hell am I supposed to do with this thing?" She thought I was totally kidding when I told her to put it in my hair, but being the miracle worker that she is, she obliged and got it stuck in my hair so good that it only took 2 hours to pull it out at the end of the night.

Besides, who can have a wedding with an evening fireworks display without having a fireworks replica thingamajiggy in their hair? Not me, clearly!

(Melissa took these pictures. She's a rockstar.)

Yeah, this is also wedding related

2009-10-07T11:14:00.000-07:00

We were thinking of using this as a beverage holder, but someone finally let us in on the secret that it should hold candles. Who'da thunk it?

Summing up the wedding and MOVING ON SOON

2009-10-06T23:42:00.000-07:00

I promise I'll start posting pictures from after the wedding I had this summer just as soon as I get through these last couple of shots. None of the wedding shots were taken by me - they were taken by Melissa, my beautiful and so kind Maid of Honor or by Attila, my sweet adorable awesome friend who flew all the way to Vancouver from DUBAI. That place is way far away from here. I hope he got peanuts on the plane.

So first, the sky was all:

Then it was all, OMG, THIS:

So, I was all, HUNGRY, I'll go wait for my food and sit over here:

All of these shots were taken by Melissa, the gorgeous.

Coming up? Me in a dress. OMG YES REALLY.

Family

2009-09-30T12:45:00.000-07:00

We hosted a meet the in-laws drink fest the night before our wedding, where my beautiful mother, my practically sister-in-law, and my now mother-in-law spent some time chatting in my living room. It was a tad surreal to have them all here, at our house, together, considering the entire family now spans 9 time zones. But it was lovely to have them here and to get to watch them come together.

Thanks to Mel for taking my camera and taking this picture that evening.

I wasn't the only pretty thing at my wedding

2009-09-29T11:38:00.000-07:00

The sky sure put on a pretty pretty show for the night. We enjoyed a beautiful lightning storm and a downpour from the inside of a gorgeous venue.

Also, there was a rainbow. That I didn't see. I KNOW!

Attila - Thanks for the shots, I hope you don't mind me exploiting your skills.

Look, I put on a dress

2009-09-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

In an effort to not suck at updating, and to fulfill the wedding pictures promise...

No one told me the back of my dress was so damn pretty. And without this shot, I never would have known!

Thanks to Attila for the beautiful pic!

Oh, I almost forgot

2009-09-23T12:11:00.000-07:00

We also saw some harbor seals while we were out on the water. They were very lazy, but that seems fitting for a Sunday afternoon.

Back when I used to blog regularly(er)

2009-09-22T13:14:00.000-07:00

Before I went and got hitched, I spent a beautiful Sunday afternoon on the water with the future (now) in-laws watching some whales. Did I tell you this already? I don't think I did, but apparently once you get married your brain packs its bags. Or so I've been told.

This guy is part of K Pod; we figure from his markings he's K-25 (Scoter).

Standard Apology

2009-09-10T12:29:00.000-07:00

So back in July I went and got hitched and then I thought, I'm way too good for that blogging stuff and promptly ignored the internet for a week.

Then I went to England, and who wants to hear about that? After getting back from England, where I went with my husband to attend a wedding, because summer is for weddings and sunshine, I went ahead and just started to ignore the internet for another couple weeks.

Really though, nothing interesting has been happening, but I do have photos to put up in the next couple of weeks, some of which are not mine and some of which are of me in a white dress. Consider this the, "Excuse my absence, and now you can expect to get back to your regularly scheduled eyefulofcanon post reading on a regular basis." Starting... next week at the latest.

Pause

2009-07-30T10:12:00.000-07:00

After all the partying, I'm taking about a week break. Hopefully I'll have some good wedding shots to bore you with by then.

Straight out of the Camera Shot

2009-07-28T18:01:00.001-07:00

My fan for the wedding, since it was supposed to be 35, but turned out to be thunderstorming and humid instead. Still very well used. Oh and our rings, too.

And soon I will be able to rest, just like my cat

2009-07-24T09:52:00.000-07:00

But before the resting comes the marrying and the partying!

Ignoring me is a skill

2009-07-23T11:29:00.000-07:00

Mia's Faces

2009-07-22T10:46:00.000-07:00

I almost had her acknowledging me for a second there.

Yes, I really am airing my laundry on the internet

2009-07-21T12:51:00.000-07:00

2009-07-20T11:43:00.000-07:00

With all the crazy going on, someone is getting kind of ignored in my house. And now she's no longer talking to me. Shocker.

Around my House

2009-07-17T10:40:00.000-07:00

I think I might need a drink after the next couple weeks.

Some More Peonies

2009-07-16T11:09:00.000-07:00

See what happens when someone buys me flowers?

2009-07-15T11:38:00.000-07:00

Boring You

2009-07-14T23:36:00.000-07:00

These next few weeks, I've got a few things going on, so I'm going to bore you with simple things like shots of my cat, or flowers, or things like that. Sorry, but I'm a tad distracted. Have I mentioned I'm getting married in less than two weeks?

Pieces of Oxford

2009-07-08T11:50:00.000-07:00

Sky High

2009-07-07T11:58:00.000-07:00

In Oxford, I get a little fascinated with the architecture elements.

Recon

2009-07-03T13:39:00.001-07:00

Have I already told you I did some recon for wedding pictures? No? Okay, how bout you take a look at some of these. (I know I did post some a while back but there are a couple more.)

I appear to have a thing for stairs. Or the stairs around the wedding site are particularly interesting to me. Either way, who wouldn't want to be stood next to a splotch of paint on the wall in a wedding dress? You tell me!

The past 20-ish hours

2009-07-02T11:35:00.000-07:00

My lovely fiance has determined that even before we are married what's his is mine. So I now have his cold and have been groggy and sleepy and avoiding reading any print for it gives me a massive headache.

I have new pictures to share but I first have to get them off my camera and put through some Lightroom maneuvers. Maybe I'll stop sleeping long enough to do that later today for a post tomorrow. Until then, Good Night!

Last Year: A Look Back Part 2

2009-06-30T10:04:00.000-07:00

After getting up, as an engaged couple, at 8 in the morning, we scarfed down some snacks, got dressed and then went and sat on the bench outside the front door waiting for our ride to take us round to all the nice wineries in the area. What newly engaged couple doesn't need to start drinking at 10 am?

I was heartily amused by the decor on the porch ceiling.

The view from the first winery, where they served us champagne on the deck and we enjoyed this view.

My favorite place in the world to taste wine: Rolling Dale Winery. Barrel tastings and the friendliest pourers in the world.

To sum up, most of the day I was either looking at my fiance or at something similar to this:

I must have been saying, "Sure, buy us another bottle of that grape juice stuff." just as I was taking this shot.

Last Year: A Look Back

2009-06-29T11:48:00.000-07:00

First, we checked out the town and looked for a hat. We strolled along the lake and took in the culture, amused by the other tourists, and admired the wildlife. Who can resist sweet little ducklings?

Then, a little killing time at the beach near the hotel. Boat rental starting in T minus 2 hours.

The sand castle building replacement:

Then a boat ride, that lead to this:

In less than a month, there'll be an accompanying wedding band with that one. *squeee*

Back to Normal

2009-06-25T20:18:00.000-07:00

I'll be back to posting again daily next Monday. Vacation is over and now I'm playing wedding catch up.

Oops

2009-06-16T10:40:00.000-07:00

I'm out of touch for a few days.

Complaints

2009-06-12T11:52:00.000-07:00

Because I'm buried in things to get done today, I'm going forego the storytime I had planned for today and tell you all about the things that annoy me the most in these two shots. Ready? Okay!

I cut off the tail. I got tired of manually focusing the shots of fleeting wildlife that day, so this is an auto focus, and it is not focused properly. How did I manage to do all of that? Oh I know! I wasn't really paying attention. Although I did a teeny tiny bit of post processing - a little sharpening to fake a focus, a bit of a bump on the vibrance on the colors (which made the lighting go all horrible), and some possible shadow work. None of it seemed to do much to help the overall quality of the shot.

Now, this one is better, however, the foot. I cut off the foot. And again with the auto focus and missing the right point of focus. Well done me! I did a teeny bit of post process, had to fix the exposure, was too bright SOOC.

Let it be known, the way to solve most of these problems? Shoot at the right exposure, include the whole of the subject in the frame, and learn how to post process properly.

Scouting

2009-06-11T13:23:00.000-07:00

So wedding stuff today, because I have wedding on the brain after last night. We had a menu tasting last night, in which we ate enough food for a table of 5. Between the two of us. I'm honestly not joking or exaggerating. Five servings. And, mostly, it was me eating most of the food. Because I'm a hoover, apparently, when it comes to extremely good food. You can call me Hungry Hippo if you like. (I probably won't reply. Or will be extremely offended. Use the nickname as sparingly as possible, I'd say.) Also, I enjoyed wine tasting everything twice, since I wasn't the one driving. I'm suddenly afraid that I may have aged about 2 more decades in less than a day, however, since I thoroughly enjoyed the one glass of Rose' that we were given to taste with dinner. It was like a lovely stick of butter. Or something more appetizing.

Luckily, the whole menu is decided upon after nearly three hours scarfing food down.

Previously, I did a whole lot of scouting for photo shoot places in the immediate vicinity of our wedding/reception locale. These are all appropriate, right?

This one is especially appropriate, no?

Furry Friends

2009-06-10T13:44:00.000-07:00

There's a lake right smack in the middle of Stanley Park called Beaver Lake. There are rumors that there is an actual beaver that lives there, but despite all my best efforts, I have no photographic proof of his existence. Granted, walking around the lake once every few weeks for about an hour or two doesn't really give him a whole lot of time to show himself to me, but that is neither here nor there at this point. All kinds of sweet wildlife makes appearances while I'm strolling along the lakeside pathway.

This guy, I just wanted to bring home with me. He followed me for a while, but gave up when someone walking in the opposite direction produced a bag of nuts. Why didn't I think of that?

Morning Look

2009-06-09T12:30:00.000-07:00

Amazingly, this is what I look like when I wake up in the morning. I could stop sleeping on hay, since it seems to stick everywhere, but it's so comfortable. And let's not talk about the water retention.

Architecture, again

2009-06-08T12:23:00.000-07:00

Monday is never the best day to get a story out of me, so I thought I'd put up some shots that need less narration than others. This is the Bodleian Library in Oxford, viewed from the top of The University Church of St. Mary the Virgin. (The window and organ shot from last week was the interior.)

Every time I'm in Oxford I want to shoot this building, it's incredibly photogenic.

Oh my gads this place is AMAZING! And the bored dragon makes me laugh. (These guys are somewhere along the High Street in Oxford.)

Streams of Light

2009-06-05T13:26:00.000-07:00

I've not really cleared my head from yesterday, but I have consumed an entire pool's worth of water. The morning wasn't very welcome from where I was sleeping this morning; the brightness was a little overwhelming and I tried to hide by shoving my head under all the pillows. Somehow the light found me under there, and I've been wandering around sleepy since then.

Foggy

2009-06-04T17:49:00.000-07:00

For some reason I managed to not have dinner last night, and then I topped it off with drinking a lot of glasses of beer. At least the patio was open and we could sit outside and enjoy the lovely summery weather. This morning, my head was a little foggy, my limbs were a little shaky, and my liver was a little mad at me. It might be a good time to detox for a few days.

The City of Dreaming Spires

2009-06-03T11:04:00.000-07:00

While I was living in Vienna I often marveled at the very fact that most of the buildings one could walk by every day were older than the country from which I came. The first time I went to England (that I can actually remember) was about 15 years ago, and I don't remember feeling the same way about the place. The buildings were not looming and ornate; they didn't stand out as particularly different or as interesting styles of architecture.

In the past 4 years, I've been to England approximately slightly shy of ten times, and nearly every one of those times I've been through Oxford or have visited Oxford for shopping or touristing. Walking around the streets of Oxford is different than my previous trip to England. The buildings feel taller, more imposing, prettier, spikier, and more impressive that I remember any place in England being. Most of the time that I do spend in the city of dreaming spires, I spend agog and dragging my chin around on the floor because of the sheer grandeur of the place. Oxford rightfully puts me in my place, reminding me that most of my life I've been surrounded by a country, let alone buildings, that are centuries younger than the simple shops on Oxford Street.

Got my eye on you

2009-06-02T18:56:00.000-07:00

I'm way behind on everything today. I'm trying to catch up, and hope I'll be less crazed tomorrow to be able to write something or post something really pretty for ya.

Mondays

2009-06-01T10:48:00.000-07:00

Monday is going a little slow for me this week. I have a list of wedding things to do and I'm trying my damnedest to forget about it.

Plant Tip

2009-05-29T11:38:00.000-07:00

Tip: Buy plants that love sunlight if you live in an area of the world where it rains or is grey 6 months out of the year. Then you can be just as good with the plant-keeping-alive-skills as I am!

Special Friday Edition

2009-05-29T00:12:00.000-07:00

Laura at Dolce Pics put up another What's Your Play and I wanted to play along again. I might have to go into the archives if I can't find anything nice for next week.

Original:

With my adjustments:

All post work done in Lightroom. Auto tone, auto white balance, bumped blacks, and played with the highlights. Slight crop to get the shelf out of the shot and put the blue knob in the third/third corner. The reason for the highlight adjustment was to get the shadow to pop a little more in the left third.

The Useful Things

2009-05-28T10:10:00.000-07:00

I must confess, never in my life have I had a vegetable garden. Or an herb garden. Or really my very own garden at all. I'm a plant freak though, and I tend to buy a ridiculously large number of houseplants just to cover up the small percentage of them that I happen to kill. And by small percentage I mean, until I moved to Vancouver, I'd really only killed one - an orchid. A feisty little bastard that never even gave me a chance to keep it alive. Since moving back to North America, I can confirm there have been deaths of a pink spotted little guy, a teeny tiny fern that I swear was nearly dead when I got him anyways, a mini rose plant that no one could have kept from dying, 6 dahlia bulbs that produced 6 plants and about as many flowers, and a spangly little leafy bugger that didn't even look pretty when I brought him home. And all of that in less than three years. So I thought it was best then to plant myself some vegetables and herbs.

Behold, the soon to be dead plants that adorn my balcony - for the moment.

The Flowers, Let me See Them

2009-05-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

I needed a little something to brighten up my weekend, so I bought myself flowers, and planted my own garden.

And my little fuzzball had to see what all the fuss was about.

Lavender Thumb

2009-05-26T10:36:00.000-07:00

I went a little plant crazy a while back and decided I needed to try growing lavender plants from seeds. My first attempt yielded no green sprouts, or leaves, let alone lavender plants. Behold, my second attempt, which started on Saturday afternoon, and has yet to prove entirely useless. There's time for that in about a week and a half, though.

Plants like sunlight, right?

Taking an Afternoon Nap

2009-05-25T11:17:00.001-07:00

Last weekend after spending a while planting some new flowers and vegetables in my balcony garden, I decided it was a good time to take a nice afternoon nap. My cat, not one to disagree with a nap, took up residence in the comfy chair for a little snooze. And isn't she just adorable?

Special Sunday Edition

2009-05-24T13:46:00.000-07:00

Laura over at Dolce Pics does a weekly what would you do to this photo post. And this week's shot intrigued me for some reason. So I decided while watching the Red Wings game that I'd mess around with the shot and see if I ended up liking my version. Shockingly, I did.

First, let's look at the original.

And now my version.

All edits were done in Lightroom. Angled and cropped original. Upped Blacks and Clarity/Virbance/Saturation. Put in a slight pink tint, adjusted temp towards more blue hues.

Approach

2009-05-22T10:38:00.000-07:00

On the tour of English Gardens, we travelled through a sleepy little hamlet in the cotswolds. This is from our approach.

Water feature

2009-05-21T10:17:00.000-07:00

Doesn't everyone have a creek running through their English garden?

At the end of the house

2009-05-20T11:02:00.000-07:00

While scoping out gardens in nearby towns, I happened to fall in love with this door. It looked like it could have been the garage door, but I could not for the life of me figure out just how it would open.

Again with the gardens

2009-05-19T10:31:00.000-07:00

Since the weather wasn't cooperating yesterday when I wanted to go shoot the flowers on my balcony, I have to resort to the English gardens from 6 months ago.

Monday snuck up on me

2009-05-18T18:31:00.000-07:00

As it's a three day weekend here in Canada, the first day of the week snuck up on me and I nearly forgot entirely to post a picture. I spent the majority of yesterday planting and replanting a bunch of things in planters for my balcony and I was reminded of the English gardens I wandered around back at Christmastime.

Speaking of Black Tie Events

2009-05-15T11:26:00.000-07:00

Because I know you come here for wedding updates on a weekly basis...

I'm working on invitations right now. Well, not right now, but this week. It's this week's project. Addressing invitations, putting them all together into an envelope, putting stamps on the envelopes. It could all go so much quicker if I wasn't still waiting for the words to put on the envelopes.

Finder's Keepers

2009-05-14T10:02:00.000-07:00

Rooting around in the muck and the mud

What the cold can do

2009-05-13T10:19:00.000-07:00

"I'm a scarily effective hunter, I'm fast as lightning, I'm awesome and have massive paws that take down prey."

"I'm goddamn tired, and it's fecking cold here. Someone turn on the damn heater."

Flashy

2009-05-12T11:54:00.000-07:00

Despite being chastised for the very idea of it, I thought it would cheer me up so much if this guy had fanned out his feathers. It's possible that had I only needed a few more minutes of making weird noises at him before he would have done me the favor of proving my theory that persistence and nagging works. Alas, as it was below freezing, I couldn't bear to stop walking or moving long enough to let my nagging skills really show. And apparently the chattering teeth was putting him off.

Front

Back

Nosy Lil Buggers

2009-05-11T10:46:00.000-07:00

I can imagine that most people that have been to the Cotswolds may suggest antiquing or admiring the beautiful architecture. After having visited the area a few times on previous trips to England, I thought I'd go ahead and try something different. So I spent perhaps the coldest day of my trip (-2, Thankyouverymuch!) wandering around the wildlife park. A small sampling of the animals I thankfully did not have to coerce out of their cozy homes follows for the rest of the week.

Sticky Situation

2009-05-08T17:08:00.000-07:00

I may have mentioned that I'm getting married, and it dawned on me this week that I'm actually getting married within three months. That's pretty close, here, so I thought maybe I should spend some time finalizing some details and finishing up all the planning I've been sporadically doing for the past 9 months. And I've come to the conclusion that I am SO BORED with making decisions, so I'm just going to stop trying so damn hard to make everything so damn cool. What it all comes down to is that people I want to be there on our wedding day will be there and I can spend time with a lot of people that I love spending time with. So, I don't care if they have pretty pretty flowers on their tables, or Oh my god, more layers of fabric on the tables, chairs or FREAKING FLOORS. All these details are making me prickly.

f/5.6, 1/50s, ISO 200, 105mm

Not Football

2009-05-07T10:45:00.000-07:00

I was actually interested in what was going on in the game. I learned the rules and the terms and the scoring system and everything.

Preparations
f/5.6, 1/6s, ISO 100, 58mm

And then the sky went all colorful and distracting. It wasn't my fault.

Lights in the Sky
f/5.6, 1/30s, ISO 100, 24mm

Landline

2009-05-06T11:06:00.000-07:00

The morning after a wedding in the hilly, and gorgeous area of Derbyshire in England, I caught a little bit of nice light on the morning fog. Although the horizon looks somewhat straight, let's keep in mind that it was the morning after a wedding, and I was standing on one leg. True story.

Landline
f/9, 1/125s, ISO 100, 67mm

Seasonal

2009-05-05T10:28:00.000-07:00

It's as if there are different seasons in Vancouver recently. The reason I can tell that there are flowers blooming without looking at them is that I sneeze approximately 17 times every hour. Although it's somewhat amusing, if I'm in public when a fit starts, people now look at me and go, "ZOMG SWINE FLU!" and I can't argue with them, what with all the AHHHHH-CHOOOOO'ing I'm doing.

Pollen
f/4.0, 1/80s, ISO 100, 105mm

Series: Lost in Translation

2009-05-04T10:59:00.000-07:00

I'm an inbox organizer. I don't tend to let emails pile up without being sorted into folders or getting followup flags. I have an inability to let my spam folder grow to a size above 100 without emptying it. It's a sickness. In one of my more stellar moments, I started compiling a list of amusing Spam subjects. Don't judge me. To start my series of Lost in Translation, a collection of actual Spam subject lines, witness:

You can be a real macho anytime and anywhere.
f/4.0, 1/125s, ISO 100, 105mm

Lesson 5: Blend in like a local

2009-05-01T10:02:00.000-07:00

This week we're going to look at ways you can come off as a tourist in London.

Lesson 5: Awkwardly "Mind the Gap" by falling into your fellow passengers.

f/5.6, 1/2s, ISO 200, 24mm