The Finished Hat

The Zumthor hat is finished.

Hats are hard to photograph with an iPhone.  Tricky coloured greeny-blues are tricky to photograph period.  So you ask a friend, a very talented friend, to take a shot so that you aren't making yet another weird bathroom mirror funny face snap.

This is the actual colour.  Yay for talented friends!

However....

...the trouble with having a talented friend take the photos is....

...it's going to be tricky to top these with my iPhone.

You can find my talented friend, Christy, here at Foxtail Studio.

The Family Whirlwind

It started about two and a half weeks ago and ended the other day.  First, a trip out here:

Ooohhh, view from the hotel.

California?

Nope.  Vancouver.  I may or may not know the woman posing with the giant sculptures that may or may not have freaked me out.

Attended a beautiful wedding with AMAZING food.  Local, organic, perfectly cooked, and ever-so-tasty... 

Wandered Van Dusen Gardens.

Bought a fused-glass necklace from a Glaswegian artist who tends bar in the hotel.

Had a lovely walk with my dad from from Stanley Park, along the sea wall in English Bay, back to where we were staying.  Random and beautiful art.  And a wee seal but I couldn't capture him properly in photographs...

Played with my favourite photo apps. 360 Panorama, Tilt-Shift Generator, Hipstamatic.  The fun of gizmos when you're stuck in a plane over a wing.

It was lovely to see family out west, and lovelier that we had family coming back to the middle right after.  We've had people here for a week and a half straight and in different combinations, including no-air-conditioning-at-their-house refugees and their dog.  Old family, new family, tiny family, furry family....  A wonderful buzz of energy and excitement and two-year-olds asking, "Where cat? He sleeping?"  A real heartbreaker, for sure.

But now, the wine bottles have been enjoyed. The din has subsided.  The shoes at the door have winnowed. The guest rooms are empty.  I'm enjoying the quiet and the catching up. And the cat is at the foot of the bed, sleeping.

Wednesday

Five minutes.

This is the start of the downpour last Wednesday.

This is five minutes later.

The rain here has the power to scrub away those pesky sidewalks.  :-)  SuperDeluge's sidekick Humid McHugsYouToDeath has been thwarting the hair rescuing efforts of straightening irons throughout western Canada.

I only mention it because it stormed again this weekend and we're "due" (ha!) for one tonight.  I predict a province-wide "Hat Day" tomorrow....

Cynical Rainbow, Happy Student

Before you think I have lost my sense of sarcasm and gone even warm-fuzzier than ever, I should point out the tiny blue sign just to the left of the proverbial pot of gold.

It's a Wal-Mart.

Even Mother Nature can crack a joke. And the fainter, second rainbow lands gracefully on the university campus. Being that I will be a student there again shortly, spending all my pennies on tuition and books, I find that very funny indeed. My letter of acceptance has arrived this week and it is official... I'm in!!

And they've already asked for money.  :-)

Goosed

Lately, when I'm driving along the river, particularly on my way home from work, I see the gangs gathering.

They threaten and mark their territory. People go out of their way to avoid walking too close.

I wonder when we lost our parks.

To tell the truth, it reminds me of that Monty Python sketch where the roving gangs of grannies took over the neighbourhood, frightening all the youth and wreaking havoc.

The other night, on my way to a meeting, I was stopped behind three cars at at apparently clear underpass. Wondering what the hold-up was, I started looking around and caught sight of a bad-ass goose strutting across the street to get to his buddies on the other side. No playing chicken. He was full of intent.

No one's messing with an intentional goose.

Atmospheric Phenomena

Sundogs.
Pretty incredible to see one. Even more incredible when they go all the way around.

Pretty darn tricky to photograph with an automatic. Never stops me from trying though... :-)

Vegreville, Alberta. April 30th, 2010. Approximately 5pm.

Sunsets and timelines

Remember when you were wee and getting to the next day, the next month, the next vacation was the goal? Not being able to wait until you were grown-up, older, could do what you wanted?

Remember the several moments today where you lamented that the days are going to quickly and there is just not enough time in a single one to do all the things you have to do, let alone the ones you want to do?

Let's all sigh together, shall we?

[Sigh.]

I took this photo on Sunday, driving back from Regina (if you're not Canadian, I should tell you it's not pronounced rih-JEAN-ah. That's most definitely rij-EYE-nah. Yep.) I had an audition for a commercial. It's been a while since I auditioned for anything and it was a nice change of pace. (Competition was very talented so it was mostly for the drive..) It had been awhile since I'd been able to really enjoy a sunset and driving along one was a beautiful respite. I mused over how quickly time passes..I meant to post the sunset on the ol' weblog when I got home.

And then came the distractions. Family, phone calls, the Globes (which I barely paid attention to) and many wonderful little interruptions. And before I knew it, it was Wednesday and I had been absent from my mental respite (the ol' weblog) for a week.

I look forward to the arrival of visionaries that invent the 14-day week and teleportation devices so we can all help the Haitians and bring them to a warm, safe place to sleep and a hot meal. In a strange way, I once again wish time would speed up so that it can slow right down.

[Sigh.]

*****************

If you're in town, Friday at 9:30pm, the Saskatoon Soaps have their regular Improv Comedy show with the added bonus of all profits going to the Red Cross for Haiti. Laughs and love in the same place.

Pictures Taken in Doorways

The Romans had a thing about doorways.

Seems if you tripped in a doorway, it was terribly bad luck. This very notion is one of many theories about why brides are carried over a threshold. Can't have the little woman ruining your marriage before it starts, now can you? No one said the Romans weren't a little sexist... (My second favourite theory was read to me from Plutarch by Millie Pontipee during the winter I was kidnapped with 5 other girls and trapped in the mountains, not unlike the Sabine women about whom Millie was reading....) Double girl-points if you caught that reference.

Janus was the god of doorways. Naturally, January was a good month to name after him. He looked in both directions, forward and back, much like we all do this time of year. It's a threshold, a bridge, a period of transition. He was the god of gateways, standing guardian to the gates of War, seldom closed during Roman days and seldom closed in our own, it seems. Once again, I will try to focus on positives for the last year and embrace even the smallest victories headed into the new.

Like coaxing visiting Nephew Cat out of the basement. Sort of.

Like a good hair day.

Like getting to make magnetic poetry at work today. Seriously, it was so much fun...

So, I'm making like Janus: keeping an eye on the past to inform my step but focussing on the future and moving ahead.

A doorway is no place to stand still.

I call this one "Blue Steel".

Too cold to be clever with a title. :-)

That's a glance at the weather here for you. I snapped it on Tuesday just before sunset. As much as the cold can be bitter, there is something sublime about frost that lingers thickly whether the sun shines or no'.

I love the cold and frost and simple beauty of winter so I'm not really lamenting about it. I'd much rather have -30 than +30. Thirty above makes me cranky. Thirty below makes me crafty. (If the temperatures seem weird, you are suffering from Fahrenheit syndrome - think in Celsius...)

Despite the chill, we had a very large crowd for our Soaps Christmas improv show last night. Thank you to anyone who braved the weather and the humour.

Happy Hanukkah, if you celebrate it! Happy Saturday, if you don't.

I have finished a few projects this week and regretfully cannot share them. Gifts are gifts and should remain surprises. Sister only pops by every few weeks, but with my luck, if I showed off what I've made her for Christmas, she'll read it today. :-)

Thank you to AmberLee of Giver's Log for mentioning me and the shop yesterday and for the lovely compliments! You have no idea how much simple joy your blog brings to me. A giver's list of ideas is a gift in itself! (Trouble is, you find all this cool stuff that I want for me... :-) Everyone else - go check it out.

Well, after a week of getting up in the dark at a quarter after "why the hell am I awake" and then coming home in the dark, I was looking forward to a good, solid, teen-style sleep-in until the sun was shining gloriously but my eyes popped open at 8am. So I'll try to be useful and productive instead.

It's a good way to keep warm.

I Believe...

...that Sundogs are an incredibly beautiful indicator of how very cold it is even if they are incredibly difficult to photograph well...

...that the person who invented the KitchenAid stand mixer deserves the same high praise in my book as James Dyson...

...that family is one of the truly important things in life if you are lucky enough to have one or a group of people that you consider family...

...that perfectly smooth frosting should be reserved for weddings and business functions...

...that a cake baked for someone you love is twice as sweet and has half the calories...

...that Feliz Cumpleanos is way more festive than saying Happy Birthday...

...and that she who baked it has the right of first refusal on licking the spatula.

Shine a little light....

I build a lightbox last weekend. Part of it came from a genuine need for a proper photographic space and part of it came from a true desire to watch light bouncing around. The light around here has been overly October-y. Being of the almost transparent variety of skin tones, I am somewhat fond of overcast and cloudier skies. However, the skies have achieved a truly Dickensian level of "bleak". (Not great for photos but fabulously evocative in a vocabulary sense - when was the last time you pulled out the word "Dickensian"? Do it. Do it today. It's delicious.)

I have high hopes that the lightbox will help improve my photography (of objects smaller than 14inches). I have a willingness to experiment as soon as I can locate enough lamps! The interesting thing is how the artificially generated light reflects most often the truer colours of things in photographs than in those taken under natural light. Some colours have been trickier to nail down....

Purple is one of the most deceptive hue-beasts to photograph. Purple is the colour equivalent of a photoshopped celebrity when they would've looked better untouched. Purple usually defies natural light as well. Purple needs to be seen in person.

The lightbox helps the item to look it's best. Ironically, the box itself is not particularly attractive. It is, though, collapsible. So while I can revel in the resulting pictures, I do not need to suffer the ugly lightbox's company. Strangely enough, it spends most of its time in the dark. And I find that amusing, if not illuminating. :-) (Sorry.)

Lightbox was build by using an amalgam of tutorials: Cardboard box and Foamcore.

A Date with my Camera

Silver birch - how grasslands become forests.....

Step One: Dress in layers.

Step Two: Stuff a few things - sketch pad, water bottle, wallet, and camera - into tiny little day pack. Look outside and realize that you've picked the windiest day of the year and grab iPod to give your ears a little protection from the blowing wind and to see how nature looks with a soundtrack.

Step Three: Leave a note.

Mine reads: I have gone to Beaver Creek for the afternoon. If I am not back by the time you read this, I've likely been kidnapped by badgers as retaliation for that thing that time. Send help! Love, C

Step Four: Snap with impunity.

I hadn't been out to Beaver Creek in a long time. But when the leaves start turning colours, I get this sense of wanderlust that drives me out amongst the trees.

(Last October, I was able to take a relaxed stroll down by the river at Fort Edmonton Park - it was very orange - and beautiful. And I don't have a single shot because I didn't back them up and my hard drive suffered a massive failure from which nothing was retrievable.)

So I went walking, weaving around groups of school children, taking photos when I wasn't being blown over and some even when I was. It's always refreshing to just breathe...

I am not much of a wildlife photographer. I photograph wildlife much like I garden - terribly. It's sad. I managed to frighten almost everything before I got a good shot or was so far away, by the time you zoom in, it's pixel-ated beyond all hope of recognition.

I did manage to say hi to the chickadee...

Catch a chipmunk before he dashed off....

And see what I thought was a stick in the path before it moved and I had the presence of mind to reach for the camera before the full body panic set in over a harmless little thing?

SEE????Probably not - but it's in there..... Did I mention that I'm lousy at wildlife photography? It is just a garter snake. Less than two feet long. But one of the things I adore about autumn is that reptiles like snakes are supposed to be hibernating. Sleeping. Dreaming of fields full of mice and affected British accents for when they are cast in the latest Disney cartoon. Anything but creeping me out. (Yeah, yeah - get over it City Girl. )

I did spot one particular tree....

Alone and defiant. Standing tall against the prairie, laughing into the wind. And not likely jumpy around harmless garter snakes...

It never ceases to amaze me how the prairie can go from thick brush and forest to plains in less time than it takes to aim a camera.

Anyone who says there is nothing on the prairies, or that they're a boring flatland, just isn't looking hard enough.

And anyone who thinks I'm afraid of snakes just hasn't seen me around spiders. :-) I'm not afraid - I respect. And respect requires a healthy distance.

PS. The quilt has been basted. However, its state of un-finish does not prevent its usefulness. To some, anyway.....