Watery Wednesday

I love taking photos of water fountains and waterfalls and playing with the shutter speed on my camera to catch the water falling or to make the flow smooth and shiny. Here are a few pictures of small fountains and falls for you!!

The waterdrops are suspended in the air here.

Fountains and falls!!

I love the reflections in the pool at the base of the small waterfalls.

Flowing smoothly here. If I slow the shutter speed even more the water becomes  shiny and silky and smooth.

For more photos of Watery Wednesday, please go and visit http://waterywednesday.blogspot.com/

Macro Monday

One of the plants that I really like are Cactus. There is such a wide and interesting variety of cactus around and I like that they are low maintanance  or in other words don't need too much water!!

I don't have much of  a green thumb so I need plants that are hardy. Even these plants can succomb to my best intentions. Just my luck.

I love the gradual colour changes on thier petals. Almost rainbow like.

To see other photos of Macro Monday, please go and visit http://lisaschaos.com/

The Weekend in Black and White

This Spider's Web is tattered and torn,

It could use some repair but it still is enough to house the Spider in. It reminds me of my house a bit, which could use a coat of paint with some repairs here and there. It needs some renovations, just like the web but its still comfortable and its very much home sweet home!!

To see other photos of The Weekend in Black and White, please go and visit http://blackandwhiteweekend.blogspot.com/

Friday's Fave Five

Its been some time since being able to post here. I have been quite busy this summer and today have a bit of respite being at home catching up on all those mundane chores that have to be done. So here are this week's Fave Five for you!!
1) My long time friend Jane was here this week visiting from her home in Las Vegas. We have been friends for over 30 years and it does not matter how much time passes between our visits, we are able to pick up where we left off and it seems like no time ever passes for us. I really enjoyed her visit this week, and I miss her already!!
2) My hubby who made sure we could get to all the things we wanted to see and to visit while Jane was here. He was our driver the whole visit.
3) A week off work so that I would have all the time needed to enjoy Jane's visit. It has been hard to get even a day off work this summer with lack of staff, and everyone working.
4) Cooler weather! We have had a very dry hot summer and as a result our province has a lot of forest fires burning. The bit of respite of cool weather has really helped all the fire fighters do the work they are doing. The bit of rain has not helped much, we do need some more.
5) Outdoor concerts: We are going tonight to the last of the free outdoor concerts held throughout the summer. There has been excellent musicians playing, and wonderful concerts to be enjoyed!!

To read more entries to Friday's Fave Five, please go and visit http://susannesspace.blogspot.com/

Skywatch Friday

We have had such a dry summer with hardly any rain to speak of since June. Our province has over 300 forest fires burning as a result and at times the smoke is carried from its place of origin and down with the winds to the coast where I live. The air quality can be bad but the smoke particles in the air can make for some awesome sunsets.

This is taken at White Rock, B.C.

Taken later in the evening.

To see other photos of Skywatch Friday, please go and visit http://skyley.blogspot.com/

Watery Wednesday

For the past few days my friend Jane has been visiting from Las Vegas. We have been trying to squeeze in as much in the few days we have as we can. We had to take her to the ocean of course so my water pictures today are from our travels!

It was a beautiful and sunny day, a great day to be on the water. This is in Steveston Marina where we went to have Fish and Chips right down on a floating dock at the Marina. Lots of boats out and about.

We went right down on the docks to walk around. Took quite a few pictures of the boats moored at the docks.

One of the docks we wandered along.

After we left Steveston, we went to Crescent Beach to watch the sunset over the ocean. There have been many forest fires in B.C. so the air has lots of smoke particles in it and the sunsets have been very colourful as a result.

To see other photos of Watery Wednesday, please go and visit http://waterywednesday.blogspot.com/

Today's Flowers

I think these flowers were taken at Minter Gardens in Chilliwack. A while ago I just pooled all my flowers pictures into one big file, and now I am not sure where they were taken. I need a better archive system!!

I have been working on making the backgrounds interesting while making the flowers pop.

And playing with the picture composition.

Getting in close and breaking those rules of composition by placing the area of interest smack in the center.

And making the photos square rather than rectangular. I think it works!!

For more photos of Today's Flowers, please visit http://flowersfromtoday.blogspot.com/

Skywatch Friday

The sky looks extra cool when you put Midway rides from the Fair in the picture as well!!

This was taken from the Bleachers where we sat and watched the Rodeo. The midway was to the right of us. The sky was kind of hazy and it was a warm day.

A little later in the early evening when we were leaving, we took these closer up pictures, the sky behind is still a bit hazy but blue sky.

And a full view for you!!

For more photos of Skywatch Friday, please visit http://skyley.blogspot.com/

Watery Wednesday

Here are a few pictures for you from Vancouver. We spent the day there on Saturday with my neice and her boyfriend.

The air fairly shimmered with the heat of the day. The Temperature was about 32 degrees Celcius. It would of been a bit cooler here on the water in this Paddle Boat.

Down on the waterfront of Granville Island, a cool place to be in a Kayak.

The shore line across the water from Granville Island. These small water taxis take people back and forth from Granville Island and to places like North Vancouver.

For more photos of Watery Wednesday, please visit http://waterywednesday.blogspot.com/

Macro Monday

My niece and her boyfriend have been vistiting for the past couple of days from Edmonton. One of the places we went to visit was Fort Langley and saw a candy shop. We bought some candy as well, but took a few pictures.

I just wish there was some way of not putting the price tags right in the front!!

Dolly used to be my Dad's nickname for me, had to take a picture of these!

Always loved the little toy in the bottom of the CrackerJacks box!

I did not like this popcorn as much as I liked Cracker Jack popcorn. Do you remember this kind??

Remember these little gold nuggets of gum?? We used to use the bags afterwards to keep treasures in!!

Huge jawbreakers!! See how big compared to the price sticker. You'd crack your jaw if you ever tryed to eat that, or get it stuck inside your mouth!

And finally, no Macro Monday post would be complete without a bug!!!

To see other photos of Macro Monday, please visit http://lisaschaos.com/

Skywatch Friday

Every year on the second weekend of August we have the Abbotsford International Airshow. The show starts tomorrow but the planes have been flying and practising for the past few days. I raced home today to grab my camera and get to an open spot by the airport, but by the time I got there, the Snowbirds were gone and a few jets were left flying. So here is a few pictures of them practising for the big show!!

A couple of jets. You can see that our skies are mostly blue with scattered clouds here and about.

The jet in the back eventually passed the front jet.

Trying to follow these jets with my camera as they flew past me sometimes put them in between me and the sun. Silhouette time!

Looks like its flying right into Whipped cream!

And a straight up vertical ascent.

For more photos of Skywatch Friday, please go and visit http://skyley.blogspot.com/

Watery Wednesday

Today's Watery Wednesday shots are all about an unlikely love story. A love story between a man and his boat and the same man and a woman.

The huge boat in the background with the black hull belongs to a man named Ron. He is married to a woman named Lynne, who happens to be the Registered Nurse at my grouphome. Ron is 80 years old and battling his fourth bout of cancer. You would never know he was 80 years old as he is quite active especially for someone with cancer, going through chemo and has a heart condition.

This boat is about 105 or more feet long. It is an old wreck of a long ago fishing boat and he is rebuilding the boat to make it into a yacht. Looks fairly decent from the outside but inside the boat it is a mess. It is all torn apart, rusted out, old tools and implements of repair are everywhere. Looking at the boat one would never think it will ever be a glorious yacht in the future.

Enter Lynne, his wife. She does not have to work, neither of them do. She comes to work every day and sinks her paychecks into this old rusty hulk of a boat. Ron gets up every morning no matter how he is feeling and makes his way down to the marina and putters around on the rusty hulk.

Despite the cancer and the heart condition, this boat is his passion and as it slowly gets repaired and refurbished so does he. His cancer may not go away and there are days when I am sure he would rather not get up, but this boat calls. If it can stay afloat, well then so can he.

And Lynne, my nurse understands that Ron has to have this boat, even if it never sees the open sea with Ron at the helm, she knows that as long as its rusting hulk is parked in the marina her hubby will live to see another day. And so she goes to work and makes the money to ensure he can.

And that is the love story.

Here are a few more boats that are parked in the marina. The rent they collect from the marina also gets sunk into the rusty hulk.

The hulk on the left!!

The Boat called the Marwood is thier son's boat. His son is renovating this boat.

All these pictures were taken on the Queensborough Marina which they own. Thier house is down the road overlooking this waterway. What a beautiful place to live and see the day.

For more photos of Watery Wednesday, please go and visit http://waterywednesday.blogspot.com/

The Things You Find

If you check out my last post here for Macro Monday, you will see pictures of some of the finds I found in the Antique store my hubby and I visited this past weekend. I have so many memories of my past just seeing some of the stuff in these stores. I would never buy them for my house but they do evoke memories of moments past. You can't buy those moments back, they are meant to be in our past and they do form a part of our foundation today in our everyday lives. They influence how we decorate our homes, how we dress, how we cook and what we cook with, how we interact with people, they influence it all. We are made up of everything and everyone who came before us.
So when I turned a corner in the Antique Store and looked to my left and saw this next picture, I stood there I am sure with my mouth open and my eyes wide.

How the heck did my Aunty Lill's living room get into this store?? This Sectional was just like the one in her living room, complete with the coffee table and with those ugly standup ashtrays at each end of the couch. See the center of the couch, the little cupboard in the center? She kept her TV Guide in there. And on the end of each couch where the built in coffee table is, was where she put her teacup and her latest Harlequin romance book. The ugly olive green velour upholstery and the patterned cushions. I felt like I was having a de'ja vu moment. It hurtled me back 30 plus years to her house on Crease Ave. And if I had tea there, it was in those green mugs that were all the rage then. I almost expected my Aunt Lill to come around the corner from the kitchen and give me heck for waiting so long to visit her.

Have you ever had a de'ja vu moment in your life that took you right back to a simpler familiar time??

Macro Monday

One of the things I like about exploring old Antique Stores is that I always see something that brings back a memory or two. I really think they do not make things like they used to, stuff that will stand the test of time and last so long over the years. I wonder if you will see any of my stuff on the dusty shelves of some mildewy crowded old Antique store in the decades to come. Anyways, here are a few familiar pictures from our trip through an Antique store yesterday.

I don't remember this camera specifically, but i did pose in front of a few cameras of my parents once or twice!!

The neighbourhood corner grocery store had one of these on the counter. It was one of those Mom and Pop stores, with all the penny candy just to the left of the entry door. That held more appeal to our young selves than the cash register ever did.

We used to have these disks that were inserted into a viewing device, can't remember the name of it right now.

Old beaded lightshades.

And something that just intrigued me, a Gin dispenser. Fill it full of gin and use the dispenser to pour your gin into your cup.

It's always a walk through memory lane to go to an Antique store. I see things there from long ago that remind me now of family and friends long gone.

For more photos of Macro Monday, please go and visit http://lisaschaos.com/