East of Enid Avenue...

More Photographies...

Here are some photographies I've been photographizing of late:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And that's all for now.  But it's been a fun month of shooting with all of the beautiful blossoms bursting forth in Edmonton! 

 

Si Bheag Si Mhor...

 I've been listening to a beautiful song a lot recently that I've been in love with since the summer of 1998.  Long time, I know. But when I fall in love with something, that's it for me - it's love.  I originally heard it played by Slainte Mhath, a brilliant little Celtic group out of Nova Scotia, and this is actually their version of it, although I've found numerous versions of it on the world wide interweb.

The words Si Bheag Si Mhor are Irish Gaelic and they mean (in literal terms) "little hill (si bheag) and big hill (si mhor)" and was written by Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738).  From the bit of research I've done on the song, it comes from an old folktale where the traveler falls asleep on a little mound or hill and wakes up in a vast otherworld - the idea of which I adore.  I adore it so much that I used it as my wedding march for the entire party.  My husband and his mom, his sister and his dad, my brother with my mom, my bridesmaids and then me and my dad.  I think it's such a lovely song.  I had to share.  It makes my day.  

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

 

Si Bheag Si Mhor   (click on zee underlined link in green)

 

 

 

Story People...

I have this little site I go to for inspiration or sometimes just when I need a new thought to think on of instead of the tired and slightly berserk (read certifiable) ones that often go bouncing around in my noggin. It's got some grand little snippets of brilliance and rumination.  I quite love it and even though there doesn't appear to be much action coming from it a'tall, I still often go and check in on the story of the day.  I just wanted to share some of my favourites story pieces put forth by Brian Andreas, one of the creative minds behind Story People. I love the whole idea behind this site and hope you enjoy it as well.

 

 

{source for picture}

“We lay there and looked up at the night sky and she told me about stars called blue squares and red swirls and I told her I'd never heard of them. Of course not, she said, the really important stuff they never tell you. You have to imagine it on your own.” 

Brian Andreas

 

“Don't you hear it? She asked & I shook my head no & then she started to dance & suddenly there was music everywhere & it went on for a very long time & when I finally found words all I could say was thank you. ” 

 Brian Andreas, Story People: Selected Stories & Drawings of Brian Andreas

 

“I've always liked the time before dawn because there's no one around to remind me who I'm supposed to be so it's easier to remember who I am.” 

Brian Andreas, Trusting Soul : Collected Stories & Drawings

 

"I carry you with me into the world,
into the smell of rain
& the words that dance between people
& for me, it will always be this way,
walking in the light,
remembering being alive together” 

Brian Andreas

 

“She left pieces of her life behind her everywhere she went. It's easier to feel the sunlight without them, she said.” 

Brian Andreas, Story People: Selected Stories & Drawings of Brian Andreas

 

Let's Do 52...

Here are the two latest photographs submitted to the Let's Do 52 photo challenge. The third one shown in this post was one that I had thought about submitting but didn't in the end.

 

Week 15: The theme for this week's photo was Minimal with the alternate theme being Celebrate.  The weather in Alberta has been cold and dismal with only a few days here and there of beautiful sunshine.  Because I wasn't feeling much like Celebrating the weather, I chose the other theme of Minimal and this was what I came up with.

 

 

 

Week 16: This past week's theme was Reflections and the alternate theme was Hidden Treasures.  So this week in Alberta, we finally got that sunshine I've been waiting for! There were two - count 'em - two gloriously sunshiney and warm days! So I set out with my camera to find either Reflections or Hidden Treasures.  I'd say I found both but went on to title this one "Reflections of Spring".  

 

 

 

The one below was another one I had thought of to submit for Reflections, for more obvious reasons, but I really enjoy it so decided to keep it just for myself for recollecting purposes.

 

“Reflection must be reserved for solitary hours; whenever she was alone, she gave way to it as the greatest relief; and not a day went by without a solitary walk, in which she might indulge in all the delight of recollections.”

~Jane Austen

 

 

More ModCloth...

Found more stuff to love from the Mod Cloth site.  Had to share! 

 

 

Shine and Dandy dress {source}

 

Candy Sprinkling Umbrella - love {source}

 

Truly Gritty and Gorgeous bag {source}

 

Truth or Darling Top {source}

 

 

Dress and Go Pant {source}

 

 

Ready to Road Trip Sandal {source}

T'was Fun...

My dear friend Jill, whom I've posted on before for her amazeballs photography skills, amongst her many other talents, asked another friend and I to join her in a photoshoot. During which time she would do our hair and make-up.  Well hello yes! I love having my make-up and my hair done! It really was too much fun! Jill is amazing.  She is so very talented and I really was so thrilled that she asked me to be a part of such a grand afternoon and that she thought I might make a good candidate for a photo or two.  Here are a few of the pictures she produced from the afternoon of photo-taking.  I haven't asked my other friend who was also in the shoot if I could post pictures of both of us, so I'll just post these ones for now and when I talk to her next, I'll see if she minds a few of her and I posted here.

Jilly! Thank you so very much for the splendidly fun day! You make the people around you feel beautiful and special and I thoroughly thank you for making me feel this as well! 

 

 

 

 

Marianne Williamson...

Read the next few lines. Take them in and make them your own. Never apologzie for being passionate about something and go for it, whatever it may be, with all that is in you.  So many of the beautiful people that surround me in my life, both family and especially, friends, have done this for me.  They have liberated me with their passion and presence of confidence and delight and, in some cases, their fearlessness.  It's a good feeling! Let yourself be fed by the passions and pursuits of others, I promise you it will ignite something within you that can burn brightly if nurtured and attended to.  Be bold! Be you! You are beautiful! 

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. A return to love ~ Marianne Williamson

 

Latest Photographies...

I've been able to get out more because Mother Nature has been cooperating beautifully here in Alberta.  Hurrah! I've taken a few photos here and there, especially playing around with macro, and wanted to post some of them.  Also! I've purchased a new-to-me bicycle and I'm super excited to introduce her but that will have to wait as she will be having some work done.  However, she has been aiding me in getting around to happily snap some of these photographies.  

 

Reflections off a little pond behind our house

 

Old wooden fence along the ravine

 

A mother goose that has made the pond by our house her home

 

Pretty fuzzy little tree leaf bud in our back yard

 

Pretty spring pussy willows against the blue sky

 

The Greatest Thing...

What would they have done if they had known.  Would they have stayed a little longer in their children's rooms, by their children's beds to say goodnight, lingering as they tuck them in tight and say their I love yous.  Would they have eaten something different for that evening's family dinner? Would they have gone outside and breathed in the fresh springtime air, listened even harder to the geese and robins bidding their best to the ever-expanding evening sky and said a secret "we love you" to friends and family settling in for the night, near and far? Would they have held each other a little tighter and closer, falling asleep in each others arms as they drifted into their last sleep. I often wonder, what would they have done if they had known it would be their last night on earth. 

The morning came and it was chaos and black.  It was sudden and there was no returning, there was no going back.  It was surreal and beyond that, so painfully real.  Instantly, though, love was their only sense of  reason.  "Get the children out. Get them out."  Ushering their little beloveds out the door, and then out the window, partners forever to the end, they returned only for each other.  Only she would be retrieved from the billowing blackness rolling out towards the April morning sky in thick, sickening sheets.  

He could go. She was out, they had her.  He had known his love and they were ok.  His heart, his love.  He can go now. 

A young boy of eleven, ushered out and then in so quickly, so helplessly, now watches out his grandmother's window.  How can he stop this.  What should he be doing. Dad would know what to do. Looking over at the tiny little six year old not far from him, her blond hair not yet combed to begin her day, he wondered if she knew what he knew. That nothing will ever be the same again.  He stood up and walked over to her. Putting his hand on her head, smoothing down his little sister's tussled hair, his young mind could not help but wander to his home next door, his life, right now so violently being taken from him.  His sister must not feel his fears nor his confusion...nor his sorrow.  He was the big brother after all, nearly twelve you know.  Mum was always so proud of how great a big brother he was to his siblings and told him so often.  He must be brave.  This was his reasoning.

Panic, panic. She is here. How, in so short a time, could she be hurt that badly.  There was no quickly arriving ambulance and no doctor there to tell them what to do.  What not to do.  They must wait and nurse her where they can and as they can.  The young boy is watching her intently and will not take his eyes off of her even when they tell him to come away.  She sees him and tells him it will be ok, as she had done a thousand times before at a scraped knee or a cut finger.  Always a mother. Mum tells him it will be ok.  He nods. He watches, heart pounding, eyes wide, as they remove her wedding ring from her delicate and now so fragile finger and lay it down on the wooden side table meant for tea and not for misery.  The bands are still so hot from the madness, burning a circle on the surface of the light pine table top. That will always stay with him.  She is trying to be brave like him, for him, her sweet boy.  He must not feel her fears nor her confusion...nor her sorrow.  

Come away they say, come away.  They could not have known.

He moves, unwillingly and unwantingly, towards the window again, the blackness has intensified.  He cannot understand. His young and frantic mind tries to conceive of it. What could he have ever done that this is happening to his world.  Had he done something wrong.  Had he not been good.  Had he not told them he loved them enough.  Had he not told them he loved them? He ran back, back to where he knew he had be and told her he loved her.  He told her again.  And again. 

Come away, they said.  He had told her. His life was, at this moment, torn between two worlds.  The world, right now, inside his grandmother's house, with pain and agony, sadness and confusion.  The world where she was.  The world he was certain of. He could see it, every angle, he knew it was real. Outside, outside of all of that, was the world he did not know of.  There was no certainty in this world. Not for lack of belief, but for lack of knowing.  He was not allowed outside.  There was too much chaos, too many unknowns.  Maybe my Dad is out there, helping to save their home, their life, he thought.  Maybe Dad is one of the many voices he is hearing frenzied outside his grandmother's window.  Maybe.  But how could he know.  He would keep watching, keep waiting, to see anything that might bring certainty into that world as well.  His innocent blue eyes peering, pondering.  Pleading.  Please answer. Please answer.

Staying vigilant in his post, he watches.  As he watches, through the window and the smoke, he feels strong arms surrounding him.  His heart jumps into his throat in a hopeful moment of relief.  But then. These aren't my Dad's hands.  These aren't my Dad's arms.  The fleeting relief leaves him and his heart sinks back into his body. But he is grateful for the comfort.  Forcing himself to look up and into the eyes of his family's minister, newly arrived to his grandmother's house, he questions with his face only. With his eyes.  The Reverend cannot grant him the happy release he is looking for and tears begin streaming down the old man's face, intimately offering the boy the answer he was needing but not wanting. The young boy returns his gaze to the window, to the chaos, and his worlds are now both known to him.  One is here and one isn't. And for all the bravery he wishes to muster, it can only come forth through his tears.  They cry together, looking out together.  He knows.  "Dad, I love you."

It got late in the day, and she could not stay.  It was as it was.  She could not stay.  Even for broken hearts and riddled body and the sorrow of missing them so terribly, she could not stay.  He had told her he loved her.  He had known their love for him all the days of his life. That would be his own when nothing and no one else could comfort.  That would be what he could feel when he didn't want to feel anything.  Their love everyday, since the beginning of his life and even before, their love would be his, forever.  Beyond good-bye.

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return."

There is no greater love than a man who would give up his life for one that he loves.  Of this, I am certain. Members of my family have lived it.  My father lived it.  I'll never be fully able to comprehend why such a senseless and devastating end had to belong to my grandparents and why my father and his sister and brother had to grow up without their parents who loved them so dearly as to, literally, give everything up to ensure that they were safe.  I can only attribute it to the fact that, in that moment at the end of their lives, they were able to realize the fullness of the love they had for their children and each other.  

I heard a story once about a woman who died and went to what she believes was Heaven and she spoke, she believes, with God.  He told her she had to go back, that it was not her time yet.  She told Him she didn't want to leave such a beautiful place where she felt so safe and so peaceful and so unbelievably loved. She asked Him why she had to leave? He then asked her if she had given the love she felt in that moment with Him to the people she knew back on Earth.  Had she loved so ferociously and fiercely that she couldn't imagine loving more on Earth? She answered no.  And so she returned to give love endlessly and exceedingly and with all that was in her to give.  

From that, I force myself, my heart that grieves for my father and for his family, to look at it as my grandparents got to have that precious moment, that moment where they loved so ferociously and fiercely and fearlessly that they gave up their lives for the ones they loved and for each other.  Yes, it still seems so senseless and it doesn't make it less painful to those that lived through it and who had to go on without them, but it does settle my heart to know they got to experience that incredible love and what a tremendous feeling that must have been, even in death.  Through the few stories I've heard about my grandparents, I know they were loved tremendously.  There isn't a story I've listened to about them where the ending wasn't "we loved them dearly".  And I know they knew my father's love and I know that he knew theirs. And through my father, we know it, my brother and I.

They lived their love everyday, every moment until their last breath. That is love. I truly believe what Nat King Cole sang about all those years ago that the greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.  

They lived and they loved and were loved and still are, so dearly.

 

In memory of Payson and Lanore - April 20th, 1961

 

 

Smart Move...

I have a fond love of photography.  I've only ever taken very basic courses online and one evening course for four weeks at a local community college for photography and am certainly not any kind of professional.  I'm not even certain I would qualify as amateur.  Moreso, I am just a huge lover of photography and all it entails.  I got my first entry-level camera, a Canon, in 2001 after an insurance claim for a flood that occured in the room of the apartment I was living in resulted in a very reasonable settlement.  The camera was something I had been spying and saving up for - for quite some time - prior to the flooding of my poor little corner room.  In fact, the whole blasted apartment flooded.  It was quite devastating, I recall, but initially came gushing forth out of the closet in my room.  Anyhow, moving on from flooding apartments, I was able to use some of that money to purchase my camera.  I've been snap happy ever since.  It's on my list to get to know the ins and outs of photography well and thoroughly but for now it's just a fun hobby that I continue to learn about a little day by day and that I entertain myself with as often as I can.  My only intention is to have fun and enjoy it! However, after speaking with a very talented and long time photographer friend, I was encouraged to "mark" anything that put online that might seem even remotely artistically stealable.  Even though in Canada "copyright is inherent when an original work is created"  I still decided I would register the name I want to use protect any and all photos that go online.  This won't necessarily protect that image from getting stolen but it will require the viewer to acknowledge that with my mark it is mine and that there would have to be an altering of the photo for it to appear to not be mine.  In other words, they would have to remove my registered name.  I intend, eventually, to vendor photos online and therefore figured that, even though it's currently just a hobby, I might still make a little bit of money from it via Etsy et al and so it won't hurt for it to be a registered name so as not to confuse the good people at our taxation agency at tax time.  But this is my plan and in executing my plan, I've registered the name for photography that I (and my partner in this venture) put online.  It just makes sense to me! I certainly don't attach the mark to my photos because I think I'm some fabulous photographer - this is definitely not the case, I am not and still have eons to learn and understand and execute. It's more for my own protection of the things that I do produce that seem lovely to me.  They may not be anything special or even all that good, but at least I'll know, as well as any onlookers, that they are mine.  I'm certainly not a photographer, and I don't think that simply because I photograph with an SLR that I can claim any kind of status, but I do love me some photography taking.  I only wish to be smart about it.

Take time to protect yourself and be aware of what your rights are for anything that you create and put online. It's important to be smart about what is yours and to protect it from others who may wish to make it seem as though it is theirs.  It's a big interweb world out there!