Quick Dip!

After all that pool talk yesterday, guess who ended up having the longest swim of all this weekend? Moi. and I wasn't ANY too happy about it!

Yesterday I'd patched a small leak on the side of the pool so I went out to investigate it today & see if it had held. It seemed to be doing fine, but there was an awful lot of water on the ground around one side of the pool. Upon closer inspection, I noticed there was some water flowing out from the bottom. Murray came out and confirmed it AND found a 2nd one.

There was $200 worth of water at stake here and it was up to me to save it! Murray can barely tolerate the ocean in the middle of summer so I knew he couldn't go in. Surely it would be cold but I'd be in and out quickly so how bad could it be????????? Oh. My. Word. I have never experienced cold like that in my life. It was practically heart stopping cold!

I stepped off the ladder & the water was almost to my waist. It was freezing and my legs numbed quickly. Murray got the patch ready for me while I scrubbed the spot with a rag held in my toes. I wasn't going under any sooner than I had to. I dreaded it but putting it off really wasn't helping my situation and I sure as heck wasn't going to go back in and try again later. It just had to be done. I took a deep breath, grabbed the patch and plunged under the surface and promptly lost my mind. The intense and shocking suddenness sent my brain into a tailspin. Instead of sinking to the bottom and letting my air out slowly, I blew it all out in one shot and jacknifed to the surface without even thinking about it. It was pure instinct and every fibre of my being wanted me out of that water. I tried to calm myself and went back under. The same intense and instant panic fought my efforts to get to the bottom and I couldn't hold my breath nearly as long as usual. Apparently fighting off hypothermia takes a lot of oxygen! After a 3rd try, I got the patch in place but wasn't able to stay down long enough to smooth out the wrinkles and any air bubbles that may have been there. The bad news is that I was only half way done!! I still had one more patch to do. I was getting better at overriding the panic mode though and the 2nd patch went a little more smoothly if not pleasantly!

I got out of that pool PDQ, and hit the shower and felt much better! and do you know what I found out tonight???? Murray tells me he was completely prepared to let all the water leak out & just get more later. Ummmm yeah, you should have mentioned that before I almost died of shock or just kept that to yourself for a few years!

Smashing Good Time!

I recently went on a photography getaway weekend! I've kept in touch with many of the photographers I met last year at our retreat in Seattle and this year we met in Toronto. Murray's parents gave me the plane ticket for my birthday (yay Aeroplan points!!!) and Murray gave me the time off & some spending money!!!

It was very different from last year and I was much more comfortable going in. A few of us were repeats from last year and I was involved in the planning of this one so I got to know a couple more during many online Skype meetings/chats. We had 4 shoots planned, lots of free models lined up and a makeup artist came in to make them all look good (although I'm not sure any really needed her help for that!)

I arrived on Thursday night & Krista picked me up at the airport & we were checked in to the hotel in no time. Last year I had to leave in the am & arrive at 11pm Seattle time and ended up waiting in a cold, dark, scary parking lot for 45 minutes! So this year, the trip was already much better for travel plans at least! We were starving and headed out for a bite to eat where I amused the locals by asking to use a payphone of all things! In my defense, there was a real phonebooth right behind us! How was I to know it was purely decorative & empty??? One of the cool kids let me use her iPhone to call home & report my safe arrival after the waiter asked incredulously "don't you guys have CELL PHONES?????"

On Friday morning the makeup artist arrived and started getting the models ready. We had 3 girls that she did hair and makeup for and it took several hours. Eventually we headed for the location and were excited to get started. I started off with one lens, then decided to switch to a longer one. After a few shots with that, I took it off & put it back in my bag. Then I grabbed my best lens, my favourite lens, and yes, of course, my most expensive lens. Unfortunately, I was really only holding on to the lens hood which promptly detached in midlift and I watched in stunned silence as the actual lens did a freefall onto the pavement and made a distinctive smash as the glass filter shattered. I heard a sharp gasp (possibly my own!) and everyone and everything stopped. A still silence was ringing in my ears as each photographer, model & even the makeup artist watched in horror and dread as I picked up the lens and glass shards off the asphalt. My stomach felt like it had just about fallen out and if a single person had come over and fussed I would have lost it. Everyone felt absolutely awful and powerless to fix it. I didn't dare look too closely for fear of freaking out. I picked all the loose glass off and shoved the lens back in my bag and loaded on a different one with hands that were barely steady! I reminded myself over and over that it was JUST a thing and nothing to throw up over! The others wanted to know if it was broken but I couldn't bear to test it out right then with everyone watching so I just moved on & started shooting until everyone joined in.

Once everyone was relaxed again, I took a moment and gave it a go but it was useless. The only visible damage was a small dent & the broken filter that I had on the end which absorbed the impact and the actual glass of the lens itself was spared. However, the focus rings were not doing squat as I tried to point at a subject. Well that answered that! It was definitely messed up! The worst part was that this happened within the first 5 minutes of the first shoot of the weekend I'd waited over a year for!!! The only other lenses I had with me weren't as good and I was so disappointed not to have something good to shoot with. It took a few minutes to shake that off, let me tell ya! I decided not to think about it and just shoot what I could and enjoy the time there but it took awhile for my stomach to get the message and settle down. :)))

The graffiti alley was a really cool location, tonnes of colourful artwork and when we got tired of a doorway, we just moved a few feet down and voila, brand new backdrop! The models we had were total pro's! They needed next to no direction at all & just fell into their poses on their own most of the time. This was great for me because I'm never sure how to pose people. Watching them work it gave me lots of ideas to use in future shoots. Why reinvent the wheel??? They already know what works!

We spent a couple of hours at the alley & were all hot & tired and ready for a relaxing meal so we packed it in and headed back to the hotel.

And that's just the beginning!!!! It was a fabulously fun weekend full of laughs and lots and lots of shooting. For 3 days I was just a photographer with nothing else to do but take pictures and talk shop with other camera die hards. It was a blast & I hope we do another one next year because I'm totally addicted to these weekends!!!!

I spy.....

with my little eye, a helicopter dragging a net thing through the sky??? what the heck is this thing and what were they doing in my neighbourhood? Anybody know????

A Walk in the Park!

Well, not so much of a walk as a leisurely sit! Teena & Boo met us for our first visit to the park this year. I can't wait to be doing this regularly soon!

As I picked up the kids, I noticed Honey had worn rainboots to school that day. Not cool for climbing monkey bars and walking balance beams! of course we didn't have a single pair of sneakers in the car, only a pair of heeled church shoes which were no better than the boots! We made a quick pitstop at the dollar store and found some knock off crocs that hopefully aren't full of lead paint and the blood sweat and tears of underage foreign workers.

I brought some watermelon & juiceboxes for a snack and Teena surprised us with homemade cherry popsicles (holy Martha Stewart Batman!!!). The kids were off & running in no time but made regular visits to our blanket so we couldn't get too engrossed in our conversation. Lovey even decided to curl up with Teena and have her read to her! Ummm hello??? get your own friends kid!!!!!

This picture of Honey running reminded me that she set a new "PB" tonight for running 1km. Previously she had a time of 7:33 and tonight did it in 7:11. She was conscious of her time the entire run. She kept asking Murray where she was at & when they were halfway and she was less than 4 minutes, she knew she was going to beat her old time and really put the pedal to the metal!

Oh the EXCITEMENT of it all!!!

Well, as if the end of the school year wasn't enough to look forward to, we're also in serious countdown mode for the BIRTHDAY!!!! 15 more days in case you've lost track ;) ANNNNNNND even more immediately exciting, we got the swimming pool filled up today! The hose was still running when they got off the bus today and they immediately started inviting friends over for a swim! They always forget how COLD the water is when it first goes in LOL Although, I remember begging to go swimming as a kid, in temperatures that I wouldn't even consider nowadays! Aunt Brenda & Uncle Wayne took my 3 cousins & my brother & I on a trip to the States once. We got checked into our motel probably around 10pm or so. I remember it was dark out and it was summertime. No sooner had we gotten through the door than we all started in on them about getting to the pool. God love them, they took us swimming at that hour :) Mind you, they kept warm & dry on the deck but they let us have our fun. So I can hardly blame my own kids for wanting the same thing right? I just didn't jump in myself this time :)

As with every other year, it took them longer to get changed than it did to swim. If you can call hitting bottom and flying back up the ladder and into a towel within 30 seconds, a "swim". They didn't seem to regret going in though so as long as they enjoyed themselves, that's the main thing.

The guy with the water truck was pleased with the set up this year. He thinks I've improved since last year. The bottom was smoother and I'd shored up the low sides where it was a bit sloped last year. He says next year I can probably hire out for pool installations! I don't know about that, I can barely keep up with one household!

Let's hope Mr Sun decides to rejoin us soon or the kids will go crazy! They're pretty sure tomorrow's going to be hot enough to go "swimming" again though :)))

Next Violinist Please!

Looks like Lovey might be getting some competition in the violin department! No one else has really expressed much of an interest in playing an instrument until lately. Honey has casually mentioned she might like to try flute at some point but it hasn't developed into the frequent requests that Lovey kept up for a couple of years so we'll wait to see how it goes. Recently, Sweetie has been paying attention to Lovey's music and can hum a few of the songs even when it's not being played. A few days ago, she asked if she could try Lovey's violin but each day we've run out of time. After having put her off a few days already, and after being so good on the bike ride, we made sure she got a few minutes to try it out. She worked on the E string tonight and even though she couldn't whip off the May Song as easily as she can hum it, she seemed pretty happy just having a chance to check it out. Trying anything new and potentially frustrating is a risky venture at any given time, but it's always more so late in the evening. It was almost 8pm when she tried her hand at it but didn't get upset or discouraged at all. Lovey really enjoyed showing her how to hold the bow and was proud of her for trying and told her she'd done really well for her first try!

She's even asked about taking lessons! The year is almost over so we told her that she could keep following Lovey's lesson book and practice over the summer and if she keeps it up and is still interested in the fall, we'd check into it.

Tuesday Adventure!

Well it's Exercise Tuesday again and since biking has been going so well, I decided it would be fun to expand our horizons a bit! Everyone was excited to try some of the biking trails in the city so supper was done & over with & we were in the car on our way before 6pm!

We started off well. and then, ummm it sortof disintegrated. First, Lovey had a wipeout going down a small hill and tore up her legs from knee to upper thigh, along with both hands and an elbow. We had been biking approximately 5 minutes. A nice gentleman passing by said there was a station up ahead that would probably have bandaids. We continued on and just as we arrived, Sweetie tipped as she tried to stop and shredded a kneecap herself. She immediately popped up while I simultaneously cringed and waited for the onslaught. She looks around, sees several people standing around & just hollers "DIDN'T HURT!!!!!!!!!!". Whew!!

So, I took Lovey into a bathroom & got her cleaned up and they gave us a couple of bandaids. When she came out, her sisters were throwing rocks in some nearby water so she did that for a few minutes and was calmed down & ready to continue. We mounted up and headed off! Not two minutes later, Honey somehow caught the back of her heel with her peddle and cut it. The sight of the blood had her wailing immediately! Meanwhile, Lovey & Sweetie are sailing along fine. After several protests of "never biking, ever, ever again!" Honey started biking to catch up to me so I wouldn't miss any of her complaints as I'd somehow drifted out of earshot!

Murray was on foot and keeping up with Sweetie who was zipping along & Lovey on her tail. This annoyed Honey to no end. She can't stand anyone getting ahead of her but has yet to realize that taking multiple crying breaks does NOT do much for her standings! So she moaned, groaned, cried and whined for most of the rest of Exercise Tuesday. This was "the WORST day EVER" and "this is the most horrible bike ride of my whole LIFE!" followed up with "I can't BELIEVE you think THIS is FUN!!!!" and tacked on to the end, many times was "I am NEVER going on another bike ride ever again!" This all sounded very serious until a moment later she got distracted by something interesting and asked "next time can we go all the way there???". Unfortunately, the return trip did not improve her views on biking fun. Another bad wipeout and she had a nasty knee too. It wasn't as messy as Lovey's but her display certainly was! We have no worries about anyone's lung capacity around here, suffice it to say! Mind you, they were bad wipeouts and scraped knees DO sting like a son of a gun. I'm not saying it didn't hurt, by any means! I'm just not sure who to give the Academy Award for best performance to. :)))

We came home, got everyone cleaned up and ready for bed and they read to themselves for awhile and conked out fast at lights out!

Hangin' Around!

Quiet weekend at home mostly! The kids are glad to have the trampoline back out & are making good use of it. The yard's still a bit wet so I pulled an old wooden pallet from the garage (not sure where that came from....) and put it next to the opening. Now they can leave their muddy shoes on the side & step up on the pallet without getting wet socks and it's a bit easier to climb in too.

Here's Murray's birdhouse, you can see the straw bits the bird/birds have dragged in to make the place a bit more homey :)

Murray hard at work on the never ending battle against the lawn.
Honey doing a little dandelion art