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Every once in a while...
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Jul. 13th, 2008 @ 08:20 pm
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Every once in a while I look at my daughter and ask myself that age-old question...
Is one shotgun going to be enough?
I am SO not looking forward to her teen years. |
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You can't fight City Hall...
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Jul. 8th, 2008 @ 01:47 pm
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But, on a calm day, you can at lease appreciate the architecture!
Besides, it isn't City Hall anymore. After costing the local taxpayers an arm and a fricken' leg to build this one on a gorgeous island right by the Rideau Falls - the province insisted that the municipalities of Ottawa, Nepean, Kanata, Vanier, Rockliffe, etc amalgamated to save money. So, being idiots polititians, the first way they saved us was to:
1) Build a spiffy grand NEW city hall on one of the most expensive chunks of land in the city. and
2) Sell off this one at a discount to the Federal Government.
You see, the other munipalities didn't want to be seen to be being absorbed into the original city by being forced into the Ottawa building, so they agreed on a new "neutral ground" site.
This was how we all "saved money". By spending it.
Yep - it's a government project.....
In other news, I'd like the person who stole my son's brand new bike to drop by for a visit so I could give him a nice quick boot to the nuts. Maybe two.
Assholes. |
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The Official 2008 Canada Day Itinerary.
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Jul. 2nd, 2008 @ 03:30 pm
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In accordance with strict family tradition....
1) Set up backyard waterpark? Check!
2) Get wet? Check!
3) Eat BBQ? Check!
4) Fireworks? Check!
Well, now that that's over with we can get on with the rest of the summer.....
Mom turns 70 tommorow. How the hell did that happen? |
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People.....
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Jun. 12th, 2008 @ 11:01 am
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People......Dammit, they're everywhere!
Yeah, OK, so that's hardly a revelation. I've just never been one to take too many pictures of them - well, besides of the family. I grew up a shy child. By shy, I mean "would not speak to ANYONE at nursery school - including the other kids". When you are as retiring as that, you tend to keep a very small circle of friends. People who, for whatever reason, managed to break through the barriers that shy people erect and who you then become inseperable from. Oh sure, I found my place within some of the social groups of school, but it was generally through access from a more gregarious friend, and these groups became the small places where I eventually would find myself comfortable.
It took a lot to get over shyness - much of it conscious work. It took finding jobs that forced me to talk to people. Retail and bartending mostly. It took taking a course on public speaking wherin I got to learn that it is, in fact, impossible to die of embarrassment. And via those means my circle of acquaintences grew exponentially. My circle of close friends, however, did not. That element of privacy that shy people cherish remained. Moving into technology has had a reversing effect on this. My circle of acquaintances shrinks. My circle of close friends also as the demands of familly life let some of these relationships wither and drift away.
But the shyness still manifests itself in so many ways. Taking pictures of strangers, for example, I find a daunting task. Best done unnoticed. I had to detour to work the other day, and passed by a soup kitchen. The wealth of interesting visual characters there was huge. I paused, put my hand on my camera, and then drove away when the light changed. Didn't take a shot. I mean, what if one of them noticed me?!!! Hell, they might throw me a stern look or something!
Take Rob. Or ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) ruralrob to many on my friends list. He's one of my oldest LJ Friends, and we've met for lunch at least once a year for a while now when he comes up to Ottawa for some of his work with the Canadian AIDS Society. It's always a pleasant affair at the same Indian food restaurant. I always invite him to come out and visit the family for a BBQ, but his schedule is too tight. He always invites Steph and I to drop down to NanookVille for a visit, but on those rare occassions when we get a weekend away from the kids we always head to a swank hotel room for a little adult playtime instead. And we always talk about how we need to find an afternoon one of these years to go shooting together. That doesn't happen either. But it's always a good visit with good food and good conversation.
And after all that, it still took me until this year (yesterday in fact) to point the lens at him. I shot two frames. I had to take the second - the first one was out of focus.
These two? Well hell, you could have danced around 'em playing a tuba and they wouldn't have noticed. Young love and spring fever make for an all-consuming state of mind. OK, I can take a shot of them....from 100 feet away. Behind a tree.
This guy? Safely asleep. No problem....I'll shoot him from 40 feet. You know, in case he wakes up.
I wish I worked a little closer to downtown so that my noon-hour wanderings could focus a bit more on shooting people. Force myself to take those shots as they present themselves whether people notice me or not. Fact is that there isn't much around here, unless I want to document the various shapes and sizes of the asses of joggers running along the river. An interesting project idea.... but no. But I think I might try and change the trajectory and focus of my noon wanderings this summer. Stalking wildlife is still, for me, the best way to shift focus away from everything else in life and give me a moment or two of mental vacation, and shooting people will not give me that at all - so my wildlife shooting won't change. I just find myself regressing in my comfort level at being around people, and I need to nip that trend in the bud.
For starters, I figured I'd try and sneak up on myself while I was otherwise distracted. It was darned hard to do, but I managed it.
Yeah, OK, that was gratuitous. But I still try and post at least ONE pic of myself each and every year. I'm sure that there is at least one or two new friends around here that have no damned clue what I look like.
So my summer photo project is to make sure that I get at least one good picture of a complete stranger each and every week. That may not sound like much to most people, but for me it's a pretty big stretch.
Let's see how it goes. |
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I'll take "not getting the point" for 1000 Alex!
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Jun. 4th, 2008 @ 01:56 pm
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This week is Canadian Environment Week. A week dedicated as "a time to celebrate the achievements and hard work of all Canadians who are taking action to improve the environment at home, at work, in their communities and throughout the world."
Well, I suppose that this is cheaper than being a week dedicated to actually helping the environment.....
Nope - It's just an awareness campaign.
I'd have missed it completely except that some helpfull soul ensured that I would become aware of this awareness campaign.
The did their part by printing up hundreds of copies of the official poster on heavy bond letter-sized paper on an inkjet printer, and plastered them all over the building I work in. To ensure that no-one missed it, and in keeping with policies of institutionalized official bilingualism, they printed out separate copies for each official language, and posted them all side by side.
After all.... it's not like they could have just emailed it to everyone.
Nah.... then it might actually be a week dedicated to helping the environment.....
Morons.
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It's been how long since I posted?
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Jun. 3rd, 2008 @ 11:15 am
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It's been how long since I posted?
Oh no!!!!
I don't know what it is with me lately. I wake up tired. I go to bed tired. I almost never even bother logging into my computer at home. My camera fills with images. I delete most. Post a few to Flickr. Think about journal entries. Put them off 'til "Later".
"Later" is a mythical place. It doesn't exist.
The age gap between Jake and Holly is really becoming pronounced. Up until last year while they differed in ability they were both still children in the sense that both remained tightly tied to their parents for planning activities. While we had tried to get Jake to start to spread his wings, he lacked the confidence to really strike out and explore the nieghbourhood solo. This year, as soon as the snow melted he was on his bike and away. I'm thrilled to see him take this step towards independance, but on the other hand that leaves Holly home alone without her playmate - and annoyed that her brother enjoys freedoms that she is not granted. She has therefore become far more demanding of our time when he is off.
And when he returns - friends in tow - she is an outsider looking in. Often times it works. Often times, it doesn't. Regular drama.
Our house seems to have become the neighbourhood flop-house for Jake and the gang, which is a double-edged sword. It is great to be able to get to know who he is hanging out with, but suddenly having five or six pre-teens taking over the basement on a Sunday afternoon has rather destroyed the notion of any tranquility on the weekends. They are good kids and generally well behaved, but still - damn but they can make noise.
And for Jake, having this sort of position within the group is a real esteem builder. The guy with the WII and the parents who will let us hang out and raid the fridge. So, we are all sorting out new boundaries on what level of autonomy he is permitted, what responsibilities go with it, and what portion of his schedule needs to be reserved for the family. His new best friend, Kyle, presents some difficult issues as well. He seems a good kid, although very rough around the edges. He lives with his father, and seems either largely unwelcome at home, or at least undesiring of being there. A latchkey kid at an age far too young for it.
It is tough to send a kid off who looks devastated every time he leaves, but there are still bedtimes, mealtimes, bath times, homework, and family time to fit into our own schedule too. Still, we do what we can to welcome him into our home while he is here, and to allow him to spend far longer visiting than we otherwise might.
Every kid needs a place that they feel safe and welcome - even if that place isn't their own home.
As for Jake, I'm not saying that he has been playing too much Zelda. I'm not saying that he hasn't.
Decide for yourself....
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New birds at the garden
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May. 17th, 2008 @ 04:39 pm
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Wandering about the FWG, listening for different birdsongs to help guide my stroll. I seem somewhat stuck on shooting birds lately. It's odd the amount of effort I seem to put into it as compared to my actually fairly low level of real interest in the damn things. I run into all of these serious birders who will wax poetically dull on the mating habits of the Ammodramus savannarum or some such crap that glazes my eyes over.
The fact really is just that I needed a focus for some photography, and birds are local, plentiful, sometimes rather pretty, and can be challenging little buggers to sneak up to in order to snag a decent shot with a 200mm lens. Really there isn't much more to it than that.
So off I trudge around the garden, soaking up sunshine, fresh air, and exercise - and, most importantly, a complete mental break from work.
IT's a pretty quiet day there. Just the usual suspects...
And then, screaming overhead, the sound of an entirely different sort of bird. Michael Potter is clearly out having fun with his collection. It's not many cities who frequently get buzzed by a Spit and a P51 these days, but Ottawa is one of them.
Now, if only I could make stalking warbirds a daily luncheon... |
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The official start to summer...
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May. 12th, 2008 @ 10:25 am
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Summer. Whatever the "official" dates for it may be, from my perspective it occurs after certain things happen. The first swim. The first mosquito bite. The first sunburn. The first carnival.
Three down, one to go.....
And you have no idea how damn wonderfull it is to have Steph healthy enough to get out and enjoy these sorts of things again. The kids and I missed sharing those moments with her as much as she often felt left out from being able to come along with us. Last year, she got to see the pictures of everything we did. This year, she'll be right back in the thick of it - and getting out and about on Mother's Day was a pretty good way to kick it all off.
Of course, not everyone is able to handle the excitement as well as a ten year old....
Now we just need the water to warm up enough for a swim to complete the summer criteria. |
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A river runs through it....
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Apr. 25th, 2008 @ 10:03 am
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The little streams that gather the runoff from the hills are bare trickles in the summer. But for a couple of glorious weeks each spring they get to pretend that they are mighty rivers crashing through the valleys.
I guess we all have our glory days from time to time.
( Two more behind the cut..... ) |
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Uninvited
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Apr. 25th, 2008 @ 01:24 am
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Not everybody seems to get invited to life's grand party....
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