FIRST WEDDING PHOTO SHOOT COMING UP......EXCITED, YET ANXIOUS!!!

It' been a very busy week. On Monday, I met with the couple who asked me to do their wedding photography. They are getting married at a golf course and then having their reception a our Canoe Museum....pretty cool, eh?
The owner of the golf course took us around to each hole and we picked three main holes to take some shots. It's a beautiful, beautiful golf course called Baxter Creek. This course has only been open a little over one year. It's funny how life is..turns out the owner and I went to high school together.
The wedding couple are definitely not conventional and were looking to do some really different and funky type shots. I think we have some great ideas and some great locations. I'm looking forward to this my first photography assignment of this type. I've included a couple of course locations that are so beautiful. There will be some out of the ordinary shots taken also...like at the course porta potty and at an old silo...so much fun to work with this couple.
I went back to the Golf Course the next day and the owner and myself went to the three holes we picked and I did some practice shots of the location, just so I could be sure of the views and angles. Unfortunately, it was later in the day so couldn't test out the lighting accurately. They are getting married in the late afternoon.

I spent some of the week baking for our Ohio friends that arrive on Sunday for nine days. I have attempted to put some type of touring schedule together. Since our weather has been so unpredictable, we'll have to be a bit flexible with what days we do what. Two things are for sure. My brother and sister-in-law are having us out to their place on Monday (it's a legal holiday in Canada) for a visit and a great BBQ.
We will also take them to the Curve Lake gift and art shop. Our friend loves this place and always finds something she can't live without. We are also going to Toronto to see Jersey Boys and stay with friends we have up there for two days.
We hope to go to Picton and Bloomfield and also out to see the sand dunes and maybe take the ferry ride....weather permitting. We are also going to take them to a free outdoor concert on Wednesday night in Peterborough. The featured act is Beau Dixon who is a local person and does a lot of the Isley Brothers type music....fun!

Tomorrow I'll go to our farmer's market and buy fresh local produce and then pick up the meat and other small bits I need. Tomorrow night we're going to another free outdoor concert and the feature is the 'Canadian Tenors' My cousin, who is a musician and performer was kind enough to get us tickets for the VIP section.

Sadly,on Sunday, before our friends arrive we will go to the visitation at the funeral home for a friend who died yesterday. He was a very, very gentle, sweet, kind man who died suddenly of heart failure. We have lost a few people we know this year and sadly we're at the age where our 'elders' may not be with us much longer. We will enjoy them while they are here. I often wonder why some of the nicest people I've known are no longer here, and yet others who aren't so nice seem to sail through life. Only God knows why.

Well, not too much blogging will take place next week while our friends are here but will try to get my first Etsy shop owner feature out Monday or Tuesday.

Have a great weekend everyone. I sure hope the weather will cooperate. It's been much lower temperatures and a whole lot of rain.....YUK!

Month of August and Etsy Shop Owners.......

I decided today that for the month of August, I will feature one of my favourite etsy shops at least once a week. I have found some amazing, amazing artists and would like to pay them some recognition.....so, something to watch for next month!!

I've been baking and getting ready for our friends from Ohio who arrive on Sunday. We always have so much fun with them and now my brother and sister-in-law share in their friendship as well. They are generously going to host a BBQ on the Monday.
We will definitely do some fun things and take a couple of day trips. We hope to take them to Warkworth and then will spend a full day in the Picton area which is about one and a half hours away. This is a beautiful area and is the Canadian sand dunes area. There is apparently some great shops and restaurants in the area as well.

I got to see my grandson via webcam the other night. I just love seeing him, even if it is via webcam. We hope to go see my daughter, son-in-law and our grandson some time in September or October, but nothing worked out yet.

We haven't see our little grandaughter since we got back about two weeks ago from our visit there. My daughter sent me the most adorable picture of our grandaughter taken by one of my daughter's sister-in-laws....a beautiful picture of a beautiful little girl. I'm including it in this post. She is going to be so much fun to watch grow. She definintely is her mother's daughter!( Large grin )

Productive.......yes, Stressed........no!

It's a beautiful day here in my little village of Keene! Started the morning by taking a leisurely tour of our gardens and realize how much still needs to be done. We are going to totally re-do our back corner garden as we want to place the arbor my husband is to build in the next week, in the back corner of our triangular garden. We'll then re-plant some of the plants already there and reposition others in different areas of our yard. I can't wait to have that quiet, calm, zen area.

I then spent time manipulating and cropping some of the newer photos I've taken. I want to post some on my site at Fine Art America. It's tricky when I post on Etsy because the size they allow isn't really conducive with the other sites I post my photos on. They require the size to be much smaller. I've managed to screw up a few times and shrink a photo for Etsy before saving the larger size and then it's no good for other sites. Lessons I continue to learn! Aaaahhh!

My sister-in-law then came this afternoon, as I had promised to help her design and complete a scrapbook for her brother who turns sixty. She came up with a wonderful concept of his daughter's asking him about his younger years and his responses. It was well written with a lot of satirical quips with an underlying message of deep love. Her family have planned some games in his honour and will present him with the book. They are having a reunion to also celebrate her Dad's 90th birthday. My sister-in-law was quite pleased with the end product. I just know her brother will be so touched.

Tonight, I hope to do some baking to freeze so I don't need to do anything when our friends from Ohio arrive one week today.

Tomorrow, I'll meet with the couple I'm doing their wedding photography for in August. They are getting married at a golf course so we want to meet there and check out various locations around the course and to check out the lighting at the same time of day they will get married.

Tomorrow is the finale of 'Bachelorette' and I don't plan to miss it. It's some of the 'fluff' I watch. I don't watch too much TV anymore, but I did get sucked in watching this particular show. The bachelorette is actually a Canadian.

The rest of the week we'll see how much I get accomplished. I will do what I can do!

SOME R & R ........ I needed that!

Well, I returned Friday after spending three days with some of my 'girl' cousins. We went up north to one cousin's home that happens to be on a lake....beautiful! It's just SO comfortable being with women all close in age and all with a long history together. Although some of us moved away, a strong bond developed when we were younger. We kind of have our own sisterhood. It's amazing when we're together how we spend a lot of time laughing, and talking, talking and more talking. Philosophically we have some differences but truly enjoy our individualism. We spent one entire day just laying on the dock and unfortunately all got burned to varied degrees. We did some crafting together although not a lot. We are hoping to plan something in the future to include all the sisters-in-law as well. I still think a PJ party would be great.

I now have to get serious about some of the many tasks I should get completed...however, I'm not going to stress too much about it. A plus of getting older.....learning to chill out a bit.

HOME AND AWAY...........AGAIN!

STROLLING WITH GRAMMIE AND PAPA....


Well, we got back last evening from seven days away at our youngest daughter's new home in Princeton, New Jersey. What a beautiful, beautiful town! There's so much history there and the architecture and size of many of the homes is majestic to say the least. It is, however, a very expensive town to live in.
Our daughter works in Manhattan for a non-profit group and our son-in-law is a tenured professor at Princeton University. They made it through their move and are beginning to settle in to their wonderful new environment. They moved from a very small apartment so this new home with lots of space and lots of yard is making them very happy.
My husband and I spent most of the week doing some fairly major landscape work. Everything on the property was quite overgrown and many bushes, etc. had just died. My husband and son-in-law spent some time removing a stacked wall of rock in the front of their house. The grading wasn't correct so needed to be completely overhauled. We all went 'plant and shrub' shopping and once we had replenished the soil in all their gardens, we planted many new shrubs and plants. We also lucked out as their back area has a garden, but it had WAY too many plants in it. We dug some of the existing plants up and redistributed them into the new gardens.
On Saturday, before we left, we took a day off and went to a public farm and garden area just outside Princeton. They have strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, apples which you can purchase or pick your own. We opted to purchase some peaches and I made a peach pie later that day for dinner.
Now that our little grandaughter is walking, it was fun to watch her have fun walking around. They had little John Deere tractors the kids can ride on, but our little munchkin had more fun pushing them around.
There was a petting zoo, but she wasn't too sure about the animals....maybe next time.
I'm leaving again tomorrow to spend three days with a couple of my cousins up north. It's just 'girl time' with no men. Hmmm, can't wait to see what kind of mischief we can get into! My cousin lives right on a lake. It should be really beautiful up there at the moment. I baked an apple pie to take and stopped at the liquor store and picked up some 'coolers' to embibe.
Our gardens are in disgusting shape so when I get home, I know what I'll be doing for a few days...weeding, weeding and more weeding. My husband is suppose to start my arbor he's promised me while I'm gone..we'll see!
We have our Ohio friends arriving the first of August and I'd really like to have the yard looking in better shape.
We have guests in September and October as well. One of my girlfriends says she's tempted to buy us a neon sign advertising our 'B & B" (heehee). I enjoy having people come and stay and it's a compliment that many enjoy their stay here. With our friends from Ohio, it's almost becoming a tradition. This is their third year in a row coming to our neck of the woods. Fun!

LEAVING AGAIN..........

HOW CUTE IS SHE!!!
Tomorrow we are off to New Jersey to spend a week with our youngest daughter, her husband, and our little grandaughter.....yeah!
We haven't seen them since March and a lot has happened since then. They have moved cities and have purchased their first home. We are going down to help do some painting, some minor repairs, and hopefully help them begin a landscaping plan and will do what we can with the budget they have to help give their home some more curb appeal.
Our little grandaughter is now walking, so we'll have some fun taking her for walks and just running around the yard. I'm taking some 'bubble wands' with me and I know she'll enjoy blowing bubbles with Grammie in the yard as well.
It's always fun and yet a lot of work making a home your own. I'm looking forward to seeing what they've done and seeing the house for the first time.....BUT, I'm especially looking forward to seeing my daughter and her family. We may only get to see them this one time this year. :(
Since I don't have a laptop, I won't be blogging for a week.

PITY PARTIES.............

That's what I call them when you get sad and feeling sorry for yourself. I just had another one. We all have them.
When my girls were younger and lived at home, if they were having a tough time with a friend or a certain situation, I'd allow them a 'pity party'. After 48 hours, if the situation wasn't resolved I'd tell them to fix what could be fixed and if it couldn't be fixed move on.
I've had my 48 hours and will once again move on. The only part of my situation that can be fixed is me and my reaction to the disappointments. I am working on that!
I'm back to walking because it was set aside when we went away on vacation. I actually now miss the walking when I don't do it. I have also started allowing myself at least one quiet hour all to myself each day to either think, sit quiet, soak in a bubble bath or read. I have come to really appreciate quiet and being alone... and I like it.

A REFLECTIVE DAY..............

I rarely have trouble sleeping, but last night I was up and down all night. It's aggravating when you're SO tired and sleep just doesn't come. I finally fell asleep around 5:30am and slept until 11:30am.
It's been a weird day, where I managed to complete a few rather small things I had to do, but my mind wouldn't cooperate and kept going over and over things I'm troubled by. I can't seem to make some tough decisions which I know would ultimately make me happier. I have so many emotional and personal thoughts on my mind and I'm just not sure how to handle them. I continue to beat myself up about some poor choices I've made. I'm willing to let go of some and yet can't or won't let go of others. There will be a price to pay no matter what I decide, so the fear of making some more bad decisions in my life keeps me somewhat frozen. It's disheartening, because along the way I've made so many decisions that I felt were the absolute right thing to do but time has proven me wrong. I've had SO many disappointments in the past few years and I've apparently caused disappointment as well for some people in my life. The logical, rational me understands things like that happen and you should move on. However, it's tough when you realize others don't see you as you see yourself. When others tag you with terms you deem derogatory or unpleasant that's a difficult one to deal with on any level. It's equally troubling to realize your impression of some people has been so off the mark as well, especially when I felt I was a really good judge of character. After all, the only person I can change is me. These changes can't and won't happen overnight. Everything else is beyond my control.
I find myself questioning the term 'unconditional love'. We all love to the degree our expectations are met and how we're made to feel.

TO MY AMERICAN FRIENDS AND FAMILY......HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!

We, in Canada, celebrated Canada Day on July 1st. That is the equivalent of the American July 4th, when there are barbeques, family and friends gathering, picnics at the parks, and yes, fireworks in the evening to cap off the day.
Hopefully, you in America will have great weather and special plans for your celebrations.
For me, I'm busy organizing a birthday celebration for my nephew. This afternoon approximately 25 - 30 family members will join in wishing my nephew a Happy 30th birthday! He is back in school trying to make a better life for he and his little daughter. He's got a lot working for him and a lot working against him, so it will depend on how he can handle both sides of this equation. He was a little over three years old when his mother (my sister) was killed in a head-on collision.
He was way, way up north living in a rather isolated area and with some encouragement from his brother and myself and others, he made the move to our area around Christmas time.
We found him some affordable housing albeit not that fancy, but it's better than what he's had in the past. The daycare situation was sorted out and he began taking upgrades in Math at Sir Sanford Fleming College. He's doing quite well, so far.
He hopes to begin a three year program in specialized computer investigative certification. If he sticks to it and does well, it will provide him an avenue to help both he and his daughter. I can only hope at this point. It's all up to him.
Myself and the rest of his large extended family hope and wish him all the best.

VACATION OVER.....WONDERFUL TIME, WONDERFUL FRIENDS!

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, we got back Monday night from five days in Ohio, near Wooster and our friends absolutely went overboard to ensure we had a great time. Every day there was something wonderful to see and do. We went to Berlin, Ohio where the community is predominantly Amish and toured some of the many shops, etc to get snippits of the Amish life. We went to our friends brother's place for a wonderful dinner he cooked and got to go on his pontoon boat to tour the little lake (Meyer's Lake) where we saw beautiful swans. I would love, love to live somewhere like that and have water on my doorstep.
We did some major power shopping and my husband bought two huge pieces of equipment for his woodworking shop. For a while, we were a bit worried that one or more of us might end up on the roof rack going home....but, we packed every square inch of our van and just managed it.
The weather was spectacular the whole time we were there. We'd tour and shop during the days and then swim in their pool and have time in their hot tub at night...what a life!
Our friends cooked amazing meals and went over the top with providing snacks, candy, mixed drinks and just plain good company and we were willing participants. When we arrived we were all given gift bags with various plastic beverage glasses for alcoholic drinks and each had our names painted on them. There were tourist info brochures of all the places we would visit and then sun screen spray, a Christmas tree ornament of their town, jar of local honey, snacks, individual towelette packs and on and on...just wonderful!
We are all exhausted but it's a good thing!
I now have to get ready for a BBQ I'm throwing on Saturday for my nephew who turns 30 on Sunday. I think 30 is the next biggest birthday after 21, so I want him to spend with family along with his little daughter. I hope it's good day on many levels.
Well, I'm tired and will definitely get to bed earlier than usual, for me tonight!!!