DUAL HOLIDAY WEEKEND...FUN FOR ALL!

This past weekend was both fun and busy for people on both sides of the border. In Canada, we celebrated 'Canada Day' on Friday, July 1st. Also, in the USA they celebrated 'Independence Day' on Monday, July 4th. It's a time when many families and/or friends get together for picnics in parks, water fun at cottages, and of course, a night of fireworks. In order to honour both countries, I hang both a Canadian and American flag on either side of our garage.

Since I lived 11 years in the USA, and my daughters both married Americans and now hold dual citizenship, I feel a connection to both holidays.
For me, a big part of 'Canada Day' was gardening, making note cards ... so pretty mundane by comparison to what many were doing. However, late afternoon my friend Marg called and invited me out for the evening.
We have a beautiful lake in the middle of our city with a bandstand. Each year from the end of May to the end of August, the city puts on 'MusicFest' which are free concerts in the park by the lake. Every Wednesday and Saturday evening they showcase various gendres of music, both local artists and from across Canada. This year, Musicfest kicked off with Natalie McMaster and her husband Donnell Leahy. For Canada Day, there are activities, cultural events and a very big concert with fireworks in the evening.
My friend, Marg has a VIP membership (which one pays a yearly donation for the privilege) which allows up close parking and a designated area to sit close to the stage. Marg, our friend Laurie, and myself had a 'girls night out'. We had a blast!
The band was local and were fantastic! They were called Keith Burton and the Footloose Band. They did impressions of such people as Shania Twain, Michael Jackson, Roy Orbison, BTO, Madonna, Faith Hill, Tina Turner and Lady GaGa. Musically, they were amazing and they did their best to look like them, but that lacked a little!
Marg, Laurie and myself knew many of the words to the songs and we sang along and danced and danced....FUN!
At the end of the concert, they had a full 15 - 20 minutes of non-stop fireworks that were spectacular!!!

Afterward, we went out for coffee...yes, just coffee. We talked and talked and talked, so it was really late when I got home.

Sunday, I had my oldest brother, Dennis and my sister-in-law Bette come for the afternoon and dinner. We had spareribs, baked potatoes, corn on the cob, and Greek salad. For dessert, I made my brother's favourite rhubarb and strawberry pie and served with ice cream.
Monday, I drove to Campbellford, Ontario to check out my show 'Life is Good' at the library. My one woman show will end on July 14th. Although I've only had one sale, the people at the library said there have been really great comments. A few people have come back twice to see it! Now, if only more people would purchase some pieces! Times are tough for many people, including myself, so I just need to hang in and be patient. My heart tells me I'm doing exactly what I should be and to stick with it....until!
I will be putting 5 new pieces at the Kawartha Tourism Centre this week with a summer theme.
Saturday, I'm participating in an art show at the Lakefield Jazz Festival so I'm doing all the last minute stuff to make sure I'm ready. This is my first time, so I'm looking forward to some potential sales and listening to some pretty great jazz!

GARDENING....LOVE IT AND HATE IT!

We purchased the home we presently have in October 2004. We have changed the 'fingerprint' of the property unbelievably since then. At the time we purchased it, there was one very long, rather narrow garden down one side of the driveway and a so-called garden in the front by the small windows. At that time, there were huge ugly cedars blocking most of the light and the view from that end of the house. We got rid of them promptly. Since then, we have added SO many gardens around the entire property.
I love planning the gardens and my husband and I implement. I still have more I'd like to do, but as time goes on, I'm rethinking what we are capable of at this point. My husband will be 66 years old in September and I will be 64 years old in August and both of us have had some health issues so we aren't quite as impulsive as we were 7 years ago. Each 'grand idea' means more work.
Each garden has been planned, replanned and probably will change slightly as we find a 'new' plant or at least one we feel would look 'so perfect'.
I really don't enjoy gardening when it's brutally hot, but the process of planting, moving plants to locations where they might be happier, I find rather cathartic.
In all my ambitions to have an amazing, scenic property, the upkeep is quite overwhelming at times. It has become more difficult as we brought in mulch four years ago that, unfortunately, had some sort of nasty, invasive vine weed that wants to take over.
For the past few days, my husband and I have worked hours and hours hoeing, picking and pulling weeds and have now laid down a form of mulch from our own fall leaves that we shredded and put in compost cages. Let's hope we now get a rain to pack down this homemade mulch and see if the weeds stay controlled...ahhhh!,the part of gardening I hate.
Two years ago, we had curbs put around the gardens for control of the grass and to define the garden areas better. We were thrilled with the look it gives!
We have planned the gardens, such that there is something blooming at all times of the seasons, before winter hits. Even then, we leave our tall grasses up over the winter to give some design to our space,even then.
I had this grand plan to install a rock garden on one side of the house to avoid having to mow up and down this slope. It ended up being 78 feet long!
I am posting a photo from two years ago, as in it's present state this year, it has been overrun with two invasive weeds. We now have to lift all the good plants out, the rocks out, and pull and kill the weeds. The next step is to lay ground cover and compost and begin the planting all over again....frustrating to say the least.
It's continuous work, but the satisfaction of sitting in our chairs at different points of a day and feeling so comfy and satisfied at how it's all turned out...great feeling. The property actually has some warmth and character now.
I asked my husband to build me an arbor in the back corner of our property, which he finally did last year. I L-O-V-E going back there with my morning coffee. It's my sancturary.
I hope you enjoy the pictures and our efforts.

We did for the first couple of years have vegetable gardens, etc but gave up on that after realizing we had a wonderful Farmer's Market in our area with great produce and reasonable prices. The only thing we have now is rhubard and asparagus. We used to have raspberry bushes, but they just didn't produce enough, so we ripped them out this year.
If I won the lottery, I'd still like to add a very big deck to the back side of the house....but then, that's a big 'IF'!
On another post, I'll show you some other areas of the property from the sides and the back. They still haven't even been touched this year.
On the south side of the property we put in 35 lilac bushes a few years ago that our neighbours let us dig up from their property. They are finally filling up and in that side. We also planted many lilies which we will probably have to move forward this year or next as the lilacs are overtaking them.

iHeartFaces...another wonderful photography blog

Check out this link to ..
www.iheartfaces.com

I have some trouble with their site posting photos, but it's only because I'm so technically challenged...I'll get it figured out eventually! If at first you don't succeed, try, try again...right?

I'm doing an edit to this post to include the photo I entered into their contest theme of 'From a Distance'. I entered my blog address as I thought we weren't suppose to promote our photography websites, but apparently that's not the case...oh, well. I hope I eventually figure out how to do this type of thing the right way.

Maggie was so excited as Mommy was coming home from the hospital after having Maggie's new baby brother, Sam. So-o-o, we got dressed up and waited patiently for Mommy, Daddy and Baby Sam to get home. A big, big day!

FAVOURITE PHOTOGRAPHERS....A NEW FEATURE!

I have had the privilege of meeting on 'social media', etc. some photographers whose work I enjoy. As a result, I've decided to feature some of them on my blog periodically.

The first photographer I want you to meet and 'hear' is Dave Powers. He resides in Cobourg, Ontario, Canada and does some really beautiful work.

When did you first get interested in photography?

My father ran the photo lab for the OPP(Ontario Provincial Police).. he was a cop. He pretty much introduced me to photography. I had access to any type of equipment I wanted but of course, as a teenager had no idea how lucky I was... I did the odd thing here and there for fun, not until I had children did I really get into photography

What kind of camera was your first and what do you use now?

My first camera was a Nikon SLR. I then moved up to Hasselblad, 120 film size, medim format...the Hasseblad was sweet camera, and the lenses were fantastic.

What, in your opinion, are the advantages and disadvantages between ‘point and shoot’ and ‘DSLR’?

The advantage of point and shoot is the ease of use. You can carry it with you anywhere, in a pocket or what ever. You can practice your compositions anytime you want. You are limited though because of the one lens focal length. A DSLR allows you so many options with lens focal length, f stops, shutter speeds, exposure and so on. Of course, they are heavier and more bulky to carry around, but with the digital world now you can do so much.

What type of pictures do you tend to shoot the most?

People pictures...I love photographing people. You can get so many moods and emotions. Right now I am also shooting architecture. I look at it like building a puzzle, a little light here, add some light over there and so on.

What type of art, photography etc. is what you have in your own home?

Artistic photos of my kids when they were under 5 years old. We have one 20x30 print, from the film days, of the kids sitting on luggage at the train station in Cobourg, very cute image. We actually went to the local blue box station, bought a hat for my son, a dress for my daughter and two pieces of luggage. I think it cost about 3 bucks...my son looks like Frank Sinatra in it...it is so cute!

What is one tip you’ve learned to improve your photography?

Get it right in the camera… proper exposure, composition and such. That is the problem with digital photography now, people buy a camera, set it to automatic and click away and then try to fix everything in photoshop. People should learn how exposure works, f stops, shutter speeds, and ISO. When learn how to do that, you open the door for your photography....

When you do portrait work, what is your biggest challenge?

Finding somewhere different to capture the images. I have no problems doing studio type work, but I really dislike it. I like to find different places to take photographs like in a bar, a hotel pool, in the middle of the street...and so on..

What type of photography is more difficult for you?

I can honestly say I don't find any of it particularly difficult anymore. I'm not at all sounding cocky or anything like that...it's just that photography is about light. If you have enough light, you can get the image, if you don't have enough, you need to know how to add the amount needed. I can pretty much shoot anywhere and anything.

Is there a particular photo you just haven’t managed to shoot yet, but you really would like to get?

I would like to photograph, in black and white, an elderly person in their late 90's.

Who influenced your love of photography?

My dad and my kids.

Name one photographer you admire living or dead?

YOUSUF KARSH a wonderful Canadian photographer. If you haven't seen his work I really recommend you check out his images on line... Which shot, up until now, are you most proud of?

http://www.karsh.org/


I actually have three images I am most proud of, two of my kids and one of a wedding. All were taken during the film years...my kids walking hand in hand under 5 yrs old, along a path at Presquile Park during the fall, beautiful colours. The one I described above and one of a bride and groom in a forest. She was walking along a path, he was in the distance, her dress made her look like a fairy princess. The light was coming through the trees ….. it was such an emotional image for them.

If you wish to contact Dave, here are some addresses ......

dave
www.dpowers.ca
facebook :
http://www.facebook.com/davepowersphotography

tweet me:
@davepowersphoto