I've only been posting since October & never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I'd be getting so many regular visits.  Thank you to everyone who keeps coming back for more & thank you to those who take the time to leave a comment.  I'll keep posting if you keep visiting.

Canada Day is one of my favourite holidays, call me patriotic; but something about all that red and white and graphic maple leaves, just tugs on my pride.  This year, Gavin designed his own t-shirt -I think it looks really great, don't you?  It was an easy craft -just draw with crayon on a piece of sandpaper, then iron it to the t-shirt -easy peasy.

Canada Day wouldn't be Canada Day without chocolate ice cream.  What?  That's not an official tradition?? 

By the way, not wanting to lug my heavy baby (camera) around all day, I tossed my trusty Canon Powershot Digital Elph into my purse.  This little treasure is 8 years old -one of the first point & shoot cameras on the consumer market -all 2.0 mega pixels of it.  That's right, you can get a great, well exposed, colour balanced,sharp image from a *2.0 mp point & shoot camera* if you take the time to learn how to use it.  

There was a Native singer on stage & Gavin decided to help her out by drumming out the beat with her.

An annual tradition, self portrait with uncooperative son.  Awwww.  May I mention, this is why I won't shoot you in direct sunlight -I like my clients, friends & family to look 20 times better than I do.

And finally, ended the day with the neighbourhood kids and two packages of jumbo sized sparklers.  Who could ask for a more celbratory day to honour this great country?

Oh yeah, if you didn't know, Canada Day was over on Tuesday at midnight, so enough with the fireworks at all hours, okay?  Thanks.

This feathery little flower, found in my Mother-In-Law's garden, reminds me so of one of Dr. Seuss' little "Horton Hears a Who" flowers. 

The woodpeckers have been drilling away at this tree for a couple of seasons now; it finally gave up and crash landed in the garden this past winter.  Now it is ever so skyscraper-like in appearance, soon to be completely felled.

When I was a student, I shot many rolls of film at my future In-Law's farm.  I've been planning to do an in-depth shoot here for a while now.  I recently seized an opportunity, with a perfectly overcast sky -which quickly turned to rain, which I bravely kept shooting in for a good 5 minutes.  How could I resist when the colours were so saturated, and each step deeper into the field uncovered a new/old treasure?

I'm amazed how much the old machinery has deteriorated over the past 15 or so years, and how much the plant life is taking over the abandoned silo, which I almost completely missed.

It's that time of year; the time when our young ones in the educational system move on.  Graduation time.  Now, you may have children graduating from grade eight, High School, or even University or College -moving into the next important developmental stage of their lives.  Mine, just graduated to... well, the classroom next door.  I'm not sure when the phenomenon of Sr. K's "graduating" began; I certainly don't recall having cap & gown, professional portraits (please, please stop photographing my kid, once a year is more than enough!), diploma, and ceremony when I was in Kindergarten.

Personally, I think it's all just a big photo-op -I mean, the camera-to-kid ratio was ridiculous.  Mine had 3 trained on him the entire time alone----hey, I know what you're thinking; *cough-hypocrite*, but I'm a *professional*, it's my *job*. ;) 

I would have loved to have known what they were told just before walking in; they looked so serious marching to "Pomp and Circumstance".  I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so like any good Mama, I did both.

Yep, I hear ya baby; it was a bit drawn out.

Whew, finally diploma time.  Oh, great, Gavin's the first one!  Hmmmmm, funny now that I think about it.... how he's sitting right at the end, right next to the teachers and they gave him his diploma first... not like they'd expect him to get restless or have an outburst or anything...

Now, my final shot *should* have been the loudly announced "Kodak Moment" of all the Grads tossing their caps into the air, but honestly, I wasn't about bring my second baby (my camera, in case you hadn't guessed) into the crush of the crowd as they pressed upon the little ones with elbows jabbing, and flashes flaring, jockeying for best position.  I did capture some caps flying in the air, but won't post the pic -I'm pretty sure the woman who stood up directly in front of me at the last minute wouldn't want an image of her behind filling the frame posted on the internet. 

Couldn't wait to show a sneak peek at this one.  This family has been anticipating this shoot for a long time.  This was my first shoot at Scanlon Creek in Bradford, which proved to be a very lovely setting, but the mosquitos attacked us in swarms!  

And this is how she looked to me for about 75% of the shoot -on the move!

Thank you "B" family, I hope I've captured some of what you see in your almost 5 year old little honey blonde-I think I have! 

I'm so excited this Spring to keep discovering what my new gardens contain -with each bloom, I'm delighted to find new and ever-changing displays of fresh greens and surprising colour.  I have to admit, I've been coveting my neighbour's Irises on my frequent walks, and have made many a mental note to buy some bulbs in the Fall.  How surprised was I when I discovered I already had some??  And such lovely mixes of yellow & violet -happy me!

Ahhhh, I knew as soon as I felt the lush, soft leaves of this plant that it must be Lambs Ear.  So soft!  This is Gavin's favourite plant; he picked a leaf and wanted to sleep with it, he really loves soft things.

Does this image just scream "lush" to you?  It does to me.

I don't know what plant this is, but it grows like crazy; I had to cut them way back last fall & keep finding new ones in my lawn.  It's rather cactus like with very long tails that lay close to the ground.  I was a amazed when it started budding & revealed these precious, multi-hued blossoms.  Crazy cactus, you've redeemed yourself; I'll put up with your shenanigans & keep you around.

Ah, Life.

Look at the little treasure I found hiding under our air conditioning unit!  I remember my Mom pointing out the plant late last summer and commenting on it, but didn't remember what she had identified it as.  I'm glad I discovered it while it is in bloom -perhaps I can find somewhere to replant it where it will be appreciated more.  This is our first Spring in this house, and I'm still figuring out what plants we have, and what will do well where. 

Now, these lovely lilacs I knew were here & I've been waiting with anticipation for them to bloom!  I have one right outside my office window, which I'm thoroughly enjoying, and a couple out back.  I've always wanted a lilac bush!  Mmmmm, the scent is divine.

This one, I'm excited about because my son really enjoyed them last year; grape vines!  It's fun to watch them grow, and I'm sure he spent hours picking and eating them.  Don't the the new leaves have lovely colouring?

Another new feature here!  This one goes hand in hand with the "Design Inspiration" category, because anyone that knows me, knows I am a big time bargain shopper.  I love the thrift shops, garage sales (in fact, if it wasn't raining out today, I'd be scouring suburbia for treasures at this very moment) and have a very hard time spending full price on things for the house.  Above is my latest Canadian Tire find for $29.99 -can you believe it?  I've been coveting starburst style mirrors for a while now, and recently almost picked one up at Winners for $80.  I controlled myself, then found this one, almost the same when shopping in CT's outdoor decorations aisle, so I assume it can be hung oustside as well.  For me, it's adorning my newly painted chocolate (mmmmmm) feature wall behind our bed.  We're not done in there yet, so expect more design pics in the near future.

My next bargain is below; a Good Will find for $1.99.  Something about the shape and the graduated colour caught my attention.  It has a small ding in the interior lip, but nothing stays perfect for long around here, so I can live with it. Again, anyone that knows me, knows I'm not much for knick knacks, so if I pick something up, I must like it enough to put the effort into dusting it regularly.