New Happenings

The year started off with my happiest hobby, photography.  Except I wasn't the photographer but more like the subject of the photograph.  But that's okay because we took our larger family photographs.  I'm glad we did it on New Years Day because it's an easy date to remember.

And the year is already just flying by.  I'm trying to enjoy every last bit of my maternity leave as well as get ready for the birthday extravaganza week.  January 7th was a birthday party, my nieces bday is on the 10th, followed by my big day on the 12th, followed by my nephew on the 13th..

It's been harder to even get on the computer as Cammie is now a hold onto mom kind of walker or a pick me up kind of gal, followed by a I don't need to nap kind of attitude.  It's all good practice for next month and day care!

Then we just wait until March which gives me a month to adjust to my new back to work schedule..

Here are a sampling of our portraits we took.  It's our first one done as a family and we love them!

The cousins are so cute together!

Our family of 3!

Our cute crawler

All smiles, what she does best!

Next stop, MIL leaves and my parents arrive.  I've gotta soak up all of this time I have off before back to work!

A good Laugh

While visiting the Duncan Raptors, I finally found a bird that loves to laugh and chuckle. Check out the cute video I took of the kookaburra birds who just love to laugh. We did not want to torment them, so it's just a short video.

More to come from our adventures soon!

Bits and Pieces

So we had some visitors in town this weekend which I was lucky enough to get a 4 day weekend to enjoy some of the sunny yet very windy weather.

I'll hopefully be posting bits and pieces from the adventure...

Here's one of the shots.

I loved it!

Swan Lake

I went out to another hidden sanctuary in town this morning. Actually I first went to my swim workout then out to my 9am meet up with a fellow photo friend. It felt great with the cool morning air. There's lots to see but I know I needed to get there a bit earlier. Even better, not being in a rush to go anywhere but just go photograph.

Here's a bit of info about the sanctuary. It's full name is Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary. You can find many different water foul, birds, including lots of humming birds, and various other rodents sneaking around in the bushes.

Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary is a wild oasis in the heart of the urban landscape and includes two distinct ecosystems: the beautiful marshland of Swan Lake and the spectacular Garry oak meadow on Christmas Hill. Both are home to an incredible array of native plants and wild animals.

I wasn't so lucky on my bird finding trip today, but here are a few of the cool shots I liked. The website even lists the birds at the sanctuary and current sightings. So let's show you around.

parts of swan lake.

Following this pair around.

Robin up in a tree.

Red winged black bird.

Heren in flight to land.

Part of Swan Lake. Until the next trip!

Actually you can get here even via bike at the galloping goose trails. It's quiet yet so close to the roads into down town. I definitely want to explore more of the lake.

Week Update

We've had slightly warmer weather lately and lots of fog. At times that can be a great thing if you can get up to the mountains to see the incredible views. This photo was sent to me today. Talk about an incredible view someone had from Cypress in North Vancouver.

As well, I am into week 2 of my triathlon training. Everything is going very well as planned. The hardest part is deciding what I can take out of my workouts or switch for another one. I believe as time goes on, I'll adjust more evenly to the schedule. There will be more adjustments next week also.

I've been extremely proud of myself for making the spinning classes. Last thursday was my second class and it was 1 hr 15 mins long. Everyone in the class was a veteran except for 2 of us beginners! I did a 1 hr 10 min spin class yesterday and am gaining a bit more strength and confidence, but those unseated climbs sure hurt! I can literally feel my Hamstrings toning....

Right now, I'm still concentrated on the masters swimming portion where I am swimming and cross training until April. At that point, I plan to make the full transition to a bit more biking and running also.

And this weekend is my first competition of the new year, on the island thankfully. With my computer adapter dying and so many changes, I've been lucky to blog at all. Busy busy, but that's a good thing!

Enjoy the View!

Taking the Plunge

This weeks Photohunt Theme is Wide
Go to Tnchick.com to participate

I get many comments about the quality of my photography and have known this for quite some time that I should try to publicly sell my work.

I uploaded a few of my favorite photos into my portfolio for sale. You can find a few of the first photos at ImageKind and RedBubble. One of my uploads just happens to be perfect for the photo hunt.

(Wide Angle Views from Interlaken Switzerland during my March 2008 visit.)

I used my wide angle lens for this shot.
You can also view this photo large or buy it on RedBubble.

You can find a link on the left hand side of the blog to more of my work also.

Happy Hunting as it gets closer and closer to Christmas and blogging breaks.

A Visit to Goldstream Provincial Park

Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of visiting Goldstream Provincial Park on a beautiful sunny day, located roughly 17km's from down town Victoria.  The park is the center of attention of the annual salmon run, with beautiful old-growth rain forest as part of your surroundings.  The salmon are found spawning up stream with many onlookers participating in the spectacle.  If you are very lucky, you can also see some Bald Eagles.

The best time to visit the park for the Salmon run is from October until December.  Hike down to the visitors centre to visit the mouth of the river and the Goldstream estuary or through the tunnel to visit the famous waterfalls.

Here is a look at some of the photos from my visit.  Unfortunately I wasn't too pleased with my photos I took.  The weather was tricky for single camera shots as I did not have a tripod with me.  That just means I need to get out and take a few more shots!

 The highway is located just to the left of the park and can be very busy!

You walk into a lush forest with green trees and moss everywhere.

 Head down to the estuary to check out the birds of the area, including eagles.

Walk through this tunnel to find the water falls.

A look at the famous waterfalls.

Fall colors are everywhere.

 

Blue skies.

My favorite shot of the visit along the stream.

In case you wanted to visit this park, Goldstream Provincial Park is located off of Trans Canada Hwy (Hwy #1), and can be best accessed only by car.  Here's a small map of the location.  I plan on going back for another visit soon.

We Are Back

Our weekend was a lot of fun. We did the simplest, easiest camping I've practically ever done. Really you can't call it camping, but it was busy and very fun.




I'm tired but wanted to show you something from someone I met this weekend, a great photographer. This is her work.


Please comment and let me know if you can access Luvu2.com, especially in Canada. One dollar for an email message sent will go to fight aids. It's a great cause and a great photo set.

(update: Unfortunately This campaign only works in Canada,The "One-Life" campaign is strictly a Canadian initiative. Therefore this site can only be accessed by Canadians. Thank you for your understanding")

Touring Vancouver

My visitor Pflight2000 has kept me very busy walking and photographing Vancouver and other near by areas. Here's a look at some of the places we have been lately.

Both of us Photographing

Three House Boats in Coal Harbor

China Town Entrance

Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens

Expecting a flood? Coal Harbour

Gastown buildings

Vancouver Trolleys

And Pflight's big interest - Planes

Not time to chat, we are off to do more things...

Vancouver Sites

Down Town Vancouver and False Creek

You are looking at an area of Vancouver which will become a popular stomping ground for many of the Athletes and parties going on during the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

This is what typical Vancouver weather looks like.

For now, I can't imagine how crowded it will be come as I stand usually alone taking in all of the sites, especially on a day like this.

There is a mini taxi boat which comes to pick up passengers, but it only runs from time to time.

Weekend Photography

P and I headed out for a bit of photography taking over the weekend. What was really different about this outing was that P was taking photos too! I was shocked. But I love his enthusiasm and eye! He has even decided to post on flickr!

Here are a few of my shots from our weekend tour around North Vancouver.

Colorful Vines around our neighborhood.

Deep Cove Harbor on an Autumn Day

It's time to Enjoy the Blue skies.

A Kayak passes by, and something you see much of the population doing.

Looking out from MapleWood Flats
The entire sanctuary is a great place to visit and bird watch on the weekends.

These were just a snapshot of photos from our Sunny Saturday around North Vancouver. You can of course see more of my photos on Flickr.

Remember that Strike

Well that strike is still happening in Vancouver!

Yes - see this link for a short blurb about the strike. The stinkin strike has affected every city around Vancouver because garbage doesn't get picked up regularly because the other transfer stations are over flowing with visitors.

Other bad things which happen are permits are slowed to a grounding 25% of normal besides day cares, rec centres and other essential services are non-existent.

What a long time it's been, some 10 wks almost now.

And we have sunshine today!

I'm off to hopefully take photos today.

Canon Does It

I've been waiting for this update since before Ginnie came to visit us in Vancouver in October 2006. She has a Canon and I've been wanting to get a mini camera for those times I'm on the go (which is daily) caring my large backpack with me. I'm looking for something that is small but not too small yet somewhat state of the art so I don't miss taking shots...

I've still got my Nikon my old Finepix has seen it's day.

So the new Canon Powershot S5 IS is the upgrade to the current model. My hardest decision, is which camera do I get? Something smaller and more compact or do I just wait and get this model. At any rate, I love googling over it! check out the awesome Canon S5 camera here.

What do you think? I still have a list of other cameras on my mind too. Here are a few others.

Product

Panasonic Lumix Digital Camera - DMCTZ3K - Black

Casio Exilim EX-Z700

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

Canon PowerShot G7

Canon PowerShot A710 IS Digital Camera

Canon PowerShot A640

I'm leaning towards a panasonic as it is japanese made and passes 8 tests before they release it for sale.