Reinders in Fredericton

Christmas Photos!

2011-12-29T22:07:00.001-05:00

Christmas Eve Fondue at Mariecke’s!

Christmas Morning – Presents!

Christmas Dinner – Turkey!

-André

Christmas concert video - Alex's song.

2011-12-24T13:13:00.000-05:00

Sledding!

2011-12-24T12:59:00.000-05:00

Some photos from the Fab 40 birthday!

2011-12-21T19:57:00.001-05:00

Visitors from everywhere! I am so happy, and lucky to have friends and family like this!

Sa’ar, Adam, Dad, Marianne, Geraldine, Ted, Mariecke, Randall and Larissa !!!

Christmas Concert

2011-12-21T19:47:00.001-05:00

The kids were great in this years school Christmas concert. Alex was far away and behind some stuff and people - I could not get a good photo of him, but here are a few good ones of Hope.

- André

Can you say surprised!

2011-11-30T16:31:00.001-05:00

Every November for the last 10 years we have had a party with usually 20-30 friends and relatives over. The mix of people changes over time for one reason or another, and we always ask for food bank donations.

This year I turn 40, shortly after party time. Larissa took it upon herself to celebrate my birthday sort of in conjunction with the party, and by organizing a huge surprise.

This is how it went down... Our party was set for Saturday, and I was waiting for Larissa and the kids to pick me up from work when I got an email that my photo shoot that evening was canceled. Oh well. She said she had a challenging day with the kids and she worked hard getting ready for the party and there was not much getting ready left to do, so she hired a sitter, and wanted to go out for dinner.

I said ok.

When I got to the restaurant, I found my sister and brother in-law. I found my aunt and uncle from Saint John, and I found my dad and his wife from Cranbrook, BC! I was totally surprised!

After I calmed down a bit, and settled in, I ordered a drink. The person who brought it out was one of my best friends from Ontario! I was speechless!

I gave him a big hug and we chatted for a few minutes. I had a big grin on my face and was still stunned.

We ordered a bottle of wine, and when it came, who was holding it but my other best friend, all the way from Israel!

Everyone was concerned that I was going to have a heart attack. :-)

We had a fantastic dinner and an awesome party the next night. It was so good to see everyone, it had been so long. We had a good but short visit.

Larissa had been planning since July.

I think it still hasn't sunk in all the way yet.

- André

Buskers Festival in Saint John was a Blast!

2011-07-23T23:01:00.000-05:00

Larissa is working her a$$ off in Saint John, and we decided to pay her a visit, and try to escape the heat in Fredericton.

It was great, there were awesome acts and the kids had fun on the activities. One was a human hamster wheel…I love my new phone (Motorola Atrix) It has 720p video! Well the mic actually is useless, but I overlayed some royalty free music, and POW!

Big Bug!

2011-07-03T09:30:00.001-05:00

The other day Alex calls me over to a spot in the back yard and asks me – what is that?

Holy ~~Cra~~ Moly! I think to myself….it looks like a giant wasp – or hornet, maybe a queen! It is slowly walking through the grass, I mean slowly, so I am not to worried about anyone getting stung. We go and get a little toy bug house, and let it walk right in.

This thing is mostly black, with some yellow legs and some yellow on the head. The body is at least twice the size of any normal wasp or hornet, about 2-3 inches long. Then there is the tail or stinger (don’t know what at this point) which is about 4-5 inches long!

I transferred it to a glass container so I could photograph it (I was in the middle of shooting jewelry so everything was setup anyway)

After a little research we found that it is a Giant ichneumon wasp. Harmless, but in the wasp family – this is a female, and the long tail is an ovipositor – you know for positing ovis.

It is for laying eggs into wood boring larva. We let it go…

- André

More sledding and funny faces!

2011-04-27T20:17:00.000-05:00

I realize in seeking to update this page that I have a lack of photos of the family. Well here are some sledding photos from Feb - a great day with tons of snow and a few freinds!

Then, in March - NOTHING HAPPENED! ;)

On to April....a few funny faces thanks to Hope and a wide angle lens...

Oh, and a decent photo of myself - our photo club had a portrait swap event where we could ge on the other side of the camera for a change!

Thanks!
-André

We went Sledding on Jan. 15th!

2011-01-17T20:12:00.000-05:00

Wheeeeee!

Diggin out the oldies!

2011-01-17T20:02:00.000-05:00

In an effort to clean house, I have been digitizing some VHS tapes (home movies mostly). I made a short clip of some hail that hit Calgary the day Alex was born - July 15, 2004.

Blast from the Past!

Kids at the Park

2010-11-13T14:59:00.001-05:00

Last month while Larissa was Hennaing for the Boys and Girls club, the kids and I played in the adjacent park….

Hope’s Hallowe’en Costume

2010-11-08T22:02:00.001-05:00

My own school photos. :p

2010-11-02T18:49:00.001-05:00

I have taken to snubbing the school photos of the kids, and taking my own. I like them better and so does Larissa.

Here they are!

-André

Kids @ Hayes Falls

2010-08-24T09:30:00.000-05:00

Just a quick photo update - this was shot at Hayes Falls a few weeks ago on our hike.

Hope and Alex climbing up, and up, and up!

-Andre

Trip to St. Andrews with Friends

2010-08-22T15:45:00.002-05:00

Amanda and I … and the kids went for a trip to St. Andrews yesterday. Larissa stayed home to work and do taxes. I was originally planning to head to Fundy, and Amanda was going to go to St. Martins – but the tides were no cooperating and we decided to go together for a trip. We went to the Kingsbrae Botanical Gardens and then had a picnic at the massive play structure nearby.
What an adventure 2 adults and 5 kids aged 9 and under. I missed the turn off and ended up going on 4 to 630 then down to 1 and back over to 127, instead of just taking 3 to 127. Oh, and we had one roadside shower after Cassidy tossed her cookies. :)
All was well until Alex had to join in the fun and leave his cookies at the playground :P
Poor kids…..poor adults….
In the end we all had fun, and made it back in one piece.
Photos…..

Ladybug Release

What the heck it that!

-André

Bushwhacking in Western NB

2010-08-17T21:22:00.003-05:00

A very good friend of ours recently bought some land near Florenceville – and we had the pleasure of visiting her and her son. Relaxing out on the ‘back 40’ was great and time flew by – before we knew it we had spent 8 hours there.
We arrived and had a chat, and soon set out on a ‘little’ tour of the property. I wouldn’t say we got lost, we just over shot our destination a couple of times ;)
We had a great trek, found a part of a moose skull, and had a tangle with some bald face hornets. Most of us thought of this as a fun, but long adventure – until the hornets showed up. Lucky for everyone else, that Larissa is a magnet for bugs of any kind. I think we actually stopped on their nest! Larissa got 8-12 stings and the rest of us were spared – thanks Larissa!
Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to just get stung repeatedly, she had to go and develop a skin infection from it – poor girl.
After the ‘adventure’ we relaxed and had a great lunch, and then time just slipped away….

“Moose Jaw”

“Bushwhacking”

“Local flora and fauna”

“Post-Hornet tangle – more Bushwhacking”

“Flora…or….Flower?” ;)

-André

PEI trip #2

2010-08-11T21:22:00.001-05:00

Our second trip to PEI was with 3 other families (14 people – 8 adults and 6 kids) in a fantastic 5 bedroom ‘Villa’ for 1 week in July. It was awesome!

Pictures…

View Full Album

Enjoy!

-André

More practice on the bikes

2010-04-11T18:51:00.001-05:00

We went out again tonight for some fresh air, and more practice biking. Alex is learning fast! Here are some more photos….

The bikes are out – and the training wheels are off!

2010-04-09T18:01:00.001-05:00

Alex has been making great progress on his bike – without training wheels! We went over to the school last night and he is now starting himself without a push from Dad. I am so proud!

Hope has outgrown her bike and we are on the search for a new one…we may even have one this weekend for her!

I can see this will be a great summer for bike riding :)

...um...more video of Hope skiing.... :)

2010-02-25T17:24:00.003-05:00

Wednesday night - half price at Crabbe Mountain. Hope has four 1 hour lessons under her belt and 5 hours of skiing on top of that, before this video was made. We had a great night of skiing.

-André

More Skiing! The Kids are Fantastic!

2010-02-21T20:43:00.002-05:00

We (Me, Hope, Alex, Mariecke, Elizabeth, and Aylish) went to Crabbe Mountain today to put the kids in lessons. The 3 biggest kids got suited up and had a great time. It was snowing quiet a bit – big flakes, and it was close to freezing. It was a beautiful day! Hope was the only one in her lesson and took off to the big hill, while Alex and Elizabeth were on the little hill in the same class – just the 2 of them.

Here are a few photos from the morning…the kids just love skiing, and it was great to see Hope and Alex skiing together after their lessons were over.

While the lessons we going on, Mariecke, Aylish and I were in the lounge watching and taking photos (and video). It was a really nice morning!

Old Skis - New Skis

2010-02-16T13:58:00.000-05:00

Well, I am getting back into skiing as you can tell by my recent posts. I took my old skis (Rossignol Viper X) to a local ski shop (Ski Wolf) to get them checked out, and tuned up.

Unfortunately they (Ski Wolf) missed the checking out part and only did the tuning up part. When I got to the Ski hill on Sunday, I could not put my boot into the binding. Something obviously wrong - seems broken and unfixable. Ahh well, these things happen.

What really rubs me the wrong way is that they did not inspect the ENTIRE ski, and proceeded to do a tune up on an unusable ski, which I had the priviledge of paying 30+ dollars for.

When I went to complain about their lack of attention to detail, they pulled the work slip - which said only 'tune-up'. It did note that I dropped off a boot as well.....hmm wonder why.... They just looked at me and said - we did what was on the slip. All I know is, I didn't fill out the slip, they did. I also know that I told them that I hadn't skied for a few years, and I needed an inspection and a tune up. I also said this over the phone before I came in. They suggested that they could maybe talk to the owner (?) and they could maybe put the value of the tune up toward purchasing new skis - since I hadn't skied on them. Haven't heard back from them yet.

Nice. Well, I am not going back there (Ski Wolf).

On a happier note, I may have found a great pair of skis at Sport Chek - New 2007 Volkl AC3 Unlimited.

I will update soon!

Valentines Day Trip to Crabbe Mtn.

2010-02-14T14:43:00.002-05:00

Hope and I were the only ones interested in feeling the snow beneath our skiis today. Hope did awesome! See for yourself! She is also sporting new Goggles and a Neck Warmer!

Some Ski Pics

2010-01-30T21:01:00.001-05:00

Just a couple of snaps of the backseat on our way to the ski hill last weekend.

-André

Skiing at last!

2010-01-24T22:10:00.003-05:00

The kids were both interested in going skiing, and we finally took them out this weekend. Larissa went with our kids and the Leavitts for an hour lesson on Saturday. I joined them today (Sunday). When I say I joined them – none of the adults actually went skiing, we took the kids.

Today the weather was nicer, and we brought along the video camera – Larissa was the expert operator, and we got about 20 min of tape. Hope had a fantastic time and we are all floored by her ability and progress. Please keep in mind that I spent a couple of hours with her when she was maybe 4 years old, and then she had an hour yesterday, and another hour today. Here is a clip of Hope on the bunny hill during her lesson at Crabbe Mountain.

I will also be hitting the slopes soon....

Here is a clip of Alex - also during his lesson!

-André

Post XMAS Sliding!

2009-12-31T15:48:00.002-05:00

Alex goes sliding down the hill - watch for the bonus bump!

Hope takes the same run, but a little faster - wheeee!

Christmas in Fredericton

2009-12-30T08:17:00.002-05:00

We had a great Christmas this year! Low key and stress free!

Most of our shopping and wrapping was done early (still in Dec. but not all on the 24th!) and we went to my sister's for Christmas eve fondue - lots of fun!. As for Christmas morning, this year we setup the tree in the basement by the fireplace - it was nice and cozy. We had a great morning, with a few fun presents, but not too many.

Christmas dinner was quiet - no turkey which was fine by me. We had most of the trimmings, but with chicken instead, a nice cozy dinner for the four of us.

I did not take any holidays, but with the 4 day Xmas break, there was lots of time to go sledding with the kids, and play games, etc.

I have some photos somewhere - they will be posted when I get to it!

-André

Olympic Flame comes through Fredericton!

2009-11-26T08:55:00.001-05:00

A couple of days ago Larissa found the route the Olympic Flame was going to take through Fredericton - and it happened to go right along a street where a friend of ours lived! Larissa called her up and asked if we could come over.

Yesterday around 4pm we headed over for a short visit and then at around 5pm we headed outside to wait - a short 20 min. later the processional began to arrive. The kids were excited as RBC handed out tambourines, and Coca-cola handed out bottles that lit up as well as some soft drinks.

We were lucky because we were next to a torch relay point - there was a runner next to us on the street waiting to be passed the flame! We all got to see the torch up close (neat, modern, streamlined things). We all cheered and made noise as the runner approached, and we got to see the transfer of the flame.

Originally I wasn't all that excited, but happy to oblige the family. In the end, it was a neat experience, I don't know if or when I will be that close again. It was great to see the kids reactions - and Hope wrote her experiences down as soon as we got home.

I am glad we went!

-André

Home spun school photos

2009-11-14T17:59:00.005-05:00

Long time since a post - so much to tell and so little time. The next tid-bits will be out of order, but better than.....

ANYWAY!

I elect to shoot my own 'school' photos for my kids, and here they are...

During the shoot - Alex made many faces (as part of the agreement to sit still...)

Enjoy!
-André

Square foot gardening

2009-07-27T18:48:00.003-05:00

My dad gave me a suggestion to look into square foot gardening. We setup three 4' x4' boxes in the front, and two 4'x2' boxes in the back. The basic idea is that you get a great soil mixture (1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite, and 1/3 compost) - and you put it in a box about 6-8 inches deep, and divide it into one foot square sections. Plant accordingly. I spent about $100 on the soil mixture, which filled way more than the original 3 boxes. and about $100 on the cedar (8 inch high/wide) and screws and brackets for the front boxes. In the future, the idea is to just top up the soil with compost for nutrients, as the peat and vermiculite are just soil conditioners. The boxes in the back were made with leftover 6 inch wide spruce planks.

The 2 units in the back (16 squares) have mostly tomato plants, and pepper plants.

Here are photos of the 3 in the front:

The 48 squares have things like...
12 flower squares: Geraniums, marigolds, and more...
Herb squares: mint, basil, cilatro, parsley, rosemary, marjoram, chives
Vegetables squares: carrots, beans, tomatos, pepper, lettuce, green onions, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli.

We have one that 'almost' followed the rules, it is against our fence at the end of the driveway, and is about 20 inches x 5 feet. I divided it in half and planted 2 rows of beans, about half are growing...

-André

Alex turns 5!

2009-07-26T06:14:00.006-05:00

Alex is growing up! He starts school in the fall - wow - time flies!

Here are few shots from the party!
:)

-André

Alex Likes Soccer!

2009-07-20T20:32:00.005-05:00

Here are a few photos from the last time out, he has come out of his shell!

Game Shot

Practice Exercises

Mom vs. Alex

Action Shot!

Inaction Shot!

Alex plays goal!

-André

Hope is 8!

2009-07-06T19:21:00.006-05:00

A few photos from the birthday party - Larissa went all out, and created a handmade pinata, and a clue based puzzle for the kids to play. There was skipping, and presents and lots of fun!

...and of course dad was there taking photos!

-André

Alex's Soccer Collage!

2009-07-06T19:03:00.003-05:00

Can't forget Alex!

-André

Soccer

2009-06-06T22:15:00.003-05:00

Both the kids are in soccer, Alex has yet to play. I am having fun trying out some sports photography, and playing with building photo collages.

-André

Cute photo

2009-06-04T16:06:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to share a cute photo of Hope I used on her Birthday Invitation.

She will be 8. Yup, 8.

- André

TV is so exciting.

2009-04-13T20:00:00.001-05:00

I couldn't resist.

Sugar Bush!

2009-04-13T19:55:00.003-05:00

Also at the end of March, we went to a Sugar bush tour and breakfast. Larissa found a little spot about an hour away, and we had a great time. It was a little muddy - but the breakfast was great - and the people friendly!

The maple candy was awesome - and the only let down of the morning, is that they had nothing to sell us.

Saint John outing

2009-04-13T19:48:00.002-05:00

A little over a week ago, Larissa took off to Toronto for the CAFABA Bodessy show. The kids and I went to Saint John to the Museum and the Cherrybrook Zoo. As there is still snow on the ground, the zoo couldn't be called busy - but we had a fun day anyway!

STEM Expo

2009-04-13T19:39:00.004-05:00

Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

At the end of March, Hope participated in a Science fair, held at the local high school. She and Larissa prepared an information board about Vermicomposting (or worm composting).

Hope had a great time, and loved every minute!

Hope and her neighbour

Part of the floor activities and displays

Hope and her exhibit

Hope demonstrates static electricity (Van de Graaff generator)

Cousin Elizabeth is 5!

2009-04-13T14:40:00.004-05:00

A few photos from her party!

Growing up...

2009-03-16T22:11:00.002-05:00

7 going on teenager....Hope on the couch - oblivious to her environment, listening to her MP3 player.

I feel old :)

-Dad.

More fun in the snow!

2009-03-14T13:13:00.007-05:00

Here are some photos of the kids playing in Mariecke's yard last month...

...and some of Hope and her friends skating...

-André

Time flies!

2009-03-08T13:23:00.016-05:00

A lot has happened since my last post - where to start...I will try to keep it in reverse chronological order for consistency, so most recent first!

My memory is quite bad actually - so I sorted through some recent photos in order to get some blog fodder.

February brought record snowfall - 90cm ! (the average for Feb. is 50cm) We got a huge storm near the end of the month:

In Feb in Fredericton there is a Winterfest - we didn't have all that much fun the last time we went, so we made our own, and invited a friend of Hope's along:

As Hope gets older, she gets more home work. She is a smart cookie and Larissa has spoken with her teachers to augment her curriculum. She is now working on some of the Grade 3 content.

Looks like some dress up going on here - we have Alex the cowboy, and I suppose Hope is his trust steed. :)

Last but not least - they are still trying to get our bathroom right - don't get me started.

January was quiet, we sent skating a couple of times with our new skates, and kept the bird feeders going. We get quite a few types of birds, and they are fun to watch. As always I was playing around with a camera or two - here are some shots of the kids, and the birds.

December was a busy month, with Christmas Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Concert, and even a Christmas Storm!

Christmas this year was great! It was low key - not too many gifts, and between families we somehow got away with not preparing a big meal.

Christmas Eve was spent at my sister's house (Mariecke). We always have fondue on Christmas eve. ALWAYS (well I might be lying, I think we delayed it a couple of days one year because Mariecke arrived on the 26th or something - but only once!)
Larissa's mom, Marnie, joined us out east for Christmas this year as well. It was a full house that night with Randall's parents as well - fun!.

Dec. 22 2008 saw a huge storm hit the Maritimes, the worst part about it was the wind. At about 2am, Larissa woke me up to show me something. Our 10x20 foot temporary garage was blown into the back yard - and resting upside down partially against the shed. The amazing thing was that it missed our power lines, and our neighbour's as well. Another amazing thing was that even though our van was inside at the time, it only sustained minor damage ($1500 estimate). The auto shelter was weighted down with 6 concrete cinder blocks - the whole think must have been blown up and over in one motion. 180 degrees in the air, about 20 feet into the back yard and over a 6 foot fence. It could have been worse, it could have jumped up and down on the van, it could have taken out power lines, etc. We watched it for about 45 min. in the middle of the night as the wind blew it back and forth - a few feet from the bottom-most lines (probably phone). We decided it was not safe to go out and try to cut the tarpaulin cover - we were hoping to disable the massive kite. Oh, we didn't get another one. We won't get another one.

Dec. 17th
Hope participated in her school's Christmas concert, it was fun to see her on stage. Here she is beside a couple of her friends.

End of Nov:
Apparently Hope had the little digital camera, and wandered around the house snapping away. Here is a photos of Larissa (which I converted into BW)

- André

Party & Food Bank

2008-11-23T13:13:00.002-05:00

Last night we had a great get together, well I had fun anyway!

We asked for Food Bank donations again this year, and we did great! We collected 66 items.

Here is a funky wide angle HDR shot of the haul - thanks to everyone!

-André

Free Apples

2008-10-16T13:29:00.002-05:00

A co-worker directed me to her sister's house for free apples. They have 30 trees and were not interested in touching them this year. We went out with our sister-in-law and her kids and picked tone of apples. We made applesauce, apple bread, apple pancakes, etc.

These photos were part of a test of some really old, but well kept (frozen) film.

-André

Trip to Ontario to visit

2008-08-31T19:12:00.006-05:00

I had the opportunity to go to Ontario twice this summer. The first reason/excuse was that my cousin was getting married. The second was that one of my best friends was hauling his family over from Israel. Yay!! I think it had been 6 years?!
My flight was early - 5:40 AM - nice sunrise, eh?

On my first day we all went to a play and splash park near Adam's house - most of the kids had fun, except Liam, he fell and hurt himself, and, well didn't do much for the rest of the time at the park. We were down by a marina, it was nice to be near the water.

We disobeyed the signs, and fed the seagulls anyway. Here is Sa'ar with his youngest, Ely.
It was nice to spend some quality time with everyone, especially the kids - I feel I know them better now. Day 2 led us to an indoor Ball themed activity centre - the kids and the adults had a great time - it was also Liam's 5th birthday!

Here is Ben, Adam's oldest. Lots of energy! Wonderful kid.

...and here is Sam, very friendly and lots of smiles!

On the second last day (day 3) we went to another park (its all about the kids - I should know!) Here is a shot os Sa'ar and Liam.

I would have to say that this would be a typical shot of Sa'ar and Adam - deep in discussion - Sa'ar not believing any of it! ;

An improptu family shot including the previously unseen Hagit!

And finally - the 3 of us - met in high school - still friends 20 years, and 6 (almost 8) kids later, and thousands of miles apart. This weekend showed me that we have all gone our seperate ways, and matured differently - but make no mistake we are still great friends - best friends.

Single Parent

2008-08-30T20:04:00.002-05:00

Larissa left for Calgary EARLY Tuesday morning (same flight I took to T.O.) at 5:40 am. Since then I have been a single parent with a cold. We enlisted Lorraine to watch the kids while I was at work from Tuesday-Thursday. I took Friday off. With me being sick - I ended up in bed on Tuesday and Wednesday while the kids were at Lorraine's. I managed to drag myself into work on Thursday.

So far so good - last year at this time the worms were trying to commit suicide (you may remember).

Nothing like that yet...I managed to get Hope to her riding lesson on Wednesday evening, and the kids and I have been happy, busy and well fed for the most part.

On Friday I took a pint of blueberries and the family to Mariecke's - she made everyone blueberry pancakes for breakfast. We stayed all morning for a play and a visit. We ran home for a quick lunch and then met the Bober clan at the theater for 'Horton Hears a Who' - a $2 end of summer matinee special.

On Saturday (today) the weather was nicer, and we headed down to the Craft fair/ exhibition that was going on at Officer's square. Hope and Alex played with some clay and Hope also painted some pictures. We listed to some live music and then headed home for lunch. After a lazy early afternoon, we went to Odell park to play, walk and feed the ducks. We ended up at Mariecke's for dinner. She provided the accessories and the BBQ - we brought the meat! The kids played - and I had the opportunity to visit with Randall - haven't seen him in a while.

Tomorrow morning we go to the Country Pumpkin to see the animals and playground - then to Green Village for Butterflies and ice cream. Yum! Butterflies! ;)

Haven't decided on the afternoon - maybe a bike ride!

New Look

2008-08-06T12:23:00.002-05:00

Just an FYI - I have changed the my Photo Sharing website to a Blog, and will try to keep this blogs focussed (pun intended) on family!

Here be the new spot:
http://imagemusings.blogspot.com/

-André

Mourning Doves in the backyard.

2008-07-31T19:54:00.003-05:00

...well the same one - but 2 different shots...just hanging out on the umbrella support bar, gettin' wet in the rain.

We have many birds visiting our backyard:

Mourning Doves, Grackles, Black Capped Chickadees, Ruby Throated Humming Birds, Robins, Chipping Sparrows, Purple Finches, and American Goldfinches.

Taken with my Canon Digital Rebel XT and Canon EF 70-210mm f3.5-f4.5 lens.

Settings: 210mm, f4.5, 1/200 sec., ISO 400, handheld through the kitchen window.

-André

Alex's Birthday!

2008-07-31T19:24:00.005-05:00

We had some people over - Larissa made a funky cake - and we had a nice afternoon.

Photos....

colour taken on the Olympus Verve....

...b/w taken on my little 1951 Zeiss Ikon Nettar 6x6 folding camera (517/16) example

...and a video thank you for the 'awesome' marble tower from Gran Jan and Ian

- Andre

Paul and Monisha's Wedding

2008-07-20T04:31:00.001-05:00

Blah Blah Blah to come....

Some photos here: http://pmwedding.50webs.com/

-André

Organic, Natural and all that.

2008-07-20T04:14:00.005-05:00

One thing I love about Larissa is her dedication to the environment, and using natural and organic products. We are doing it more and more these days. A few years ago, Larissa found natural toothpaste - actually a few different brands. There were lots of options, Peppermint, Wintergreen, Fennel (the licorice flavour took some getting used to). The kids were using flavours like Bubblegum, mint, orange, etc.

I 'qualified' to use these more expensive toothpastes once I stopped smoking. Larissa figured it was a bit of a contradiction to use an all natural toothpaste to get out smokers breath :)

Anyway, fast forward a number of years, and 2 new flavours show up the other day - the kids got Strawberry (which Alex hates). And we got....wait for it....

"Natural Tea Tree Oil Toothpaste - Ginger Flavoured"

My first thought is Yuch! Then I think....YEEECH! But, I did sorta get used to the fennel taste....so I gave it a whirl.

YUCH!

Maybe I will get used to it? I told Larissa it wasn't the greatest, and got "poo poo'd" - until she tried it - I think I like it more than she does.

At least I am not going crazy! Did I mention I wasn't sure what day it was on Friday?...or was that Thursday...

-André

>>> Comments from the other half <<<>

That toothpaste is nasty.

I tried it, thinking to myself "I'll show you all..." but then my plotting and "told-you-so"ing quickly became the least of my worries, as I was wondering suddenly: How am I supposed to brush my teeth when I am wretching in the sink? This could create a vicious circle... Brush, vomit, brush, vomit... I could be there for days! I was further puzzled by this extreme body reaction, especially when ginger is said to assist in preventing nausea. Hmm... something for another scientist to work out.

André said to me: "I like mint toothpaste." Mint. Mint. I hear you. I also like mint. I will pick up mint when I run out today for sushi rice. I wonder if ginger and tea tree might be used with the sushi as a wasabi substitute? Hmmm...

Dunbar Falls walk with the kids

2008-07-08T18:56:00.003-05:00

Hope, Alex and I went for a short hike to Dunbar Falls last Sunday morning. It is about a 15 min. drive from the house, and then a 15-20 min. walk in from the road. Nice and Easy! We saw a toad along the way, too!

All the photos were taken with my tiny point and shoot Olympus Verve 4 MP.

-André

Canada Day!

2008-07-02T16:06:00.005-05:00

Mariecke and I took a short trip to the Canada Day "Block Party" on the Green. We visited Larissa who was working, and had a picnic lunch. After, we took the kids to the carnival rides and had some coton candy and ice cream. 3 hours was enough for us and the kids - although they didn't think so ;)

Gotta have sunscreen!

Waiting outside the ATM

RIDES!!

ICE CREAM!

- André

Vacation

2008-07-01T21:08:00.001-05:00

placeholder until I get it done

Bathroom redo is almost redone!

2008-06-16T18:51:00.005-05:00

- André

Busy! Busy!

2008-06-09T11:56:00.004-05:00

Well - I was hoping to update this earlier! We are back in the house...2 weeks now I think. We are so happy to be back in - and there are only a few things left to take care of. With summer upon us we are busy getting reinstalled, and putting effort into the garden and yard.

I tried to carve out some time to take some photos in the yard the other day..I had about 20 min. before the rain started to fall. I was able to get this photo with my franken-camera With an adaptor I was able to put an old (40 years old?) Nikon lens on my Canon digital camera. I chose to do this to get a Macro lens on the cheap!

Neighbour's Lilac - Canon 20D with Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 lens

The old play structure is not doing so well - I promised the kids I would make a bigger and better one. The lumber will be delivered on Tuesday. On Saturday, the kids (mainly Hope) and I deconstructed the old one.

We have been missing our friends - it was amazing how cut off we were just being in an apartment on the other side of the river! Well we started to fix that by having Mariecke and Randall and the kids over on Sunday for a BBQ. Mariecke arrived in the afternoon, and Randall came after work.

- by Andre

Doing a little photo sorting

2008-05-18T19:38:00.004-05:00

Found a couple nice photos from our trip to King's Landing during the Maple Sugar Festival.

Taken with Ilford FP4+ b/w film on my Canon Elan 7N.

-Andre

BOWLING!

2008-05-17T22:18:00.002-05:00

Larissa is away, and Mariecke and I and the kids go bowling! We got in 1/2 a string before the kids lost interest :)

- Andre

TILE!

2008-05-13T21:47:00.002-05:00

The bathroom is tiled!

-Andre

Alex and an aging Norman

2008-05-12T21:13:00.002-05:00

-Andre

More house photos!

2008-05-12T21:06:00.004-05:00

We are almost there! (ya, I really have no idea)

Photos from last weekend....

Family Room - new colour - no longer urine yellow!

Family Room - new colour

Lower bathroom - new colour - no longer peach-ish

Living room

Living room

Entrance

Upstairs bathroom (the tile is now in, more photos soon!)

Hope's room

- Andre

A pony named Candy

2008-05-06T18:09:00.006-05:00

Here are an assortment of photos from last week's trip to the barn. Hope loves riding, the instructor thought her face may hurt after the lesson from smiling so much! It is nice that winter is over and they are out of the barn. This was my second trip out to watch Hope ride. I had fun taking photos - it was a lot warmer than the last time I was there!

Getting Ready

In the Arena

Misc shots of Alex, etc. around the farm.

Back to Hope...

Candy

Leader of the Pack

Alex finds another cat...

All done for the day.

-Andre

House Update

2008-05-06T17:20:00.003-05:00

Well things are coming along - we just began our fourth week out of the house...we hope to be back in soon. These photos are from last Saturday.

Family room - almost put back together now, just needs some trim. It has a new colour - same as the living room. No more urine yellow!

Living room - looking good - again, it just needs some trim.

Entrance -all painted, just need trim too.

The bathroom has the new tub in, and is all primed. We have the fixtures, but are waiting on the tile and vanity. All new!

Hope's room - same state as the other rooms....

Lower bathroom - lagging behind - needs fixtured remounted and a coat of paint.

It is nice to see progress and a light at the end of the tunnel!

-Andre

WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE!

2008-05-02T20:41:00.008-05:00

Arial shot from a website - southside (downtown) on top.
Northwest of Fredericton taken by a co-worker
Northwest of Fredericton taken by a co-worker. This home owner tried to build a dyke.

Photos I (Andre) took on Thursday night (May 1, 2008) when the family went for a walk downtown to survey the flood waters.

- by Andre

Painting?

2008-04-19T20:44:00.004-05:00

You are probably wondering how the painting is going - well we hit a snag - there was an ice dam on the roof, and it forced the melting water up under the shingles, and, well you can guess from there. Insurace has it covered, except for the roof. We have bought a new one of those, the stuck it on earlier this week.

We have been relocated to a furnished 2 bedroom apartment on te south side of the river. We have been here for almost a week now.

Here are some photos from the house that I took today:

Hope's room

Kitchen full of stuff

Livingroom

Bathroom

Dumpster in front yard

Family room

Front Entrance

Front

- by Andre

VIDEO!

2008-03-26T21:35:00.004-05:00

I just noticed that I can add videos!

Here is one that I took on my little Olympus Verve digital camera that I bought from Dad.

"Hope on the Slope"

- André

Dining room in HDR

2008-03-26T20:56:00.007-05:00

OK - the Livingroom has been painted, and it is now the Diningroom. WHAT!? - you may say....

Over XMAS we had a lot of people over for dinner, so we moved the couch into the kitchen and the table into the livingroom to handle the 18 of us.

We liked it that way!

The kitchen is like a cozy café, and our wonderful (and large) dining room suite has room to breath, expand and entertain.

I decided to take a couple of photos to share (similar to what I would do for a client)...

We bought a couple of matching lamps to keep the symmetry.

Now - what is HDR? HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. This is where you take a bunch of photos and combine them. Why? Well, you take some photos that are dark too keep details in the highlights, and some photos that are bright, to keep details in the shadows. Then they are merged to keep detail everywhere!

I have been investigating some options and playing around - here are some examples. (I also want to find out if it could help in the Real Estate photo shots)

This is from Enfuse:

and this is from qtpfsgui (there are more options - harder to get a good image) :

And finally - you can get really extreme - and man does it look wierd!

Oh - here is what the photo looks like when you just shoot with no flash, and put the camera on auto:

Painting Time

2008-02-21T08:47:00.003-05:00

The goal is to paint about half of the inside of the house before the nice weather comes - so we can be outside having fun, and not inside painting.

Here is the run down (we will post photos later)
Living room / dining room: same colour - needs another coat or 2 and some patching.
Kitchen: same colour - needs another coat.
Upstairs hall: same colour - needs another coat.
Kids rooms: new colours!
Downstairs hall: patching and another coat or 2
Office: new colour required!

So far the living room has been cleared and patched - painting scheduled for this weekend!

If anyone has tips for painting the entrance walls in a spilt level, please let us know! They are about 12-15 feet high.....

-André

Glad we moved here

2008-02-21T08:04:00.003-05:00

Well, last Saturday was a good day - my niece had to go to the hospital.

Now, before you ask, I DO love my niece. I describe it as a good day, because it illustrated one of the reasons we moved here.

FAMILY.

I got a call in the morning from my sister, who told me that my niece went into the hospital late the night before. She wanted to know if I could help her out. We gladly dropped everything, and I went to pick up my sister and her other daughter, and brought them over to our house. Larissa looked after the little one, while I took my sister to the hospital. I switched my sister for my brother-in-law, who had been up all night, and took him home for a nap. They came home from the hospital later that day, all seems well.

I am happy we moved here.

-André

Ukrainian Christmas Eve

2008-01-12T21:38:00.000-05:00

Last, but not least of the holiday festivities - Ukrainian Christmas! For the eve of this occasion, Larissa made an awesome meal full of Slavic delights! We has 15 at the table(s).

Here is Steven, lounging along our kitchen counter / eating area. He looks like he is ready to eat. Randall, Mariecke, Jeff and Jenn (oh, and Steve too, in the second shot!). You can see the couch that was moved into the old dining area of the kitchen, in order to accomodate the tables in the living room of the house. Well, that is my new Kitchen Couch in Larissa's Bistro. I love it there, and we are most pleased to have the dining room set all together again in our old living room - where we eat together every night. Yay! Jeff and Jenn, and of course, the big spread of food with everyone ready to eat! Well, everyone except Alex and me (Larissa) - Alex had a fever, and ended up tucked in bed just after the start of dinner. Don't worry - he had perogies and borscht the next day, when he was feeling better! Here is the gang, getting started on borscht and braided bread. MMM... it was a yummy night... I think I made about 10 different dishes in all.

-by André (with comments added by Larissa, after initial posting!)

New Years Eve 2007!

2008-01-12T21:31:00.001-05:00

Back to the Leavitt's place for another eve! This time it was of the New Year's variety. Fun! Fun! Fun!

-by André

Christmas Dinner at our place with the Bobers

2008-01-12T20:27:00.000-05:00

A quiet dinner at our house - just 9 of us :) - yummy food!

-by André

Christmas Morning

2008-01-12T20:18:00.001-05:00

Well, Santa found our house! We had a wonderful morning, and the kids were really excited. Here are few shot of the antics.

-by André

Christmas Eve @ the Leavitt's house.

2008-01-12T20:03:00.000-05:00

Four families gathered at my sister's place for Christmas eve. Traditionally we do a fondue - this year was no different - just more people! We had 3 fondue pots going - two oil and one cheese. YUMMY!

-by André

Gingerbread Castle

2008-01-12T19:48:00.001-05:00

Every year we build a gingerbread house. Well, Larissa builds it and the kids and I decorate it. This year Larissa out did herself and built a gingerbread castle!

This year Larissa also got into some of the decorating by creating a few characters, a Knight, a King, a Princess, and a maiden. These were placed around the castle to finish it off! The kids and I slapped on the colour!

-by André

Jesus is Dead.

2007-12-23T01:18:00.001-05:00

The other night, the kids turned off most of the lights in the living room. By Christmas Tree light, Hope started reading a little Christmas tree ornament book to Alex. At one point, she looked up at Larissa, and asked "Will we still celebrate Christmas after Little Lord Jesus dies?"

Larissa, casually looked over her shoulder and said "Oh, Jesus is dead."

Well, Alex started crying, so Larissa piped up again..."Oh, Alex - Jesus has been dead for, like, 2000 years." Didn't help.

We have never seen Alex so upset - he must have cried and moped around for 30 min.

Larissa is not allowed to explain anything to the kids for a while.

-by André

Horses and Christmas

2007-12-22T16:35:00.001-05:00

NO, we did not get Hope a horse for Christmas!

This past week I had the opportunity to go along with Hope to her riding lesson. She is a good little rider, and good with her 'horse lesson' horse (pony actually) - called Candy.

Earlier in the day I took a couple hours from work to go and see Hope's Christmas performance at school - she looked so cute up on stage!

-by Andre

Photos from the Workshop

2007-12-10T22:14:00.000-05:00

On November 24th and 25th, the Village of Gagetown held Christmas in the Village – where local artisans and shops welcome guests to do some special Christmas shopping. Photo Fredericton organized a Field Trip / Workshop and a number of us went out there and had fun shooting and teaching. While I was initially not overly excited about my photographic results from the day – I had an enjoyable time getting to know a fellow photographer. While I was editing this evening, I realized I had number of photos I was quite happy about.

Christmas in the Village 2007

-André

Recent events

2007-12-05T22:43:00.000-05:00

At the End of November - Hope Playing in the snow...

The kids were excited to get our first little bit of snow - maybe an inch. It was enough to make some snow angels and slide around. Even dad made some snow angles with Hope. I had to take these shots 'cause Hope's face was the same colour as her Jacket! By this time Alex had vanished inside.

December 1st - Annual Pre-Xmas Party (and my b-day!)

Our party this year was a little late - we try to have it in the middle of November but we were a little late this year. The party is for friends, family and neighbours - kids welcome. We always collect 'food bank' food...this year we got 69 pieces...and had lots of fun!

We began to put up the tree the day after the party - well we got the tree and the lights up. The next day we (ah..mainly the kids) put on the decorations..... It was Alex's first time, as we were in transit last year, and the year before - well - he was 18 months old. :)

SNOW!!!
The evening of Dec. 3 - 30-40 cm of snow fell !!!! It is WINTER!!!

-by André

New lens - Canon EF 70-210mm f3.5-f4.5 USM

2007-11-23T19:51:00.000-05:00

The classic Canon EF 70-210mm f3.5-f4.5 USM, pictured above, with details at http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/eos/EF-lenses/EF80200mmf28L/index1.htm#EF70210mmf3545USM

I was looking for something to fulfill the telephoto end of my kit, since I got rid of my Canon 75-300mm f4-f5.6 USM. I would love one of the Canon Pro 70-200 models (they have 4 models ranging in price from about $800 to over $2,000). This lens is better than my old 75-300, even though it was discontinued over 10 years ago. The auto focus is super fast...and it was about $200 (shipping included) from e-bay. Good enough to hold off buying one of the $$$$ lenses, at least until I can come up with a SANE reason ;)

Enough about the technical ramblings...here are a few test shots taken last night. Flash bounced left and up, Canon 20D, f4.5, 1/100-1/160sec. all focal lengths, and ISO 800.

Aren't they cute?

-André

Jesse Cook comes to Fredericton!

2007-11-23T19:47:00.000-05:00

AND WE HAD TICKETS!!!!!

It was a sold out show - with 2 encores and an unplugged version of 'Fall at your feet'. The show was fantastic - what a talented musician.

http://www.jessecook.com/

I must say, it was probably the best show so far - for us - at the playhouse.

YAY!!!

-André

Moncton and Crystal Palace

2007-11-14T23:58:00.001-05:00

The Bobers and the Reinders made a trek to Moncton on the holiday Monday (Nov.12). Our destination was Crystal Palace - the kids had lots of fun on the rides. We also stopped for an ice cream and a coffee, and played a round of mini golf!.
-André

Laptop + Starbucks

2007-11-06T19:37:00.000-05:00

Well, a first for me! A little late mind you, but I finally made it to a 'hot spot' in a coffee shop with my laptop to do some work.... kinda fun this mobile computing...well back to work! (Photo Editing)
Cheers!
-Andre

Family Halloween Party

2007-11-04T09:58:00.001-05:00

We hosted a family Halloween party where we invited family, friends and neighbours to come over and take part in some crafts, pot-luck lunch and some socializing. The kids made pumpkins, bats, and dug through spaghetti 'brains' looking for grape 'eyeballs'. We ran out of time to carve pumpkins, but - oh, well. I think we all had fun.

I took these with my Olympus Verve, paying little attention to form or composition ;)

-André

Sold again.....

2007-11-04T08:01:00.000-05:00

We heard from a previous neighbour in Calgary that our old house just sold for about $480,000! We have no regrets though, we also heard that it took them 8 months of renovations and about $60,000 of materials....should look pretty good for that price!
-André

Fall

2007-11-03T19:42:00.000-05:00

I didn't get around to much Fall Photography. However, here is a shot I took when the kids and I went to Nackawic a while ago...a couple of backlit leaves on the grass. Fuji 800 speed film in my Canon Elan 7N - I believe I had my 28-105mm f3.5-4.5 lens attached. The imaged was scanned by the lab, and tweaked on the PC to reduce noise and boost the colour a little.

Oh, here is the main reason we went - the BIG AX!

-André

Goofing around :)

2007-11-03T19:23:00.000-05:00

-André

SHOW!

2007-11-01T21:23:00.000-05:00

The local theater, The Playhouse, has a couple of side galleries that show a variety of local artists. A friend of mine works there and mentioned to me that they didn`t have anyone for November. He asked me to put up a few prints, and he (an amateur photographer) was also going to put up a few as well. I chose 8 of my favourites for the show – here is a virtual version of what will go up after work on Friday Nov. 2, 2007.

André's Fredericton Playhouse Exhibit - November 2007

Enjoy!
by André Reinders

SQUID!

2007-10-30T20:17:00.000-05:00

Two nights in a row at the Playhouse!

We saw SQUID on Monday night - great show! Lots of talent, but Larissa and I agreed that they got a little repetitive and need a bit more variety - but oozing with potential.

There were a lot of hits on youtube - so search there if you want to see some live video of them.

Tapeire

2007-10-28T21:05:00.000-05:00

Well, tonight we took advantage of the wonderful Playhouse here in Fredericton. We saw Tapeire - http://www.tapeire.com/ It was an awesome show! As an added bonus, the author of the music was also playing, Ashley MacIssaaac! A first for me - there was an electric harp on stage as well. Whee!! What a show - if you get a chance, see it!

2007-10-21T19:30:00.000-05:00

OK - Lots-o-stuff - ready !?

1. Thanksgiving was mmm, mmm, good! Larissa cooked a wonderful meal and Lorraine and the kids came over - Steven was working :(

Here are some delicious photos of the spread:

2. Hope got her cast off (everything seemed all healed up) - and well there are no photos 'cause I didn't take any, and I figured you all have seen her without a cast on. Hmm?

3. Andre (me) did injure his calf muscle the other evening. I turned to bound up the stairs and felt a ripping in my leg - not fun. I have yet to see a professional - we figured it wasn't worth the ER wait, and I am sure they can't do much about a muscle anyway. I have a Tues. AM appointment at the Physio clinic, and procured myself some crutches. I can hobble around pretty good, but I can't put any weight on the left calf muscle. OW! (er - no photos)

4. I recently acquired a SMALL digital camera to fit in my pocket. Sometimes the DSLR is just to much to lug around. The opportunity came up after my dad went on a buying frenzy and bought more cameras than he could handle with one hand. :) It is tiny @ 3.74" x 2.18" x 1.08" (95mm x 55.5mm x 27.5mm) - for comparison a standard playing card is 88mm x 62mm - or about the same size. Here it is all by itself:

It looked lonely there, so I put it with my smallest camera, actually now it is my second smallest camera. The Olympus Verve (Feb. 2005), just barely beat out the Rollei 35 (late 1960's), to take the tiny title.

Late breaking news! I just won Canon Rebel Ti SLR on ebay for a total of $41.50 US(including shipping) - that's like $25 Canadian, isn't it? (ahh that feels good). Anyway, after I couldn't come up with any good reason for buying it, Larissa wanted to know if there was a 12 step program for camera-a-holics. I think she is going to change the e-bay password.... :(

Anyway, this is what it will look like:

Um, ok, bye.
-André

Broke it again!

2007-09-28T19:00:00.001-05:00

Last Thursday afternoon, Hope came racing (actually Alex and Hope were racing) out of the Post Office, tripped and fractured her arm. Now before you say things like oooh or ahhh, or poor little girl, please remember she has already broken the same arm a while back. The last one required surgery and pins, etc. This was a simple fracture - no overnight in the hospital, no drugs - just simple cast.

The doctor who examined her decided (based on her lack of reaction to his poking and prodding) that she most likely did not break anything, but he would `take some pictures to make everyone feel better.`

Well he was a little surprised at Hope`s pain tolerance when he saw these, showcasing a lovely "buckle fracture" of the radius:

and a little zoom:

Hope was tired and hungry by the time the cast was applied, and wasn`t too happy. Completely understandable. Back to school the next day, where she was happy to take autographs!

Here is a photo of Hope making a craft with her day old cast, out on the deck:

-André

DAY NINE

2007-09-04T07:09:00.000-05:00

Well, this is day 9 of being a single parent. So far, it has been fun, and educational. It has also been a test - for me - to see if I could do it. I mean I know I could, but lets face it, Larissa does most (or a lot) of the stuff around the house. I pretty much get up in the morning and get ready for work, while she dresses the kids and makes breakfast. I am proud and happy to say that I kept most things under control. Dishes were done after almost every meal, the laundry was kept up with, the kids got their baths on a regular basis, and I only went out to eat, um, 4 times....once was out regular Sunday morning breakfast, and another was covered by the Bobers as thanks for helping unload their truck. That leaves two meals which were cheating.

I had a great compliment from my step mother about my latest photo gig, made me grin from ear to ear. I was the official photographer at a friend's wedding recently and while I am always my own worst critic, so far I have received glowing compliments from the bride, and her father as well. As of this post they are not all on the website, but here it is: Wedding Photos.

I got Hope off to her first day of school successfully, which was a concern as she has a fit last night for about 40 minutes about not wanting to go to school. Oh well, I understand it - been there, done that.

Larissa is back tomorrow, and I think I will pull Hope out about 1 hour early from school so we can ALL go and get her.

One 2 other incidents of note are sort of related....
We had a worm emergency downstairs. Now for those of you who don't know - Larissa is into vermiculture - which is composting with worms. You take a bin, and add damp shredded newspaper to make a bed, and then add in vegetable and fruit kitchen scraps, and toss in a bunch of red wriggler earthworms. The worms eat the kitchen stuff, and their excrement is fantastic fertilizer. Back to the story.... Larissa was busy with trip preparations and had neglected her worms, well after a while there was no food, and they were living in their own sh#t. So they decided to leave and look for a new home - this meant that there were about 30 worms in various stages of trying to escape the bin (lots still inside though). You can image that after a while the worms sort of dry out. So in a 10 foot area around the bin there were mostly dessicated worms stuck to the floor - some making it farther than others. Now I don't mind Larissa doing her worm thing, but I don't like to participate, but Larissa loves her worms, and I love Larissa, so I jumped into action - well maybe jumped is to strong a word ;) I got some kitchen scraps from the freezer (yes she keeps them in there until the worms need feeding) and put them in the microwave to defrost. We then all got in the car and raced to the nearest Irving Mainway cornerstore (well maybe raced is too strong a word) and bought a Globe and Mail newspaper (you see the shredded newspapeer bedding can't have colour ink, and the G&M has the most B&W pages). We came home and shredded the newspaper, oh wait - the bin is still full of SH#T - I put on a latex glove and carefully moved the crap to one side of the bin, then put the food in on the other side and covered it with the damp shredded newspaper. None have tried to escape since. Must be habitable again.

I rinsed out the container that had the newspaper in it - into the tub sink in the laundry room. Well there must have been a few bits of paper left in the container, and, well, the washing machine drains into that sink... the sink got plugged up, and the laundry water overflowed onto the floor. The kids and I sprang into action (yes sprang is the right word) and used every towel in the house to mop up the water. A little Draino in the right place, and throw in a mop, bucket and dehumidifier and all was well by the end of the day. WHEW! Exciting!

Ride to work

2007-08-27T22:21:00.000-05:00

My feeble attempt to get in shape has led me to try to ride my bike to work this summer. While I don't do this as often as I should - I have been averaging about 2 days per week. My trek takes me about 35 min. there and 30 min back. Almost 15 min of the trip there is walking my bike up a STEEP hill. One thing I learned is that you see a lot more on a bike than in a car. I also realized how beautiful it is here, and do not regret moving at all. Here are series of photos from my bike ride. Taken with my Canon Elan 7N, and Canon EF 28-105mm f3.5-f4.5 USM lens, on Ilford Delta 400 black and white film. Processed for 7 min in HC-110 Dilution B - and finally scanned and tweaked on the computer.
-André

Off to the Big Saddle!

2007-08-27T08:00:00.000-05:00

Larissa left early this morning for her trip to Calgary. I think she was a little nervous leaving us all behind - but we will be fine. Once she is there I am sure she will have a blast!

The main event of her trip is doing henna at the 2007 Calgary Tattoo & Arts Festival . She will be joined by 2 other artists for a hard-working, but fun filled long weekend of HENNA!! While she is there she will also be visiting friends and doing a workshop. Their group is called The Merry Maids of Mehndi!

I have taken a bunch of time off work for some full time parenting, and fun with the kids. I get to take Hope to her first day of Grade one! Larissa's brother is also arriving with all their stuff as well - should be a great week coming up - for all of us!.
-André

Reinders in Fredericton

Christmas Photos!

Christmas concert video - Alex's song.

Sledding!

Some photos from the Fab 40 birthday!

Christmas Concert

Can you say surprised!

Buskers Festival in Saint John was a Blast!

Big Bug!

More sledding and funny faces!

We went Sledding on Jan. 15th!

Diggin out the oldies!

Kids at the Park

Hope’s Hallowe’en Costume

My own school photos. :p

Kids @ Hayes Falls

Trip to St. Andrews with Friends

Bushwhacking in Western NB

PEI trip #2

More practice on the bikes

The bikes are out – and the training wheels are off!

...um...more video of Hope skiing.... :)

More Ski Video!

More Skiing! The Kids are Fantastic!

Old Skis - New Skis

Valentines Day Trip to Crabbe Mtn.

Some Ski Pics

Skiing at last!

Post XMAS Sliding!

Christmas in Fredericton

Olympic Flame comes through Fredericton!

Home spun school photos

Square foot gardening

Alex turns 5!

Alex Likes Soccer!

Hope is 8!

Alex's Soccer Collage!

Soccer

Cute photo

TV is so exciting.

Sugar Bush!

Saint John outing

STEM Expo

Cousin Elizabeth is 5!

Growing up...

More fun in the snow!

Time flies!

Party & Food Bank

Free Apples

Trip to Ontario to visit

Single Parent

New Look

Mourning Doves in the backyard.

Alex's Birthday!

Paul and Monisha's Wedding

Organic, Natural and all that.

Dunbar Falls walk with the kids

Canada Day!

Vacation

Bathroom redo is almost redone!

Busy! Busy!

Doing a little photo sorting

BOWLING!

TILE!

Alex and an aging Norman

More house photos!

A pony named Candy

House Update

WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE!

Painting?

More Video! Sliding at Kings Landing

VIDEO!

Dining room in HDR

Painting Time

Glad we moved here

Ukrainian Christmas Eve

New Years Eve 2007!

Christmas Dinner at our place with the Bobers

Christmas Morning

Christmas Eve @ the Leavitt's house.