Party & Food Bank

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

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

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

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

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.

...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!

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

Blah Blah Blah to come....

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

-André

Organic, Natural and all that.

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

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!

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

placeholder until I get it done

Bathroom redo is almost redone!

- André

Busy! Busy!

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