Bird Seed

I'm curled up by the fire with a nice hot honey and lemon drink, reviewing the last ten days of pictures.  Christmas.  Then Christmas again.  Happy, wiggly kids hyped up on sugar and festivity.  A few walks to the park or the beach.  Not represented on the memory card: lazy days of reading books and taking afternoon naps.  Tomorrow real life resumes.

One of those little outings included a container of bird seed.  Just shake it and the ducks look up.  Pop the lid and they paddle to shore.  These ducks know the drill.  Tossed seed bounces off their backs.  Soft quacks.  Bobbing heads.  Wagging tail feathers.  The party grows.

Then it's not just ducks.  Seagulls watch from a distance.  This Canada Goose makes his way to the front of the line and sticks his head right into the container of seed.  Bold.

Shoo!  The last sunlight of the day glints off his dark beak and he gives me the stink eye.

I'm linking, with these few precious rays of west coast winter sun. to Sunlit Sunday hosted by Karen and My Little Home and Garden.

A Personal Photo Challenge: Christmas

Our community goes all in for street decorations and I'm lucky enough to live just a block off the village centre where the lights are brightest.  

Miss S -- aged two and half this Christmas -- is in rapture.  We make every possible excuse to walk down Goldstream, and excuses are easy to come by as that's the logical route to the library, the playground, the grocery store and the fabric store.  

 Now that I've wet your appetite for lovely Christmas light street scenes, I have to confess that my camera has spent far too much time alone at home.  I'm hoping to bring it along and catch twilight as the lights come on one of these days, but you'll have to content yourself with day time photos taken under grey skies.

Linking to Donna's Personal Photo Challenge.  Please visit the other participants as I'm sure their Christmas scenes will get you in the spirit.

The lights went out.  My Little  Miss was in her bath and I had just commented to her that the wind was really whipping around out there.  Then there was a violent flicker and dark.

After plucking a wet and frightened little girl from the bath and settling her -- warm and soothed -- into her bed, Gary and I faced an evening by candlelight.  On Friday night we had sat across a restaurant table from each other, bathed in the dim glow of commercialized romance.  This was different -- candlelight imposed on our regular life.

Drawing on a poignant memory from my childhood (when the power went off much more frequently) I took a candlelight shower.  While my hair dried, I sat with Gary.  We filled the living room with warm, flickering light and listened to the storm rage.  We talked.  I crocheted for a while and thought of all the fine handwork done by candlelight years ago.  I thought of the poor souls from the Hydro company who must be working on the lines somewhere out there.

When the lights flashed obtrusively back on we turned them out and went to bed.

A Cold Day

There's still a part of me, leftover from childhood in the tropics, that equates sun shine and blue skies with warmth.  This week has been a betrayal of the highest order.  I know it's cold outside, but a voice in my head whispers that if I find the right park bench in the right sunny spot, there will be a tingle of warmth.

I go searching for this magic park bench, but first things first.  Little feet have to be double socked inside their gum boots.  Mittens must be negotiated onto wiggly fingers, puffy coat zipped all the way up and a toque jammed down tightly onto an eager head.  Ready.

The Little Miss moves a bit more slowly than usual under all her layers, but manages to climb the playground stairs.  I circle.  Searching.  Hoping.  Wishing I'd worn double socks too.  She's at the top of the slide, maneuvering her padded bum into the right place.  "Ready" she calls, then weeee -- all giggles and smiles into my waiting arms.

Half an hour later, we found that tingle of warmth at home, in front of the fire.

Do you venture out on cold days?

Of Primroses and a Crochet Project

I'm encouraging spring with this planter of blue and yellow primula.  My heart skipped a beat when I first noticed the annuals for sale last week.  Could brighter skies and longer days be just around the corner?  These omens of sunshine sit on the front step and make me smile every time I walk past.  That's what flowers are supposed to do, right?

Primroses of not, it's actually been a soggy couple of days around here and I'm spending more time curled up with my crochet.  I think one of my favorite things about crochet is that it goes so well with curling up.  There's no need to sit at a sewing desk or run back and forth to the ironing board. These days, I'd much rather enjoy my down time sitting down.

Here's my most recent project.

This soft airplane toy is for my little nephew.  I didn't think to take a picture of it until it was time to wrap it up.  There wasn't a lot of light left, so you'll have to forgive the photography and believe me that it's very cute.

Project Notes:
For those who are interested, the pattern came from this Etsy vendor and was very easy to follow.  I had a bit of a light bulb moment while stuffing it and added a rattle. Between the soft, knobbly texture of the crochet, the floppy wings and tail pieces and the rattle, I think Baby Boy will find lots to appreciate.

So here I sit, with one foot in the garden and the other curled under me in a comfy chair.  It's the impatient season.

Sunny Day

Sunshine is good for the soul, and more so in the winter.  A couple of days ago I opted to forgo my usual suburban stroll to the library or playground in favour of a nature walk with the Little Miss.  We have lots of options for walking around lakes, along beaches, through forests, but they all require a short drive.  Some how that presents a mental hurdle.  I made the leap and, like always, it was worth it.  

My Little Miss moves at a burst and bust pace with unending commentary offered in single words -- run run, water, tweet tweet.  That leaves me plenty of time to notice things with eyes and lens.  Shadows.  The violent green colour of moss against a washed-out winter world.  The changing sky.  Red wing blackbirds.  Reflections on the lake.  We're not far enough away for true quiet, but city sounds fade and leave space for wind in branches and hidden birds.  Little Miss delights in the sound of her feet on the path -- walk walk, stomp stomp.  Love her.  I unwind.  For a moment, I live in the moment.

Then it's snack time.  

Something about the fresh air and the sunshine (weak and fleeting as it was) produced a tingle in my soul -- a rush of vitamin D, a smile -- and wakened a longing for more.  

Have the winter blues hit you?  What gets you through?

Enjoying the View

The view from BC Ferries is always a treat.  This time was no exception.  By seven o'clock I was up and dressed.  I had already entrusted a sleepy Little Miss to her Nana, made my way to the terminal, bought my ticket and boarded the boat.  All was dark on the water, so I treated myself to coffee and eggs in the cafeteria and watched the other passengers -- mostly business people and other locals who, like me, had their own reasons to rise early and visit the mainland.

An hour into the crossing, the sky began to glow and I hit the deck with my camera.  It was cold, just above freezing.  The boat hummed beneath me and the occasional cry of a seagull pierced the salty wind.  All else was quiet.  Sky and water blushed pink, then orange as we turned through Active Pass and pushed into the open straight.  In an instant, the sun rose.

I passed a lovely day in Vancouver with my sister.  We talked and drank tea and walked through Gas Town.  Wonderful but short.  Before I knew it, I was back on the boat.

By the last light of the day I got off a few shots of the container loading port across the bay.  All was dark again before the ferry left its birth.  I don't know if I've ever savored sunrise and sunset of the same day.  Have you?

A Personal Photo Challenge: Let There Be Light

New camera in hand, I'm busy learning the ins and outs of taking good photos.  Donna's monthly photo challenge plays into that so nicely, that I'm giving it a try for the first time.  These photos are taken with my Nikon 1 J2 and a basic 10-30mm lens.  I used Picasa to bring the shadows up a bit, but that's it for editing.

Little Miss and I snuggled right up to the glass patio door to try out some new window stickers.  She was entranced.  One of the articles that Donna recommended reading talked about going into the garage to take photos with dramatic light.  I don't have a garage, so I tried the window.  It's winter on the Pacific coast, so we had a grey sky and a little drizzle to work with.  Even so, we had nice directional light coming in.  I like the modeling on Miss's face and hands, and the blurred out garden in the background.  There's a term for that blurred effect, but I don't know what it is.

Going to black and white really emphasizes the shape of Miss's face and I appreciate the contrast between the bright garden and the very dark inside of the house.  But is one eye too much darker than the other?  Something strikes me as not quite right.

I ducked outside for this one and took the photo through the glass window.  The trickiest part of this set up was avoiding my own reflection in the glass; it required just the right angle.  The light was oblique enough that everything reflected on the window.  Of course, that's what makes it such an unusual photo.

This photo reminds me of a certain artist whose works we use to see when I was young in Ecuador.  He liked to paint translucent bubbles and steam trains flying in the air above his surreal landscapes.  Here, Miss S looks out at the world -- at a wood floor and a shed with cedar siding, at trees and planters, at dining room chairs and lawn chairs -- with an expression of wonder.  A dismembered snowman floats by.  It's not my favorite picture, but it gets the imagination going.

Does anyone have thoughts on that black eye in the second photo?  I'd appreciate tips of any kind.

Linking to A Personal Photo Challenge.

It's a Marshmallow World in the Winter

I just looked out the window; the snow is officially melting.  For the first time since Thursday the lawn is more green than white.  My eyes dart around the yard, finding the places where these photos were taken just days ago, and it's hard to fathom the difference.  A couple of degrees on the thermometer and a little precipitation and suddenly the great outdoors is a magical, marshmallow wonderland.  Suddenly everyone wants to play Christmas music and bake cookies.

I really wanted to have a magical snow day, to throw snow balls and do that baking.  It didn't quite pan out.  But I did take my Little Miss outside a couple of times to meet the snow.  We didn't get any last year -- not a single flake -- so this was her first snowfall.  She was intrigued, glued to the window, repeating "snow, snow".  Coat.  Hat.  Boots.  Mittens.  Outside, she was less impressed.  Concern that it stuck to everything gave way to cold hands and we were back inside, crying, in 15 minutes flat.  Oh well.

It's been cold cold cold all week, but with bright blue skies.  Invigorating.  The Little Miss got used to the snow.  Today, however, the familiar grey is back.  Warmer temperatures are pulling things back into equilibrium.  Over the years, living here on the west coast, I've gotten used to the dark, monotone world at Christmas time.  It makes the light even brighter.

Just a reminder that my Give Away will be open all week.  You can enter here.

What kind of weather do you typically get for Christmas?