Friday 30 May 2014

Day 150 and donating blood

I picked up my new glasses today.

Day 150

I learned my lesson - I didn't ask for a copy of my prescription until after I'd ordered and paid for a pair from my optometrist. So they didn't try to talk me out of Clearly Contacts, just printed it off.


I donated platelets today, for a man in a Calgary hospital who recently had a bone marrow transplant. The needle wasn't sitting quite right and kept setting off warning alarms. The nurse didn't want to fiddle with the needle too much, and I didn't want her to - usually, fiddling means the needle goes right through the vein and the donation has to end. So, since it didn't hurt, we just put up with it. The new machines have cut down the donation time drastically, and it was to save a life.

Day 149

I noticed I'm in a rut of closed mouth smile selfies. So I improvised.

Day 149

Thursday 29 May 2014

Pictures catch up post!

They don't often nap together, but when they do, it's ADORABLE.

The girls

Saturday 24 May 2014

Day 143

#365FeministSelfie photography project big smile beautiful eyes bunny mask

Day 143

Thursday 22 May 2014

Day 142

Things that don't need to be photographed - hair removal cream on my upper lip.

Day 142

Wednesday 21 May 2014

Day 141

I woke up feeling blah and wanting to vomit. So I took a sick day. And I look like crap, so no fancy well-lit selfie tonight.

Day 141

Tuesday 20 May 2014

Day 140

#365FeministSelfie photography project

"OMG you guys!"

Over-caffeinated

"The lilac bush I planted two years ago?"

Lilac bush

"It's going to bloom this year!"

Lilac bush

Also, I'm never going to eat mini-peanut butter cups before taking a selfie again. :-D

Monday 19 May 2014

More Northern Lights photography

April 29, 2014.
f3.5 ~ 30 sec exposure ~ ISO 400
20140429-2014-04-29northernlights_14_1000

f3.5 ~ 30 sec exposure ~ ISO 400
20140429-2014-04-29northernlights_16_1000

Selfie catch-up

#365FeministSelfie photography project

Day 138 - I got a baby gryphon puppet at the Calgary Expo last month.
baby gryphon puppet

Day 139 - I coloured my hair, covering the grey hair in advance of my job interview on Friday.
red hair dyed with henna

Sunday 18 May 2014

Photography Day

May 17 turned out to be a photography day. It started with a notice on Facebook that some peope were seeing a sundog. I need a wider lens but here is the halo.
Sundog over Calgary

Saturday 17 May 2014

Day 137

Day 137

"Lost" Northern Lights photos

Not really lost ... just that I had a lot going on at the time I took these photos, and honestly thought I'd posted them. I'd processed them and everything. Anyways, this is from my one solo excursion. Many photographers, male or female, don't really like being out on their own, but this was a surprise appearance by the Northern Lights and I decided at the last minute to go out. I didn't broadcast that I was going alone - I just went. I ended up east of Crossfield, north of a main road. I was far enough from the road that I wasn't easily visible as a lone woman out on her own listening to Canada Geese and croaking frogs.

And what a show it was!

April 29, 2014

Northern Lights by Crossfield Alberta

View the above photo full size on Flickr.

Northern Lights by Crossfield Alberta

View the above photo full size on Flickr.

Day 136

Day 136

Friday 16 May 2014

Day 135

I braced myself for the Grey's Anatomy season finale (and Sandra Oh's departure) with Irish cream liqueur. Good call.

Day 135

Wednesday 14 May 2014

Quick update

Day 132
Day 133

I would've posted yesterday's selfie last night, except that a cat was giving birth on the Internet and I couldn't not watch. Even after the first was stillborn (he had a birth defect). I stayed up to see a healthy girl be born, but couldn't stay awake for babies 3-7. That's right, six healthy kittens.

Day 133
Day 134

I went for a walk this evening. I'm not used to this sunny weather stuff.

No snow!

Sooooo happy it isn't snow.

Tuesday 13 May 2014

Day 132 and photography musings

Day 132

The days are warming up enough that I can go sit in the backyard again, or do yardwork or transplant seedlings. Today it was seedlings, which I put into my mini-greenhouse. I also let Charlie have some fresh air in his play pen.

One of my coworkers sat down today to talk about Northern Lights photos. Tucker talked about Chris Ratzlaff's photos - Chris is a former coworker of ours who has inspired and encouraged this whole fascination with photographing the aurora thing I have now. And Tucker talked about my photos and how he likes the ones where I have a tree or myself as a silhouette in them, and I should continue in that vein to develop my style.

I really appreciated that, because I have been thinking myself that I should do silhouettes more often. Getting specific comments about what I'm doing right is very encouraging.

Northern Lights

Chris' photos are amazing and he is more willing than I to put in long hours of waiting. Also, I'm pretty sure he has a wide-angle lens or two, and I don't. I love the vibrancy and colours of his photos, but I want my own style.

Monday 12 May 2014

Weekend catch-up - deer, chasing aurora, bathtub selfie!

Lately, I've been going to Carburn Park after my knitting group. It's still looking rough after the floods of last June. And it was raining.

Day 130

The park is a hidden gem in Calgary. One reason is that it's fairly easy to see deer there.

Deer in Carburn Park

Deer in Carburn Park

That evening, the space weather reports began to show a good possibility of viewing Northern Lights. My friend and I drove out. The sky was clear, the night was beautiful ... but the solar activity dropped and we didn't see any aurora. My friend the tree-hugger asked me to take a photo of this tree and it was my great shot of the night.

Night tree

Sunday, I went to an arts and crafts show with a knitting buddy. I'm proud to say that I stuck to my $20 spending budget. Outside, a group of young people were practising on drums. They sounded great!

2014-05-11-band

I spent some time in the garden clearing up from last year. And then I took a selfie in a well-deserved bath (Day 131).

Day 131

Saturday 10 May 2014

Day 129

#365FeministSelfie photography project big smile beautiful eyes bunny mask Day 129

Calgary, Dragon Age and Donuts!





I had the pleasure of meeting Felicia Day three years ago when she was at the Calgary Expo. I have a raging girl crush on her. Meaning, I'd love to sit on the couch and watch Star Wars with her and eat the doughnuts from the above video. And if she wanted to make out, I'd be up for it.

Friday 9 May 2014

Day 128 - Northern Lights!

#365FeministSelfie photography project Day 128 The aurora alerts went off. C, the woman I'd partnered up with before, was up for an excursion. I waited until after midnight to set the self-timer and jump in front of my camera and try to keep still for 10 seconds. We were blessed with a clear sky, but the abundance of moonlight really presented a challenge for me. I still have much to learn about aurora photography - but I am very happy with some of my pictures last night. Northern Lights We tried a couple of locations. The second one distinctly smelled of farm and there were loud cows nearby, plus a few coyotes at one point. And there was a chilly wind. But it was much more interesting because of the ponds and the trees and we stuck it out. And warmed up in her BMW on the way home. I love her heated seats. Northern Lights There is another aurora alert for tonight, plus a slight cloud cover. I'm exhausted and am going to stay home. Today was long and I am really too beat to go driving tonight.

Wednesday 7 May 2014

Day 127

Day 127

Tuesday 6 May 2014

Day 126

Day 126

I had a challenging day, but then I came home to something nice - my first letter from the girl I am sponsoring through Because I Am A Girl/Plan Canada. I felt squishy. :-)

(Plan Canada is non-denominational and I'm sponsoring a girl in Nicaragua).

(I also signed up for kiva.org and lent $25 to a group of craftswomen in Guatemala. I'm on a roll.)

Monday 5 May 2014

Day 125

Day 125

Sunday 4 May 2014

Day 124

Happy Star Wars Day! At Jubilations Theatre for "The Big Boom Theory 2".

Day 124

It was cute. The actors playing Howard and Amy were the most able to capture their characters.

Saturday 3 May 2014

Day 123

Day 123

Friday 2 May 2014

Day 122

I worked from home today. Charlie supervised, from the back of my chair.
Cat watching over human's shoulder

Day 121

Photography experiment fail. I downloaded the photos after midnight, so there wasn't time to take another selfie. Day 121

So here is beautiful Miss Hermione to give you something to ooh and ahh over. Super cute

Thursday 1 May 2014

Day 120

Lighting courtesy of Ikea garden lights. It's finally spring outside!
Day 120