Truly a stargazing mermaid

I don't make resolutions. But after I started photographing the Northern Lights, I realized that it has been a long time since I saw the Milky Way with my own eyes. What with living in a city and all. I decided that I was going to see and photograph the Milky Way at some point in 2014. I've actually made camping plans for later this year to address that. But that wasn't my only plan. The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada - Calgary chapter held...

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My long-lost sister

This story was a long time in the making. When I first found out that I had a half-sister, in 2009, I didn't have all of the pieces of the story. There are probably still pieces yet to be revealed, and there is a huge chunk that can never be known because our father has passed away, taking his point of view with him. But on the fifth anniversary of discovering her, our "sisterversary", I thought I would share what I have. Many people have heard the...

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Test knitting

My friend Susan from Crescent Moon Collective is now selling patterns on Ravelry. For the last couple of months, I watched her knit a new scarf and loved it - I wanted to be notified as soon as she'd written out the pattern. And that's how I ended up as a test knitter. :-) I've gone from this: To this: Row 2 was the worst - I had to redo it 5 times because I kept getting tripped up on how the instructions were written out. But I finally got...

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A dish so nice I made it twice

I like to bake and try new recipes. Last week, I tried a a brownie recipe and brought it to lunch with friends. It was a smashing success. So I made it again yesterday, for a girls' gaming night, and it also got rave reviews. Betty Crocker's Gluten-Free Turtle Brownies This is super easy with minimal ingredients. Don't let the gluten-free label scare you away - it's moist and delicious. I made two changes to the recipe: I couldn't find the GF...

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Winner!

Congratulations to David B, who won my giveaway! He chose this as his art print...

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How to become a famous blogger, in the bad way

I'd never even heard of the blog Halfway to Fearless until the author created a thread about it at Get Off My Internets, intending to increasing her web presence. She achieved her goal, but in ways she probably never expected. Get Off My Internets is a snark site. The forum posters are highly trained to sniff out BS. So they glommed on fairly quickly that the person who started the thread, was actually the author, Beverly Stevens Peevyhouse. They called her on it. Beverly created some sockpuppet accounts* to cover her trail, and even created one...

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Figure Drawing

I was supposed to go to figure drawing Friday night, but after the Eye Drama, felt that I should really just rest. (The eye is feeling better and the blurry spot has faded to the point where I just notice blurriness when looking at high-contrast lines. I haven't heard from the retinal specialist's office yet.) ANYWAYS. There was a photographer at the last event I went to. He blogged about the experience - link is very much NSFW. You may find the post interesting - I know I did! You'll see what the models look like, see different interpretations,...

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One of these things is not like the other

I noticed some strange blurriness Wednesday and chalked it up to extra knitting this week. Last night, while driving home, I noticed that traffic lights were blurry - and I'm farsighted, with excellent long-distance vision. I went home and realized that my left eye has a blurry spot. I Googled and the Internet said "Get thee to an emergency room". So I went to the one at Rockyview, because that hospital has an eye clinic and an ophthalmologist on...

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Grief and heavy appliances

I bought an air conditioner today because of an OMG heat wave and I thought it would be good for my allergies. There was nothing on the box that said it had to be installed in a window and I have never bought an air conditioner before. I hauled it home, hauled it upstairs, unpacked it, and then I discovered that it had to be installed in a window. It has to vent the hot air outside. In some ways, I was reminded of what happened the day before...

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Incoming storm

I caught this incoming storm yesterday - I put my camera in Sports mode, because I was actually a passenger in a moving car when i took the photo. f/8 1/800 ISO 10...

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Contest!

I've been putting some postcards online for sale, and I ordered a bunch to check the print quality. In fact, I ordered extras to give away. Now, Rafflecopter will run the contest for a week, and I thought that postcards wasn't enough of a prize. So I will also throw in an art print of one my photos on FineArtAmerica, 24"x16". The prize package includes: An art print of one of my photographs, no larger than 24"x16" Two sets of five postcards, for...

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Bad and good kitties

Charlie spends a lot of time running back and forth, monitoring the backyard and the front sidewalk for intruders. He'll get agitated and chatter, but normally I don't see anything. Last night he was extra agitated - his tail sticking out from the curtains was three times its normal size. I turned on the light for the backyard, and spotted a cat by the back gate. I've seen it before - grey and white, always leaves when I spot it. So this evening,...

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Baby you're a

Yesterday I went to Heritage Park with a friend, for their Canada Day/50th anniversary celebrations. I stayed all the way to 11, for the fireworks show. It was a fantastic show to top off a great day. Here are three of the 770 pictures I took: ...

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