A Single Photograph

“Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden

path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road”
- Voltaire -

 

There comes a time when a new path is necessary...

Photo Dump

Like music, photography is a form of communication that has no language or cultural barriers. A single image speaks a thousand words without making a sound, and the message conveyed is understood by everyone, everywhere, no matter their mother tongue, no matter where they are in the world. It is read with the eyes and felt with the heart.

Below is another round of ordinary moments in life that speak to me. And hopefully, will speak to you, too.

My favourite people enjoying ice cream in the downtown area the weekend my
older daughter and her boyfriend were visiting from Montreal. Nom nom nom...

An ambitious flower reaching for the sky.

Mama duck hanging out with her babies. The wee one on the left is obviously the introvert.

A cool looking old building in the downtown area. Lots of them around there!

♪♫ Babe...I got you, Babe... ♫♪



We surprised my daughter with a birthday cake while she was in Kingston.
21 already? Where did all the years go?

"Thanks, Mom"

A pretty home by the lake in Gananoque, Ontario.

Cuteness overload ***SQUEAL***

How's this for a fixer-upper? I wonder what it's going for.

Sunset on the lake in Picton, Ontario.

♪♫ One of these things is not like the others... ♫♪

That's all for today, folks. Wishing you all a lovely Tuesday!

Chuckles and Chortles

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. Ours was quite full starting with Friday night's retirement party and the pool party, which was originally scheduled for Sunday, but was switched to Saturday, because Sunday was calling for rain. And that was great because yesterday turned out to be a quiet day...exactly what this introvert has been in need of!

Today we start a new week, and what better way to get it going than with some chuckles and chortles...

Funny (Dumb) Celebrity Quotes

"Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life."
- Brooke Shields, during an interview to become spokesperson for a federal anti-smoking campaign.

"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure."
- Dan Quayle, former U.S. Vice President

"So, where's the Cannes Film Festival being held this year?"
- Christina Aguilera

"So Carol, you're a housewife and mother. And have you got any children?"
- Michael Barrymore

"Food is an important part of a balanced diet."
- Fran Lebowitz, US writer

"We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?"
- Lee Iacocca, Chairman of the Chrysler corporation

 

 

Make it a great day and a fantastic week!

Sunny Side Up

“There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face.”

- Bernard Williams -

We’ve got another busy weekend. There’s a retirement party tonight that we’ll be attending, and a pool party on Sunday. I’ve done more socializing in the past month than I’ve done all year. That’s a lot of socializing in a short period of time for an introvert who needs some quiet time now and again. But we’re having fun, and I figure eventually I'll go underground to recharge.

I’ll end this blogging week with an adorable video of puppies trying to learn how to go up and down the stairs. Cute overload!



Make it a great weekend, everyone!

Have You Jumped On The Texting Bandwagon?

“People have entire relationships via text message now, but I am not partial to texting.

I need context, nuance and the warmth and tone that can only come from a human voice.”
- Danielle Steel -

It seems everyone is using text messaging these days with the exception of me, my husband and a handful of other people. And our non-texting world is getting smaller and smaller as the years go by.

No matter where I am, I notice a lot of people sitting/standing/walking with phones in hand, heads down, fingers typing frantically as they fire off messages.

It has dawned on me that I’m way behind with all the devices. In every way. I am clueless when it comes to the latest gizmos and gadgets, and don’t even truly understand exactly what iPhones, iPads, iPods, BlackBerries, Netbooks, etc, are, or what they really do.

As I wrote awhile back, I have a seriously outdated cell phone that rings less than once a month, and is certainly not equipped to handle texting. A handful of people have the number in case of emergency, and I fill it up once a month just to keep it from expiring. And I’m fine with this. Because I don’t want to be plugged in. All day. Every day.

It’s not that I don’t enjoy social media (I’m here); I just don’t want to be connected around the clock. I get on my computer at specific times, and completely disconnect after that. No laptop, no texting, no nothing... Once I walk away from my system and step out into the world, I can’t be contacted. For some people this would be a nightmare. For me it’s a blessing. And a necessity.

How do you feel about all this? Are you part of the texting world? And if you are, did you climb onboard right away or did you put up a good fight before you gave in? Or are you a member of the ever shrinking text-resistant club I’m in?

Outdoors with a camera in hand and near the water...that's where you'll find me.

A Single Photograph

“He who does not have the courage to speak up for his rights cannot earn the respect of others.”
- Rene G. Torres -

Photo Dump

There is so much beauty, and there are so many interesting things all around us; often in the most ordinary ways. All you have to do is slow down and take a look. That is one of the things that photography helps you to do. And one of the things I love most about it.

Here is another round of ordinary moments in my life...

A secret garden up ahead.

Is it just me, or does it look like this goat is laughing?

Nom nom nom...

Waiting for the train? Or waiting for his wife to finish taking photos? Me thinks it's the latter...

My husband preparing to do a wheelie on his motorcycle that he treated himself to last year.
He's been riding one since his teen years. It's one of the things I find sexy about him.

Photographing old barns is one of my favourite things.



The most amazing man in the world peeking into an abandoned building.
We did go inside to take photos, but not through this opening.

Beautifully rusty.

This can be translated in such a morbid way...

Driftwood...er...drifting wood.

Why cut the sweet 16 birthday cake when you can stab it?

A long and flexible neck comes in handy for those hard to reach places.

A rusty lock and chain up close.

Make it a great day, everyone!

Chuckles and Chortles

We had a glorious weekend. Old and dear friends from Montreal visited with their two sons. This is their second trip to see us, but it had been awhile. The last one was back in 2009 when we first moved here, so you can imagine how excited we were to have them back. They arrived Friday afternoon, and even though they only stayed a couple of days, we managed to squeeze in a whole lotta fun. We spent time together with the kids, and time alone as couples. Saturday night the grownups went to a local pub where my husband (he plays guitar) was playing (his first public gig ever!) with the band he recently hooked up with. I introduced my Montreal pals to people we’ve met here in Kingston, and we had some drinks, shared some laughs and even got in some dancing.

It was a fabulous couple of days! Nothing like getting together with good friends.

Today, everyone is back in their homes and their routines, and it’s the start of a brand new week.

Let’s kick start it with some humour!

Always By His Side

A woman's husband had been slipping in and out of a coma for several months, yet she had stayed by his bedside every single day. One day, when he came to, he motioned for her to come nearer. As she sat by him, he whispered, eyes full of tears, "You know what? You have been with me all through the bad times. When I got fired, you were there to support me. When my business failed, you were there. When I got shot, you were by my side. When we lost the house, you stayed right here. When my health started failing, you were still by my side. You know what?" "What dear?" she asked gently, smiling as her heart began to fill with warmth. ”I think you're bad luck."

 

 

 

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, and I wish you all a terrific week ahead.

Sunny Side Up

"I am at a loss to figure out how to rid my e-mail of those bottom-feeders of the electronic world, the generators of spam.... If I were Emperor of the World, I would lock all the spammers in a room and

force them to watch nothing but TV commercials for the rest of their miserable lives, and I would

condemn the people who respond to spammers to do nothing but clean the toilets in this room."

- Richard Turner -

I’m wrapping up the week with a video that will remind you (particularly the older ones like me) about what life was like before the world wide web.



Could you live without the internet? Hmmmm...

Wishing a wonderful weekend to each and every one of you!

Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot...

Damn, but it’s hot outside. We’re certainly in the midst of the dog days of summer. It’s so warm and humid that I almost miss complaining about the winter. Almost.

Days like this bring back memories from my childhood. Those two months off from school in the summer were highly anticipated, and thoroughly enjoyed. Along with every other kid in the neighbourhood, I spent my days outdside. From dawn to dusk. Every. Single. Day. Running and playing and exploring and laughing.

Of course, we wore sunscreen and hats and whatever other protection was needed, and we kept in the shade as much as possible. But we remained outdoors. Because hanging around the house back then was unthinkable. You only stayed inside if you were punished.

No one I knew had air-conditioning, so we stayed cool with chilled drinks, popsicles, and of course, ice cream, which you ate as fast as you could because it melted quickly in the heat and ran down your arm.

Oh, those wonderful dog days of childhood summers...they were really something. We tolerated the heat and made the best of it. That’s kids for you. But I grew older, and somewhere along the line I wimped out. Now the heat just gets on my nerves.

Things have certainly changed since then.

What’s your weather like these days?