Pam's Week 23: We Are Family, Get Up Everybody and Sing

I am certain that everyone reading this blog today knows what song that lyric is from.  If not, I am not sure that we can still be friends as that's a pretty old school pop song by Sister Sledge.  Plus, the song title is in the lyric so you should at least be able to fake it to make me happy.

The weather this week has given me hope that maybe summer will actually be on it's way here soon.  The sun has been shining and we've been able to give up our jackets by afternoon, which is an accomplishment given what we've been dealing with so far this spring.  You would think that would be enough to motivate me to get outside and take photos but I was obsessed with making my photobook for California and spent most of my spare time doing that.  I frequently referred to the list hoping to find some inspiration, but no ideas at all were jumping out at me.  Finally I sent Sharon a text today to say that I had yet to take a photo so she drove over, like a knight in shining armour minus the armour, the horse, and the boy parts, and took me to Bellevue Park where I proceeded to capture 5 of the 7 photos in an hour and a bit.

Without further ado, here they are.....

Blurred Background

I know there are all sorts of photography techniques you can use to achieve this but what seems to work best for me is using the macro setting on my camera, zooming in on an object and hoping for the best.  You are likely to find that "hoping for the best" is the technique I rely on most frequently in my photography!

I know people hate dandelions, but I kind of like them.  They are bright and colourful (though admittedly messy when they go to seed like the one above) and grow without much help at all!  My gardening skill is on par with my photography skill - hope for the best!

Family Member

With 6 people besides myself living in my house, all of whom are related to me, you would think that this topic would have been fairly easy.  It's hard to get good lighting, interesting pose or action, and have a flattering photo all at once though without planning it out.  I have two kids who are stinking cute (okay, I may be biased as the mother) but you wouldn't believe how difficult it is to get them looking that way in a photo, especially if I try to take a photo of the two of them together!

Tonight after dinner, we took the puppy for a walk.  My kids had fun playing on the outdoor gym equipment they have installed behind the Art Gallery.  Here are my attempts at getting them to look cute.

After our walk, I had decided that we should head to Dairy Queen for a little treat.  Upon our arrival, we discovered that they had no power and therefore no ice cream.  Not to be defeated, we decided to drop the dog at home and head downtown to a new ice cream parlour that opened just this evening (Sharon and I attempted to go there earlier today to find out it wasn't opening it's doors until 6 p.m.).

Rust

A couple of years ago when I did this photo blog challenge with Sharon, this was a topic when I happened to be on Manitoulin Island with my parents and Grandma.  We stumbled across this little shop with an antique 'Orange Crush' handle on the door that was interestingly rusty.  Finding interesting rust today wasn't quite as easy but I had told Sharon I thought the motor things on Topsail Island might work out for us and they did not disappoint.

Starts with G

Usually I can find a plethora of words within my brain that start with any given letter.  This week, those words escaped me and the only ones I could think of were "Gitchee Gumee" (aka Lake Superior), "Goulais" and "Gros Cap"; all could have made amazing photos but they involved a time commitment and driving that I just didn't seem to have the time or energy for.  Then I noticed, perhaps with Sharon's help, that "goose" began with G and saw these two geese in a river at Bellevue Park.  Unfortunately, they weren't particularly cooperative and didn't stay together or where I wanted them for the photo.

New

I may or may not have stolen Sharon's original idea for this photo.  As I'd mentioned earlier, this new ice cream parlour was set to open up today. Neither one of us read the post very well, though, and didn't realize it wasn't opening until this evening.  Sharon had thought of using me as a sacrifice and taking a photo of me with an ice cream in the new shop but since that wasn't going to work, she graciously let me take a photo of the exterior of the closed shop.

Bike Detail

We have bikes in our house but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to find an interesting detail on one of them.  And then Sharon arrived (see, she was very Knight-like today) with Levi's bike on her bike rack and I looked at it and was inspired.

Wildcard

I have a few of these this week as they all, or 2 of the 3, come with stories attached.

So, Riya doesn't like wearing her harness but I don't like being pulled and dragged through the neighbourhood.  We often end up at an impasse.  This particular one was short-lived near the waterfront but the one in the neighbourhood the other day wasn't.  Sharon was with me and Riya laid down on someone's front lawn, playing dead and refusing to move (she even refused the treat I offered when I put the harness on her as if accepting the treat would be saying the harness was okay).  The neighbour of said lawn arrived home and we felt we had to explain ourselves as the poor woman thought Riya was exhausted from too long a walk (we'd made it about a block away from my house at this point).  She laughed and laughed, thinking it was the funniest thing she'd seen.  I ended up giving in and removing the harness as unlike when my children had temper tantrums, I couldn't fling her over my shoulder and carry her home or just leave her there figuring she'd catch up when I walked away.

This was Danica's face after her Caramel Turtle Brownie Signature Cone this evening.

This isn't a spectacular photo but I am including it because last Friday night when Sharon and I visited not one but two liquor stores, I was intrigued by all the new things they had on offer.  I resisted at the first stop but vowed to try them all this summer.  At the 2nd store, I caved and bought a few.  So far, I've tried the Crazy Uncle Hard Cream Soda (surprisingly awesome if you're a cream soda lover), the Somersby Blackberry Cider (tasty) and this is a can of wine.  I thought the can was pretty but I've decided that perhaps wine doesn't belong in a can.  I keep taking a drink expecting one flavour and ending up with another, much like the clear Pepsi back in the day.  I suppose it would be good if you were a big wine drinker and you were going somewhere that didn't allow glass bottles but I think if I'm to drink out of a can in the future, I prefer something more beer or soda like.

And that is that for another week.  Looking ahead at next week's topics, I think I will need Sharon to translate at least one of them into non-photographer for me.  That may not be promising for the outcome....

Have a great week!