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Saturday, July 31, 2010

"PATRIOTIC" PHOTO CONTEST

Okay folks, this month the photo contest theme is "Patriotic" over at Stardom Awaits!, so head on over to vote for your favourite photo. The voting will be up and running for 2 weeks and then the winner(s) will be announced.

Thanks for participating, enjoy the photography!

PEACE!
Love Jude

Friday, July 23, 2010

HORNY JETS AND GARDEN CHANGES



Hubby was on vacation for a couple of weeks here at home (he's back to work now) and as every year, he spent most of that time in the gardens and doing some landscaping. He moved a few perennials around and also decided that as the little strip of grass around the stone wall never wants to grow he would dig it out and put some pea gravel in it. Now he won't have to throw grass seed in it and water the heck out of it there all summer. The flower garden that is around 3 sides of that blue spruce do well, but grass doesn't. Probably for 2 reasons, the tree throws a lot of shade, and also the falling spruce needles make the ground acidic. I think he did a nice job of it, it looks pretty tidy.

The horrible pain in my arm that I experienced and blogged about last February is back again, unfortunately. It's just as bad, hurts so bad, can't sleep, etc. My X-Ray results from last time showed nothing other than the osteoarthritis we knew I have in that shoulder, and some calcuim deposits. For the life of me I don't know what this is and why it's back. I'm thinking it's a part of the Fibromyalgia I have perhaps, or a combination of that and the arthritis. I'm living on Advil again until this gets better. It's exhausting and so painful it upsets my stomach. Bleh.

Some of you may remember I'm an Airforce Brat, and grew up with the sound of military jets screaming overhead on a daily basis. As the base here just outside our city isn't Airforce anymore (it's Army now) we don't ever get to hear them but now and then there is something going on where there are jets required for fly-pasts, like our city's "Capital Ex" every July. (used to be called "Klondike Days) Obviously there were military jets required yesterday to do a fly-by for the opening parade. :-) I was in the house and heard a few of them roar overhead and went running outside. By the time I got out there the last one was screaming by but it was too high up to see it in the video. (click on thumbnail, turn up sound)


Photobucket


I hope you are all doing well, and staying cool. The temperatures haven't been too bad here, and we've had the relief of rain often. This weekend is supposed to get pretty hot, but hopefully it won't last long.

Take good care of each other, and have a great weekend!

PEACE!
Love Jude

Thursday, July 15, 2010

"WATER" THEME CONTEST WINNERS!



Congratulations to our winners, it was a neck-and-neck race to the finish line with only one vote separating the winner and the 3 tied runners-up! Good job!

Thank you to our entrants for some awesome photography to enjoy, and to our voters for making it all happen for us. :-)

Next up at the end of July: "Patriotism". Stay tuned!

PEACE!
Love Jude

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

SISTERS DAY OUT



On the weekend of both Canada's and the U.S.'s birthdays, sister Pammie and I went out on a photo shoot to one of the many parks in our city's river valley. It had been a very long time since we'd gone out together with cameras in hand, and we were way overdue.



This time we went to Sir Wilfred Laurier Park, right on the river. Sir Wilfred Laurier was Canada's 7th. Prime Minister, from 1896 to 1911. He would never have known that a pretty little park in a provincial capital city would be named after him many years after his demise, nor would he know that this hippie chick will always associate his name with mosquito bites!

There were many of those pesky little bastids, and both Pammie and myself came home with cameras full of pictures and itchy bumps on our arms. Still it was a very pleasant afternoon, and although it was overcast with hazy clouds it was still too warm whenever we moved farther away from the breezes off the river.



There is a boat launch in this park and we stopped there for several shots. It was very peaceful and there were ducks and gulls swimming while we spent a half hour or so just at the water's edge.





Just after we left the launch area and started back up the pathways, the silence in nature was broken when we could hear (and see through the trees) a speedboat starting up down there, and it took off in a blaze of LOUD noise.



Along the paths we encountered many bees, wasps and other little insects among the many scattered bunches of flora. And of course, the mosquitos some of which we could have thrown saddles on I think.








If you haven't already, you can still participate in the "Water" theme photo contest over at Stardom Awaits! until the 15th.!

I hope you all had a pleasant long weekend too, and I wish you a good week. Take good care of each other!

PEACE!
Love Jude

Thursday, July 01, 2010

HAPPY CANADA DAY, CANADA!



Really, although today is the "official" day to go all patriotic here, it's just another day to say I love Canada and love being Canadian. When I talk about this great country I actually feel this little tingling of pride inside me. It's so cool knowing that I happened to be born right where I want to be!




I could go on and on and on about this beautiful country of ours, and I have done so a little in past years here on this blog. This year I just want to state categorically that I would not want to call anywhere else home, this is where I want to always permanently be. Sure, I'd like to be able to afford to travel to England or back to Maui for visits. I'd even like to have my own places there to lay my head down while I'm visiting.

But I want to always be able to come back home. Home is Canada. GOD I'm so in love with this country!

Happy Canada Day to my Canuk friends! Party hearty and safe!

A little slideshow I made:
A Tour of Canada



And to my American buddies in a few days, Happy 4th.!


And please see the post preceeding this one, there's a new Photo Contest up and running!

PEACE!
Love Jude

"WATER" PHOTO CONTEST

It's that time again folks! Over at Stardom Awaits! this month's contest theme is "WATER", and there are some beautiful entries.

If you would like to participate in the voting please head over there to do so. The voting will be open for approximately 2 weeks time, and then the winner(s) will be posted.

Here are some of my photos that didn't make the cut this time:
























Good luck to the entrants, and thank you to the voters. Enjoy the photography!

PEACE!
Love Jude