Finding Beauty and Wonder in the Little Things.

I was in the middle of doing a photo shoot of my niece and nephew from Peace River. When I came across this amazing little fella. Just waiting for us to pass on by and leave him to enjoy the shadows that were provided by the petunias. Well I am afraid that I sent the wee fella off on his way after his photo shoot.

I love to shoot animals, still life and landscape as they don't argue, don't talk back and generally hold still. I have been trying to improve my people photo skills as I find willing subjects.
So when Tara and Chad reluctantly agreed to do a photo shoot provided it wasn't the typical stuffy photos that are usually done by Aunts I was thrilled. Melina has done some photo shoots in this cool section of downtown alley's so off we went. We were also hoping to find some really cool graffiti on the walls to include in our photos. Alas the crack down on graffitti has resulted in many of the cool art forms being removed. Despite driving around we failed to find any exceptional graffitti so we ended our adventure with ice capps for three.


Then there is our sweet young Colton. At four and a half he is a laugh a minute. My favourite line from him at this point in his life is ... A long time ago when I was just four...................



Well this Friday the Thirteenth was not filled with bad luck or things to fear. It was filled with family and friends as we gathered to celebrate Mom's 70th birthday. It was really awesome to have my aunt and uncle, niece and nephews, brother and his girl friend, kids and my special friend surrounding me even though this was not my day.

Some of the little things that make me happy and content knowing that I will be embarassed - knowing that at some point my mother and uncle are going to recall the story of the pine float and how incredibly gullible I was. I am going to do a layout on that story so you will all have to wait for the time being.

I can promise you that regardless of the reason for the gathering there will be a large bowl of Ernie's salad. There will some comment from my Dad about the tiny portion of dessert that I present him even though it may infact be the largest one on the table. There will be either white corn or peaches and cream corn. I can promise you that I will have far to much food leftover but that I prefer that to being short. I am assured that there will be one person who "is not hungry" but will have room for dessert.

I can assure you that as a rule the women will do the clean up and the men will generally go and "relax" after the grueling work of eating. However, for the record I am making it my lifes ambition to have the women rest and the men do dishes. ( I may as well start with my big dreams!)

Tonight, I found a quirk that had nothing to do with my family but struck me as reassuring. My special friend places his keys with the key fob in his back pocket and the keys hanging out over the top. I thought this was just for work but tonight I realized that this is a quirk of his that I find reassuring. I know that I will be able to hear him moving about either at home or in the store. I intend to do a layout of this quirk of his as it speaks volumes to me.

This week I sent the dogs to be with my ex-husband. I truly missed their bright eyes and wagging tales when I came home or let them out of their kennels. I can't say that I really missed the significant reduction in furballs floating around my floors. I missed the million and one puppy kisses that I get without fail. Yes, they are sloppy and wet but they are filled with love that requires no more than to feed and water them.

Yes, today was my day to reflect on all the little things that make my world so much better and predictible. Looks like I have some layouts to work on all thanks to that little dragon fly that crossed my path today.