Culture Clash

| Comments



Or maybe culture meld?

I love the mix of Chinese and French (and Vietnamese and probably a few other languages, too) found in Chinatown in Montreal. I’ve always loved little cultural pockets. We only had Greektown in Detroit (where I learned to love gyros and baklava), but I’ve visited many a Chinatown and Little Tokyo and a myriad of other “towns” since. I once hauled a huge stone mortar and pestle all the way back from Chinatown in San Francisco. Vive la difference!

Down the Rabbit Hole

| Comments



I’ve disappeared down the rabbit hole of photography this week. Between processing the shots I took on vacation and going through the shots that Tasha my favorite model sent to me, I feel like Jimmy Jett (a la Shel Silverstein). I may grow a power cord tail and turn into a computer monitor.

The top shot is the Cirque du Soleil tent in Old Montreal. When we checked into our hotel and realized we could see the Cirque right out our window, we had to go grab some last minute tickets to their new show OVO. I am a huge Cirque fan. Besides, I saw the first Harry Potter movie in London. I had to see the Cirque at least once in Montreal, right? So let’s not discuss how much those tickets cost. Cost? What’s that? I’m sure those must have been free…



As for the shots Tasha sent me, this is the fabulous Tasha modeling my Sprouted Nose Ring. Obviously she’s a woman with exquisite taste and style,not to mention an excellent photographer. You can find other shots of her scattered throughout the listings on my Etsy page, particularly in the cartilage hoops and nose studs sections.

Flowers for You

| Comments

Being as I have this fantastic macro lens that I hauled all the way to Canada with me (and boy is it heavy!), I decided to try some classic macro photos of flowers. And you know what? I kind of like them. These delicate purple flowers are pretty gorgeous viewed up close. I even managed to achieve bokeh, which is the effect you’re seeing in the blurred background behind the flowers. Apparently it’s some sort of Holy Grail for photographers.

For the Love of Locks

| Comments

I’ve loved locks ever since we followed a large commercial ship through a series of locks when I was a small child. I remember with great delight stopping at every lock to see the same ship, and waving each time to one of the sailors who spoke no English but obviously loved children. I couldn’t have been more than five years old at the time. I suspect my love of travel and foreign cultures as well as my love of locks stemmed from that trip. The man had come from a foreign country! On a boat! What’s more fantastic than that when you’re five years old?



Since Andy shares my love of locks, we spent some time hunting down canals and locks during our trip. I snapped these shots at the Trent Lock in Trenton, Ontario, which is the first lock on the Trent-Severn Waterway.

To Swim, Perchance to Dream

| Comments

Having grown up near the Great Lakes, I always assumed that huge bodies of fresh water were normal. What, doesn’t everybody have a freshwater lake large enough that you can’t see the other side?

Of course, now that I’ve lived in semi-arid climates for years, I really appreciate how incredible the Great Lakes are. It was great fun to take Andy around and see his reactions to them. I had no idea that 20% of the world’s fresh water flows through the Great Lakes. That’s an amazing amount of fresh water to me these days, what with the incredible drought we’ve been having in California for the last few years.



I found these funky soldiers on the north shore of Lake Erie in Port Stanley, Ontario. They greeted us on our morning walk on the beach. I think every morning should start with a walk on the beach. Now all I need is a beach…

A Thorny Situation

| Comments

Well, the vet doesn’t think it’s a foxtail, which I’m very happy about. Ditto just stepped on something (maybe a thorn) and has an infection in her foot. So it’s 2 weeks of antibiotics, 5 days of painkillers, and another $150 dropped at the vet. But at least she doesn’t have to go under anesthesia at the age of 12…

Ditto Update

| Comments

Poor Ditto is getting less and less happy about that foot, so we’re off to the vets around lunchtime. Apparently my studio and I are doomed to live separate lives. Here’s hoping that there isn’t a foxtail working its way through Ditto’s foot, as she’s awfully old to go under anesthesia…

Dog Days

| Comments

I’ve finally made it back from vacation and back online. We got back in town on Sunday, but Monday was spent picking up the dogs from the ranch, and yesterday swirled down the drain after my internet connection went down. It’s a little scary how dependent I am on that internet connection. Thankfully Andy spent his evening getting me back up online. Such a sweet boy. I think I’ll keep him. ;)

Today is looking to be another humdinger, as I’ll be working to catch up on all my orders. To add a little spice to the day, Ditto started hopping around on three legs last night. Did I mention she was just fine when she went to the vets yesterday morning? Ah, dogs. Gotta love ‘em. She seems to have a puncture in the bottom of her foot, so I’ll be soaking it in salt water today to see how it does. Between Hop-along Cassidy here, and Kenya’s eye infection which makes her look like she’s been on a drinking binge, the girls are quite entertaining (and expensive) this week.



I did manage to take a ton of photos during our trip, which should be trickling online over the next few days. This photo is from Horseshoe Falls (the Canadian side of Niagara Falls). The seagulls swarm the top of the falls diving for fish. I’m thinking maybe the fish get stunned from hitting rocks in the rapids at the top? There are tons of seagulls fishing at the bottom, too. I’m sure the huge drop with the rocks at the bottom leads to a sad day for the fish and a happy day for the seagulls. In the background through the mist you can faintly see the park on the US side of the border, next to Niagara Falls.

You can see more of my vacation photos (and lots of other photos, too) on my Flickr page.

Rock N Roll Marathon

| Comments



We’re headed out on vacation this Friday, which means I have a million-and-one things to do. I’m finally getting some breathing space though, and I’ve spent it uploading some of my backlogged photos to my Flickr page.

This past weekend was the Rock n Roll Marathon, which goes within a couple blocks of our place. They have some excellent bands strung out along the marathon route. We were particularly entertained to find that the band nearest to our place happened to be people that Andy knows. West if Memphis are a fantastic band - they were there representing the House of Blues.



My favorite part of any marathon is the wheelchair invitational. They have these cool new chairs that are hand pedaled, and the marathoners were whizzing by. I managed to shoot a few as the zoomed down the road.