skopelos - flora and fauna

still working my way through the photos from our time in greece.

have you noticed what a beautiful island skopelos is?

you. should. go.

on this day of our trip, 

i captured flora and fauna,

door and window,

beach and boat,

and a church...

enjoy!

 as you view these images and those in the other skopelos posts,

i would love to hear which images really stand out to you.

jude and i are planning to have a few printed for our bedroom...

bday lovin'

it's my birthday today!  32 am i.

after some quiet time in my room, reading - i was greeted by my fun lil' family

with cuddles and kisses, cards, treats and gifts.  what could be better?

there were also tears.

tears from laughing harder than i have in a long time.  

i couldn't stop.

flowers from jude and cards from my girls

so nice.  gerbera's are my favourite.

the first card i opened was the one on the right - from selah.

she is loving the dog cards (she's planning a 'dog' party for jude on friday... shhh, don't tell)

this card sang a lovely song to me this morning.

it goes something like this:

"bow wow wow, yippee yo yippee yeah"

having trouble controlling my laughter and tears, 

i proceeded to open my card on the left - from emery.

it's hard to see here - but, it's the kind of card you might get from a close friend 

when you're farther along in years.  

emery had no idea why i couldn't stop laughing while i was reading the thoughtful poetry inside.

"because i just love the cards you guys have chosen for me" i said

while selah's card was playing in the background.

jude tells me that there was no chance of them agreeing on one card for me.

i love how different they are and how clear that was today...

they are both convinced they found the perfect cards for my birthday.

they are both right!

have a great day everyone - and so will i!

lovely photo

here is one from our camping trip that i love...what do you think?

here's the story:

we did a hike from the beach up to the lighthouse in goderich.  

there were quite a few stairs.

i picked this flower on the journey up.

when we reached the top we discovered the lighthouse, swings and bugs.

i set the flower down on the picnic table to go and give some under doggies!

the swinging didn't last too long though, because of the bugs.

by the time the other kids were done playing, selah had just reached the top with jude

(did i mention there were a lot of stairs?).

so i stayed behind to give her a few pushes on the swing 

while the others headed back to the beach.

on our way to the stairs for our trek downward, 

i noticed the flower waiting for me to take it's picture!

loving the texture of the table and the shadow...

camping scenery

so many beautiful sights to take in each day.

that's the beauty of photography - taking the time to seek out those sights.

here are a few that i captured while camping in goderich:

sunday

monday

by jude

tuesday

wednesday - last night

which of these scenes do you enjoy the most?

can you guess my favourite?

to meet our camping friends - click here.

to see our camping fun - stay tuned...

f1.8

new lens baby!

well newish... i got it in april and i'm loving it.

it's a nikkor 35mm f1.8.  that's what i'm talking about!

some of you may be wondering what the heck f1.8 means.

that has to do with aperture and how wide open the lens is when you take a picture.

if you have a low f-stop, you're wide open,

which lets more light in and gives you greater depth of field 

(and the background 'fuzzies' that i love).

here are some photos i've captured with my new lens:

first day with new lens

jude likes the new lens too - he took this one

a lovely flower bokeh

as you can see, i had fun photographing plants & flowers this spring.

which one is your favourite?

bonus points if you can name all the flowers...

bloom

this is selah's favourite flower - she's been watching and waiting for them!

a beautiful iris stands alone in full bloom.

bloom: "the state or period of greatest beauty, freshness or vigor"

~

i have been blogless for a little bit.  

kind of bogged down.

not in full bloom.

feeling busy and tired these days.

after not having uploaded my photos for a week, 

it was nice to come across the pretty photo above

(taken in my parent's garden last week).

even when i feel like i'm busy and/or moving slow, 

life goes on around me...

beautiful & new.

thankful for that.

i would like to join the iris in full bloom,

but not sure how to get there these days.

i would love to hear what helps you 

feel like you're at your best, 

like you're in full bloom.

~

after a busy day indoors 

(a fun new project - photos to come), 

it was so lovely to look out the window this evening and see 

that our irises have started to bloom as well.  

made me smile.

selah will be so happy!

favourite things

one of my favourite songs of all time is 'favourite things' from the sound of music.  

today selah was singing that song as we walked to pick up emery from school.  

she was singing as loud as she could!

i wish i could remember the exact way she sings it and the words she mixes up...it's so great!

i do remember our conversation afterward though...

me:  selah, i love that song, you're such a good singer

selah:  yes, i am a good singer.  i sound just like the real singer for that song.

me: you do.

selah: i must have the exact same voice as her!

look out julie andrews!  love the confidence of a singing 3 year old - get me some of that!

~

today jude also brought home a surprise of one of my favourite things - gerbera daisies!

so i thought i would get out one of my other favourite things (camera) and take some photos!

such a lovely day.  what are some of your favourite things?

my little photographer

this summer i discovered that i'm not the only one in my family who loves to take pictures.  

my oldest daughter (4 at the time) got a hold of our camera one day while we were at rockway gardens... i didn't get it back.  here are some of the images she captured (untouched).

i love that she loves flowers and photography, like her momma!