This is such a hard post to write.

As you have most likely already heard if you know me from anywhere else, my Father died on December 3rd following a brief albeit painful battle with lung cancer. Strange to call it a battle, as he didn't have a fighting chance. The disease progressed very quickly and it took us all by surprise. His last month alive was spent in agony, and I'm very glad that he is no longer suffering.
He had made his peace with life and he was ready to go.
May God Rest His Soul
Gerald Cowling Platel February 19 1932 - December 3rd 2009

Workin' Girl.

Wow.
Such sheer craziness!
In the last month my life has been turned upside down, shaken, stirred and then latterly flipped!
There have been huge developments and major changes, definitely a transition time.
First of all Andrew (aka The Husband) was laid off. His company down sized and they let a ton of people go. Even though he'd been there for over a year he was the last one hired so there was no chance they were going to keep him. A few days after that my Father (who lives with us) was diagnosed with cancer. As a result of this my Mother (who also lives with us) left her job to be with Dad. Which I wholeheartedly support, but, with Andrew's recent lay off, that meant NO ONE in our house hold was actually working, or earning money.
Yikes! So, last week I gots me some employment. Only part time for now, as I'm easing back into it slowly (it has been five years after all). The husband is taking really well to his new (unpaid) job as primary caregiver, but there are still a few bumps to bump over. Going back only part time is making it a lot easier on all of us.
*Side note: I'm getting really frustrated with constantly having to justify/explain this decision to people.*
And yes, I'm afraid I've gone back to retail. And yes, I know I swore I never ever ever would, but lets face it folks, under current circumstances there's no way I'm going back to school, and retail is what I know best. BUT, (and yes it is a big butt ;) I really really like this company, and it's one I've shopping at for years. I like s it, and I can say with integrity, "this is good sh*t, I would buy it and I think you should too!" So through Christmas at least I'm just working as a part time sales person, starting way at the bottom, with the intention of moving up afterwords. (provided that I can cut it and the company really as good to work for as it seems at first glance.) So yeah, I am resigning my post as a stay at home Mum. I'm now a going to work Mum.
That's all the really big stuff.
It's been hard, I'm not going to pretend this last month has been in any way easy it hasn't been, but I'm coping as well as can be expected, and I even manged to make a book while all this was going on!
Anyhoo, feel free to say some prayers for me, or send me some positive vibrations, or light me a candle, or do what ever spiritual thing you would do to love and support someone in my current position, goodness knows I need it.
Peace y'all

Beautiful Ontario- The book

Great news everybody!
Beautiful Ontario the photography exhibition is now available in book form from lulu.
So if you liked the show, and you'd like to own it all, now you can!

BLOG ACTION DAY!!!

In honor of Blog Action Day, I'm posting a link to one of the best blog post I read on climate change.
LINK!
I'm not registering in thought, cause it's not mine.
And while it wasn't posted today, I'm reposting it today!
So enjoy!

Great Success!

We're up!We had a great launch party last night.
So many friendly smiling faces, and so much support.
The install was insanely stressful and a lot of really hard work (for Andrew) but seeing it all there put together I know it was all worth it. (Andrew agrees). My full exhibition is now available for viewing online in the gallery section of our website (link on the right.) Check it out and let me know what you think.I'll post pictures from the party if any come my way. I didn't bring my camera because I knew I wouldn't be able to host and take good pictures at the same time.
Here is a bad photo from my cell phone of my wall!

Mistakes you can make while framing....

Not that I or anyone I know have made any of these mistakes or anything
*ahem*

Mistake #1 Putting your photo in the frame, putting the mat down, attaching the hooks to the backing, stringing the wire, putting the backing in, fastening the clips, screwing the backing into place, turning the frame around and noticing that the glass is not clean and there are little specks on your photo.

Mistake #2 Putting your photo in the frame, putting the mat down, attaching the hooks to the backing, stringing the wire, putting the backing in, fastening the clips, screwing the backing into place, turning the frame around and noticing that you actually strung the wire at the bottom of the frame instead of the top. D’oh!

Mistake #3 Going to unscrew the backing and realizing that you have completely stripped the screws when you put them in.

Mistake #4 Cleaning the inside of the glass of the frame, putting the picture down with the mat, checking it (see #1 & #2) finding a speck, taking everything out again and cleaning the glass again, putting it all back in, finding the specks still there, repeating and repeating until you figure out the speck is on the mat and not the glass.

Mistake #5 Misplacing one of your highly specialized tools and deciding that your finger nails will work just as well, breaking your fingernail in half, thinking “wow, won’t try that again”, putting everything together and checking it (see #1, #2, & #3) only to find the broken half of your finger nail under the mat. Ewwwwwww!

Mistake #6 Getting distracted while you are framing and going away half way through, then coming back after some time, thinking everything is put together then picking the frame up and having everything fall out because you didn’t actually screw the screws in.

Mistake #7 Dropping all the small screws on the ground and then wondering if you really need all the screws that came with it (You really, really do.)

Mistake #8 Calling out the wrong name in bed (Oh wait, that might actually belong on another top ten list…..)

Mistake # 9 Framing until the wee hours of the morning when you are so tired that you do not realize that you are making all the above mistakes repeatedly.

Mistake # 10 Greatly under estimating how long it will take you to frame all that stuff and procrastinating so that it’s all left until the last minute so that you are forced to stay up until the wee hours of the morning framing.

Status update: All ready to go! WOOOOOOO!

Because everyone likes free stuff.....

In keeping with tradition I will be "raffling" one of my photographs at our opening on Tuesday night. So when guests arrive at Insomnia to celebrate the opening of our Exhibition they will receive a ticket (free of course) just for showing up! At some random point in the evening (ie, whenever I fell like it) I will draw a number, and the person who has the ticket with that number on it will receive an 8x10 photograph of mine in a snazzy frame and everything.
This is one of my favorite things about launching our shows, looking over all the expectant faces as I read the number while everyone holds their breath, hoping they will be the lucky one. I remember the first year, the winner actually squealed with joy and started jumping up and down. Ah, good times, good times. (So if you happen to come, and happen to win, this is how I expect you to react ;)
Anyhoo, here's the photo I'll be raffling,
It's titled "Holding On" Taken in Niagara Falls Ont. 2009

Venue

I just came across a review of the venue where my photography exhibition will be this October, so if you are wondering about insomnia, hear about how great it is from someone who isn't me ;)

ART SHOW!!!

Man these things can really sneak up on you!
I can't believe we are installing in only a couple of weeks. I have updated the news section of our website with my artist statement for this show. I must say I'm getting really excited. It goes without saying that I hope this year is successful.
Wish me luck!

Incase you hadn't heard I went to a concert last night....

It was at the Rogers Center.
There were A LOT of people there.
It was full of Awesome.

I want to live in the forest forever too!

That was Ben's comment when we had to leave. That he wanted to live in the forest forever. I don't blame him, the weather was absolutely perfect and he had not only his Mum and Dad there to play with him but also Auntie Nikki and Charlie.
We rented a car that was quickly dubbed "The Boat" because it was so huge, a Chevy Impala. Black, but you could still see the orange and green paint under the scratches from when it was a cab. We left early on Friday and followed Nikki and Charlie there, stopping briefly only once for lunch. Almost as soon as we got to the camp site (after pitching the tents of course,) we went swimming in Cypress lake. It was really wonderful.
There was a light inside the car that none of us could figure out how to turn off which eventually drained the battery. Luckily Nikki had booster cables.
We swam in three different huge bodies of water (except for Ben whom I didn't toss into the Georgian Bay, far too cold for him) There were huge cliffs that people were jumping off of (not us) despite the signage. The cliffs were a bit of a hike along the Bruce trail, but it was nice.
We rented a canoe.
We it was awesome.
We ate very well, and it was very, very relaxing.
The photos are all out of order but I'm too lazy to correct them.

Huh, I always assumed that I looked really pretty while playing soccer......

Even though I've been known to fall down on occasion, I sweat like a pig, and I run as fast as I can so all my wobbly bits well....... wobble.
I just assumed that I looked very graceful and sporty.
Turns I don't.
I had Andrew take some photos of me while I was playing, thinking I would have something to display proudly as in "See how cute and athletic I am?".

Well, now I'm thinking "See how hard I play? I mean business! This isn't about looking all cute and sporty, oh no, this is a serious game. "
Actual I don't take it very seriously (how can I when we've never actually, um, won a game?) but I do play to the best of my ability. I cheer my team on enthusiastically and I don't suck (as much as I used to)
Oh, and apparently I grimace a lot.



Ah well, it's still good fun.
As for our team standings, I do believe that we played our best game ever yesterday, at both half times we were actually in the lead. We scored actual goals We lost both games in the end and we are back in 8th (read: last) place again.
But all hope is not lost as we have one more game left to play, so there's still a (slim) chance we could actually win a game. Here's a wider shot of the field from the first time we played on this field. (Notice how all the girls on my team look graceful sporty and athletic?!)


Also kudos to Dan, who showed up to play last Sunday even though it was his Birthday. P.S. I ended up buying new shoes, I couldn't stand to play in the other foot pinching ones. Hopefully I will play again at some point in the future......