The Traveling Toy Camera Project has been really successful so far and I’m thrilled about it!! The camera has gone from Ottawa to Vancouver and Vancouver to Chicago, now the camera has traveled on to Oregon now. Soon it will be making the jump across the pond and doing some time in Europe!
Check out the most recent photos on the blog:
http://travelingtoycameraproject.blogspot.com/

And our photos in the flickr group.

I say it every year…this was the best year but I mean it, this was the best year! Saturday morning at 6:15am we packed up the car and left the winter wonderland to drive back in Ottawa for the New Sun conference.

If you’ve read my blog for at least a year then you know that for the last 9 years I’ve been attending the New Sun conference. Every year new speakers come, some I’ve heard of and some I haven’t but I am always, always profoundly moved. Like New Sun is the the air that fills my spirit and rejuvenates me for spring and starting another year.

This year I was excited to hear from all of the speakers, especially the first two. I was worried we might accidently sleep in, the weather or traffic would be bad and this would cause me to miss the first speakers – fortunately, none of these things happened and although I was sad to miss the morning prayer and welcome, I was very happy to make it in time for the speakers.

Read the rest of this entry »

This week we went up to Tremblant to spend a few days with some of our friends who rented a cabin. I have to say our drive was precarious as it was extremely snowy and the roads were bad.

Once we found the street we started driving and as we were going up and down this unploughed road we decided that we must have made a wrong term. We had noticed someone was home at a small farm so decided to stop and ask.

I jumped out of the car and went over the house and started knocking on the door. (We knew someone  was home because we saw them on our way past earlier.) No answer…I knock again…no answer but this time a big St. Bernard puppy came padding around the corner over to me. I knocked a third time and said hello when the puppy pounced – he wanted to play, jumping all over and pulling and biting my joggers. He was VERY cute! I decided whom ever was home was not going to answer the door but as I walked away the puppy bounded behind me and when I opened the car he tried to jump inside. With M pushing and me pulling we tried to get the puppy out of the car. I thought, if the owner comes out now they might worry that we are stealing their puppy! But thankfully they didn’t come out. Read the rest of this entry »

So the camera has been on the move! It made it’s way to Vancouver and has traveled on from there to Chicago! Now, I did make a little mistake as I meant for the camera to go to Oregon and move across North America before going on to the first Europe leg…that said I am thrilled that the camera has been traveling well.

I can’t wait to see what the first 2 people have chosen to photograph and how their images turn out! One member has suggested starting a flickr group for everyone to post their images so I’m hoping to do that…I don’t use flickr a lot so it will be a learning experience for me!

That’s it for now! Cheers!

1 . Publish an article [article in latest issue of Light Leaks magazine!]

2. Travel to Japan [booked for fall 2010]
Our flights our booked and now we just have to decide where we want to go and what we want to see. Top on my list are Tokyo, Nagoya, Mijajima and Kamakura. I definitely want to check out cameras and get some Hello Kitty currency in Tokyo – I’m extremely excited!

3. Fast on all days of obligation [1]

12. Go to the movies (3/5)
- When in Rome: cute romantic comedy
- Avatar: groundbreaking graphics…no comment on the story
- the White Ribbon: weird and curious German language film…I was intrigued!

13. buy new art (1/2) – an 8×8 photograph raising money for Haiti

46. listen to new books on tape [5/10]
- Shanghai Girls: interesting story about 2 sisters and their relationship and secrets. They travel from Shanghai to the United States – anyhow, it was really good.
- Highest Duty: memoir of Captain Sully who landed the plane on the Hudson…really interesting story and life! A good listen!
- Dewey: story about a very special library cat – I thought it was touching!
- While My Sister Sleeps: Another story of sisters and a complicated web that forms when one sister has an accident that changes everyone’s lives
- Hana’s Suitcase: two stories told in one book about a group in Japan, modern time, doing research on the life of a little Jewish girl in Europe during WW2.
- I’m now on book 6 “Dreams of my Father” by Barack Obama, read by the author (before he became president)

69. take time out for myself
This past weekend we planned nothing in advance and just went with the flow. It was really great. It started with Schnitzel dinner at the German club and included a play date with my two nieces and sister and brother-in-law, the gtown, a haircut, 2 movies and lots of Olympics! It was a great weekend and it was so nice to have free time and enjoy it with family and friends.

73. Take part in a traveling camera project
I sent to camera to Vancouver and panicked for a while that the camera got lost in the mail but it made it there eventually! The camera has traveled from Vancouver and is now in Chicago. I am thrilled that the project is *knock on wood* working and hopefully it will continue to go well!

74. Visit Toronto [1/5] – I have a visit booked!
Looking forward to flying on Porter to go for a weekend in Toronto – good times!

So this week I’ve been busy but also not active, other than soccer on Monday and I think by now people know how that ended. I read on my friend Heidi’s blog about this granola she’s been making, using applesauce. I love granola and I love applesauce so I thought I would give it a go. The recipe was easy to follow and make.

So here is my first batch – I changed the recipe slightly based on what I had in the house. Read the rest of this entry »

Lent is here! Every year I try to come up with a list of comfort/treats that I will give up for 40 days…this year is no exception and I think I’ve come up with a good list of things I want to give up this year.

Here is my list:
- french fries (Question “do you want fries with that?” Answer “No, I want salad”)
- St. Hubert (this always makes me really sad as this is my favorite comfort food…not that I eat this ALL the time)
- rag mags (you know the ones…you see them at the checkout)
- buying cameras (I don’t do this ALL the time either but figure even if I was tempted I will have to wait until after Easter – enjoy and be grateful for what I have and not what I don’t)

I want to keep working on my list and checking things off as well.

On a separate note, I was somewhere this week when some people discovered this small piece of installation art (I assume). I thought it was interesting. Early research has yielded no results – I’m going to try and email the address given and see what happens…I will keep you posted.