Sigh. I like autumn with it’s new faces and new schedules and new friends, but I’m always sad when summer ends.
Happy end of summer, y’all!
Flashback faves: Back to school
Found this in the archives, published on this day back in 2007: Tristan starting SK and Simon in preschool. Where HAS the time gone? They’re starting grades 6 and 8 next week!
Last night was “meet the teacher” night at Simon’s nursery school. They had an open house, and everyone was invited to drop in, play with the toys, and say hello to the teachers.
Simon was beside himself with delight. His very own big-boy school! The funny part was how excited Tristan was on Simon’s behalf. You can see he delights in his role as the older brother, advising his brother on classroom etiquette (“you have to be quiet during circle time”) and protocol (“this is your cubby, and you keep your coat in here”) … even though Tristan himself never went to preschool.
I had one of those rare and satisfying moments of parental validation as we were getting ready to leave. Simon said he wanted to say good-bye to each of his teachers. The first remembered that Simon had asked about playdough, and promised him it would be there the next day when he came back, leaving him beaming with anticipation. The second one dropped immediately to his eye level when she saw he wanted to speak to her, and took his hand as he said a rather affectionate good-bye. Despite the busyness around her, 100% of her attention seemed focused on Simon’s simple message, and I could see him radiating in the warmth of her attention. The cost, the logistical nightmare of having them both scheduled to start and end at the same time five kilometers apart, the arduous search to find a caregiver who was willing and able to deal with it — all of it was validated in that small but lovely-to-watch two-minute exchange. I made the right decision!! Yay me!
***
Speaking of the nanny, did I mention I love her? LOVE her. We’re so, so lucky, and she was so worth waiting for. I love her, Beloved loves her, but best of all, the boys love her. And how do we demonstrate that love? By giving her a heart attack the first day she has to pick up Tristan from school.
The vagaries of Beloved’s schedule have him picking up the boys after school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so it wasn’t until last Thursday that the nanny had to meet Tristan after school for the first time. I’m not sure whether she went to the wrong door, or whether they just missed each other in the crowd, but for whatever reason, Tristan didn’t see her as soon as he came out the door. So he took a beat, probably not as many as two, and did what was to his mind the perfectly logical thing.
He walked home.
By himself.
Leaving the poor, sweet nanny to have several panic attacks, a couple of heart attacks, and a long conversation in her head about what exactly she would say to me when she called to explain that she had lost my son on his third day of school.
All’s well that ends well. You can actually see our house from the school yard, and after a few false starts, the nanny spied Tristan’s blond head bobbing happily along in the sea of escaping students making their way down the sidewalk. As she related the story to me less than an hour later, I could still see the residual panic in the whites of her eyes, and it was hard not to laugh.
For his part, Tristan was mildly perplexed by the whole incident. “I know the way, Mom,” he said with an exasperation that belied his years. “I’m a big boy now.” I couldn’t bring myself to scold him, but I did reinforce the nanny’s idea that the very next day they were going to go to the school and pick a meeting spot, and that Tristan was NEVER, EVER to leave without her again.
It’s a good thing there’s another baby on the way, because suddenly my babies are all grown up…
I didn’t have any back to school pictures of them from September 2007, but here they are later that autumn.
Tristan still talks about walking home by himself that day, and still doesn’t see what the big deal was. 🙂
Ottawa family fun: A voyageur canoe trip on the Rideau Canal
Great news: I have a most excellent new suggestion for an affordable family activity that involves fresh air, exercise and a fascinating and fun lesson in Ottawa history. Not so great news: the season is over until spring, so you’ll have to wait until next year to try it out for yourself.
As I’ve mentioned, I like to walk along the Rideau Canal at lunch time. Over the summer, a few times I caught sight of a massive canoe being paddled down the Canal. At first, I thought it was some sort of summer camp activity, but then I noticed many of the participants were adults. One time the canoe passed close enough that I noticed the Parks Canada logo on the canoe, and I could hear a narrative being delivered about Colonel John By and how the Canal was built. Intrigued, I googled it and sure enough, it is yet another amazing Parks Canada family activity, one that’s been running all summer in downtown Ottawa practically right under my nose: Voyageur Canoe tours from the Ottawa lock station, right beside the Chateau Laurier.
How fun is that? They have one and two hour guided tours, and they provide everything, and it’s less than $10 per person. There’s room for 10 people, plus a Parks Canada guide in the front and back. On our one hour tour, we made it past the Corkstown bridge and just to the big bend in the Canal before the Pretoria Bridge and then back again. Our guides Liam and Molly were awesome: chatty and full of interesting anecdotes about the history of the Canal, and not at all judgmental about our very, um, uncoordinated paddling and the rather incessant grumbling of two brothers locked in a battle of oars wills over personal paddling space.
You can paddle as much or little as you like, and with the exception of mild wakes from passing boats, the water is calm and forgiving – considerably less terrifying than our our previous family canoe trip almost 10 years ago. I was sure at the outset that at least one paddle, if not one boy, would end up floating in the Canal at some point, but miraculously we lost neither paddles nor passengers during the tour.
This was a really fun family adventure. An hour is the perfect amount of time, and it’s a wonderful way to explore the easy-to-overlook Rideau Canal at the heart of our beautiful city. The boys were tickled to be paddling across the same spot they often skate in the winter, and they actually listened to enough of the history lesson to ask me questions about it after the fact.
Put this one on your to-do list for summer 2016!
Photo(s) of the day: A walk at the Chapman Mills boardwalk
The boardwalk at the Chapman Mills conservation area near Barrhaven has always been one of our favourite places for a wander on a summer day. I have dozens of photos of the boys on the boardwalk going back to when we had Katie and before Lucas was even in the picture, so to speak. When I’m going places that we’ve been many times before, I find taking along a different lens lets me see things in a new light, and yesterday felt like a fish-eye kind of day.
Awesome tree, right? This one and the one below were amazing.
(Sigh, not a toddler any more.)
That last one is the inverted reflection in the water. I wasn’t actually thinking about cropping it and flipping it like that when I took it, but I liked it after I played with it.
Anybody want to go for portraits down at Chapman Mills? My models were patient enough, but I had way more more ideas than they had patience. Sometimes I wonder what their future selves will think of these childhood family adventures where my camera is like the fourth needy child. To their credit, though, they are generally patient with the obsessive picture-taking. So far. 😉
Photo of the day: Avocado toast
It always tickles me when the various streams in my life converge and diverge.
A while ago, someone on Facebook made a passing mention of avocado toast. Specifically, avocado mashed with fresh lime juice and sea salt on toast. I’m pretty sure I drooled, and I can tell you for sure that I tried it right away and it rocketed up to one of my favourite breakfast/snack treats. Three of my absolute favourite flavours on crispy, crumbly toast? I may be drooling as I type this.
Then I was tickled a few days ago when I came across this article on The Kitchn: 11 Easy Ways to Fancy Up Your Avocado Toast, where the author waxes nostalgic “for the good old days when avocado toast was something novel, a little breakfast secret to share with friends. Avocado toast these days, well, it’s gone mainstream.” So avocado toast is not only delicious, but trendy? Who knew? (For what it’s worth, I am not overly enamoured by any of the 11 suggestions and will happily stick with the sublimely simple avocado, lime and sea salt.)
Any doubt that avocado toast was a genuine phenomenon was erased when Getty Images put out a request to photographers this week for images of — avocado toast. “Move over cereal! The latest coveted breakfast is avocado on toast!”
Who knew? Well, aside from me. And, erm, everybody.
But heck yes, I will take photos of my avocado toast before I stuff it into my hungry gob.
And, the other revelation of the day? Food photography is HARD, y’all.
Funny aside: the other photo themes Getty was soliciting this week were lighthouses and photos of your feet in various places. It’s like they were reading my mind, or at least my blog. I think I uploaded more photos to Getty this week than I have so far in 2015!
So anyway, back to avocado toast: have you tried it? Do you love it? Do you have a fancy variation that needs to be shared? If you’ll excuse me, I still have four avocados and limes calling my name…
Photo of the day: Twin boys on the porch
Any weekend with Saturday AND Sunday portraits and wall to wall sunshine is an excellent weekend indeed. Are you ready for another dose of unbelievable cuteness?
How about these guys?
I know, right? We’ve reached maximum levels of adorableness on the porch. How could it possibly get any cuter than that? And you know what? Mom and Dad and Nana came along for the ride, and weren’t they just the nicest people? These guys made me work for the portraits and I was a hot mess by the time we were done, but it was so worth it.
I hope your weekend was as full of sunshine and smiles and belly laughs as mine was!
Photo of the day: Brother and sister in the garden
Maybe it’s because I’m a big sister myself, but there is something about this photo that I love – big sister and baby brother in the flower garden. I knew from the moment the shutter clicked that it would be a keeper.
We had lots of more formal poses with mom and dad and the kids, but it’s these little in-between moments that often end up being my favourites. Sunshine, flowers, cute kids, and friendly people? I can’t think of a better recipe for a lovely Saturday morning.
Photo of the day: A scholar to be
How much do you love this little guy’s toothy smile?
Isnt’ he cute? Lookit that twinkle in his eye. He came with his folks for family portraits on the porch last week, and since he’ll be starting his very first day at school in September, I thought it would be an excellent time to pull out the vintage school desk I picked up for a song last year. I love that moment when I feel like I’ve connected with a shy subject and their personality shines out.
I’m happy to incorporate back to school poses as part of my porch portrait sessions this autumn. I’ve got stacks of vintage books and a few fresh apples to complete the look! Spots always book up quickly in the autumn (whimper – summer, I hardly knew ya!) so please do get in touch soon if you’d like to book your family’s portraits.
Photo(s) of the day: Instagram walks in downtown Ottawa
I have been trying to get out and walk on my lunch hour as much as possible, or, on the recent days when it has been stupidly hot, early in the morning. I keep meaning to bring my camera, but my iPhone and Instagram seem to be filling the niche. And then when I get home, I completely forget to share them on the blog, so I’m catching up.
This is my favourite. I am in love with Parks Canada right now, between the PEI National Parks discovery programs and an awesome local program I just learned about and will tell you about soon. I never get tired of watching the Parks employees hand-cranking the locks, and especially loved the shapes and clean lines of this overhead action shot.
It was the movement in the water and how it played with the reflections of the “Puzzle Palace” on the Rideau Canal that caught my attention in this shot. I may have gone a wee bit overboard with the filters. It was so hot my filter filter got fried.
Is this not the definition of summer? Again, heavily processed, but I like that sometimes.
I wish I had had my big girl camera with me for this. I was walking by the War Memorial on Elgin Street and happened to notice that one of the Ceremonial Guards was wearing a turban, and his army-green turban had the same insignia of the hat of the guard standing behind him. I loved what it said about being Canadian, and multicultural. I debated between moving closer so you could see him more clearly and framing the shot so you could see the entire Cenotaph, and eventually noticed the angle that included the black-eyed susans in the foreground. I was crouched down taking this shot with my iPhone when a guy with a much bigger camera and a pro lens squatted down beside me and said, as he looked through the viewfinder, “Nice choice on this composition!” I would love to see what he ended up with, but I’m pretty happy with this version.
Here’s a bit of a zoomed-in version:
It makes me so happy being able to get out and exercise my body AND my brain. I never forget to be grateful that we live in such a photogenic city.
Photos of the day: The secret sunflower dilemma (with a bonus conversation with the Universe)
It went something like this:
**ring ring**
Hello?
DaniGirl! It’s the Universe calling. Long time, no chat!
Universe! Hey old friend, what are you doing in a photo of the day blog post?
There was a disturbance in the force and I had to check it out. You were radiating happy when you were out playing with your camera in the morning’s first light in a sunflower field. What’s up with that?
Oh wow, those sunflowers! So many, so gorgeous, and what a perfect morning for it. Who knew there could be so many varieties? Some were easily 10 ft tall, some were purple, some were tiny. It was photographer heaven! I’m not surprised I was radiating happy.
Were you surprised to find such a treat so close to home?
I really was! I’d been chatting with the owner of the farm online since February, and I knew she was more or less local – but I didn’t realize until I went out there that she’s literally 10 minutes away from my house in Manotick!
How did you find out about the sunflowers?
The owner, Kristie, sells cut sunflowers for $5 a bunch, and also sells sunflower stalk kindling and makes art out of the stalks. She makes trellises, frames for chalkboards and mirrors, all sorts of interesting designs. We started chatting on line, and I asked her if it would be okay if I came out to poke around with my camera when the sunflowers were in bloom.
She sounds lovely.
She truly is! And the sunflowers are incredibly lovely, too. She planted more than 7,000 seeds, and nature helped jumble a lot of them together, so the field is like a crazy quilt with sunflowers every which way. They are every colour you could imagine – yellows, oranges, purples and pinks! Who knew sunflowers came in pink and purple and black? Each one seems to have its own personality.
I’m sensing a bit of covetousness here.
It’s true! Living in an old farmhouse surrounded by sunflowers? Move the whole shebang to PEI, plunk it down by the ocean and it’s DaniGirl’s House of Dreams!
I’m also sensing a bit of conflict.
Sigh, yes. I have a bit of a dilemma. I’ve found this incredibly photogenic field of sunflowers practically around the corner from me, and part of me wants to go there every day and just take pictures – morning light, hazy light, twilight, macro, wide angle, details, bees, tight crop, shooting up, shooting down — I had a hard time leaving in the first place!
Did Kristie mind the idea of you taking photos?
Not at all! She was so nice, and she was even open to the idea of me hosting sunflower photo sessions in her field. How fun would that be? People love sunflowers!
Very fun and very popular, I’ll bet. So what’s the problem exactly?
So here’s my dilemma. As I said, people love sunflowers. I see postings in local photography groups all the time with people asking for sunflower fields. If I tell people about this treasure, it’s not my secret sunflower place any more. But Kristie is trying to sustain a business of sunflower farming, and I can help promote her. Aside from the photographers, I know lots of people who would love the idea of just dropping by her place 15 minutes outside of Barrhaven to pick up a bunch of fresh-picked, locally grown and truly beautiful sunflowers for only $5.
Ah, I see. Photographers are a little proprietary about good locations, are they?
Well, yes, that’s true. But I also would want people to be respectful of Kristie and her field. Maybe everyone who goes out there to take photos also makes sure to make a donation, or buy a bunch of flowers on the way out? That way she can have a sustainable business, and we’ll have a beautiful local sunflower field for years to come! She was telling me a little bit about the work involved, and it’s neither cheap nor easy to grow that many sunflowers!
So how do people find this hidden sunflower treasure?
You can find Kristie’s Keys Sunfields page on Facebook, and you can pick up fresh sunflowers at the end of the lane from 9 am to 8 pm at 5939 First Line Rd. If you’d like to pay a visit, please message her first.
And when will you be hosting your sunflower field portrait sessions?
I’m working on the details for that, but it will be a weekend in the near future. Spots will be very limited, though – if you’re super keen, message me for details and I’ll put you on the waiting list. Watch this space for an announcement soon!
I’ll make an appointment with my stylist and get back to you. You’ll need a wide, and I mean w-i-d-e angle lens for me, though. Lovely sunflower photos, by the way!
Thanks Universe! I’m glad you checked in. We’ll chat again soon!