Fernie Bonus Days

April 17 & 18, 2010. The final two days of the season at Fernie. Great skiing with sun & soft spring snow with the favorite part for the kids being the hydroplane across the 'pond' at the bottom of the Boomerang Chair. We also had several big feeds off the bbq, enjoyed the hot tub & the company of our little group of reprobates. There were a few beer that survived but the scotch was not so lucky.

Rest of the photos can be viewed here

Ski season isn't over yet, Sunshine remains open!!! (I love spring skiing)

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All Rev'ed Up

...and nowhere to go. Stupid weather.

Best quote in quite some time from a client, part of an email commenting on his design:

"Keep the front bed as per Design #2. (wifes name) likes it, therefore I now like it."

Gotta appreciate a guy who knows how to make a compromise ;>)

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Scraps of Spring

In my garden this weekend, oaffus-doaffus dog & weather battered, but still a welcome splash of color


First a howling blizzard woke us,
Then the rain came down to soak us,
And now before the eye can focus -
Crocus.
- Lilja Rogers

Went to the Calgary Horticulture Society’s annual trade show yesterday & I actually learned a lot. I also got to meet up with quite a few nursery & landscape types who otherwise scatter to scurry around with their respective heads bent to their work the remainder of the season.

Quote of the day came when Ken Wright of Bow Point Nursery Ltd was asked in a seminar on native plants to comment on deer proof plants: “Deer are going to eat whatever plant is your favorite.” I thought that was pretty much the perfect answer.

I was going to go looking for prairie crocus today but decided to focus on a few other tasks like a landscape plan with a really screaming deadline & my hip deep office mess of just about everything that I’ve dropped in the past month.

As Eric had his Easter school break this past week I took a mid-week “powder day”. Since I finally have some backup in the office net productivity was unaffected as that day easily represented the time I would spend in an average past week doing stuff other than my job. Well, maybe one day wasn’t enough actually. Reaching that point of the year where the work outstrips even the most ‘productive’ week so hack & slash … onward I toil. Have a good week, & hopefully spring is coming to your neck of the woods too.

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Spring 2010 roundup

First of all… have you noticed its spring?? Or what passes for spring in this part of the world. Shhhh… don’t jinx it.
Tessa has been enjoying the warm weather.


Work is almost full bore, the final nudge of the throttle to full comes when the crews start & that will be another ten days or so (depending on the weather). Will likely get a few days skiing in over the school break now that basketball is done.

So you got left hanging with basketball… Eric’s team came second at Zones which gave them a berth into Provincials. The basketball played at Zones was intense; the team that came first in the Zone went on to a second place finish at Provincials.

The first game of Provincials was a loss in a tight game & it bumped the team to the “C” pool so at best an eighth place finish. The coach talked to the kids about playing the second game using the whole bench, get everybody on the board, (& if it was close try & win). It was a 20 point loss, certainly a team they could have beaten, but it finished the tournament on a real happy note & I felt it was the right move. In many of the games leading up to that point some of the rookies had seen little or no action… now they can say they played at Provincials. I never checked the score-sheet but I think everyone recorded at least one basket.

For Eric the last game of his High School career came on the following week as he & team-mate Brandon were selected to represent NDC in the 1A/2A South Central Zone All-Star game. The participants were split East & West & they made a game of it; the final score 93-91. It was smiles all around with many of the kids saying that was the best game they had ever played in. Eric said “I was actually getting passes on my fast breaks”. A great way to finish the season for me too watching Eric among his peers whom he had played against throughout the past three seasons (or longer).

On the weekend I jammed 1512 Basketball shots into Lightroom and spat out 258 keepers into my Zenfolio site for sharing with the athletes, family & friends. I had been considering Zenfolio for quite a while having initially been introduced to it by an scrambling partner Wietse. That was more than a year ago but with the revamp on the company website I needed a new place for what formerly was my Designers Corner segment… the first segment on the build is my tree portfolio which has saved me a lot of time describing the trees I propose for landscape clients in the past…. So the time had come for Zenfolio. I hope it will help me to stay a bit better organized when it comes to my photos and as Wietse pointed out, it acts as an online backup. Such that anything in the ‘clouds’ is secure; it’s another place to keep ‘stuff’.

So if you want you can wander over to Zenfolio for basketball, skiing, or the start of the landscape portfolio. Just mind the pylons, barricades, & open man-holes… heavily under construction.

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Get open

Well I managed to go a solid month without posting, unlikely a record... I've been busy it seems.

Ok, I had this big long thing written accounting for my whereabouts… lets just say the last while has been a gong show. I’ll blog a bit belatedly about a couple of things otherwise suffice to say it goes like this: work…basketball…chores….shit weather…work…work… with every once in a while SKI or SUN…

But basketball deserves a few more lines. Eric’s team, NDC Timber wolves, finished third in league play leading into the playoffs. NDC is 2A, the top two teams were Foothills Comp (4A) and Highwood (3A) our cross-town rival. NDC defeated STS to advance to the quarter final Friday night against Highwood. We have never beaten Highwood at basketball. Long story short it was an epic game that ended 64-61 NDC. First time a 2A school has made the league final since 1999. Foothills Comp is a strong team with a post who must be 6’6” or 6’8”… anyway, the final game was a hard fought 43-73 finish during which we seemed to frustrate them enough their coach was yelling at them like they were loosing. Time was we’d play them and they’d sit their starters and still roll over us. Most excellent to see that improvement.

Next up at the end of this week is Zones in Didsbury. The boys must defeat Drumheller & Brooks ranked #1 & #2 in the province respectively in order to advance to Provincials. Last year they got to Provincials by finishing second to Drumheller and due to our Zone being so tough there was a wildcard slot from our Zone. We’ll see how it goes; it’ll be fun to watch Eric wind up his High-school career playing at that level.

I only shot about a third of this years play due to my camera being in the shop for a while & some games I just prefer to watch. I’ve got a few good shots using my longer lens even though its auto-focus is frustrating. Overall there should be a good collection of shots once I find time to process them all.

What to do next winter??? It’ll be an adjustment I’m sure but I’ll bet the time will get filled, & maybe I’ll even do some snowshoeing! & more shoot’n… you can count on that.

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Winter walk'n

Winter wears on. Shannon won't walk Tessa when it’s icy (which has been since November more or less) so I've been the primary walker this winter. Often in the dark but she always wants to go so it’s not so much of a chore.

She has improved a great deal from the dog that was hand shy, would cower if you threw a ball & would shy from a camera. I've been working with her a bit off leash too & its going well... another thing I didn't think I'd be able to do with her given her initial desire to run the moment the gate was left open.
How's that for getting her to stay while I crept right up to her with the camera? Lets just say when I get that close she usually can't resist lunging forward & licking my face.



Finally worn out from playing ball, a game she has grown to love thanks in part to Eric. It's a dog’s life.

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Orton Technique

The Orton Technique was orginally done back in the film days by overlaying two suitably exposed slides for a nice artistic blurred effect. Now using digital technology we can get a similar effect with much less effort.

Rather than cleaning up my office (it is such a mess I've actually temporarily moved to the dining room... wow it's starting to look like my office in here...) I'm playing with Photoshop tonight. Something I haven't done for a while but with the upcoming website revamps I'll likely have to use it again... but enough of that... a few examples of the Orton technique on some of my shots.


In order of appearance: Mooney Falls(Havasu), Grand Canyon, River Walk(Zion), & Mooney Falls again.

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Cuatro cervezas por favor

We wanted to take a family vacation for Eric's senior year so we kicked around some ideas & the only time we could all go was Christmas, which is "we've got them by the balls" season for travel companies. We decided on an all inclusive resort (Barcelo Colonial Beach) just south of Playa Del Carmen on the Maya Riviera. Cool breezes off the Caribbean Sea, lots of sun & not too hot (high 20's to low 30's.) We had a wonderful time.
It's a big complex with pitch & putt golf, tennis, fitness center, shopping, restaurants, plus numerous pools all moments away from white sand beaches. Shannon thought she could use this angel in the courtyard outside our room to help find our way. Turns out they are everywhere! We all had a turn at getting 'lost' at some point.
The outdoor nativity scene with a Mexican twist.
Gotta have a chicken!
It was easy to forget it was Christmas time. An occasional familar tune played in a restaurant or a tree in the lobby. It all seemed so out of place. All we needed for Christmas was our little foursome... leave the trees in the cold north.
Pool-side.
Beach activities include snorkeling, scuba, sail boats, wind surfing, jet skiis, parasailing & kayaking. Extra fees for some of those activities.
Michael gets a tow.

Oh who could be behind the hand? "I'm not too worried about it."
Eric especially enjoyed himself because of his status we had to bring him drinks. Just so you know Eric, I drank out of every single one first (partly so I wouldn't spill on my self stumbling back to the chairs)

I am prone to slurpy headaches & I got one so bad from a daiquiri it went right into my chest... that was not fun. Well, it was for everyone else. I had one afternoon where I got my monies worth out of the bar, otherwise I behaved myself. Turns out that "Your shout" & "Half in the bag" aren't terms in current use. Now you know how we feel Mike, never knowing what you're talking about.


Would you believe they actually left me here "But its still light out!!"

I spent much of our pool / beach time vegetating... which is so not like me. I think it helped though, felt much more energized after the trip. Shannon with her beach book (above)
We did three side trips (blogged seperately) & went into Playa Del Carmen one evening to see what all the fuss was about. Shopping & had a bite at a local restaurant. H1N1 kicked the crap out of them but they are making a comeback after some very slow months. All the locals & resort staff we dealt with were very helpful & friendly. But tourism is the major industry there. They probably laugh about us at the end of the day. "You should have seen that boy eat!"
We ate out at the themed restaurants for seafood, thai, mexican, & steak. The steak place was funny with the waiters dressed up as cowboys & Alan Jackson playing over the speakers. I went with the lamb. This is 'classier' than the buffet so gentlemen must wear long pants, collared shirt, closed toe shoe. "But I'm on holidays!!!" Ladies, just not a swim suit. WTF!!! Anyway, all dressed up for dinner in front of the big gingerbread house display by the restaurants.

All in all we ate like kings. Pineapple with every meal... what's not to love?
Hammock time before heading back to Calgary -18.

A word about the shoot'n. All these shots with a Canon G11. I read the manual & tried a bunch of the features but didn't get too 'into it' on this trip. I think deep down I really needed to unplug, & it helped. But none of these shots are all that great. On a happier note my Rebel is back from the repair shop ready to be picked up so I can start shooting basketball again. Yay! So between the two cameras there will be some better shoot'n soon.

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Mayan Snorkeling

This was a three sites in one snorkeling tour which began in the lagoon pictured above. My first experience snorkeling so I was dealing with contacts (which I haven't worn for at least 15 years) & masks & flippers. It had the makings of an epic but actually it went really well. I'd totally do that again. The photo above is the lagoon at our first stop.
There were two other couples along with us on this tour so with a guide a total of nine people. We saw some Rays & a variety of smaller fish. A few people saw a small baracuda, apparently it showed its teeth for a moment. The above photo is the launch point.

Starting out in shallow calm water we eventually at one point were right out in the open ocean before looping around to our starting point again. Turtles are often seen here but this isn't the season for them & we weren't lucky enough to see one.

The second stop was a closed cenote, but we didn't go in far enough to need lights. Fresh water, so the creatures were different, I saw some small catfish, but it was cool to see the underwater formations as well as the stagmites / stactites above the water level. At this point we were joined by a photographer for a family shot.
After an excellent lunch we went to an open cenote where they have a zip line & a 15' high jumping platform.


In this shot (Everything prior to this shot were taken by the tour photographer) just at the top of the frame there is a bridge. Beyond that is another connected cenote that we explored with the snorkelling gear & it was teeming with tropical fish. Shannon found a mother protecting her young which was pretty cool. We all really enjoyed this outing. We never got around to the 'relaxing in the hammocks' part of the tour but we had plenty of that back at the resort.

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Rio Secreto

This was a really cool trip I highly recommend it. Now you're used to seeing my photography here but all these photos were taken by the photographer who accompanied us on the trip. We weren't allowed our own cameras. So bonus on this post, you get to see me in a wetsuit... try to restrain your enthusiasm!!

We begin with a short hike thru the jungle. MMMM the smell of sweaty people in neoprene.... which way to the water?
The whole Yucatan Peninsula is limestone (flat like a cracker, full of holes like Swiss cheeze) so there are no above ground rivers. It all runs below ground in what they call closed cenotes or on occasion there are open cenotes where the top layer of limestone collapses. This was a fairly recent discovery & has only been open to tourists for I think I was told a year & half. We had an excellent guide who impressed upon us how important is was to make as little impact as possible. We were not to touch anything & follow along exactly were he went. Our group was nine people plus a photographer & a guide so very managable.

We learned all about the stalagmites & stalagtites, how all this was formed plus we had plenty of time to marvel at the sights. We had headlamps on our helmets plus in a few places there were spotlights. These were fairly limited & largely served to help the photographer get more dramatic shots. He also had flash units placed in strategic places too. Ok, I notice such things...
For part of the way we sloshed thru shin deep pools & up & over things (now we are going to walk like little men...) but for part of the way we had to swim. The water wasn't that cold but the wetsuits helped. Shannon wasn't sure how she was going to make out since she's a little claustrophobic but it was fairly open & air moves thru it so she made out fine.


At one point he had us sit & turn out our lights & be quiet for a few moments. With all the noise constantly around us this was a rare event & much appreciated, almost necessary to get the full effect of where we were.

A shot of D'Aristi (anis liqueur) at the end was a nice touch. A light lunch & back to the resort so a good way to spend half the day.

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