Week 14: Mother Nature Needs To Make Up Her Mind

a pet

When I was at the Valley of Fire workshop, a couple of the other students said that they do pet photography.  I assumed that they meant dogs of course because who can control a cat?  On one of our rides out to the park, the fellow I was sitting with showed me some gorgeous photos of his cats.  He then went on to show me some of his professional cat photos.  He goes to people's houses and shoots their cats in their own environments!  Who knew this was a thing?  When I asked what sort of equipment he brings with him he said he just bounces his flash.  I was stunned...because these were stunning photographs.  So after last week's half-assed completion of the assignment, I was inspired to make much nicer photographs of our cats and maybe stalk some of my friends' pets as well.

It all started off well, I took a couple of shots of our cats last Sunday - nothing stunning but a start -  but it went downhill from there.  I don't know what happened but it was a crazy busy week and I didn't get a chance to get more pet photos.  But I won't give up on this...I have three cats and there are a whole lot of animals out there just waiting to smile for me.

I had forgotten how much I enjoy writing this blog on a Saturday evening while listening to Randy Bachman's Vinyl Tap.  It's my kind of music.

First we have Bellatrix and Narcissa cuddled up together for a much needed rest.

Next we have Eclipse, staring at me waiting for me to notice how pretty she is.

Today, while I was making jambalaya (very yummy by the way), Levi told me all three cats were at the top of the climbing structure.  Ignore the dirty window but please note the yucky white stuff outside.

On Tuesday, my crocus were so happy and sunny.

Today, after the 20 cm of Wednesday snow, they are still trying to reappear.

Today, Amanda and I walked at Whitefish Point.  Since it was minus 12 degrees out, there was a thin layer of ice on the pond.  I quite enjoyed watching the ducks as they encountered this strange barrier...they tobogganed across it like penguins, they bumped into it not knowing it was there and when walking on it, they slipped and slid just like people.  What first caught my eye was the fact that sometimes, the ducks looked like they were walking on water.  At work, I have these worksheets on which you have to find the silly things in a picture.  Last week one of my kids was quite taken with the page that had a small duck walking on water.  He was stuck on that idea throughout the whole session to the degree that I thought I'd better warn the teacher what it was all about because I am sure that he continued to talk about it for the rest of the day.  I think I have a bit of an evil mind sometimes because what went through my head when I saw the ducks walking on water was that I should capture that and show him this week...it wasn't silly after all, Johnny!

I couldn't get the right shot but I got these...

I could hear tons of birds at the park today but only the chickadees were making themselves visible.  Then by luck, I saw this sparrow.