Lego Arcade

Wow this brings back memories, definitly a must watch!

North Country Fair 2009

Photo's from before and during North Country Fair as I learn to use my new camera.

Garden fun - June

I am learning to use my new camera and took some photo's of my eldest and my garden for practice. Click album to view pictures in larger format.

Dirty Thirty

Never to old for the kiddie rides. This plane said "ride me" as I walked by. I was disappointed I did not have flying goggles like Snoopy did when he was the Red Baron.



June 15th I made the 30 year milestone. It seems so odd to me most days I really do not feel I am this old, heck I still feel 19 or 20. My actual birthday was an uneventful but good day, noticeably good because this year unlike last year I did not spend my birthday in jail.

Tuesday is my night I am totally free all night long. Now wrrying about having to be home by a certain time for my youngest to come home. I am not normally one to host get togethers but gosh darnit 30 years on the planet it worth celebrating. So I invited some friends out to celebrate with me.

We hit up Moxies where I was pleasantly surprised to find Margarita's were on special, so I had a yummy kiwi Margarita with dinner. It was really good and had real kiwi in it, I highly reccomend it! I also tried the Citrus Fusion Chicken Salad from their summer menu. This was kind of a disappointment for me and I wouldn't have it again. One of my friends and I had a good giggle because another summer menu item was fish Taco's, perhaps my humor is a bit juvenile but I found that funny. I was also surprised with some wonderful gifts, only a surprise because I had let everyone know gifts were not necessary. I got an awesome sexy and single Martini glass, a nice photo album, and a nice picture frame. I love useful gifts so these were really perfect for me. Most of my friends only stayed for dinner but I was happy just to see them so I really did not mind, we really don't see each other enough.

After we were supposed to hit up the comic strip only to find the show had been canceled for the night because no comics showed up. So we wandered around West Edmonton Mall for a while settling in on Baskin Robbins for some icecream. Than we moved on to St. Petes for a little entertainment (totally my choice). Some women get really turned off by exotic dancers but it has never really bothered me, and I give mad props to those girls pole dancing requires some good muscle. I even had a bit of a self esteem booster when I noticed the first dancer had clearly had a child because she had the telltale c-section scar and baby belly. This made me feel better about myself because I have baby belly to and it has been a self conscious thing for me but hey if she can have it out there and be admired than I suppose I can be more forgiving towards myself.

All in all it was a fantastic time and an awesome way to rind in my 30th year.

Would You Walk By?

"Be the change you want to see in the world.”
~Mahatma Gandhi

“

Last night while the kidlets were with their Dad I made a quick shopping trip to get some stuff to plant some herbs I had bought at the farmers market on the weekend. It was right around dinner and I was hungry and thought I would kill two birds with one stone and get the kids some banana's as well. So I headed to the nearby Sobey's. As I walked across the parking lot towards the store my attention was immediately grabbed by a young native man very badly verbally abusing his partner even daring her to go to the nearby police station and cry to them. She was very quiet obviously fighting tears and had such a sad look in her eyes. As I walked by I thought well what do I do? Do I ignore it? It became very apparent as I tried to shop that I was not going to accomplish anything knowing I had witnessed that and done nothing.

So I went back outside where the man was still abusing his partner. I walked up to her and ask if she was OK, she looked at me with those sad eyes and said nothing. He looked at me and said what and I repeated to her "are are you OK?" Still no answer. He than starts swearing and yelling at me to mind my own business. I told her "it was not OK for him to talk to her like that and that she did not have to take it". He than tells me I don't know him and I don't know how badly she treats him, and that she's lucky he puts up with it. I replied "I don't have to know all I have to do is see how you are behaving right now, it is not OK for you to speak to her like that or to speak to anyone like that for that matter". More cussing and swearing telling me to mind my own business and walk away. I tell him "no not until I make sure she is OK". More dialogue and now he is trying to intimidate me by coming towards me. At that point I look at him and say "do you think your going to intimidate me the way you are intimidating her, I am not frightened by you", he continues coming at me and cussing me out.

At that point a native couple and child come out of the store. The woman asks me "what's going on?". I tell her about what I witnessed. She says "we'll take it from here", and approaches them. Clearly they know each other. She than says to him "Jeez leave her alone she's in labour". At that point I am just angry for this girl who as much as she is choosing to remain in that situation is going to look back on the day her child was born and remember her partner abusing her. Angry that another child will likely grow up thinking abuse is OK. I am also angry at the numerous people that came in and out of the store before I talked and during the altercation, and did nothing. This is why family violence continues because no one wants to involve themselves. What happened to being the change we want to see in the world? Perhaps it is easier to live life as a victim rather than a victor. Complain about the world these days and how people just don't care. That is no way to live life.

I am not sure what impact my actions last night may have made. All I can do is hope eventually that woman might remember the words of a stranger and that someone cared enough to ask if she was OK. Perhaps she will ask herself if she is OK and take her power back. I realize I put myself in a potentially dangerous situation and I fully believe this man would have hit or shoved me had the other couple not came out, but if I was confronted with the same situation again I know I would do the exact same thing. Ballsy or stupid who knows... but I could not have lived with myself if I did nothing and something happened to that woman.

Relay For Life 2009

This year I was honored to join Team Clickin' Cancer's Butt to photograph the Relay For Life, a fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society. It was a day of friendship, family, laughter, love, and tears. But most of all it was a day of hope. Cancer effects each and every one of us... perhaps a friend, a relative, a co-worker, a friend of a friend,or perhaps we ourselves may have to face the challenge of battling Cancer. Here are a few photo's I took with my point and shoot during set-up of the relay before I switched over to a dslr camera for the day.