naked hobbes

poor wee hobbes.

with all the matted mess that became his fur, all they could do at the groomers was shave it all off.

hobbes came back to us half the dog he use to be. he was pretty depressed and timid for the first couple of days. it actually reminded me of when he first came to live with us – constantly sticking by our side.

he’s also been sleeping with us – but i’m not sure if that’s for comfort or more because now that he’s not covered with thick fur, he doesn’t get over-heated like he use to.

one afternoon, while i snoozed on the couch, he actually curled up in a tight little ball and napped on my tummy the entire time.

i’m totally taking advantage of the extra cuddle-time!

country road, take me home…

we just got back from a country weekend getaway – friends of ours invited us to stay with them in a town two hours away from here.

they live on a fairly large property with the backyard leading to a forest – cross the dirt road and we also were greeted by a river.

they had over 70 maple trees on their property tapped, saving a couple to tap when chaeli got there, just so they could show her how it was done. i thought that was pretty special. even if you go to a very rustic maple syrup farm, the trees are already tapped and collecting the sap. so for chaeli to see the production happen from start to finish was very cool. in fact, it was cool for me because i had never seen that myself!

they gave us a huge jar of syrup to take home with us – we’re very lucky. store bought maple syrup is heaven. local maple syrup is even better. but this jar? it comes with memories of the whole, entire weekend which we will always remember for years to come.

on top of all that, we were pampered with good food and wine, which even a daily cocktail as the sun started to set. i got a chance to try a grasshopper for the very first time. i know it’s quite a dated cocktail but i’ve always wanted to know what it tastes like – damn good!

both chaeli and hobbes got a lot of fresh air. hobbes went nuts because we let him off leash pretty much the whole time. he’s now sleeping after going non-stop for the past couple of days.

what a great way to end our march break.

hiking at crawford lake – bruce trail

we figured that today might be the last fall day we have time for a good hike – plus we wanted to take advantage of the dry mornng/afternoon as rain has already started to fall here in the evening.

this was also part of the bruce trail. and i chose it because of two things: 1) it’s  part of an iroquois, historical land where archaeological digs came up with an old indian village – they resurected it in order to create a time-piece museum; 2) the end of the trail loops around a small lake that is of an interesting phenomenon – according to the bruce trail site:

It is a unique geological time capsule where a curious phenomenon occurs. The lake is meromictic, so deep for its surface area that the lower levels of water are never disturbed by wind or temperature changes. Without an annual turnover of water, there is little oxygen present in its depths, and therefore minimal bacterial breakdown. Layers of sediment build up and provide an accurate record of the human and natural history that has surrounded the lake since it formed. Corn pollen discovered in the sediments on the bottom of the lake made researchers aware of a fifteenth-century Indian village buried under the ploughed field to the north of the lake.

our hike lasted about 2 hrs – a bit longer then we had planned. but we could not move too quickly becuase chaeli is still getting use to trekking along rocky paths, which basically encompassed the first half of our hike.

we brought hobbes because he matches the colour of the leaves

amazing caves along the way

here is the small, but beautiful crawford lake

traditional longhouse of the iroquois indian village

chaeli examining a deer skin

chaeli all pooped on the way home

chaeli wasn't the only one tired - hobbes was totally out!

full album found here: crawford lake – bruce trail

day 2 – hockley valley

and so this is hockley valley:

hockley valley

hockley valley

and this is hobbes on the way to our hike:

where are we going?

we’re now just chilling out before making our wedding anniversary dinner – steaks, potatos, brussell sprouts with thick bacon cubes and of course, red wine. afterwards, it’s popcorn and dvds.

here’s the rest of the photos  from today:

hockley valley 2010 photo set

chaeli & hobbes

chaeli & hobbes

hobbes (3.5 months old)

a rite of passage

well, we made it back from killbear provincial park in one piece. and i say one piece because, while it was a great camping trip, we did find ourselves in some exciting situations (i.e. a black bear decided to roam through our campsite in the middle of the night – hobbes barked and growled to warn us and in return, it helped move the bear along down to the next campsite).

to sum up our trip in a nutshell, i’ll cut to the chase here:

forget that we almost had an unfortunate encounter with a bear… forget that a few bats flew above our heads… nevermind that i caught a frog for chaeli… then a toad… or that we saw, while swimming, a water snake… let alone the other snake that slid across our hiking path just inches away from my toes… forget that we were in meters away from a male deer… and of course, nevermind how gorgeous the scenery was throughout the entire park. no… lets discount all those awesome things.

because when we asked our dear daughter what the coolest thing about this trip was, all she had to say was, “i got to pee in the lake.”

doug was proud.

i… was not.

that alone sums up the difference in our parenting styles.

killbear 2010 photo album

still dreaming about mickey ears…

i know it's been a few days since we've returned from our disney world trip.

but i am still thinking about it. a lot. i don't know why… this is probably the first time i've felt this way about a vacation since my amazing adventures in thailand back in 2001 (i backpacked through two cities there with my very best friends – ada, hoa, tai and arvie). even years after that trip, i still think about it with complete fondness. it wasn't just where i was and what i experienced, but it was the perfect group to experience it with.

perhaps that is why i feel similar to our recent disney trip. it has been the best, successful family trip i've had with doug and chaeli. we've been on vacation together before but this is, hands down, the most memorable and most fun we've experienced together!

i know some people can not stand disney – it's a large corporation which is so commercialized, so geared towards branding, marketing and basically, making a large profit. i know the reality behind the perkey mickey ears logo. and while i do prefer a vacation that centres around natural, scenic views and a choice to explore off the beaten path, disney world is different. they really do make a family vacation magical and i wouldn't have known how magical if we hadn't stayed at one of their resorts (which is a first for me – in the past, my parents and i have always stayed outside of disney world which now i have learned, isn't all that much cheaper now that disney opened up four value-resorts).

here are my favourte photos from our trip: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shyeyes/sets/72157622234727185/

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photography, like any art, is a subjective matter

a co-worker was interested in seeing some of my photography using my nikon D60, since he happens to dabble in photography as a hobby as well.

so, i sent him a few examples.

what i got back was an email full of advice.

but to be honest, it wasn't advice i agree with. i think when it comes to photography, it's sometimes about subjectiveness. for example, he critisized the below photo based on the fact that the subject i had chosen was 'too red'. my reason, however, was to pick a monochromatic colour.

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another critique was on the rosebud below in which he said that i needed to step back in order to make sure the entire bud was focused. once again, the whole idea behind this photo was to make part of the rosebud blurred and only bringing out a section of the rosebud (plus, it wasn't my lens – i was testing it out using my doctor's macro-lens).

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i never really know exactly what to say to people who decide to give me their critique when i wasn't looking for it.

all i could do was give a polite 'thank you' and give him the two explanations above as to my thought process behind the subject matter of each photo.

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maple syrup, subway and downtown lights

we had an extremely busy saturday but a very good one.

at 8am, we headed out to the horten farm for their annual maple syrup festival. it was a tad chilly but we definitely got educated about tapping sap out of the tree and then processing it into maple syrup.

after a tractor-wagon ride to the main log cabin, we started our morning off with some freshly made pancakes, drenched in the farm's own syrup. i also bought a litre of it – it happens to be cheaper then buying at the grocery store.

afterwards, we went out to the back of the log cabin and got a tour and lesson about maple syrup making. i admit, though, i was more interested in taking photos and chaeli was more interested in the big dog. i think doug was the only one that was a keen-learner that morning. still, everyone had fun.

after a nice break back home, where chaeli went down for a two and a half hour nap (she really needed it since we pulled her out of bed so early that day), we headed out to the subway station.

we hadn't told chaeli our surprise – all she knew was that we were heading downtown for dinner. she asked who we were meeting up with (i guess most times, we do meet up with some of our friends when we head downtown – love my city!) but we told her that it would just be the three of us and she'll just have to wait and see where we end up.

i watched her on the subway – she could hardly contain herself with all the suspense.

after making our way through the underpath from union station, we went outside and approached the roger's centre. while inside, she finally clued in from her memories of last year, when we took her to see disney's princesses on ice. except this time, she got a chance to see the characters from cars, little mermaid, lion king (which was spectacular) and the biggest star, tinker bell and her faerie friends. she was beside herself! i stole ada's photos from when she went earlier this week with her niece and nephew (i was too lazy to lug my nikon all the way downtown with us – i did regret it later):

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the plan was quite last minute as i only ordered the e-tickets on friday. i'm glad we made the decision to go, though. we all had a wonderful time.

on the way back, we decided to by-pass the crowd and walk a little more north to the next subway station.

the night air was much more still with less wind compared to our morning adventures. the sky was clear and we were able to enjoy the city all lit up and very much active and alive. chaeli felt it was a big deal – rarely do we ever go out walking at night. if anything, anytime we're out that late, we're in a car going or coming home from somewhere.

it felt good to be strolling in the evening in my city. i felt a touch of nostalgia as i passed by certain landmarks, each reminding me of a special moment in my past. even a park bench in a city park had its stories from years ago.

we arrived home around 10:30pm. chaeli was in bed by 11:15pm and fell fast asleep.

i wonder if she dreamt of faeries skating across the ice?

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a sunny sunday in the snow

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