his hands

his hands , originally uploaded by gawdessness.

my youngest son has golden skin and hands that like to slip into mine and hang on,
and gentle fingers with small children and animals,
and he likes to squeeze and mold the clay on the wheel,
we have many, many bowls that he has made...
and his sisters too,
i keep things in them, feed the dogs with them, eat cereal and salad out of them and watch them stack up, wondering sometimes what to do with them all and so grateful to have to try and figure that out.

alley puff

alley puff, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

note: I will have to back date this one, because although I took it and uploaded it on Jun 29, I did not blog it

Like a dandelion on steroids, these seed heads are BIG.
At least the size of a baseball.
Golden too.
Especialliy with the full sun of high noon on it.
Not a 'weed' that I see a lot, mostly in light industrial areas of town and even then more in the back alleys of those buildings - which is where I found this - just down from the seed store.

canon g9

behind the bough

behind the bough, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

A gift from above on my early morning run.

he is saying - I won this horn!

he is saying - I won this horn!, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

chicken items

chicken items, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

Mmmmmm.
Freshly deep fried chicken items!
Hot! Hot! Hot!

Don't know how good they are though.
Our son had those, the items were fingers I think.

I had 3 deep fried oysters, 3 deep fried shrimp and 3 deep fried mussels.
It is okay though, they were cooked in Canola oil, so they are practically good for you.

Sort of.

rumplestiltskin

rumplestiltskin, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

Quite a few hours spent in the garden today - planted bright yellow strawflowers, among other things.
This bud looks like a gold nugget to me.

knock knock caterpillar

knock knock caterpillar, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

This fellow happened across the grass outside the museum where I was sitting with my oldest daughter.


Spiky and green and horned too.
I have no idea what kind of caterpillar it is, but spent about a half an hour inching along in front of it trying to take it's picture.

at the larder

at the larder, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

Today I really did plan to post a picture of a toddler playing with sticks but the hungry spider sort of spoke to me more.

My kids should be worried, maybe?

wet bus stop colour

wet bus stop colour, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

We were at a stop light and I was struggling to get my camera out of my handbag -

Oldest Son: "Mom! What are you doing? You are driving a car you know! Don't try and take a picture here!"

Me: "Oh hush, traffic isn't moving, I can take one quick picture!"

Oldest Son (rolling eyes): "Fine, you are going to kill both of us, I hope you know!"

Me: "I will not! Besides, didn't you say something earlier about hoping we would be killed in a car crash?"

Oldest Son: That was before you took me clothes shopping! I hate clothes shopping! Now that we are done, I don't want to die anymore!"

****
to see it in black and white click on the photo to go to my flickr photo stream.

bath and pansies

bath and pansies, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

On a hot and busy day, a shady, quiet corner in a friend's garden is a peaceful, welcoming place.

tete a tete

tete a tete, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

Closeup with ladybug in my front yard.

I love him

I love him, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

he is showing me his "track marks" on his arms. Over a 150 donations as a blood and plasma donor at Canadian Blood Services.

did you say carrot?

did you say carrot?, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

My oldest daughter's wire haired dachshund is almost impossible to take a picture of.
It isn't that she is camera shy like our malamute cross, no it is that she has two modes - constant motion or passed out asleep, so this was a lucky catch.
Shouting the word carrot, one of her favourite treats, actually caused her to look up at me and lick the air and her own face because she couldn't reach mine, in her excitement.
She has the sweetest disposition and I love the sand crusted on her nose.
I have rediscovered my 50mm, 1.8 lens - oh what a joy it is to use.

soft underbelly

soft underbelly, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

There isn't much I have to say about this shot.

Or maybe it is actually that there is so much to say about it that I don't know where to start...
or end.

One thing that strikes me?
I am surprised that this part of my body and the way it looks has taken up as much room and time in my thoughts as it has.

There has always been so much else going on and so many far more interesting and important things to think about.

Another thing?
When I look at this picture of my belly - I am NOT:
-embarrassed
-horrified
-depressed
-concerned
-repelled

Granted I am not going to run out and stock up on tummy revealing outfits and display my abdomen in social settings and on errands.

Not my style (except in the middle of a run on a hot day but THAT doesn't count) but I'm also not going to worry about it either.

That I only had to be 41 to get to this point.
Wonder what 42 will bring?

lace leaf

lace leaf, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

A gift from my youngest daughter.
Found in the pond at the park.
I am so rich in my life.

virgo mosiac

virgo mosiac, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

Detail from mosiac set in concrete outside of old, unused observatory that was built in the sixties - falling into disrepair.
The entire horoscope is represented - I think I need a ladder to actually get up high enough to be able to fit all of one into a picture.
I love them all.

sky dimension

sky dimension, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

5:30 am, I meet up with my friend PrincessFeet and then spent most of the next six hours with her on this pedestrian bridge cheering on ultramarathoners (50k, 50miles, 100k) as they run almost right up to us and then turn around to go and do another part of a 10k loop.

It was a stunningly beautiful morning.

know when to fold 'em

know when to fold 'em, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

After swimming when the youngest just does not want to cooperate any further - you take what you can get and count the underwear and shoes as a victory!

damsel fly

damsel fly, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

My friend Trailwoman took my daughters and I on a walk in the woods today.

She knows a lot about many things like electric blue damsel flies and ducks and song birds, beaver dams, creeks and chokecherries and wild strawberries, pansies, roses and bluebells.

It was one of those experiences that leave you happy, even if you didn't have a camera...so just imagine how pleased I am, because I did!

monkey on her back

monkey on her back, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

Wednesdays mornings,
friends, the river and I all run together through the valley.
Laugh, push, rest, walk, trot and stop to smell roses.

We pass yards and houses and people with dogs and people without homes and other people who like us, are running.

Today there was this child, a tiny one, tucking themselves into the corner by a front door and we slowed, mothers all, to check with wary eye if they were as alone as they seemed.

We waited long enough to snap this picture.

No, the inside door was open and there was someone just there.

We could run on, and we did.

not my garden

not my garden, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

Overcast and sometimes chilly and the possibility of rain, heck, even a warning to watch out for tornado activity!

Doesn't sound like the most tempting evening to go out for a long bike ride, does it?
Even with great people and the promise of food and drink thrown in.

We did anyway and found this little jewel box of a flower garden seeming to almost glow with an inner light.

down here

down here, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

Ducklings, geese, ravens and Pileated Woodpeckers - oh my!

It was a fowl weather kind of day at the park today.

(Please accept my sincerest apologies for that pun, yes it was dreadful but I have no willpower, I am weak and frankly it is also pretty darn cold here still.)

Big, gaudy and attention grabbing - that bright red mohawk is hard to ignore.

Still if it weren't for the sharp eyes of my kids I might have passed right by this guy.

They often see what I don't, but I am often smart enough to point my camera at what they are looking at - so it all works out.

I don't think the remote is...(click!)

I don't think the remote is...(click!), originally uploaded by gawdessness.

As this shot so clearly illustrates, I spent some time learning how to use a wireless remote for my camera.

My plan was to try and take pictures of myself airborne, jumping from a swing, except I changed my mind while doing the actual swinging because, well, it seemed too high up and I chickened out.

(My two youngest kids who were with me hooted at my cowardice and continued to fling themselves icarus like at the storm clouds above.)

I'm wearing not one sweater (the rainbow wool hoodie was a gift from my oldest kids and my husband) but two, another wool cardigan was underneath. It was that chilly.

Although I did get warm by repeatedly jumping up and down as I tried to catch a picture of at least my feet seeming to be frozen in mid air - much to the entertainment and bemusement of passersby.

Desperate to see my blurry, blue painted toes?
(Of course you are!)
Please check out my flickr account by clicking on the picture in this post or on the flickring gawdess link in the sidebar.

strangers at the playground

strangers at the playground, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

It is a bit of an odd process for me, this picking of one photo for the day.

Sometimes I am not at all sure what it is about the one I have picked that makes it the right one and I may not figure it out until later, if ever and sometimes I know right away.

This one is the right one today, I think.

These kids were just having so much fun at the playground, it as infectious and I couldn't help but snap just this one of them.

They liked seeing it and were all fine with me keeping it.

Taking pictures of people is my very favourite thing to do.

moth eye

moth eye, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

Found in the dandelion fields near the playground.
Made me think of a tiny, furry owl hiding in the grass.

dawn chorus member

dawn chorus member, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

There are many of these pretty little birds in the trees in my backyard and only occasionally do I wish they didn't live there.

4:30am this morning was one of those times.

This was taken in the evening though, when I like them just fine.

terra cotta

tones, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

One thing leads to another.

A wet basement
black mould
sick kids
sunken backyard
rotting garage
fences in disrepair

hopefully all being put into the past
one potful of money at a time

only one corner of the yard is not black mud
and it is kind of pretty

*********my friend peachwoman has just started her own photoblog with some really lovely pictures**********

shiny in the parking lot

shiny in the parking lot, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

I live in the city of trucks and sport utility vehicles and some of them are quite tarted up.

NKOTB

NKOTB, originally uploaded by gawdessness.

Things about Annie:
She is only 10 weeks old.
Mostly Nubian in breed.
When she grows up she will be a milk goat.

And....
She is ours!!!!!

She will not move into our urban backyard and startle the neighbors with loud bleatings and indiscriminate munchings - she will stay with our friends on their acreage and we will visit her and when the time comes take home her milk.

But still and all, we have our very first, genuine article of livestock.
I feel closer to the land all ready!

wishes

wishes , originally uploaded by gawdessness.

sometimes they are all that we can do
and sometimes they are as tenacious as dandelion seeds
finding the tiniest bit of dirt
to thrust roots deep into
to burst green leaves out of
to roar with yellow face at the sky
and to startle us with a whole new crop of wishes again.