Tara and Brendan's Wedding

Tara (Niece) married Brendan on Saturday, August 15th 2009 at their home in Rimby, Alberta. We were all invited so made the trip on Friday (905kms) getting in around 7:00pm. Family came from Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Lindsay flew in from Switzerland. It rained on Friday on the way up and rained on Sunday on the way back (895 kms....go figure), but it was clear and sunny on the wedding day!

The garden was in full bloom creating a colourful floral backdrop to the ceremonies, held under the arch made by proud father, Douglas. (By the way, Doug is a great carpenter and is busy with his own contracting company in Lloydminster, SK)

The whole day was one of fun and enjoyment with many impromptu moments, including Debbie (Brendan's mother) taking a running jump into his father's arms and giving him a smooch! Tara and Brendan were to emulate this and gave it the old college try. The picture is of the original jump which will forever remain in the annals of the history of the wedding!

There was a symbolic moment when Tara and Brendan each poured coloured sand (Brendan - Green: Tara - Pink) from a glass vase into a larger glass bowl symbolizing the mixing of their lives into one. I hadn't seen this before and it was a nice touch.

I took 629 photos and have still to go through the whole file. I tried to take informal photos, staying out of the way of the pro who was shooting the wedding. Those were the money shots. It also showed that my photographic equipment was sadly lacking. I tried that on Gloria and didn't even get a new SDHC card out of it. Ah, well, we can but try.

I can't fit all the family photos here, but I'll include a couple of my favourites. The close up is of great niece , affectionately known as termite, with her mother Bonita behind.

The family photo is of Mac and his Children... Doug, Debbie, Mac, Brenda and Gloria. Mona was unable to attend. The other family photo is of Mac and the grandchildren. Top row L to R, Lindsay, Bonita, Todd, Jason, Bill, Brent. Bottom Row L to R Tara, Deidra, Mac and Melissa.

Sunflower Days

Today I went out to Paul Tisdale's farm just south of the village to photograph his sunflowers. Paul grows sunflowers for the black oil seeds found in birdfeed. If you've bought seed to feed the birds, you are likely using Paul's seed.

Unfortunately, I went out at about 4:30 pm to see how the sun would reflect off the flowers only to find that all the flowerheads were facing East, which meant I was shooting into the sun! This can sometimes give you quite an effect, but not the one I wanted. I'll have to go out in the morning to catch the sun on the flowerheads.

Nevertheless, I did get some decent shots under the circumstances. I shot dual Raw/jpegs to try and work more with raw files. I was pleasantly surprised and may just shoot raw alone next time, although it was nice to have the jpeg back up. I also decided to try the macro function on my Sigma 70-300 zoom and again was pleasantly surprised at the results. I showed the grasshopper files to Gloria who has a hatred of crickets, grasshoppers and bugs in general.... I think she may speak to me by next Wednesday!

Well, I couldn't go back in the morning it was pouring rain. See you next blog

Herbert Rodeo

Yes, we did get to Herbert for the Pro Rodeo on Sunday. On the way down the Trans Canada, we passed a Co-op Super B (two tanker trailers in tandem) that had jacknifed and flipped over in the central median just past Caron. It looked pretty bad with the cab virtually unrecognizable. Hope they were able to get to the driver in time and that he is OK!

We also passed a deer at the side of the road that had apparently taken out two small cars the day before. Watch out for wildlife! When you see them, they are unpredictable. You have no idea which way they'll jump. (This isn't the Don Valley Parkway)

Well, today was the last day of the rodeo which meant all the best riders were there. A plus in that you saw some good riding... A minus in that there were not a lot of spills. Stll there were enough, as the photos show!

I was particularly impressed with the determination of the young ladies (cowgirls, or is that NPC nowadays) in the barrel racing tournament. You can see this in the face of the cowgirl in the picture. (This may not be politically correct, but I was brought up in a school environment where we were taught that there was a different name for the male and female of the species or label - stallion / mare; actor / actress etc). I can just hear the cowgirl thinking "I've lost my hat, but I'll be damned if I'm going to lose this race!"