122:365 Our best friend these days - and AAAHHH!!!!

Anna: First, I'd like to wish our friends in the US a very happy Independence Day. I hope you all had a great day celebrating. :-D

My day started out with some "fun" of a different sort. An early morning appointment for my lung tests to rule out asthma. The tests were much the same as what I had done back in Manitoba several years ago, but with different equipment and a very enthusiastic tech. She really got into her work! *L* I got to sit in this little glass booth and do some heavy breathing. Now, there's a reason I breath shallow. Deep breaths make me cough. Today, I had to repeatedly take super deep breaths, then punch out the exhale as hard as I could for as long as I could. By the end of the testing, my lungs were on fire, and I was making interesting noises as I coughed. The worst of the tests, though, was when she shut the door of the booth, then had me doing these quick little puffs. I had a nose clip, and part way through my puffing, she shut the air off while I kept puffing. She warned me about all this, and told me that it would be like I was holding my breath. No, it wasn't. It was like suffocating. Thankfully, I only had to do it twice.

For the last test, she had me use an inhaler first. That certainly didn't help the burning in my lungs. :-P Since I was planning to go for my chest X-rays next, I had to ask if any of this would mess things up for those. She assured me it wouldn't, though she acknowledged is was a very valid question.

So the lung test and X-rays are now done. Now, I just have to wait for the results to come in and see my doctor. And hopefully, he won't call in sick, like he did for my last two appointments. :-/

Today was another hot day, and when I got home, I was glad to spend some quality time with our new best friend these days...


... our air conditioner. It's one of those portable ones that comes with special pieces that allow us to set it up in our sliding door. It would've been much cheaper to get a window type, but we don't have the right kind of windows to install one of those. We keep this guy running pretty much all day, then we shut it down and open the windows for the night.

You'll notice it reads 26C. It always seems to read 26C, no matter how long it's been on. It rarely changes, and even when it does, it's quickly back at 26C. I don't get it.

Although it helps a lot, our apartment building accumulates and holds heat like nobody's business. Air circulation in the apartment itself is very poor. The girls' bedroom is the worst for that, so we broke out the industrial fan we got to deal with the heat last year. The girls frequently pause in front of it to enjoy the cool breeze. Which is how we got this photo from Philippe of our youngest daughter...


Philippe: Medusa in training.

121:365 Teenie Tiny

Anna: I have a thing for tiny bowls.

I use them for pre-measuring ingredients when I'm cooking. I use them to hold different colored beads when I'm crafting. The kids use them to hold water for their paints. They're handy for holding whatever small items I happen to need a container for on short notice. My favorite use of the prettiest ones is to hold food items in our Easter basket. I never seem to have enough of them.

When we were at the museum yesterday, which has a dragon theme going on for the summer, we stopped at the gift shop to see what new dragon items they had. I instantly fell in love with these teenie, tiny bowls. I also loved the price. ;-) That blue is my favorite colour didn't hurt, either.

I have no idea what I'll use them for yet, but I'm sure I'll find something soon.

I took these using the light box and the D70 on auto. I did end up needing to lighten it so that the colours matched the real thing a bit better. Gotta figure out the white balance settings. Finding the button for it first helps a lot... ;-)

120:365 Experimenting

Anna: Our building managers had a parking ban on our level for cleaning, so we had to have our car out. With no nearby parking that's more than half an hour (though the cars parked in our access lane never seem to be ticketed), or wasn't on a residential only street, we decided to head to the museum for the day. It's a good place to practice low-light photography - and the parking is free. ;-)

When we got there, however, we discovered that tripods and monopods aren't allowed in any of the galleries without special permission from the marketing director. This was a surprise, as we've used both a number of times. We just happened to get someone at the admissions desk that remembered they weren't allowed - she even double checked the book, just to be sure.

This made things a bit more challenging. Especially for someone with shaky hands, like me!

One of the main problems with using the S3 is that, in situations like the museum, the camera wants to focus on the glass instead of what's behind it. It does have manual focus, but it's very limited. It's one of the main reasons I wanted to try out the D70, now that Philippe has stepped up to the D80. How I would do this without my monopod, I wasn't sure. Most of my photos didn't turn out. I'm just too shaky for longer exposures. I did manage a few that worked. The following pictures were resized to 35%, but are otherwise unaltered.

This silver cigarette case seems to have worked out. I could probably improve it with PSP X2, but not by much.











I actually got two shots of this that worked, though the other came out looking misty because of the reflection on the glass. From this angle, I only had the one spot light's glare to deal with. I love the intense blue of the glass inside, though it's a little hard to see it here.









The minerals collection in this museum is really impressive - and extremely difficult to photograph even with a tripod. This is pretty much the only one I took that was clear.

I had the camera on aperture priority. I can't say I'm happy with it. I might play around with the multi-program setting, instead.

Either way, I have a lot to learn about this camera.

119:365 Happy Canada Day!

Anna: A happy Canada Day to all my fellow Canucks. :-D

Today, the family and I headed out to one of several Canada Day celebrations across the city. This one started a bit later in the day (we weren't about to start at 7 am, not even for free pancakes! *L*). We only stayed for a couple of hours, too. You can few my Canada Day flickr set here.

This photo is of the first performance by the Miscigenação dance group. Pronounced Missy-jen-a-sówn, it is a Brazilian fusion dance, blending many different dance styles. This group did quite a number of dances, all with costume changes. Very excellent.








These folks are the reason why we came to this celebration over all the others. They're from the Capoeira Academy Edmonton. The guy levitating in the middle? I think it's safe to say he's the instructor - and WOW was he amazing!!!

After they finished their performance, we left. I'm sure the other performers would've been great, too, but between the heat and Philippe's back saying nasty things to him, it was time to go.






Later on, I headed out by myself to see what else was going on. After a brief stop at The Works (updated set here) I took the scenic route to the legislature grounds. (updated set here) I took quite a few photos along the way, but they didn't fit into any sets I have right now, but they're in my photostream.

This photo is taken from above the interpretive centre, as I was heading out. The crowd had thinned out quite a bit by then, with people heading to the south side to claim their spots to view the fireworks. Some people were already set up in the river valley, even though there was still 4 hours before the fireworks were supposed to start! I was tempted to stay for those, but I really didn't feel like waiting around that long. Especially after seeing that all the washrooms and porta-potties had line ups of women. Ever notice there are never line ups of men waiting for the washrooms? *L*

One of many photos I ended up getting while wandering the legislature grounds. I love the colours in these roses.

118:365 - The Leg Grounds and more Works - updated

Philippe: It was a nice, hot day at the legislative grounds, so we didn't linger too long.



I took two or three of this one at various angles, but the wind was not co-operating.













I really like how the D80 renders bokeh.














*no clue* what these flowers are, but they're cute enough for a shot. :)


























Anna: Now that Philippe has the new D80, I've "inherited" the D70. Today was my first day learning how to use it.



Downtown Edmonton has an extensive pedway system, which includes the downtown LRT stations. This photo was taken underground, as we were leaving the LRT station to go up to Churchill Square, where The Works is still going on. There's a lovely garden under a row of pyramid shaped skylights. I liked how the sunlight streaming through the skylight made these flowers appear to glow.





















We've frequently seen people just standing under this arch, enjoying the water misting down on them, in our current 30C plus heat.

The tubes making up the rainbow are filled with colored water.

More photos of The Works here.






















Another much enjoyed feature of our city in the summer is the Legislature grounds. The north side includes a large wading pool, this fountain, and a series of pools, bridges, stepping stones, fountains and waterfalls. Open grass, flower gardens, shady areas and the odd jackrabbit can also be enjoyed.

More photos of the Legislature and grounds can be seen here.

117:365 - The Works

We went to the works today; it's an open-air festival full of people, sights, sounds.. So of course, I worked on my macro photography :P





























This thing was glittering away in the sun but all I could get were glancing shots since the wind was blowing it around.

116:365 A bit of this and that

Anna: Our elder daughter does a lot of graphic design and manipulation. For a long time, she'd do things like buy scrap book paper with patterns she liked, scan them, then use bits and parts of the patterns to make her own. She got kind of tired of that, so she began experimenting with various stamps that are usually used to decorate walls or furniture, and acrylic paints. She been really happy with the results, she's started cutting her own stamp shapes as well as buying others, and experimenting with different effects. Today, she brought out a craft box and decorated it. Here's the final result.

I think it's pretty neat. :-D