Gardening and Photography

A lot happened this month. I did a photo shoot this month as well for a local woman whose mother celebrated her 80'th birthday! Loads of relations from all over Canada and Europe for the group portrait- I must say I had loads of fun with this job despite the finicky weather. A very photogenic bunch of people and a very lovely occasion and all the children were amazingly good! I did 8 different shoots featuring various family members and am in the process of finalizing all the photos onto DVD. I will post the best shots a little later on.

The local community art show where one of my little originals of Murray Church at Quilchena, done in pen and crayon was purchased...I am proud of that and will miss that little church which used to hang over my desk but am very happy that someone else liked it enough to buy :)


Bigger picture at DA

I also made a panorama of Merritt from a location I had not used before- the south. I plan on marketing my panoramas more and have added a few labels to this one to make it more familiar to locals and anyone who is visiting. If you check out the large version at DA remember to use the 'Download' button on the right of the page which is new- simply clicking on the image won't work anymore.


It's a really large view of town.

And butterscotch! Oh dear. It seems I have a terrible addiction to it. I really and truly can't stop myself from eating it until it's gone so I'm not allowing myself to make it anymore.
Well, there should be some occasion for it...I know! June 6th will mark 1 month of having quit smoking to I will make it then!


More shame at DA!

Then there is the garden. I could ramble on and on about it. Let's just say for now that I've finished most of my planting...I started a week or so ahead of everyone else because I was impatient and thank God there wasn't too much cold weather between then and this previous weekend. Today I met some neighbors who showed me their coldframe/greenhouse which was just bursting with huge heads of romaine lettuce and tomato seedlings! Even tho I'm finished planting (more or less) I am devising a similar set up with all the scrap wood we have in the back of the house that is the remnants of the previous owners landscaping efforts. Wish I had seen the potential before we seeded the lawn which is getting stepped on a lot now! I noticed something amusing and made a little 'macro' as they call it:


More info at DA

Well, enough for now. I will leave this post with some photos: Lilacs; the unofficial shrub of Merritt, Balsam Root; shockingly yellow flowers that grow on exposed hillsides, and of course, a tribute to the mighty dandelion in a photo I have entitled: "The Unbeatable Army". :)


Lilacs


Baslam Root


Unbeatable Army

On Photography and the Web

This is just a bit of a rant because I need to vent.
Let it be said that I am a photographer who had created a website from basic html code and was formerly quite happy to use Microsoft's browser and programs for those things that they USED to do well. :(

Bigger
The only reason I had left to use Internet Explorer as a web browser was because I could edit the html code directly in Notepad using the 'view source' command. This was the old version of Internet Explorer that comes on my disc.
Since I've decided to play it safe and enable automatic updates Internet Explorer got updated and I can no longer use the 'view source' to edit my code. A MAJOR MISTAKE ON MICROSOFT'S PART WAS TO ALIENATE SOME OF IT'S LAST FANS BY ROBBING US OF THAT FUNCTION. NOW I HAVE TO USE ANOTHER EDITOR BECAUSE NOTEBOOK ITSELF IS SUCH A USELESS LITTLE PIECE OF GARBAGE WITHOUT BIG BROTHER IE TO BOSS AROUND.
This is why I've been delayed on updating my website. Now might be a good time to mention what all goes into an update:
1/ Sorting the latest batch of photos and making thumbnail versions (a subject unto itself that would include tweaks and copyright info)
2/ Writing up the new pages that correspond to the new photos- not too tough; mostly copy/paste. This could actually be the biggest step depending on how much additional info goes onto each page.
3/ Creating the new archive at the Evil Site that is Photobucket- while still free, I don't recommend it to anyone- I have to be very careful when I upload that I don't inadvertently hit an ad!
4/ Upload the new pages to the server with an FTP program.
5/ Check all new pages and make corrections where necessary- really the most tedious thing.
6/ Back it all up- 3 times.
I'M GOING TO REITERATE MY DISGUST, DISAPPOINTMENT, AND DISDAIN FOR MICROSOFT BECAUSE OF THEIR DISABLING THE EDITING FUNCTION WITHIN IE. Why did they do this??? It was the most wonderful of conveniences to write code that could immediately be updated with a 'save' and 'refresh' command. GONE NOW! And the thing is you can't downgrade IE so what's the point in even having it on the computer anymore???