June in Merritt B.C.

Spring in Merritt...wonderful what all can go down here. There are sandbags on the river which may well flood again, a small tornado actually hit town a few days ago and damaged one property, and all around is that disgusting cottonwood fluff.
Even the birds are puzzled by all this new water everywhere.

In one of the lanes is a big cottonwood tree that drops pounds of this white stuff which gets dragged and blown all over the place. I'm glad I don't have allergies.

A new garden and fence in particular has kept me and my husband busy. The fence was in terrible shape- the person who built it didn't concrete the poles in, spaced all the boards an inch apart and used a lot of nails that were no bigger than hair pins! The fence was literally swaying in the breeze this spring but now it's finally finished on the south and west back side of the property.


Privacy is important and is security- the neighborhood may look peaceful but we have theft and vandalism issues as well as firebugs (although not recently) plus general mischief. We also have crazy people in the vicinity - they shout obscenities and threats at me when I pass by their house on my way home with the dog.

The garden has been producing vegetables for a few weeks now- radishes and Swiss chard right plus some herbs now...it will be a while yet before anything else comes up as this year I started the whole lot from seed. Ditto for the flower garden out front. Lots of home improvement projects going on and in the meanwhile I'm loosing weight, stopped biting my fingernails, learned how to use a power saw, and started a few wood-working projects.

Flowers...all planted from seed with a strong emphasis on getting some perennials in good locations although I don't expect to see flowers on them till next year...the trick is to spot what I planted amidst all the madness of annuals. Here are a few I eventually hope to have:

Bleeding Heart and Peony

BC Boat & Sportsmen's & BC Hunting Show at Tradex, Abbotsford, B.C.

Kind of a long title, eh?


I am posting some of the photos I took at the BC Boat & Sportsmen's & BC Hunting Show at Tradex, in Abbotsford, B.C. The bulk of the photos will be at my photography blog http://heidikoehler.blogspot.com/ but I thought some of them should be posted here as well. I'm not a hunter as of yet but I went to support my husband who was a paid seminar speaker and really enjoyed myself.

 It was a bit of a challenge getting good pictures as the lighting in a big venue like that is not stellar. There are basically two large structures joined together with a middle section where the concession is located. The ceilings are extremely high and there was a lot of mixed lighting and everything was crammed together and jam-packed with people and even a few animals like the predatory birds and hunting dogs.

 
I did a lot of filming with our new camcorder and took loads of photos. I particularly admired the work of some of the taxidermists at the venue. There are some incredibly talented people in that line of work. Many of the animals looked alive- not just simply 'life-like'.

As well there were many mounts that were simply brought in to enhance other exhibits. The wolverine I photographed for instance was part of a group of specimens that had been donated to Lethbridge College. This particular guy was actually missing a tiny bit of fur over his right eye which I filled in with software tools.





 This one coyote actually looked like someone's disgruntled pet sitting atop a boat- or a real-life Wylie Coyote!

 One particular wolf was so well done I decided to do something artistic with the background so as to showcase the animal even more rather than devote this entire blog post to taxidermy.










Kind of surprisingly there was a guy dressed in what at first looked like a sci-fi storm trooper but it turned out he was representing the Lower Mainland ATV club.

My husband will be doing another seminar this month in Kelowna so I'm looking forward to getting more new images particularly as next month I will be showcasing my work at a photography exhibit locally along with another photographer and a sculpter as well.

I also got to see my brother and his new place. He officially told me it's o.k. to post pictures of him online - he kind of surprised me with his understanding of using the internet as a marketing tool.

He is almost the spitting image of our dad- just a bit fairer in complexion. He kind of reminds me of a Rottweiler with the heavy chain and ever-present caribiner!

March- 2011

I've been busy with this and that the past month that I completely forgot to pick up my art at the Courthouse gallery! The two pictures I had in for the community art show are an abstract of a frosted over cactus photo and a painting of two dear in a snowy meadow against the backdrop of the Merritt hills. I'm afraid I'm cheaping out a bit with the imagery!

 

"The Cold Points"

"The Natives"

I've been more involved in getting photography organized, learning a new camcorder, and (after many attempts over the years) cataloging an old document archive that forms the basis of my family history study.


I will have more to say on the camcorder in my other blog: heidikoehler.blogspot.com once I've put it through a bit of a workout.