Christmas Card shots

Alex and I decided we wanted to send out photo Christmas cards this year, so we decided to head out with my camera and the trusty tripod to see what we could come up with. I wasn't completely satisfied with the first set of shots from last night, so I told Alex to be prepared to head back out again tonight as soon as he got home from work before all the good light was gone. On closer review after uploading to the computer, they first set weren't as bad as I first thought, but now we have a few more options to play with.

Once the cards get in the mail, I'll post some pics of the finished product as well :)

Fall

I've been a bad blogger. It's been over a month since I blogged last. In my defense, it's been a pretty insanely busy month. For my birthday a few weeks ago and as one last hurrah before Erica becomes a Mom, we went apple picking with some friends and had an amazing time. Last week was also peak foliage season, so I dragged myself out with the camera to get some shots of that as well.

Here are some of my recent fall shots.

And this last one isn't really fall related, but it's still blooming and I'm in love with the burst of color

Planes and Purple Cone Flowers

Over the weekend, we had a big family dinner to say goodbye to Mimi before she heads back to Arizona. Most people enjoyed lobster, a few of us non-lobster folks enjoyed some grilled chicken, and there was both blueberry pie and apple crisp for dessert. It was a veritable feast with great company. Before dinner, the little boys were out playing with their new planes in the yard and I snapped a few shots, until I got dragged into the games with Alex and the boys. I also managed to get a few shots of my favorite late summer/early fall flower - the purple cone flower.

Crash landing


pretty light

Singin the Blues

A few weeks ago, Mimi, my mother-in-law and I all went picking blueberries. It was a gorgeous, sunny morning and the vines were bursting with berries. In an hour and a half, we managed to pick more than 25 pounds of berries and spent the rest of the week flash freezing them and coming up with a million and one uses for blueberries. So far, we've made blueberry cheesecake, blueberry pancakes, blueberry muffins and blueberry banana cookies. Up next is blueberry pie. Any awesome blueberry recipes would be greatly appreciated :)

It was definitely an interesting experience for me. I grew up in Nova Scotia, quite literally in wild blueberry country. Wild blueberries are smaller and sweeter and much closer to the ground than highbush berries and researchers seem to think they have more health benefits than their highbush cousins. But wild blueberries don't grow here in Vermont, so I have to make do with the highbush ones. It was definitely an interesting morning when we went picking. I felt a little traitorous to the wild blueberry industry, but I still had a good time, and I've been enjoying the fruits of my labor just the same.

Here are some of the shots from our morning in the blueberry field.











I love the textures and colors in this one!


A similar shot in different lighting with interesting results...

Scot's Bay with the girls

While I was home, I had a chance to catch up with some of my closest friends. Now that we're scattered all over 3 different countries, getting together is much more complicated than it used to be - when we lived in Chase, Christopher and RoJo and the big question was which dorm to meet in. Now, visits require planning sessions, plane tickets and road trips. This is the first time all 4 of us have been together since Ashley's wedding last fall, and there won't be another visit with all 4 of us until next summer when Christina's home again from England.

When we all reunited in Dartmouth, the first thing we decided to do was road trip down to where it all began. Wolfville. Scotskins at Joe's. Scot's Bay. Star Jumping. Hennigars for ice cream. It was definitely a blast from the past kind of day.

Here are some of my favorite shots from that day.

The girls & famous Joe's Scotskins






Fun times at Scot's Bay:


The view of Scot's Bay in the Bay of Fundy (highest tides in the world!)




Some cool backlighting




Christina tries to save a fish:




Star Jumping at its finest