Letter to Matthew - Today Is Your 4th Birthday

Dear Matthew today is your 4th birthday. I don't even know where to start it has been such a busy year for you. You have grown a lot. You are much taller. You are much smarter. You ask questions, you tell us stories, you sing and hum songs, you try to read, write and color and most of all you have lot of fun always. You have friends. You are a little boy who will be going to school in September.



I have to warn you that I may keep this letter short, as one day I am sure you will discover somewhere in the house all the notes I wrote about you in 2012.

This year was year of superheros. Iron Man continued to be your favorite, but them came along the Superman.

Whenever you wear your Iron Man shoes to the library you ask the librarians - 'Do you know who I am?'. Of course they don't, and you tell them you are the Iron Man. Whenever you wear your Superman shirt to the library you ask the librarians - 'Do you know who I am?' Of course they do, 'Oh hello Superman', they reply and you stand there proud with both hands on your hips not to mention the precious smile. My heart melts every time I see so much happiness in you.


Speaking of the library, this year we introduced you to the library and you got your own library card. You love the ride in the elevator, until one day we ended up in the basement of the library. We both got scared and laughed at each other when it was just someone down there waiting. When we ended up in the basement again, I thought you pressed the wrong button, 'no I didn't I only pressed 2' you replied surprised. Now we take stairs.

We read lot of books, obviously the superhero ones, but then there was The Cat In The Hat and Green Eggs and Ham. Because of you I discovered some great children books I never had a chance to read. I lost a count how many times I read the Green Eggs and Ham book for you.



We took you to the cinema three times for Cars 2, Smurfs and The Lorax. To keep you preoccupied longer we would wait and get popcorn later. It worked with the first movie, a bit with second movie and on for the third movie you said 'but every one else has popcorn here but me'.

You love shopping for toys. I think I may have to stop taking you grocery shopping because we always end up buying toys. You are so stubborn and it is so hard to walk out empty handed.



When comes to electronics you seems to be an expert - you can take pictures and delete pictures from my camera (good thing I got all these recovery tools), you can operate the TV and DVD players, you insisted on the BluRay player (now we got one), you can play Nintendo 3DS and now you are a big fan of Mario. Daddy finally got himself PS3 and you claim it is yours. You operate the electric piano but I was really happy to hear that you started to play some little tunes.

So finally you don't mix all the paint colors together. You can draw nice things like sun and people, and you can write M very well, and then with our help you can write your name. You can write Mom and Dad from your head. You can color so well, and most of all your attention span is much much longer when you come to Mommy's School.



One day we went for an orientation to your potential school. When we arrived at the parking lot of the school you asked 'but where is my big box of food?'. You didn't understand the orientation concept so you really thought that you were going to school that day and we forgot your lunch box. You never wanted to come back to this school and you will not.

We are sending you to Northern Lights and I will give you big box of food, chicken soup included as per your request. I asked you one day what will I do without you when you go to school, your reply was 'you will cook and wait for me'.



Dear Matthew I can sit here all night and write about you but may be from now on I will leave you with photo memories, and I think you will remember those moments better. Just remember no matter what I love you more and more every day.



You are starting to develop your own character and I am always amazed how determined you are to accomplish something that you want to accomplish, even if it is to get a new toy; and if that does not work by asking and sometimes telling me why you need this toy, then you turn around, you look into my eyes and say 'but I love you'.



And you really do love us both, because sometimes when we are sitting together and have a good time and lots of fun, you grab our both necks, hug us and say 'oh we are family', and we are even better family now because of you our dear Matthew.

Matthew, our little boy, we love you so much and we wish you all the best. Hopefully you will have another 'amazing' and 'fantastic' year filled with learning and new adventures.

Winter Fun Fun And More Fun, Canon Lens Lots Of Fun

Creation of the snow was such a blessing for children. I cannot emphasize enough how much I enjoy watching Matthew playing in the snow. This little busy bee enjoys himself to the fullest - making snowman, throwing snowballs, making giant snowballs, making snow angles, removing snow, cleaning cars with the broom, mowing snow (yes just like cutting grass) and tobogganing.

Its been snowing here on and off. Last couple of days snowed but guaranteed that this snow will be gone by next week - warmer temperatures are in the forecast. Just a repeat of the last week.

Well Matthew is not the only one having fun. I finally decided on the new lens but came out from the store with two lenses, and I am very happy camper with empty pockets. I am glad that I fixed my Canon 20D because I don't have to do lot of lens switching. It gets heavy to carry both, but I don't mind at all. Canon 20D is past few generations but it is still a good camera.

Since I am Canon shooter, I decided to stick with Canon lenses. I bet you are curious and already know that one of them must be a macro lens, and it is - Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro lens. I also treated myself with Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens. Both are excellent lenses. I have not been able to use the macro lens as I cannot find anything tiny small (may be microscopic) to photograph, meaning small creatures (probably hibernating at this moment), however, this lens is great for portraits.

The photos below of Matthew are using macro lens.

Winter Wonderland, Happy New Year 2012

Another year is over. I think it was a good year after all for us here. I was not very busy on myonlyphoto blog; however, I continue to photograph everything and anything. I am now carrying two cameras on my shoulder, the Canon 7D and Canon 20D, which I fixed not too long ago. I am still hovering around my town, with Matthew on my side, as I cannot go far from home. I think it would be a little too much for a three year old.

My focus this year was where I live. We have very rich history here in town and we are surrounded by beautiful nature trails. It will take ages to explore all so I am going to continue to focus my photographic energy in that area.

The above photo shows our local picnic pavilion in the Sheppard's Bush Conservation Area, which is about 65 acres in size and has over 3 km of hiking trails. Sheppard's Bush also has a maple syrup evaporator hut. As I said our town has so much and I have not seen all yet, one of them never attended the maple syrup making festivities.

 

The beauty about the winter is that you get this beautiful black and white effect that surrounds warm objects. The first photo is only cropped, no editing was done. The natural wood color makes this photo very magical. However, I discover new editing tool in Google Photos and tried some of the effects. I thought I show off my experiment, the second photo. Whoever comes up with the editing algorithms is doing wonderful job and making my life easier.

Happy New Year 2012!

'A new year is unfolding

- like a blossom with petals curled tightly

concealing the beauty within.'

Suspended, A Leaf

It is not just the dancing colorful leaves that make autumn so interesting. It is a season full of spiders, mushrooms, butterflies and fungi. Thousands of subjects to photograph.



I am so pleased that many of you still visit me despite of my low posting. Every day I tell myself I will go for posting marathon, but then when the night comes all I can think of is sleep. I did not give up on photography. I carry my camera with me most of the time, sometimes two and sometimes all three of them (one is just point and shoot).

Also, for a low price of just under 200 dollars Canadian, I was able to fix my Canon 20D. They never claimed that it was the number of shutters, all it was it needed major overhaul and probably was shorting somewhere. I am missing probably one more and important lens, macro lens and I will be set for many years. Suggestions are welcome.

No I wasn't that lucky to photograph the falling leaf. It is very easy to spot hanging leaves on the spider webs during the fall season. Since the web is nearly invisible, one can be fooled, and not I am not suspending my blog. I may take a break such last, but I will be always back.

My Matthew continues to grow. We wander around the town streets, parks and we are regular visitors to our local library. My parents borrowed my small point and shoot camera for their trip to Poland, which was also used at home by Matthew. So now he is getting hands on my DSLR. He likes the zooming effect when looking through the view finder. He is almost 3 1/2 years old.

Photo was taken at Thronton Bales Conservation Area, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada.

English Garden Confessions

We are very lucky to have many nice attraction in our town, especially Merlin's Hollow, the English garden that is free and open to public four times a year. The English garden has gardens within. Each has its own character or theme. These are some of the photos of the flowers I captured. I probably captured over 80 different species, but believe or not the garden has over 1500. That is a lot, and it is only on 1 acre of land.



What confessions you may say? Well I have not been here for a while. Life is busy and keeping us out of trouble. I am still with Matthew. He is not going to school this year, but next year. I better enjoy this time even more. I know I will miss him.



Oh, I forgot about the confessions. The confession I have is that I started a local blog in our town Living In Aurora. I noticed that over the 13 years lot changed in our town. So for the record, I started to post pictures locally from our town and write. I write my opinions. I try to stay away from politics, as it is very confusing topic to be involve in, but I vote.



I felt like I was walking the streets and trails and saw so much. I started to share. I started to see the growth, so I started to take more pictures. I started to see flaws in our town, so I started to get involved. I think it was time for me to raise my opinions publicly.



I guess you know why I have been absent here. Yes I been spending more time there. But no worries, this blog My Only Photo and Story Blog was born with Matthew and I am not leaving the premises. I may post less, and visit less, but I will be here.



I hope you enjoyed my English garden flower showcase for today.

Protective Males - Red Wing Black Bird & Canada Goose

I am always on the lookout for the new birds, but I am out of luck this year. Same birds as last year - bunch of Red Wing Black Birds and Canada Geese. Not to mention that their population have also increased more than usual.

We also have American Robins that are the most common birds hanging out around the residential areas. I remember one incident when in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia many moons ago, we met a man walking back from the four hour trail. He told us what he saw - a moose, a bear and one American Robin. We smiled. I don't really mind American Robins, because they have a very pleasant song, but I am starting to mind too many photos of them.



So far I was able to see hummingbirds only once. I found them in a local trail around my house. Saw them for few seconds and they were gone. Every year they come to see my chestnut tree, but not this year because the tree is already loosing flowers and the nuts are starting to form.



But what can I say, having the usual is better than nothing. Here on the first photo is a female Red Wing Black Bird. Amazing contrast in plumage between the female and the male red wing. Followed by the photo of a screaming or signing Red Wing Black Bird male. They usually make lot of noise when people pass by their nests. Males are very protective.



Another a very protective bird male is the Canada Goose. This one would jump on the railing close by where the nest was and would hiss on everyone passing by. I used to be scared, but I have noticed that if you do nothing and just walk, they will give you a warning only.

Well, my three year old bird continues to grow, sing, dance, and run. The latest and greatest he is the Superman boy called Matthew.

Letter to Matthew - Today Is Your 3rd Birthday

Dear Matthew you are now 3 years old. When you turned two last year it was a definitely a turning point in your life. Firstly, almost exactly one month after your birthday you were totally out of diapers. It took little longer for the breastfeeding. I had to wait until you fully understood that breastfeeding is for babies only, and you did. It was little emotional moment for both of us and for the record 2 years and 10 months exactly. No worries, breastfeeding is very healthy and getting more popular in Canada, and also you were not the only one to go that far.



Matthew, the last 12 months was a great learning experience for you and for me and your daddy. You brought smiles and true happiness, and every day we love you more and more – you are a true miracle baby, oh I forgot, you are not anymore. I had to take notes on things you learned, played with, experienced, and said to us – there is no way I could remember all. This letter will only outline few things, because the last 12 months it is a book by itself.



Learning How to Spell and Read … I have to tell you, you are just one great student. This year you learned concept of spelling and reading, and every day we saw and keep seeing great progress while you spell everything you see, and slowly also memorized spelling for words like on, no, yes, off, play are just some on the list. You forced yourself to remember the difficult ones, like pingu (your favourite cartoon show) and iron man (your favourite super hero). This is because you wanted to Google them. When I read newspaper beside you, you try to read titles, you find words you know.



Learning How to Draw, Color and Trace … I introduced school to you, and you loved it, but then you realized that you were doing all the work and I was just sitting and demanding. You decided to switch with me. You told me once that ‘Matthew be teacher, Mommy be student’ – and you yelled at me ‘Mommy write!’ You are good at tracing, but you stopped at letter J. You made few greeting cards for your friends. You coloured nice winter snowflakes and Easter eggs. You can also draw faces. This year you got introduced to play-dough and painting. Sometimes you don’t like too many instructions, and you caught me by surprise with your little demand. When I was telling you to wash the brush before you put into different color paint, you told me: ‘Mommy go away'.



Story Telling … Throughout the year you enjoyed our stories to you about you. You were always a main character in our stories, and you loved them all. On your first treat or trick adventure, our neighbour gave you little pumpkin man on the bike. This pumpkin became your favourite character and friend in every story, especially this year – he is the famous pumpkin Pupi.



Reading Books … It all started few months ago when we switched from storytelling to bed time reading. The Chicka Chicka Boom Boom book made great impression on you, along with the Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper. Matthew you practically memorized all the lines in both, and not to mention the author and who illustrated the book. You enjoy the Robert Munsch Books and now you are into Dr. Sues series. It is amazing to hear you talking and giving us the outline of each book we read.



Computer Skills … You know it all. You turn your computer ON; you type access code and go to Google Chrome or Firefox (you prefer Firefox). You Google for your favourite things (pingu, iron man, treehouse, tvokids, fotoflexer). You play educational games, and I am always amazed how sometimes you figure out how to do it by yourself. When you are done playing, you shut down.

Eating … You were and are a good eater. It was just about three months ago when your first molars showed up. At no time you figured out what they were for, and I did not have to make special meals just for you. For each parent these days it’s a blessing when a child eats vegetables – and we are definitely blessed. You eat carrots, beans, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, cucumbers, mushrooms and lettuce. You don’t like very salty and sweet, but just like your daddy you love chocolate. One day when we arrived at the shoe store, out of blue you said: ‘I am chocolate-holic’. I guess you remembered when we told you that you were chocoholic. You learned from TV about McDonalds. We would take you there for small fries we share among three of us. You always ask for hamburger, but never eat it. But I always come prepared with my home made meals for you in the thermos. Your other favourite place is Tim Hortons, and because of you, few times we ended up with a free coffee. Going out with you is always fun, it is not really about eating. You get to press the handicapped door button, order your favourites and pay. Your honesty always amazes us. Once when you saw the handicapped sign on the washroom door – you laughed and said ‘that man is doing poo-poo’. Now you know what it is. I am sure you will always remember your first lollypop from the A&W man. Matthew I am always thankful to see you eating all my home cooked food I always prepare for you at home and when we hit the road. Lastly, I don’t have to tell you how much you love eating chicken soup.



Daily Adventures … Always weather permitting we spent lot of time outside. Our town has boardwalks, trails and lot of nice playgrounds. You also got to see your first fireworks last summer. We took you to the zoo first time, but when we came back it looked like you enjoyed the backyard pool much more. It is amazing to see you walk long distances, especially the last couple of months. Last summer I had stroller with me, but I used it only half of the time. This spring, I don’t even take a stroller and we walk around the town sometimes as much as 2 ½ hours. I don’t know how you do it. The best is to see you collect stones, flowers and sticks that you throw into the pond or creek. You stop and look at the garbage people throw, ‘what’s that crazy man doing’ – you say. Sometimes I wonder, do you really need toys – because you really enjoy exploring the nature. You know I like taking pictures of birdies, sometimes you lean on me when I click, and sometimes you run on purpose to scare them. It is a real fun to watch you talking to the birds – ‘hey bird come here, come here to Matthew’. Or ‘what are you doing bird, you silly bird, don’t run away’. The past winter was a blast and thank you for all the help with snow shovelling? I am sure you will also remember your first snowman you made with Daddy.



Toys … The hit toys this year are characters from Cars. You got lot of super hero toys such as Iron Man and Spider Man – may be too much. When we play, I have to be Pepper Pots hundreds times a day to deliver your iron man suite in the briefcase, just like in the Iron Man 2. You have the pretend kitchen, and I am glad to share some of my kitchen tools with you – and I know where to find them too. You cook for me all the time and we very much enjoy all the ‘stinky’ doughnuts you make for us. You started to build with mega blocks. You got all the possible handyman tools with which you build and fix the iron man suite. Whatever I forgot to mention, I am sure we will see on the photographs by you. You own pretend phones - I love hearing you when you have conversations with fireman, police, handyman, iron man and the 'electricity man', Ivan Vanko, the bad man from the Iron Man 2. You also talk on the real phone with telemarketers, and unfortunately they on the timer, so they hang on on you. But then when Daddy calls, you tell him everything you did during the day and you ask him 'Daddy can you come home?'



Signing … let just say, you love signing. You even hum songs when you walk outside, or play with your toys. Lately you started to play piano and sing, and I have to play this silly guitar. I hate to tell you but we would never make the American Idol with our musical band. I don’t want to make a separate category, but you love to dance too. Your moves kills us every time we watch you.



Friends … You got many of all ages, some not in neighborhood anymore, but here are some of their names - Ryan (gone to school), Ashley (you two hug on hi and bey but never play), Brendon (a very nice older kid who likes you a lot), Riley (see her very little lately), Emily (gone from the neighborhood), Melody (you continue to win her heart, by sharing, dancing for her, as she continues to ignore you), Logan (you two are buddies, talk like old man, even though he is older by almost 2 years), Daniel (neighbor and you saw him last fall), Dimitri and Sofia (brother and sister and your neighbors who like you very much, they are almost teenagers). You make friends with everyone in the area, people wave from buses to you in the car - you never a miss a person to say hi to. You call your Daddy your friend - 'I am going downstairs with my new friend Daddy', and 'I am playing with my new friend Daddy'.



Should I go on … As I told you if I don’t stop now, this could be a book of hundreds and hundreds pages. I will conclude here, but just few more things about your demands and affection. Well, what can I say you are very demanding little boy. The other day I was washing dishes and making too much noise, ‘Mommy can you stop washing dishes and not make any noise’. Then while you were playing on my computer and trying to access some of the software, I kept saying ‘Matthew no, no’. ‘Mommy can you stop saying no to Matthew, I am running some programs’. Sometimes I demand some love from you, ‘Can you say you love Mommy Matthew?’. ‘I love you!’- you yelled the other day, but Daddy thought it was for him. ‘I love you too’ – Daddy replied. ‘Daddy no, can you not say I love you. Matthew says I love you to Mommy’. Well, Daddy did not hear this since he was washing dishes. Yes love is very important, and I know we don’t have to demand that from you. You are very spontaneous, out of blue you will always give us hugs and kisses, you will say I love you, and you enjoy saying ‘Oh we are family’, and you spread your arms and hugs both of us. When you cry at night, and when you realize that it is just a nightmare, you turn around grab my cheeks with both hands and say ‘Mommy I love you’ or kiss me, and then you follow a sleep’. My heart breaks when you call me or Daddy ‘oh sweetheart, are you okay?’



Matthew my dear little boy, I and Daddy love you so much – how much, ‘that that much’, same ‘much much’ you love us. We love every moment you are with us, and we love seeing you enjoy your ‘little’ life, but as you can see in this letter it isn’t that little.

You are the greatest miracle gift a mother could get for the Mother’s day and for my birthday too. Happy Birthday Matthew! You are now three years old and zero months.

Forty Years In The Making Of My Life

I started to do lot of experimental photography with stills. I don't have lot of good objects around the house to experiment except plants, fruits or vegetables, or baked stuff. The above are orchids I took photo of few weeks ago. The orchids were against the window with lot of back light, but by playing with exposures I was able to get this beautiful effect. The best photo yet I took of the flower, and I was able to use it on the Easter cards I created for my family this year.

So what is forty years in the making of my life. Well today I turned 40 years old. All I can say I am happy. There were good things and bad things in my life. So what is the secret: I choose to remember good things, and the bad things I choose to learn from. Hopefully I can have another 40 good years ahead.

'Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.' ~ a quote by Mark Twain.

A Journey Of A Thousand Miles Must Begin With A Single Step

The above title is a quote by Lao Tsu. I think it was appropriate to introduce my new Canon EOS 7D that way. The journey began about a month ago, when, with a bit of Internet research and one trip to a local store, I ended up with a Canon EOS 7D in my hands. It took me a week to actually take the first pictures, as I read the manual first. Okay, I was also a little paranoid about starting to work with this slightly more expensive equipment. The 7D is a bit more advanced, and I've been playing more with manual adjustments this time. I definitely missed a few good photo shoot opportunities as I am a little too slow switching between settings. However, opportunities will always be around; therefore, this time I will be trying to concentrate more on the quality and not the quantity.

Chickadee

The spring has not fully arrived yet. We have shiny days—great days for photography—but it's still cold and windy. The last couple of days temperatures were much warmer, but not enough for the grass to get green yet. The nights are still cold; let's say we got freezing rain last night. Rain is in the forecast for the rest of the week. However, a lot of birds arrived here, and they are getting a little pinch of the cold weather. Maybe it is good that we don't have green leaves yet, as it is always easier to find birds on the 'naked' trees.


And now about the photo. I took this photo a couple of days ago on our trip to the playground with Matthew and my husband. I think you may have figured out by now that I really enjoy the earthy, brownish colours of all seasons. I couldn't get a good close-up of the little chickadee, but I really enjoyed the layout I am now sharing with you.

Lastly, I cannot believe that in a month, Matthew will be three years old. Be prepared to see one lengthy post in a few weeks: my annual Happy Birthday letter to Matthew, a year full of explorations. Of course, it will be filled with photographs of my little star.

~ Anna

[Previously published on My Only Photo Journey Blog]

Everything Has An End

Winter ends, spring ends, summer ends, fall ends, snow melts, rain evaporates. I can go on and on. They do end yet they come back. Cycle of life, we call it.

Now, my camera Canon 20D finally took its last breath on February 21st after probably just over 100 thousand shots. It happened to get the continuous shutter clicking syndrome which happened when I took it outside for photographing (-15C at least). Reading about it I found that my shutter is definitely gone. Should I replace the shutter on the 20D, or this must be a coincidence because I been having a big temptation to get the 7D? May be its time for an upgrade. However, I had a plan for two cameras, because I just hate changing lenses (and getting dust), and I wouldn't mind having at least two lenses always ready to shoot. I might see, may be if I get good price on 7D, I will repair the 20D also.

Here I am leaving you with one of the last photographs I took with my original 20D. We still have winter in effect, but hasn't been that cold, and as I will be missing out on the photo shooting for few weeks, I know that winter will be back next year.

Simple Winter

Once you go away from something for a long time, it is hard to get back. I have not been photographing much, not writing much and definitely not blogging much. Few days ago I decided to dig out my old lens 75-300mm and got motivated again. In addition, temperatures got little warmer, therefore, I was able to go for winter walks again. Now, the opposite is that I started to be in bed earlier more regularly, and getting much more deeper sleeps. Matthew is now older, and sleeps through the night, but will definitely not let you sleep in the morning. 'Wake up Mommy! Matthew wants to play toys downstairs' - he usually yells, and he does not have the snooze button on him.

He is growing really fast, and this year is the year of gaining more independence. It is not like we push him to do things, he wants to do it himself. In May he will turn three. Deep inside every year I miss the year before, but every year I love him more and more. What am I going to do when he goes to school? He is now eager to learn how to read. He can very well spell DAD and MOM (it is so much fun to watch him think). Memorizes 4 line verses and with his little finger points on the words and pretends to read.

About the photo. Its a pile of snow on my backyard that looked kind attractive. This also reminded me about this quote I read once by Anonymous author, 'Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile things, but just look what they can do when they stick together.' Enjoy, and glad to be back to share my photography, my life and my thoughts again.

Gone For Christmas !

Yes gone for Christmas, not far, just from blogging. Hope all of you will enjoy your holidays, and wishing you and your family healthy New Year 2011.

This is also an opportunity to say thank you for your kind visits and comments in 2010. Every of your comments always puts smile on my face - thank you again.

Winter Happy Morning Dove

I thought I will play with you small memory game. I looked back into some archives, and I thought I will re-post this image of the morning dove sitting on my BBQ. This is actually variation of the one I posted back on December 17, 2007. I checked who commented back than, and it is kind of hard to believe that lot of you are still around, and visiting my blog, and never mind its been more than three years. My blogging isn't that active as before, but I am not planning to stop, but there is always some unexpected, and hopefully there will be none.

Everything is fine here, the winter is coming, flu, colds, Christmas shopping everything is piling up. But overall life is good, and if you want to hear the latest and greatest about Matthew, have fun reading Kids Say the Darndest Things - NO Bath Time Please.