October 2013
The days grow short, the leaves change and summer is over
Walking Around with Claira
Generally Claira and Nara have an afternoon
nap at the same time. But not always - today Claira had an
earlier nap and Nara had a later one so I had a little girl to
entertain i the afternoon. We took a walk down to Community
Gardens a few blocks from my house.
Helen is working this weekend so instead of
just staying home with two kids all weekend, I thought I would
take the kids over to grandma's house so they could visit for the
weekend. I figured it was late in the seasons so I didn't
need reservations for the ferries - boy was I wrong! When I
left for the ferry terminal at 7pm, the 9pm (last sailing) was
already sold out. In the 45 minutes it took me to drive
there, BC ferries changed it's mind and added an 8pm sailing so we
did make it over. The plan was for Nara and Claira to fall
asleep on the drive out, but that isn't what happened - they
didn't fall asleep until the ferry pulled into the dock in
Victoria.
The next morning the kids were up a bit
late and Nara just wanted to stay home and play with all the
toys. Claira is always game for a walk so we went over to
Outerbridge Park to see the fall colours.
A few hours later I walked over to try and get
some details - something that is hard to do with children in
tow. I spent some time trying to shoot dragonflys in flight -
hard, but I did get one shot of a dragonfly flying. I didn't
realize they only fly for 6 months of the year - after November, you
won't see them until spring.
Grandma needed a pumpkin so we decided to go
down the road to Galey Farm. They have a free tractor ride out
to the pumpkin field where we got to pick our own pumpkins.
The prices were quite reasonable and everyone had fun until Nara
fell down in the tractor. I think she will still come back
next year though.
After the
farm we went down to the beach. Tide was in so there wasn't
much beach, but the kids did have some fun walking around. It
was getting close to lunch time so we headed back home. I was
surprised to find this section of beach has a dog restriction for
some hours of the day during the summer months. Given the make
up of the community, I figured there would be a restriction on
teenagers.
After naps, we went over to McMinn Park for some playground time.
Nara quite
enjoys fishing at the creek. I have yet to see anything alive
(like a frog) in that creek, but I suspect something must live in
it.
Beacon Hill Park's petting zoo usually
closes for the season on the Thanksgiving weekend making it the
last petting zoo to close for the season (that I know of).
Last year Nara wasn't too happy to see the goats but this year she
had a good time brushing their fur. The people who run the
farm say the goats have a tough time after the park closes - they
are used to have lots of people around and they go through
withdrawal not having them around.
Back to Grandma's house for a quick lunch and then off to the
ferry terminal. Without reservations I was in for a long
wait, but we eventually got on and back to
Vancouver. Mom was really happy to see her babies
again.
Nitobe Gardens For Fall Colours
In the
spring we went to the Nitobe Gardens to see the Iris's. We
didn't do so well - most of the iris's hadn't bloomed yet and
even if they had, you can't really get close to them. This
seasonal trip we had more luck - the fall colours were out and
no storms had yet dropped the leaves off the trees.
I've found, since I've had kids, that most of my photography is
about kid first and nice background second. Taking
photos without kids in it is starting to seem a bit strange.
Quick
question - how do you take pictures of fall colours? The
light obviously matters what kinds of shots you will take.
I I got basically three - reflection, silhouette and foreground
interest, background colour. I'm sure there are more
combinations, but they didn't jump out at me.
I've
seen this screaming red maple tree used in advertising for the
gardens. I was kind of surprised to find it isn't actually
in the garden - there is only one small, spindly red maple
inside the garden itself. Nara provided some foreground
activity to make the scene more dynamic.
Halloween!
Nara is three and a half and she has a pretty good social
life with the other kids at daycare. She knew Halloween
and costumes were coming and she even had opinions - she
didn't want to be spider man. On the 30th she dressed up
like a princess, but for the actual day she wanted to be a
ballerina. We had a hand me down costume for Claira and
the kids were pretty happy to have the costumes on.
Tags: Nitobe Memorial Garden(5), fall colour(5), Beacon Hill Children's Farm(4), playground(4), Outerbridge Park(4), McMinn Park(3)
People: Claira(15), Nara(10), Caitlin(2), Janet(1), John(1)
From: John Harvey Photo > Blogs for 2024 to 2005 > October 2013
Thanks for the photos. It's fun to see the girls grow.
Joan
Saturday, November 23rd, 2013 at 23:58:31
Last Modified Sunday, January 29th, 2023 at 20:45:14 Edit
Copyright and Contact Information.
