Photography – Page 34 – Jennifer's Journal

Spring!

Published on May 2, 2014January 17, 2016 by J. Kelland Perry9 Comments

Greetings, humans! Maisie here, covering for Jennifer this week while she is away. My sister Vivian was eager to take over again, but Shy Little Me thought I would venture a few steps out of my comfort zone and host the blog for a change.

My sister and I had grown oh-so-bored with staying inside.

After the long, cold and snowy winter we endured in Canada this year, we are welcoming any signs of Spring with gratitude and huge sighs, or in our case,
purrs of relief.

When Vivian and I lived in the city four years ago, we had to content ourselves with the sighting of a robin or two in our backyard to let us know Spring had finally arrived.

Where we live now, there are many, many more signs to watch for and welcome. Not only fat robins with their red breasts, but birds of all kinds grace us with their presence, usually in pairs as they get ready for mating season. And we eagerly await the arrival of the gannets in May, and arctic terns in June. There is something deeply comforting in seeing wildlife return, especially when you spy them huddled in twos, preening or foraging for food together here on Perry’s Point. The seagulls are here as always, dropping and breaking crabs and sea urchins open on the rocks. But now they are joined by a few saddleback gulls. Vivian even spotted a saucy mink the other day!

During the last few days, my sister and I have enthusiastically returned to the great outdoors.
So much to see, to smell, to hear and to taste.

Vivian and I will stay outside almost all day when the summer gets here…

…just like last summer, and the summer before.

Life is good. 🙂

Weekly Photo Challenge: Spring!
What does Spring mean to you?

A Spanish Purr Sounds Just as Sweet

Published on April 17, 2014August 23, 2014 by J. Kelland Perry33 Comments

“Whaaa? Is Jennifer blogging about cats, again?”

Look, I will be the first to admit it. I love all animals, but my adoration for creatures of the feline variety is mega-size and always has been. So if you think I’m a hopeless ailurophile – for those who don’t know, that’s the fancy word for cat lover – I will readily own up to it. This blog has my name on it which means there has to be a cat post now and then.

I think often about kitties of all stripes (pun intended), particularly my own. On the days leading up to our trip to Cuba earlier this month, and actually, any time we travel, I begin worrying in earnest. What do our cats think when we disappear like that, for days on end? Do they open their eyes from each nap expecting to see us, and roam from window to window, wondering what the devil has become of us? Do they fill with anxiety, for fear we shall never return?

We're so blue without you. — We’re so blue without you.

When I voice these concerns to my husband, he gives me a patronizing smile and reassures me once again that they don’t think that way, especially as we make sure before we go that all their needs are met and we have someone checking on them. And of course they have each other. But how can he know that for certain, that they aren’t pining for us? I know he loves cats too, but does he think he can read their minds?

Wherever we go, Cuba included, little cats seem drawn to him. I’ll give him that. Like this little tomcat.

The Cat Whisperer (sounds much better than p#ssy magnet ;) ) — **The Cat Whisperer**

This gorgeous boy belongs to the restaurant's next door neighbour. — This gorgeous tabby belongs to the restaurant’s next door neighbour.

Staring at my husband in quiet awe — He stares at my husband in quiet awe.

Pose pretty for the camera, sweet boy. x

So even though I remain unapologetic and consider myself as devoted to cats as he is, and I worry more about the ones we leave behind, I wonder why they always give him the lion’s share of attention. Even the Spanish ones.

What do you think? Say anything, but please don’t call me a crazy cat lady!

Further Reading: 8 Purrfect Destinations For Any Cat Lover

For the Love of Reading

Published on April 10, 2014November 30, 2017 by J. Kelland Perry27 Comments

“Reading was my escape and my comfort, my consolation, my stimulant of choice: reading for the pure pleasure of it, for the beautiful stillness that surrounds you when you hear an author’s words reverberating in your head.”

― Paul Auster, The Brooklyn Follies

Ah… the written word. It has been my truest passion since my chubby little hands first held a book and my eager, unfledged mind tried to unlock the enchantment within its pages.

As I know it is with many of you, reading since childhood has taken me everywhere, through experiences and adventures in exotic lands beyond my horizon, and all the way back to the charm – or heartbreak – of a domestic story around the corner.

Books have allowed me to journey along with colourful, unforgettable characters, to get inside their minds, to live other, more fascinating lives. And between the lines, some books have given me truthful and enlightening glimpses of myself, that I may never have learned otherwise.

Our book club offering this month, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley, found its way with me to sunny Cuba last week, a key item among my accoutrements, and a vital part of my prescription for R and R. To me, bringing along good reading material on a holiday is arguably more important than bringing along ~~my husband~~ my camera. Hmm. Of course, if I hadn’t had a camera, you wouldn’t be looking at my sun-starved knees right now. 😉

In our rapidly changing world of hurried living, instant technology, and short attention spans, has the enjoyment of full-length books fallen by the wayside? Certainly not for this blogger. Even if you are clutching an e-reader, as I witnessed with many fellow vacationers, you are my kind of people.

You are the kind of people who would probably love and identify with these other delicious author quotes I found on the love of reading.

“I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.”
― Jorge Luis Borges

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“The world was hers for the reading.”
― Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

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“Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.”
― Lemony Snicket, Horseradish

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“Books are a uniquely portable magic.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

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“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”
― Cicero

Do you always pack a book or two when you travel? Or does a good read have the ability to take you away no matter where you are, even from your couch or in your own garden? Come, bookworms, share your thoughts!

Imaginative Reflection

Published on March 22, 2014March 31, 2014 by J. Kelland Perry27 Comments

“Happiness resides in imaginative reflection…”

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“…when the picture of one’s life…as it truly has been or is, satisfies the will, and is gladly accepted.” ~ George Santayana
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“Any artist’s or poet’s role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel…”

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“…Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all.”
~ John Lennon *

What does Reflection mean to you?

*Quote taken from Lennon’s interview to KFRC RKO Radio on the same day of his death.

This post has been my contribution to the Photo Challenge: Reflections and Ailsa’s Pink Theme.

Scenes from Montreal

Published on March 14, 2014June 11, 2017 by J. Kelland Perry22 Comments

With few signs of spring here in Newfoundland, and our vacation more than two weeks away, I’m getting a little restless for a change of climate and scenery. This morning found me looking back on photos from a different spring, of our May trip to Montreal five years ago. Won’t you come along and take in some sightseeing with me, in one of my favourite cities?

Montreal 2009 026 — **view from our hotel room**

Montreal 2009 014 (2) — **inside the Centre for Architecture**

Montreal 2009 028 — **Montreal Museum of Fine Arts**

Montreal 2009 029 — **Let’s go inside.**

Montreal 2009 030 — **Exhibition by Yoko Ono**

John Lennon's Piano — **John Lennon’s Piano**

Montreal 2009 052 — **playing in the park 😉**

Montreal 2009 055 — **Ah…Spring in full bloom**

Montreal 2009 082 — **admiring the architecture**

**View from the top of Olympic Stadium**

montreal-2009-136-e1497041129932 — Enjoying sangria on Crescent Street

Hoping to visit again someday.

Have you ever been to Montreal? Lived there? What is your favourite city to visit?

Photo Challenge: Threes

Published on February 23, 2014April 23, 2014 by J. Kelland Perry35 Comments

The Daily Post challenge for photographers this week is to show three similar images. I came up with two versions from winter and summer here on Perry’s Point.

Ice Storm Aftermath

ice-close-up — **Glitter-Coated Branches**

ice-on-grass-3 — **Crunchy Tufts of Grass**

Seashells on Rocks

Now that March is marching toward us, this photographer is growing a smidge weary of the snow and ice. Thoughts swing to the anticipation of warm weather and the new life that Spring unfurls. I remember this colony of mollusks, better known as seashells, from last summer.

Shelled mollusks are not the only things living on these rocks. Colonies of tiny, white rock barnacles are everywhere. Barnacles are arthropods, related to crab and lobster.

I’m ready to trade the ice for seashells. Are you?

Travel Theme: Romance

Published on February 14, 2014March 24, 2014 by J. Kelland Perry16 Comments

268651_10150308658300281_6294221_n — Roma!

This is my contribution to Ailsa’s photo challenge at wheresmybackpack.com.

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Birthday, Son ♥

Published on January 16, 2014March 24, 2014 by J. Kelland Perry17 Comments

Due to an interruption in our internet service, this post didn’t go online yesterday as it should have on my son’s birthday. My apologies!

In the midst of a snowstorm back in the eighties, my boy decided to make his debut into the world. Because I couldn’t make it to Carbonear Hospital, Brian was delivered in the nearby cottage hospital, a high point for the staff there that day. He was a strapping nine pounds seven ounces, and I was thrilled to have a little boy, as I had a girl at home.

**waiting for a piece of dough to play with from my batch of bread**

As most little boys are growing up, my son was a bundle of energy who kept me on my toes, but he was also super-affectionate.

♥

How quickly the years have flown by! Here is Brian in his teens.

Happy Birthday, Honey. You have enriched our lives beyond measure. ~ Love, Mom ♥

Winter Woes and Looking on the Bright Side

Published on January 7, 2014August 23, 2014 by J. Kelland Perry24 Comments

Well, what a week it has been around these parts! Old Man Winter in Newfoundland, as it has been for much of the continent caught in the “Polar Vortex,” is baring his teeth and delivering a wallop to most areas, a wallop stronger than any in recent memory. It has made some of us wish we could hibernate until spring, and others long to escape down south for an extended vacation or even retirement.

But the weather has also made some people shine. Like the old expression about when the going gets tough, that is just what was needed when our version of a “perfect storm” arrived: record low frigid temperatures, record amounts of early snowfall, and lengthy bone-chilling blackouts, the like which has not been experienced since 1994. Add a blizzard and our inadequate power infrastructure for our needs today, and you’ve got real trouble.

photo credit: Newfoundland page, Facebook

Sometimes it takes a situation, (or a “crisis,” if I may, Premier Dunderdale) to see who the heroes are, to see who is willing to stop complaining, roll up their sleeves and help wherever help is needed. No matter where any blame lies that contributed to the power problem, I’m the sort of person who prefers to look at the positive side of things whenever possible. I have heard stories of gratitude for those who shovelled, plowed, or dug people out of their homes. I have seen good folks answer the call when warm food and shelter were needed, and still others with wood stoves and propane fireplaces open their homes and offer comfort. Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Newfoundland Power maintenance workers and crews, the snow plow operators, and everyone who worked and is still working tirelessly to return everything back to some semblance of normal.

But it is the personal stories that warm me more than any wood stove can. Like the couple who went ahead with their wedding Saturday night in spite of the blackout and the freezing temperatures (link below). No, perhaps it was far from ideal, but they have quite a story to tell their children and grandchildren one day.

Even my daughter and son-in-law were up to the challenge this weekend, when they decided not to postpone our granddaughter’s sleepover birthday party at home, but went ahead with the event in the dark. Son-in-law even barbecued hot dogs outside in the freezing cold for them. And the party was a success! These are the things lasting memories are made of.

So whether this makes you think Newfoundlanders are hardy, or just plain foolhardy, that is entirely beside the point. All I know is the warmth of the human spirit is alive and well in our little corner of the continent.

Do you have any storm or power outage stories to share? How about one with an unexpected positive spin?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/couple-braves-blackout-marries-by-candlelight-1.2485547

Meowy Christmas :)

Published on December 24, 2013March 26, 2014 by J. Kelland Perry11 Comments

Happy Christmas Eve, everyone! Vivian K. Perry here, filling in for Jennifer today because she is in town celebrating the holidays in the bosom of her family.

Maisie and I are hanging out at home with our early Christmas presents, two new cat beds! We are thrilled with how cozy they are, and Jennifer was thrilled because they were only ten bucks a pop from Sears catalogue.