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Monday 21 May 2012

Too many 6's

I just popped on my blogger and I had 666 views and 6 followers. Not sure if this is some kind of omen and my blog will be taken over my demons of some sort, but if I go missing or die, don't say I didn't try to reach out :P hahaha jk, really just think it was a neat coincidence and just a little sketchy.

I'm about to post some photos from the wedding I shot this weekend on my photo blog. check it out!!
theimageowl.blogspot.ca

Oh and my eye is looking hellish this evening and I'm blistering from my sunburn...life is cruel.

Stay Happy!

The Long Weekend

I wish I could say that the long weekend was worth all the pain I am in today, but I would have to admit that I am on the fence about weather or not I shouldn't have just crawled into my bed and rested all weekend instead.
Friday night wasn't bad, I went to the rehearsal for the wedding and saturday was a long day of wedding photos and celebrations, but when I got home I was talked into going out for some drinks with friends. It was a great night out, since I haven't allowed myself a social life in months, but the end of the night, or more like the start of morning could have gone much smother. My boyfriend and I passed out right before sun-up and woke up 4 hours later to get ready to go out on the boat and sail over to a surrounding island where local seagulls nest.
The trip started at 11:00 and we were off for Outer Wood Island, the sail was a long 30 minutes for Justin and I, hungover and enjoying how the cool ocean air calmed the rough sea that was inside our stomaches. It was a smooth sail and a wonderful day for the trip, not a cloud in the sky all day, but that meant my poor light complected skin was in danger. All day I thought this is great I haven't got any color and thought I was safe from what I am suffering today. When I arrived back at home I was quickly reminded of why I need to wear SPF 60 and will probably die of skin cancer someday.
The main reason for this excursion is a local event called "gulls eggin'," this happens around the end of may and sometimes through june. Friends and family gather together and sail out to a surrounding island that is known to house the nests of seagulls. Everyone brings food, drinks, blankets, wienie rosters and more, we pick a nice spot on the beach to lay our blankets and build a fire. Before the feast begins we all set out for the hills and swamps to look for nests containing 1 or 2 eggs, if there are three in the nest, leave it be, there is no way to tell which two are older than the others and chances are that one or two have already begun developing inside.

Here are some photos from yesterday

carrying wood to the campsite for the cooking fire

Justin and I set off on our hike and found a nest of 4 duck eggs close to the beach, but we aren't here for those. 

The view from up on one of the hills, we couldn't have asked for a better day! 

Group members off in the distance searching for nest, while adult seagulls fly overhead.

Seagulls standing around the marshy valley between the hills. Muskrat burrows aren't something I want to go poking around so we stayed away from this area. 

Another duck egg.

Found some, Finally! These are seagull eggs, what we came looking for! These were the only two that Justin and I were able to find in the 2 hours we were searching. We must have been to the island too early this year because on my past ventures to Outer Wood Island there were loads of nests and eggs, but this year it was hard to even come across nests.

But it was easy to come across these! Muskrat burrows and this was a big one.
I don't remember these being here before and began to wonder if the rise in the
muskrat population is the reason gulls aren't laying eggs here, not sure if that
would have any affect on it.



everyones brought something different to snack on as we all gather together to enjoy the nice day 

Loading up and heading back home.

Dad finishing off the last of his drink.

The littlest egg collector packed up and taking home his finds.

This man wasn't sure how to run the boat, so he paddled back with a shovel.

The second load was alittle packed and got stuck on the rocks.

The last load.

Leaving Garth behind to fend for himself, chances are he wouldn't find much to eat considering the small amount of eggs we were able to find, and even those are aboard the boat. 

Once Justin and I got home...eggs, sunburn, and all. We decided to make some supper and try out the eggs.

Home and ready to be cooked. If the thought of trying to hatch them our own, I tried it when I was little, but I'm guessing I would have better luck now. Might try it with an incubator next year :P Wouldn't be so bad to raise a baby gull. 

In order to check the eggs and make sure they aren't developing inside we test them with water. If they float they're no good to eat, if they sink they're good. Even if they sink, but one end floats up, still no good, chances are it's started developing. Luckily, both our eggs sunk!

Gulls eggs are quite a bit darker than chicken eggs, they're closer to orange, and alot larger. 

After busting the yoke you can really tell the difference in color. 

And there you have it, scrambled gull's eggs. Turned out pretty tasty!

As far as the taste test of gulls eggs the trip was a success, but overall I'm thinking it would have been better to have stayed home. Before bed I took a photo of how I look after the past couple of days and their events. I can tell you I am not a happy camper and definitely not a pretty one! My mother has just informed me that my eye is now turning from purple to green, that should look pretty tomorrow.

Not so happy, but can't do much cept wait out the black eye and apply
aloe to the red parts of me. 

Stay Happy! watch out for posts when walking and wear sunscreen! 

Friday 18 May 2012

Injured On The Job

This is the only way I can explain how it looked,
literally walked into the post mid walk.
As a kid I was anything but graceful. I always had atleast a couple scrapes and a few bruise somewhere on my body. I was continuously injuring myself, I have countless scars, I've sprained my ankles more than I can count, chipped and cracked bone, but thankfully never broken any and I've even caused nerve damage to my leg, which I will never get back - so basically I have a big numb spot over my shin that will  never regain feeling.
The other day I was thinking to myself that I hadn't done anything stupid or "blonde" lately to cause any injuries. Which I was SO proud of, but I thought/spoke too soon. Tonight when I arrived at the brides house before going to the wedding rehearsal, I was greeted by a mob of tourists at the end of her driveway. They were blocking the road there were so many of them, and they all had their tripods and cameras out taking photos of a duck, yes ONE lonely duck. The bride, groom and his friend were in the house laughing and taking photos of the tourists gathered around to see this one little duck. Walking into the house I was distracted by the gathering and the duck, but kept walking all the same. When I turned my attention back in the direction I was walking in, their balcony post greeted me with open arms. SMACK! went my face against the wooden post, I felt like a cartoon and felt like shit, my cheeks turned red with embarrassment and I bit like lip to keep myself my leaking any tears, but also bit my lip to keep from laughing at how stupid I must have looked to the tourists!  The bride was just opening the door to great me when she heard me hit the post, she didn't catch it in time to witness it, but she said it sounded awful. She welcomed me into the house and gave me a nice bag of frozen peas. I was embarrassed beyond words, I just kept thinking "I can't believe I did that, just walked into a freaking post." The rest of the evening I was self conscious of the egg that was beginning to grow upon my brow and wondering when it was start to change from fresh colored to a nice dark purple. The brides father got quite a kick out of the event and cracked jokes every now in then, which helped to lighten my hurt pride haha, there's nothing like walking into a job - my first big wedding of the season - and making a complete idiot of yourself.

So now I am home pouting about the fact that I can see my eyebrow just by looking upwards and that I can't really show too much emotion because moving my eyebrows is extremely painful. I'm just happy that I don't have a concussion or I hope not anyway. I do have a head ache though, but who wouldn't! There is no signs of a black eye yet, just a tiny purple dot in the centre of the egg and I'm hoping that's all the color that will develop, but I have a feeling that I will be disappointed.


It's swollen all the way up to my hairline!

I'm not very impressed, but thankfully it's on the side of my head that is covered by bangs! In person you can see it much better, but if you look at the shadow you can see how far it goes up to my hair. 
Stay happy... and safe! Take my advise and watch wear you're walking haha

Tuesday 15 May 2012

What Have I Become?

Holy shit, I think I'm well on my way to being an adult. It's kinda scary! I'm juggling a full-time job, trying to get my own business together, while working it part-time, I'm trying to help my mother around house, get organized and clean off my mass amounts of photos on the computer, put together a compost bin, chicken coop and garden, keep a little tiny social life and stay sane.

Growing up isn't easy at all, but I kinda like it. Just because I had my own place in the city while attending school and paid my bills with the money that my father generously gave me a month, and paid my tuition with the money from a summer job, could get into a bar, buy liquor and throw parties when I wanted didn't mean I was grown up. I thought it did or I at least I thought it was in the middle, but now I think I am actually almost there. Now I see a whole different light, I've basically cut out my social life because my job took over that, I REALLY want to start planning and saving for my future so my seriousness level has gone way up! I'm proud of myself for the changes that I have made in my life and even though I miss the partying and excited sometimes, I don't miss the drama and constant exhaustion that piles up. I wake up every morning feeling pretty awesome, going off to work, coming home to get supper ready and work on my own photography stuff or relax with my boyfriend, then go to bed pretty early compared to my previous bedtimes. My days of sleeping in are over, because routine has already set in and I'm up by 7-8 on my days over and even when I make myself go back to sleep I haven to get up my 9. To me, this is the most depressing part of growing up. I've always been a positive person, no matter what's going on around me, but now I FEEL positive, I'm not just saying positive things.

All this stuff that I have been doing to fill my free time keeps me from blogging alot, not that anyone really notices, because I have like 3 followers and the means of this blog is more of a public diary/journal than anything else.
So I have already noted the major projects that I have been working on in the little time that I have to myself. I'm hoping to get much more done in the next 2 weeks on the yard/compost/garden situation. Also this weekend I am photographing a wedding, so I will be posting about that, along with an exciting trip to one of the surrounding islands to go "gulls egging" a local tradition of most Grand Mananer's. I have been for the longest time, so I am really excited to take my camera and document the occasion and post it on the interwebs.

Here are some photos of what has been going on in my life lately. Starting with photos from a recent maternity shoot and ending with a couple photos from my biobro's 19th birthday. (Again if you are unfamiliar with my "bio" terms, I'm very close with my aunt and her boys, so I call them my biofam)








He thought it would be a good idea to wear his birthday cake

This stuff and work have basically been my life, oh I also cleaned out ALL of my stuff from when I was little to look for things that I can donate at work. It was definitely something to look through everything I thought I needed to save back then. I got rid of alot of stuff and found alot that I could donate as well. If any of you are looking for a good deed to do on a rainy day, look through your old toys and consider donating some to a local boys and girls club!

Stay Happy!!

Wednesday 9 May 2012

What I've Been Working On

Recently I have been working on a couple things when I have had some time to myself, which hasn't been much lately, but I'm loving my new job.

My friend, Cassidy of The Wooden Cemetery approached me about making her a new banner. This is what I came up with, and also check out her blog, she's a real cute indie girl and once summer starts I'm sure she'll have lots of awesome fashion photos up. 



I had my second photoshoot of the season a couple of days ago and this is one of my favorites that I have edited so far. She's absolutely stunning and the shoot was a complete success!


Hopefully I will have a couple more up for this shoot and there will be wedding photos to come in the next couple of weeks! 

Stay Happy! 

Monday 7 May 2012

Lets Just Say I'm Loving Life

So compared to how dreary I was considering life to be back in February, life right now is pretty freaking awesome! I have been working with kids at the boys and girls club for a little over a week, and it's going to pain me if I have to leave. Those little guys are the cutest, they say/do the cutest and funniest things you could hear.
I've been working with an autistic child who happens to be the most interesting and cutest kid. I have a real respect for autistic children/people, I had never really known anyone or spent a large amount of time with an autistic child until I started dating my boyfriend 4 years ago. His little brother has autism and down syndrome, but is high functioning. He really took to me and he's been my little buddy since, more then than now, because believe it or not he's a whooping 11 years old! Definitely not the little cuddly 8/9 year old who used to sit in my lap.
The little boy who I have been working with is 4, and I can't help but watch him throughout the day and wonder what he's thinking. He loves to repeat words that I say, and when I repeat his noises that he makes he loves it even more. Maybe I look or sound funny, but it's been a real breakthrough in our relationship! Today we mostly made zebra noises at each other and he really liked how I pronounced tent, because I annunciated my "t" on the end, so we repeated back and forth for a couple of hours, while we played a board game and played in the costume bin. I also taught him to say "AR YE' MATEY," he liked that, another worker also flipped a large coffee can over and made him a drum, not sure if that was a good  or a bad thing, but I think he enjoyed it alittle more than the workers ears did haha.
It's days like today that I love working with autistic kids, it's the breakthroughs in relationships and connecting that really make me love it. Connecting with kids in general is an awesome feeling, but connecting with special needs kids is a whole new level of fantastical warm feelings. I actually got a kiss before I got off work!! Now THAT was my best end of the day gift.
It's been a complete learning experience the past week. Justin's little brother doesn't do much therapy for his autism, but the kids I have been working with and around have all these cool routines and therapies to help them throughout the day,l ike the brush down, vests, diets, and stretch bags, even languages. It's been alot to learn, but I think I did quite well for myself in the short amount of time that I've been there. I'm the youngest of the workers so I've really been the most playful and energetic person around.
I think the kids have really taken a liking to me, because I'm not afraid to get down and dirty, or let them hang off me or be alittle rough with me. Today I was doctors patient, a massage client, a bongo drum, a victim of pouncing and jumping children, I was half buried in pea-gravel and I came out of it alive and smiling.
I really have a new appreciation for children and I hope to work with them alot more in my future :)

Ps. look forward to new photos from my photo shoot. I'll be posting one or two on here, but more on my photography blog, the image owl!

Stay Happy!
-Robyn

Rock Massage

I am currently laying on the playground while 3, 4 year olds are puttting rocks and sand on my back and "massaging" me and scratching my head, while playing "bongos" on my butt. Haha This is what I call work.

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Working With Kids

I've recently been spending some time at a local boys and girls club and I've been enjoying it completely! Today we had a lot of free play time, but we also went on a couple walks to collect things in the field that a bird would use to build a nest. We then sat down for craft time to build our own individual birds nests. We spent quite a bit of time playing on the playground and in the sand box. 2 - 5 year olds can definitely ware you out quickly, but it's been a blast despite the boogers, cries and "runners". Lets just say I recently moved a treadmill into my house, but I'm beginning to wonder when I'll ever have the extra energy to use it after chasing after escaped kids from the fenced in yard haha

While on our adventure to collect bird nest supplies, a little girl happened upon a worm. This was a major breakthrough and it immediately became the new coolest thing in the classroom. Her new found pet was always at her "side", wrapped in a kleenex. I dare say the poor thing didn't last too long on the playground, it was lost once, but eventually both "pieces" were recovered and placed back in the tissue.

For a girl that was always uninterested and some what intimidated by children, I sure have changed over the past year and hope to spend alot more times with these little cuties.