Danae McKay's blog

Sadly, my photography website has not done very well and I will not be renewing it for a second year. The site expires on September 12th, so I have decided to have a closing down sale in the hopes of making up some of my losses.

All photos, mugs, cards, etc are marked down by 10-50%

Please visit www.clearwind.ca/photography

Sale ends 11:59pm PST September 11.

This is one of my all-time favourite photos that I've taken. I took it in my back garden just a few months before we sold the house and moved to England. I just love that the depth of focus is limited by the fact of being taken so close-up, so that the second flower is slightly out of focus. And the colours of this particular variety of Dahlia are fabulous. I'm glad to say that we dug up the bulbs and they have been replanted in my sister's garden so I will be able to see these gorgeous flowers again.

Well, after all the hours of meetings, planning, painting, cutting, pasting, etc, the big day finally came yesterday: The Garstang Children's Festival Parade!

This year, the parents at Rainbow Preschool decided to honour Lego's 50th birthday by designing and building a Lego float for the festival parade. We got some great deals on materials - £50 worth of astroturf for £15, as many identical boxes as we needed, foam to make trees out of, and card to cover both sides of the big wall for free, plus half the paint was donated as well!

Well, all the hard work paid off, because not only did the kids have a great time, but we also won FIRST PRIZE in our category!!!

Here are a couple of photos - one of the float near completion (I only took photos of the completed float once the kids were on and I can't post them without parents' permission!) and one of Emily, my little Lego doctor. I was so proud of her! She had been less than enthusiastic about being on the float and I'd only managed to convince her to do it a couple of days beforehand, but she let her face be painted and cooperated beautifully. She even waved constantly throughout the entire parade!

English weather is even crazier than Vancouver weather! In Vancouver, I was well known for saying "If you don't like the weather, stick around. It'll change in 5 minutes!" Here in Garstang, it's more like 5 seconds!

Over the course of the winter, I think it "snowed" twice - and both times it was just a few flurries overnight, leaving not even enough snow on the ground to make a snowball. Then suddenly Easter weekend, we had some beautiful mornings followed by snow flurries in the afternoon 2 or 3 days in a row! Each time the snow started and got heavier, I thought, "This is it, it's really going to snow properly this time," only to have it stop and start several times and eventually give up. Most days since then have started out sunny and ended up with rain.

So this morning, I looked out the window to see beautiful clear blue sunny sky, so I decided to put on one of my spring dresses (which in Canada I would have been wearing since February) to go to church. I stepped outside to find that it was actually very cold, despite the sunshine. No time to change though, so off I went. After church, several people commented on how brave I was, to which I replied that it wasn't so bad until I went outside, and that it felt as if it might snow if there were some clouds in the sky.

Now keep in mind, this is April 6th. I wasn't at all serious about the possibility of it snowing. In fact I had planned on planting my tomato plants that I bought yesterday, along with some carrot and pea seeds this afternoon. So I was quite surprised when, after changing into more suitable gardening clothes, I looked out the window to find it was . . . you guessed it . . . SNOWING! Needless to say, I left my seed planting for a warmer day. I did, however, put my tomato plants into pots and Emily helped me prepare the bed for planting the seeds. I also bunged in a couple of potatoes and onions that were sprouting in my veggy basket - we'll see what happens with them!

So next time you ask me about the weather, don't be surprised if I say "If you don't like the weather, stick around. It'll change in 5 seconds!"

P.S. Needless to say, the snow has given up once again and the sky has cleared. In any case this is the closest to my birthday that it has snowed - except the year I was in Quebec for my birthday and it snowed the day after it!

Thought it was about time I posted on my blog again - it's been way too long!

We were supposed to go to York for the day on Good Friday, but Andy was sick so we didn't end up going. Anyway, we decided since we weren't doing anything exciting this weekend we would try again. We made it this time! We parked in an all-day parkade just outside the city centre and walked in.

We spent the remainder of the morning (we got there around 10:30 after a 2-hour drive) wandering around and seeing the old buildings. The area called "the Shambles" was really neat with lots of buildings that were crooked or the second floor stuck out more than the bottom floor.

Then we found a great little cafe called "Concerto". The bathroom was wallpapered with all sorts of sheet music! I really liked the place because, apart from the fact that the food was delicious, they had a really good kids' menu. Emily had a croque monsieur and Samantha had sausages and mash. Each plate came with a pile of fruit and vegetables cut into bite-sized pieces - all things that the girls would actually eat! Andy and I both had the soup and sandwich combo but with different varieties. Mine was a chunky tomato soup with a baguette filled with ham, brie, lettuce, tomato, and cucumber - and just the way I like it with no icky mayo or other sauce!

After lunch, we carried on with our tour, spending about an hour inside York Minster, a very large and beautiful church built between 1220 and 1472. There were some pieces of old stained glass that had been restored and put in cases and lit from the back. The leading used in the stained glass was so heavy that there are big bulges in the windows where the lead has pulled the glass down over the centuries!

When we came out of the minster, we were surprised at the change in the weather - it had been a lovely sunny day earlier, and now it was starting to rain. As fast as we could, we walked across town to the National Railway Museum. Here we saw all sorts of old rail cars and engines including the royal "saloons" used by several members of the royal family including King Edward and Queen Victoria. They did travel in style! Emily's favourite parts were the train engine that had moving wheels so we could see how they worked and the train that we could walk underneath! Oh, and of course the Thomas the tank engine toy train that she spent ages playing in! Poor Andy got absolutely soaked going to get the car while we stayed in the warmth of the museum, only to have it stop raining about 2 minutes before he got to the car!

After a decent Chinese dinner, we got the girls into their PJs and drove home. They were so tired after a long day that they fell asleep within minutes of being in the car! I wish we'd had more time - I think there is a lot more to see... We'll just have to go back another day!

I've recently set up a website through Shutterfly to try and sell some of my photos. People keep telling me how great my pictures are, so I thought I'd give this a try. If you go to www.clearwind.ca/photography this will take you to my Shutterfly page. So far I have put up mostly flower photos, but there are also some animals, birds, and "other nature" photos.

Please take a look and tell me what you think. (And of course, feel free to buy!)

Andy just showed me how to put my email address into the sidebar. All these requests for travel suggetions, dvd suggestions, etc, and only people who knew my email address could email me. Now anyone who comes across this blog can give me ideas! (I hope that's a good thing...)

We are looking for some good quality DVDs for Emily (and Samantha). We don't have a TV here in Britain, and until recently, Emily would watch Simpsons and Futurama with us but not really taking much in. In fact, it didn't seem to matter what language it was played in or even if the sound was on! But the other day, the character Bender was acting drunk and Emily said "What's the matter with Bender?" We said, "Oh dear, I guess she can't watch this anymore!" So now we're on the lookout for some age-appropriate stuff for her. She doesn't get a lot of "TV" time, so short shows of 20-30 minutes are better than full movies. Also her attention span isn't long enough for a movie! But we want some good quality programs. Please pass along any ideas!

P.S. Not Baby Einstein stuff, please! I have issues with the concept, but that's a whole new discussion!

We're planning a trip to Italy in October with the excuse that there is a Plone conference in Naples. So Andy has booked a week off work prior to the conference and we will end up with 10 days in and around Naples. We will fly to Rome, so will spend a few days there first, then travel down to Naples for the last 4 days (for the conference) or a bit longer. Not sure where to go or what to see in between, though. Any suggestions?

Well, our next visit "back home" is fast approaching. We will be in town for 3 weeks surrounding Kelly's wedding. Will probably do a number of family visits but should have lots of time for visits with friends as well. Am thinking about having a meal out with anyone who can make it sometime during the 3 weeks, but not sure of details yet. Anyone know of a restaurant like Kelsey's that is children-friendly, can take a large group but won't care if only half your number turn up, but serves decent food? (Can you tell we're not that keen on Kelsey's?)

Other planned activities include the carousel at Burnaby Village Museum, Maplewood Farm, and most likely a trip to the Karen Magnussen Wave Pool. Let me know if you'd like to join us for any of these - no specific dates yet, so tell me what works for you! And if you have any great ideas for other things to do with the kids (or without them, providing Grandma and Grandpa will babysit for a few hours), I'd love to hear them!