Gulp

I'm scared. Tomorrow, I am Fedexing my passport to Canada. It expires in April and there is no way I'll be able to renew it in person. Given that the last time I renewed it (when I lived in Canada) I waited in a long line three different times only to have my photos rejected (for various reasons, including blurriness and my head being 3mm too small), I am very skeptical about this process. Yesterday, I asked my boss if he'd ever renewed his passport via mail from Bermuda and a look of horror crossed his face. I was ready for a comment about the photos not being suitable. However, he then informed me that Passport Canada had once lost his son's passport in the process. He Fedexed it and someone at Passport Canada signed for it...but when he called to follow up, they denied ever receiving it and said they couldn't trace who had signed for the package. His advice was to send it to my family and have them deliver it. Unfortunately, that's not going to work since the mail-in process only works with the Passport Canada office in Gatineau, Quebec and my family is clear across the country....and so, with a great deal of trepidation, I'm saying goodbye to my ticket out of here. Apparently, if worse comes to worse I could get back into Canada with my birth certificate...I just wouldn't be able to get out again. Fingers crossed.

On a side note, why is the Canadian passport system such a gong show? Dave can walk into a passport office in the UK with his photos in hand and have a brand new passport that.same.day. Plus, the thing is good for TEN years. Why can't Canada take a cue?

Reconnected

Apparently it is too much to ask to hook a Canadian XM radio up to a US subscription. Dave was very distressed when they cut him off and we ended up having to order a new radio to get reconnected. Dave's a happy camper now that he has good music for his long drives around the 22-square mile country.

Rainy Day Entertainment

Upgrade

The glares and rude comments from co-workers were getting to be a bit much, so I paid a visit to the doctor this afternoon. Apparently the decongestant and cough suppressant I've been taking may actually have been making me cough more. Now I have this $36 bottle of cough liquid. I can't even call it cough syrup because it's pretty much the same consistency as water.

New Collars

Brr

While we don't have any snow (like all of North America seems to!), it has been pretty chilly. I've taken to wearing this toque around the house.

Jerry Can't

Last January, I bought a Vespa. It had an issue with it's fuel injection system since the day I picked it up. Several letters and visits to the shop later (including one stint where they kept it for 2.5 months while they 'investigated'), I ended up giving it back to them and exchanging it for a 'more reliable' brand new Honda. I picked the Honda up just before Christmas. It has 130km on it. I got on it at lunch and it wouldn't start. I turned the key and it made a nasty noise. I repeated this exercise. I swore profusely and gave it a nasty look. I called Dave, who I was supposed to be meeting at home for lunch, and told him I was stuck. He said, "Bugger". (Gotta love those English-isms.) I let it rest an hour, lest I had flooded it or something. Same result but I noted the fuel gauge was in the 'orange' zone. With my tail between my legs, I informed Dave that perhaps I was out of gas and how could I get some gas into my bike. He suggested a watering can. I didn't think that sounded like the safest means to transport the gas. Being the awesome husband he is, he made a trip to the hardware store and then the 'petrol station' and brought me this Jerry Can full of gas. My bike gobbled it up. I pushed the start button. Same result. Bugger indeed. Seriously?! Another lemon bike?!

Winter Blooms

No idea what these are but saw them on my way home from work today (boo to working on Sundays!). Murphy's law prevailed and the low battery warning came on right away, so I could only take a couple shots...I used the 'fisheye effect' for this one. I'll have to be careful not to use that too often...it may make me want another lens!

Sucker for gadgets

One of my Boxing Day shipments was this gadget. It's magically going to tell me both how many calories I burn each day and how efficient my sleep is...all in the aid of cutting some of these pounds I've packed on over the last several years. So far, I've managed to strap it to my arm. I'm procrastinating taking any further exercise weight loss activities until I've let the armband collect several days of 'baseline' data.

Boxing Day!

I'm pretty sure only grocery stores and gas stations were open here on Boxing Day and there certainly weren't any deals to be had (I saw some Christmas stockings I really liked a few weeks ago but I wasn't shelling out $90 a piece...we went back to look at them this past weekend and they were still $90 - what the heck?!). Luckily, I was able to score some Boxing Day deals from home in the comfort of my pj's and they finally arrived today!

Saving Grace?

I bought this P&S for DSLR users a few months ago as a backup for those times when my DSLR is too bulky/heavy to bring along. I'm going to clear some room for this baby in my purse, in the hope that may lead to more photo-taking opportunities during daylight hours.

Baby It's Cold Outside!

I never owned an electric blanket before I moved to Bermuda...and other than Bermuda, the only place I've lived is Calgary, Canada (where it gets just a wee bit colder!). You don't truly appreciate central heating and sub-50% humidity until it's gone.

Still lit

It's bereft of presents and shedding needles like crazy but I am reluctant to admit the holidays are over and undress it.

Aftermath

Some turkey drippings accidentally hit the top of the dishwasher last night (i.e. the part where the controls are). Roxy ever so helpfully alerted us to the situation by immediately launching a full scale tongue attack on the dishwasher with her tongue. However, the damage was clearly already done - the dishwasher was running at the time but all the lights started blinking. Once the cycle completed, it would no longer turn on. Poor Dave was so disheartened...there were so many dirty dishes left, including this stove full of pots and pans. It would be days, if not weeks, before we could get someone to come look at it.

Thankfully, a bit of a rest seemed to do it some good...it appeared to have fully recovered by this morning and most of those pots and pans are getting a bath as I type this. I am pretty sure this resurrection elicited more glee from Dave than any of his Christmas gifts!

deets: f/2.8, 1/60, 58mm, ISO1600

Birthday Flowers

I got pretty spoiled for my birthday today (well, at home at least...not so much at work!) and these flowers seemed like a good excuse to get out the macro lens. I couldn't choose between these two shots....Dave doesn't like either of them, ha, because they don't "show all the flowers"! :p




Deets: f/2.8, 1/160, 100mm, ISO1600



Deets: f/2.8, 1/400, 100mm, ISO1600

Update

Attention, Attention, ATTENTION! The following is an update on the pineapple experiment....

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....no fruit yet. According to the website I was using, there may be one pineapple 24 months from now. Our lease expires 18 months from now....and, in my eye, the thing isn't looking so hot already. So, probably don't hold your breath.

Okay, resume what you were doing.

Deets: f/2.8, 1/500, 100mm, ISO400

If You Plant It

So, apparently you can plant the top of a pineapple and, voila, a pineapple plant will grow. A test will shortly be underway in our yard...stay tuned.

Deets: f/2.8, 1/80, 100mm, ISO1600

My nemesis

I frequently pretend it's the head of one of my old bosses...however, even this tactic does not work quite a bit of the time.

I feel conspicuously like a tourist here when I've got my camera with me...

Deets: f/5.6, 1/400, 34mm, ISO200

Take Two

I had my much neglected kit lens on my camera body, so I thought I'd take a few more shots of this bush. I tend to use my 24-70 f/2.8 as my go to lens and the kit lens rarely sees the light of day. However, the kit lens is much, much lighter than the 2.8...and that alone is sometimes a welcome change. I had to shoot at 18mm to get the biggest aperture and I didn't really like any of the resulting shots, so this one is the best of the worst.

Deets: f/3.5, 1/320, 18mm, ISO400

Road Trip

We took a Bermuda road trip (ha!) this afternoon and went mini golfing and for lunch at the Dockyard. "Long" drives are much more pleasant in a car vs. the scooter!

Deets: f/5.6, 1/640, 50mm, ISO100