Your Life As Art Photography by Pam

Thoughtful Thursday Photo + Words | #11

I am proud of myself for keeping my weekly Thoughtful Thursday blog post continuing. Even when my mind has been very consumed and the down time Ive had has been relaxing.

Life has been life-ing and it can be interesting at times. Just went you think you are shifting The Universe has other plans which can feel heavy. My capacity over the past 6 years has been tested to such high levels. My deepest, greatest desire is for all to live a beautiful, simple, healthy and happy life – whatever that means to everyone.

The energy this week to begin with has felt very heavy, actually the past couple weeks. Leading up to the new moon yesterday, it still felt heavy today, however the collective energy feels like its finally loosening its grip after an intense shared energy. Even talking to others they could feel it in some way in their life.

I am proud of myself for being brave and trusting. Trusting in me, to be led in the correct direction with strength and passion. Courage to speak my truth and embrace those within my life. Rather than retreat, well that it necessary, what isn’t is feeling alone. Retreat to your loved ones, such a beautiful message. Trusting.

A flock of swans flying over my house earlier this week, the only reason I saw them is because our bin fell over in the strong winds and I am assuming was on the road as it was laying against our mailbox post. I stopped my vehicle and got out to move the bin back to the house and as I was walking up our driveway I heard a noise I hadn’t heard before at our place. When I looked up I was in complete awe, a flock of swans?
Yes, a flock of swans!
It was a passing opportunity, thankfully I had my purse on me, quick grab of my phone and captured a couple images!

I looked up the spiritual meaning of a flock of swans.

“A flock of swans carries powerful spiritual meanings of transformation, grace, fidelity, and the soul’s journey, often symbolizing a transition toward higher consciousness, purity, and profound inner beauty. Their presence suggests a need for calm intuition and deep love in relationships, guiding individuals to navigate life’s emotional currents gracefully”, notes Parlour of Wonders.

When the universe sends you the calm before what feels like the storm.

The new astrological new year begins tomorrow, with the spring equinox.

“The 2026 astrological new year (March 20) initiates a powerful “hard reset” and a new 9-year cycle (Universal Year 1), shifting focus from 2025’s reflection to proactive, fiery Aries energy. It emphasizes taking initiative, personal truth, and tangible action to build a new, authentic reality, moving from passive dreaming to active creation.” online source

Our snow is almost gone, again, spring will soon be upon us. I am looking forward to getting out with my camera. Although before that happens we have a couple hockey weekends left, that will fill my heart for years to come!

Monochrome Monday | Gravel Road Reflection

One of the images I shared in my Lens-Artists post yesterday, was a gravel road reflection of the trees in water. Its incredible how it shifts when transformed into monochrome black and white. I just love the moodiness of the photo.

March 2026 Spring Thaw

Silent Sunday | Goodbye Winter

Lens Artists Challenge #389 | Time to Relax

Anne poses a great theme for this week, Time to Relax! Anne shared with us that its been months since she has been able to get out to ‘relax’ with her camera and capture some incredible photos at botanical gardens, after a fall. I can relate, although not a senior, I fell twice last year and it really did challenge my comfort level and ignited a level of fear in me that I am working through personally.

Anytime I think about relaxing, 9 times out of 10 it does involve my camera as well – whether its out taking photos or processing on my computer, doing blog posts to share my photography – its all so relaxing to me. Once the weather gets nice, this portion of my relaxing also involves being out in nature outside working on these things – deep gratitude for technology that can follow us!

Monday evening, my husband suggested I go for a drive with him, he knew my mind has been on overload for a while with some changes and since hitting the worst grief of my life, the end of 2024, I can hit overwhelm pretty quickly, so its key to recognize this and shift so I don’t sink. I instantly resisted, I need to do this, I need to do that, its not even that nice out… Him offering to take me on a photo tour is what I needed to relax my mind, instantly. Especially when if I begin to get in that overwhelm feeling, I may not see it as clearly. I am grateful he saw this.

Being out in the warm sun, blue skies and fresh air with my camera is what I needed! A little creative reset, that still astonishes me, even a quick outing of 15-30 min and my soul feels the reset.

There is such peace to be found in nature, at least for me it is. The clouds above, look so whimsical and almost like they are painted on! This is what nature helps me do, focus on this beauty, whether the big or small picture of the wilderness.

2026 should be the year of igniting the passion in your heart, what is a hobby that you feel pulled to begin or do more? Even in the thaw of spring, its dirty, messy, but still… nature is beautiful!

I just love how whispy the clouds are, from the clouds to the water in the field, it all brings so much peace to my being. Like taking in a nice deep breath!

The reflection and shadows within the water on the road, brings forth a peace, relaxation immersed within the image.

The irony actually as I typing this, I am listening to the audio book of Atomic Habits, I was given the Atomic Habits Workbook recently, it was like a beautiful divine intervention, the universe knowing I needed something to begin to get me back on track. Its easy to slip into the to-do away from the being state, this is when I feel the overwhelm and everything feels challenging. Perhaps also why my right side is experiencing pain and discomfort, the masculine side of the body, the doing side, reminding me to lean more into the feminine side of my energy, to be, gentle, and attentive.

This short drive, although before we left I was reviewing in my head all that I “had to do”, when we got home, what I wanted to do – process my photos – was top of my list… FOR me <3

I hope you enjoyed my share of my recent “relax” photo tour. Just 6 days ago, this trail was snow covered and open for the snowmobile trails! Mother Nature is incredible and also, wild!

As we were on our tour, we stopped near the little school house on the bridge over the river. The river was completely swollen and was absolutely wild. As we pulled up, I pulled out my camera, it was dead… I knew that would most likely happen, I even told myself, grab your other camera this one wont do it, when in that overwhelm its far too easy to ignore yourself, which is what I did. However in the big picture, I am grateful I got out with my phone, as I captured pictures and video. I don’t normally do video’s on my camera, personally that’s just not for me. So my most favourite photos from our tour, were a few quick ones from my phone that I shared in my Thursday Thoughts Photos and Words post!

To finish this off, with our boy Gunner who knows the exact meaning of Relax and embraces it full whole heartedly!

Negative Feelings

Daily writing prompt

What strategies do you use to cope with negative feelings?

View all responses

This prompt feels timely as a wonderful reminder for me. We had friends over last night for dinner who we hadn’t seen in a bit and the ladies went for a walk before dinner. The sun was shining bright, it was beautifully crisp but perfect walking weather. Something I have been wanting to do, get out and walk but hadn’t had the pull or inspiration – in full honesty, since falling last year, the beginning of the year and hitting my head and then the end of the year slipping on ice and going down on my leg – I have let fear direct me far too much.

Today, after our wonderful walk last night – even on some slippery parts of the road – I am proud of me, it was a great opportunity to catch up and the exercise felt awesome – I am off to look at hiking boots today, so that I can feel confident walking outside when its not dry weather.

The other thing I am consciously doing is ensuring I start our diffusers each morning, scent is so powerful and when I found the benefits of essential oils, my soul felt instantly aligned. Some of my favourites are citrus, especially wild orange – its my fav! Sometimes this means starting it 2-3 times a day, however its well worth it to help calm or boost.

This weekend was a great reminder for me, although I was also tackling some of my to-do list for some pertinent work things for a shift we are making, I hit some frustrations and leaning on some yoga movements, journaling, photography, red light therapy and music – are also key pieces of handling challenging negative feelings.

One other thing I use to help shift negative feelings and energy is with energy work, I personally love to work with a pendullum or simply Reiki with my hands. Our bodies can talk to us, when we allow ourselves to listen, and when we experience pain and discomfort, many times it can be our energy body is out of alignment in certain areas or more specifically chakras.

Friday Night TV + Snacks

Theres nothing like a Friday night, cuddled up on the couch with a warm blanket, good drink and a good show on. Thats my plan for this evening and Im stoked about it. I always browse through my wordpress reader when doing so, I love catching up on such beautiful photography.

Today we woke to winter again… well it began yesterday but today, its like winter never left. Unreal when days ago there was intense flooding in some areas.

This is our view now, accumulated snow. Its been snowing on and off all day, at times intense whiteouts. Tonight is the perfect night to chill in the comforts of home. Especially when I love my space so much.

The daily writing prompt grabbed my attention when I first logged onto the site, What Movies or TV Series Have You Watched More Than 5 Times?

Hands down… Friends!

We have watched Friends over and over and over again. Its such a great background, always a good laugh show.

Dinner tonight, with an appetizer of nachos in the air fryer while prepping our chicken ceasar smashed taco wraps – they were delicious! Quick and very high in protein!

A quiet Friday night also helps reset my mind from the week, my brain has felt like its been on overdrive for a few weeks now, mentally. The to-do list is still there, however taking a rest evening, will allow for even more productivity!

Thoughtful Thursday Photo + Words | #10 Introspection

When I allow myself to follow my souls intuition, I am amazed at how life unfolds. Even in times of friction, yes that is the best use of word, as things unfold can be eye opening in a variety of ways. As I began typing this post, Introspection is the word that came forward. I had a vaugue understanding of the word, with intro in it, knowing I am feeling the desire to pull within, away from the friction of the outside world, that at times can feel heavy.

In an online search, Introspection is;

Introspection is the conscious, inward examination of one’s own thoughts, feelings, and mental states. As a core tool for self-awareness and personal growth, it allows individuals to analyze their inner world—such as memories, emotions, and cognitive processes—to foster better understanding of their behaviors, purpose, and identity.

<3 Beautiful alignment.

Honestly, there are many other things I should be doing right now, however, that would just feed the friction, and I am not here for that. As soon as I realized, became conscious of things unfolding, I knew I needed to re-centre.

Mother nature has been reminding us that we humans are not in control and we must be willing to go with the flow of life.

As I am typing this, its March 12, tomorrow Friday March 13th, if you recall back in 2020… our lives drastically changed after this weekend. Why does it feel like a friction energy building up – bubbling up to clear… how incredible would that be!

Not even 2 weeks ago, my husband and I were out on the snowmobile trails, Feb 28th with a great final ride. The temperatures were rising, we still had an awesome base but it was warm riding, I was over heating myself! Spring was showing she was arriving…

Last weekend intense fog, a full day of living and driving as if you were in a marshmallow ;) Interesting to say the least, thankfully we didn’t go far. Now not even a week later, the snow is back, packing snow with at least a couple inches in the driveway.

On Monday evening, my husband invited me to go for a drive with him, he was going to begin pulling road crossing stakes and suggested I go for photos.

On our way back, we stopped by the bridge near the little schoolhouse down the road. I really enjoy the little bridge here, its a no winter maintenance road and tends to be so peaceful.

The river was raging, kind of like the friction that seems to be within the world. I was triggered, if I am being honest. Why? Because when we were leaving I grabbed my “point and shoot” set up, my Canon RP and my 24-240mm lens. Its such a great combo. As we pulled up on this image above, I looked down at my camera and saw red… hahaha I just LOL as I typed this, because red is also the energy of anger, so it seems fitting for friction.

I absolutely love this image. I knew my battery was going to die too. As I grabbed my RP, I heard myself say, you really should grab the R6MII… another reminder to listen to the intuition – so key! I did however, have my phone. The speed that this river was going, I was meant to experience with my phone so I could also capture a video. I do not edit videos so I rarely use my cameras to do this.

Although there may be friction in the outside world, I personally dealt with a couple experiences today, one as early as 225am. There is always something to learn, and today I am embracing that. Feeling exhausted, but also in tune with my heart, body and soul. We can bring forth the world that we blossom so beautifully in – especially within our own home.

Shifts that can feel significant in life, as well as being aligned with our human, whether its human design, numerology, astrology. All of which explain our own individual coding of ourselves and when we allow our intuition to lead, trusting in how we are meant to be living to our core, we thrive.

After the major thaw this week, snow arrived in the night, by this evening we have a couple inches in the driveway. Mother nature continues to teach us life can be unpredictable at times, its how we choose to react to that. Change can be so beautiful and scary!

Can you find that calm within? Sometimes we are haulted to be present of the beauty within our life, and that friction, the resistance, fades.

There are big shifts happening, that have my energy body exhausted, as well as energized.

Lens-Artists Challenge #388 | Your Journey

This week Ann-Christine is encouraging us to share 5-10 images from “your journey”.

September 2024 my husband and I traveled to Halifax, Nova Scotia to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary.

One of our first views of the boardwalk near our hotel. Sunshine and water! We were blown away at this city, so many people yet also so much space. We specifically chose a hotel that was not far from the board walk to be there for the experience. A beautiful night life experience and yet also calm and subdued. It was wonderful. The hotel even had a balcony with a great view of the boardwalk and harbour. We stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott Halifax Downtown, and would highly recommend!

We bought tickets to ride on the Bluenose in Lunenburg – a huge beautiful sailboat that is pretty incredible to look at the workings of the sails. Water brings me such peace. As cool as it was to be on the boat, would we do it again, no, for anyone with balance or mobility issues, being on a sailboat can be tricky, I would have honestly love to get a photo of the boat from shore as it was sailing away. Live and learn, we were so excited to plan things. We learned so much from this trip, to travel more authentically to us!

I love all the colours in the buildings out east, very cool view heading back to the dock.

Peggys Cove – such an incredible view!

We took a boat tour around the lighthouse and a family of seals graced our presence. It was pretty cool!

The view of the lighthouse from the water. So incredible.

Halls Harbour with the Lobster Pound restaurant, we arrived as the tide was going out – very cool to see!

The other side of the Lobster Pound at Halls Harbour – the view … absolutely incredible!

Harbour views from on the water in Halifax.

The docks are very cool with the height and large wooden posts.

This was a fun getaway for us, this was the first time we had flown since 2019 and it was such a fantastic trip. We both aren’t city people, but this city is so super chill it was incredible. When you stand on the side of the road wanting to cross, vehicles just stop and wait. There is not shouting, no one giving the finger, it was a cool experience! We both hadn’t traveled much in Canada and this trip ignited our desire to see more of the beautiful country! So we actually went back in the fall of 2025 as well and traveled the Cabot Trail. Thats another post ;)

I hadn’t blogged this trip, I am grateful for this weeks theme to share some of my favourite experiences of our Halifax Journey!

John had an awesome ‘Shadow’ theme for us last week, pull us out of the shadows of winter into the brightness of Spring… irony I just typed that, as that is what essentially happened for us, with large amounts of rain our snow is quickly melting. Which resulted in thick fog yesterday!

Next week, Ann-Christine shared with us that Anne will be the host. I am excited to read her inspiration!

Thoughtful Thursday Photos & Words | #9 Is Scheduling Authentic

2026 has been interesting, it certainly didn’t arrive with pure peace, however what has been coming through quite strong is authenticity!

With work, having a family and wanting to enjoy my photography, many of my weekly posts have been scheduled, when I sit down on the weekend and have my creative time and get my blog posts scheduled. I enjoy that time.

However, as much as I am present when doing that, and although I enjoy seeing the posts, its not pulling forth my own authenticity – which alot of times is posting in the moment or at least within 24 hours. Not to be seen as something I “have” to do, and yet pull forth my authenticity of why I love photography, people and nature!

Truthfully as well, when we have busy weekends with hockey, this also can add to my invisible “to-do” list, which is not how I want my photography to feel.

Its wild how quickly childhood goes. In March I officially have 2 adult children. My lord. They will always be my babies, but legally, they both will be adults. Mind bending for me.

This image is from a couple weekends ago, when I went out with my husband to check trails. Its a true meditative experience for me. An opportunity I was truly grateful for. Winter can be hard on the mental health, and getting out to photograph while immersed within the forest and in quiet… such a healing opportunity. A wonderful winter reset, before Spring graces us with her presence.

There is no race in life, no step by step we are all to take, the more we lean into what feels right for us, the more I truly feel I am living in alignment!

Choosing authenticity is choosing you, your soul and what feels important to you. It may not make sense to anyone else and thats ok. The world is a beautiful place when we all have a connection to nature somehow in our lifetime.

I may post a few times in a row, perhaps daily, or once a week. I aim to post more authentically. Truthfully, its a mental thing, to remove that mental “to-do” that is a true thief of time, sharing my photography and any words, is a gift to be able to do that. I have grown through life through blogs and especially photography. A life connection!

Lens-Artists Challenge #387 | Shadows

John introduces this weeks theme, Shadows. He provides some great examples within his post. “Shadows evoke mystery, wonder, nostalgia, and even a touch of fright. This week, consider how shadows shape your photos. Look for the places where light steps back. You can take a literal approach and photograph an actual shadow, or lean into contrast and mood—shapes, silhouettes, or scenes where darkness adds depth and character to your subject. You can keep your image in color or shift to black‑and‑white—each choice shapes how the shadows influence the mood.”

This challenge pulled up memories from years ago, specifically some of my most memorable images of my pets.

Our fur baby Paisley, she truly was my baby during a very challenging time in my life. She was a favourite subject of mine as I great through photography. This image came to mind, from back in 2010, the sunlight from the window shining through onto her with the shadows in behind.

Laying in the shadows of his new back yard.
This beautiful old man was my first dog, Elwood, we always had a family dog, and when I was 18 I felt pulled to this boy. This photo is my 2nd favourite photo of him, its also one of the last. This was the day after we moved to our current home, back in 2011. Two days later, our sweet old man crossed the rainbow bridge. We knew his health wasn’t the greatest, but he was still doing ok. I strongly feel that he needed to ensure his family would be ok, and when he knew we were, it was his time. I am truly grateful he moved here with us, his chain collar still rings in the wind in our back yard. His passing led us to our Becker.

This image below, was an impromptu shot. Much like many of mine are, taken in the moment. I saw our senior boy Becker laying out on the front porch and even when I opened the door he was quite content on a warm winter morning February 2024. I love the various textures within this image and the sun and shadows. The sun is shining so brightly, yet filtered through the trees where he is laying in the shadows.

Our current dark yellow lab, Gunner processed as a monochrome which pulls out all his tones in his coat.

I am enjoying the memories of our pets, our current kitty Missy, came into our life after our Paisley crossed the rainbow bridge. The irony honestly, my mom suggested we check out the local cat rescue. This sweet little kitten came across the screen, her name, Missy. A beautiful calico kitten. Here’s the irony… when I grew up, a little bit younger than my daughters age, I had a cat named Misty, a calico cat, with more muted colours than our Missy. I knew in my heart, Missy was meant for us. Being a rescue, we are unsure of her life before us, she is the sweetest girl, however…

This, in the shadows is where we normally find her. There is a fear deep within that she lives with.

Last summer we decided to get our Missy a friend, to help pull her out of the shadows. It was the best decision, she still lives downstairs 98% of the time, however she has her Wookie now as a companion.

I love this recent image below, looking over the stairs, they are also so curious of each other, however more comfort in the shadows of living for some – the cats.

The beautiful markings of our kitten, when we got her last summer. The shadows of her markings and snuggled up in the blanket. They are all so unique.

Since Ive shared our furry animals, I will also share our 30 year old parrot, Buckwheat. Another unique soul with beautiful markings. The shadows of her feathers in contrast to some new ones coming in.

I love the colours and shadows within our animal’s markings, they are so unique!

For my non-family pets photography, I am loving this shot from 2022, I love the moody feeling in the shadows of the ice on the trees.

A snowmobile trail from 2023. I love love love riding through the bush in and out of the shadows of the tree canopy. Its so beautifully peaceful.

The shadows of a Canadian winter Sunset

And flip side, the shadows of a beautiful winter sunrise from back in January 2022.

I am going to end the post with one of my favourite places that brings me so much peace, the point at our family cottage where the rocks give the illusion of shadows over them some from varying water level marks.

I hope you enjoyed my personal twist on Shadows with my animals and some of my favourite views. If you are curious about joining in on the Lens-Artists Challenge I welcome you to check out more info HERE!

The next theme will be announced Saturday at noon EST by one of the Lens-Artists members!