These are some of my oldest and most favourite frozen winter berries photo – from December 2013 shot with my 5DMIII + EF 100mm f2.8 Macro lens – I still have both!
Frozen Winter Berries
Mama’s Boy
He knows when to pose, he knows the looks, he knows the stance.
He knows me.
He knows when mama is overwhelmed, he loves harder.
He loves his kids with everything in him.
He is full of love, excitement and naps.
He is gentle AF with our parrot, but is confused what a cat is.
He loves his 9pm bedtime, and so do his parents!
He was sent to me to guard my heart.
He loves the snow and is so happy its back!
He is teaching me how to trust again.
He is by my side during my healing.
He loves his routine and we all thrive with it!
He looks like an absolute bad-ass in this pic, but melts for mama!
Navigating Grief Through Intuition and Oracle Cards
I felt inspired on my way home today, an idea came into my mind and suddenly I had a beautiful urge to get home and get outside with my camera. As I stood outside in the snow, with my camera, looking at the trees and snow, I began thinking about it, in a sense getting excited about it how I could take my healing to the next level, to speak from an authentic, strong voice, not afraid to share her vulnerability. Taking my own healing to the next level, respectively.
I leaned into my intuition, should I ask for confirmation, is this something I should do given I have had very mixed emotions. I was guided to my den, I sat down and just allowed myself to be in the flow. I reached for my Palo Santo and lit it, I had 2 oracle card decks out on my desk, I instantly heard not those. I put them on the shelf and asked, which one, as I looked at the deck and knew – The Rose Oracle by Rebecca Campbell.
My brother loved roses, one of the last gifts he also gave was a rose quartz bracelet to our grama.
I began shuffling the deck and a card quickly fell out, Brothers of the Rose.
Brothers of the Rose; Sacred Masculine. Honor. Protection. Support.
Of course, as tears filled my eyes. The right side of my body, has been quite tight, when my husband and I went for an energy treatment a couple weeks ago, he instantly picked up on the fact that I wasn’t breathing properly and that my husband was trying to help balance me. Which wasn’t working, I was very off. So for this card to fall from the deck, Brothers of the Rose and speak of masculine energy… I knew it was a message from him.
An excerpt from the deck guidebook,
“This card could be a sign that you’re being called to work on the sacred masculine energy within you that’s maturing and rising. It could be that you’re being called to work on ancestral healing of the paternal line. It could be an indication that you’re being called to invoke or acknowledge the sacred masculine in those around you. Or it could represent the sacred masculine appearing in your life.
The sacred masculine exists within all of us. They are encircling you so that you can do your sacred work – so that you can be part of the return of the Goddess on this Earth. The rose is their emblem, and they wear it proudly on their hearts.”
The masculine is within the doing, whereas the feminine energy is being.
I welcome this 2026 shift!
Frosty Friday
Going back to my 2017 files for this one, I am working at re-organizing my photos and this one popped up for me!
Magical Macro | Rain Drops
With all the snow out there, as much as I do love it here for Christmas, feeling the blog needed a little uplift with some magical macro and rain drops!
Some girls best friends might be diamonds, however Id take these any day, with my camera in hand of course ;)
Wordless Wednesday
Photo Archive Organization
Since my kids have been young, I have organized my photos by year and month, as they grew this was the optimal way to organize and know where to find age specific photos.
However now having teens, and more time on my hands, I am thinking I need to shift my storage for my photographic art images. I am thinking, I will go through and pull out all images that aren’t family related and pull them into folders so that when I am looking for Macro, but then I also have a lot of macro bee’s… do I separate them within the macro folder for ease?! I have a lot of Landscape, in all seasons. But then if taking photos of our various tours with family and friends, would that cross into some public photos, yes, should they be organized differently?
I am curious, how you all organize your photos on your computer… would you care to share with me?
Cell Pic Sunday | Zen Dog Life
My Gunner has always felt like an old soul to me, even the first weekend we had him an brought him to our family cottage, my mom made a comment, its like hes been here before.
He LOVES my den, which is also our “healing room”/my office. He loves the essential oils that I use, he even has his own bedtime blend that he loves as part of his routine. The other day I pulled out my Palo Santo and lit it, he was SO intrigued! Just like the oils (and our previous dog) I always invite to smell but never force on them. He leaned right into the smoke.
Today while in there I held it in front of him, he was totally chill, in the zen mode!
Its interesting, for each dog that comes in my life, Gunner is my 3rd dog, each clearly has come into my life for a reason and this one, hes here for the deeper healing that mama needs.
Lens-Artists Challenge #378 | Last Chance
The Lens-Artists team, as an annual tradition are giving us “one last chance” to share some of our favourites. I am excited to share some images that were not a part of the Lens-Artists challenges this year for me. I am choosing one image a month to share, its challenging during macro season – spring ;)
January
Shoveling the sidewalk with our pup Gunner. He was about 10 months in this photo. Taken with my cell phone.
February
We were early for our daughters hockey game and I felt the creative urge to capture something outside before the girls game.
March
The spring thaw, this river was very swollen and moving quite fast. Standing on the bridge, was very interesting, I felt like I had to brace myself more than once with the water running fast and quite high below.
April
Country roads, we have a lot of Mennonite families in our area.
May
I was driving around town looking for blossoms to photograph, this tree was on someone’s property, not reachable from the road, so I knocked on their door, let her know how much I admired her tree and she fully embraced me wanting to photograph it! Isn’t it beautiful!
June
A bald eagle looking directly at me. As I was down at one of the local parks by the river, I was shooting the birds down on and in the water, when something suddenly caught my eye. I continued shooting. I didn’t realize it was a bald eagle until I was home and processing the images. I remembered a message I had received, “when you see it, you’ll know its me”…
The bald eagle symbolizes spiritual connection, wisdom, strength, and freedom. Spiritually, it represents a bridge between the physical and divine realms, a messenger to the gods, and a symbol of courage and clarity. Seeing a bald eagle can signify the need for a higher perspective, wisdom, or encouragement to take decisive action towards one’s goals. Source Online
July
I found this little dude in the garden, we had fun with my macro lens!
August
The vibrant gorgeous colours of Summer!
September
The bee’s were happily busy well into the warmth of September!
October
We were so blessed in Ontario this fall to have warm weather well into October!
November
The snow has arrived, winter is here!
December
Its been a blessing this year, winter arrived and has stayed! The sunshine was shining brightly through the clouds yesterday morning.
I am grateful to have found these challenges this summer, it was at a time when I was feeling low, in deep grief and losing me. To have a weekly prompt to boost my creativity, has been a beautiful blessing! As I re-read Tina’s message below, I realized, its December 13, its 12 days until Christmas! Wow!
Wishing you all the best for this Christmas holiday season filled with peace, rest and relaxation, yummy food and drinks, and good people. I am excited to be a part of these challenges for 2026! These challenges truly helped pull me back to my blog, something Ive had a deeper desire to do for a while. My blog feels much more authentic to me to share my photographic art vs ‘social media’ platforms.
Cheers to 2026 WordPress Lens-Artists friends!
Tina shared this message, Wishing all of our participants and followers a wonderful holiday season however you celebrate. Your time, attention and commentary throughout the year is very much appreciated We’ll return with our annual Favorite Photos of the Year challenge at noon on Saturday, January 3. Until then, as always please be kind, stay safe and enjoy the adventure.
To learn more about the Lens-Artists Challenge, click here.
Holstein Christmas Parade 2025
It was the perfect rural winter day for the non motorized Christmas parade! The snow was falling, nice big snow flakes.
Its so awesome seeing the horses and snow!
