Busy, busy, busy ...

Have ya missed me?
I've been having fun.
My new couches?
Pure awesomeness.
SUCH GOOD conversations are taking place on them. Hours and hours of talking. About real things. And one of those conversations was with a son of mine. My heart is still singing.
I'm so glad I bought them.
.
Do you know who was in Vancouver on Friday?
Guess.
.
.
.
You're right! It was Dooce. !
Yes, she was here. Right here, close by.
Do you know how badly I wanted to go to Granville Island to see her?
Very badly. As badly as I want to watch So You Think You Can Dance.
She is my bloggy hero on many levels for a variety of reasons.
So why didn't I just go?
Because of this:


Clint left for the Sasquatch Festival on Friday evening, after making lists that made me teary-eyed with pride. (He learned a thing or two from me ... our Creationfest trips impacted his organizational skills that's fer sure.) There were 11 - 17 people going and he was in charge of meal planning and transportation.
"Mom, we'll be needing your Durango..."
"Mom, can you meet me at Costco..."
"Mom, can I have your sleeping bag?"
"Mom, can I take some pots, the cooler, propane stove ... do you have paper plates? Do you need all these plastic cups? I'll take these 4 boxes of KD. OK? What else do I need?"
.
So Dooce visited Vancouver and didn't get to meet her greatest fan. Sad for both of us.
(By the way, I'm driving a Passat. Very cool.)

Drew loves his Nan's car:


She loves him:

They love each other:

So today was the day of Poppy's prom.

And I offered to take pictures, just like I did last year.

But at 11 am, when I went to gather my equipment - my camera's battery charger was missing. No wheres to be found. I took this house apart, trust me I did, praying the entire time.

What I found was Northview Church's Nikon D200 in a camera case just begging me to use it. ("Please Jane, use me. You know you want to..." it taunted me.)

So I set up my lawn chair in the sun, and proceeded to familiarize myself with it before the shoot began at 2 pm.

.

Yeaaahh.

Other than the on/off button, I could not figure out a single aspect of that bloomin camera. None of the symbols made any sense to me. Couldn't find any button that said "A" or "Auto". And it was heavy. Must've weighed a good 40 - 50 pounds. It would've been like carrying around toddler.

.

By noon I was again looking for a solution. And decided to borrow a friend's charger. I called her house, her cell phone, another friends' house and another cell phone, leaving messages every time I called. She graciously dropped off all her equipment, which is the same as mine, at 1 pm, so I charged my battery, then decided, "Hey, why don't I use both cameras? One over each shoulder, each with a different lens. How hot will I look? How easy will it be to take hundreds of pictures without changing lenses every 2 mnutes. How thin will I look not having lenses poking out of my skirt pockets?"

So I charged her battery too, then I had a shower.

.

Twenty minutes before everyone was to arrive at the park, I confirmed my memory card situtation. I had one empty 2 gig card. I put it in my camera. I checked Sandra's camera, but saw that her's had Maylong camping photos in it, so I took it out of the camera. Surely my other 2 gig card, or my spare 1 gig card were on my desk where I left them? Wouldn't that have been nice? Having something actually be where it's supposed to be?

Again, I rampaged my house, looking for another memory card.

I found one in the Nikon bag. 8 gig.

I popped it in the camera, and when I checked to see what was on it, the screen said, "No images". Yay. I could take a WHOLE buncha pics of happy people, who wanted their pictures taken. (That's they key. Photograph people who actually LOOK at the camera with a non-smeer expression.)

I moved all the equipment to the car, then took this one of Max, using Sandra's camera and the 8 gig card. I checked to see that it worked OK, then drove to the gardens, leaving my water bottle and bank card behind.

It was hot, and by the time we parked, I was parched. I knew I'd be thinking of nothing but water for the next 3 hours.

Jon and his family were the first to arrive.

I took a few quick shots with my camera as they entered the gardens ...

... then switched over to Sandra's camera. "CARD FULL" it said. It went from No Images to Card Full after ONE PHOTO.

I had Max look it over, to see if he could find any deletable images on it, but it looked like our only option was to DELETE ALL. I couldn't do that. It is Clint's card and he must have something on there; something that he may not have processed yet. No way I want to be responsible for losing it all.

So we put the extra camera back in the car and I filled my skirt pockets with extra lenses.

I changed lenses about every 2 minutes.

Options aren't always a good thing.

I took photos of the Pues for 20 minutes non-stop.

You can tell how hot it was by the brightness in these photos.

I was thirsty.

At 2:30, the rest of the gang showed up ... Nate, Jenny and families.

I took one last shot of Jon and Anne-Marie, then turned my attention to the Klassen clan.

Oh that Jen.

Too cute:

SO hard to get a multi-person photo where everyone's eyes are open.

Mother/Daugher moment:

And then?

It was at this point in the afternoon, at 2:45, that my 2 gig memory card said "NO more. All full. Time to panic."

Really? What option did I have? All these people, still wanting their pictures taken and I had no means of doing so.

"Max? Go erase every image on that 8 gig card."

.

.

They wouldn't erase. Clint musta locked them. Smart boy.

.

Plan B?

Leave the party in the park, drive over to Future Shop and buy a new card.

I was really thirsty.

(Have I ever mentioned that when my dad was first diagnosed with Alzheimer's, one of his caregivers suggested we throw out all anti-persirants that had aluminum in them? And use more natural underarm protection?

Yeah, well that Uncle Tom's (or whatever it's called) sure didn't do it's job today. Oh no siree.

Like a mad woman I drove through the Army and Navy Mall parking lot looking for a camera store. The over to 56th Ave to stop by Hart's Camera's - which is no longer there. So I zipped that little Passat over to the bypass, aiming for Future Shop.

"CRAP! My bank card is on the kitchen counter. Please oh please oh please God, let them accept my Visa even though my signature has worn off the back. Even though that security number has long since disappeared. Even though the magnetic stripe is not so magnetic anymore. Please oh please oh please."

Now that deodorant really wasn't working.

Of course, because it's Saturday, the Future Shop mall is packed and I have to park way over there. I park it, lock it and run, RUN to the store then bought a 4 gig card for only $44. (That, my friends, was about $100 less than I thought I'd have to pay.) And my Visa worked! (Thankyou God, thankyouGod, thankyouGod. Seesh I'm thirsty.)

I got back to the park at 3:05, just as some of the kids had to leave. So I cooerced them into staying for "just a few more":

Sistas:

Blonde hair sure refects sunlight:

Apparently under that bald head is blonde hair too:
:)

Da Boyz are back in town:

(Max, Brendan, Jon and Nate)

The sun was too bright.

And this year, unlike last year when we had the entire park to ourselves, there were three wedding parties in the gardens, taking up all the "good" posing spots.

A ceremonial sword. A graduation ritual amongst certain tribes:

Max and Jen - buddies since kindergarten:

Jon and Anne Marie - more than buddies since 2008 :)

And they're off ... to see more friends, and get more photos taken:

Max and Brendan -

Synchronized Walking:

Brendan, rocking the orange:

Hey. His shirt is the same colour as the rhododendrums:

Brendan's mom and dad, Larry and Carolyn:

Max, finding out where his date's at:

She was a Spa Utopia, finishing up her hair appointment:

My only chance to get a nice shot of Natasha and Max together was in the school parking lot, just before they got on the bus:

Because Max is a Fundy student, he wasn't allowed to Poppy's grad unless he was invited as a guest.

Natasha works at our local video store and she n Max were talking last Friday ... she didn't have a date, and if he really wanted to come, he could be her guest...

... and that's how it came about that Max is attending two proms this year:

Three things I'm thankful for:

1. Spur of the moment invitation to join friends play cards.

2. Spur of the moment invitation to join friends for a back yard BBQ.

3. Spur of the moment invitation for Max to go to Poppy's grad.

Shalom,