Wishing You All A Very Merry Christmas!

Soft and glowing..

Merry Christmas!

Shining lights

A family..

Here comes Christmas..

Santa..

Lights and shadows

In a Christmas mood

Simple things in life

Relaxing

It is hard to believe that 2013 is almost over.. The year has flown so fast again, that it is hard to remember what has happen.  Finally, though, there is time to relax, grab a cup of tea and enjoy some holiday cheer, with lights on, Christmas tree and my family around.  I don't know about you, but I find that world lit with Christmas lights seems so much warmer and so much more beautiful. With great pleasure I would like to share some of my Christmas world with you today and wish you all wonderfully relaxing and peaceful Christmas. Have a very merry Christmas, guys! ;D Kasia

Festive Edmonton

Christmas is over and pretty soon all the decorations will be disappearing from all over the city, and that is why I am so happy we have managed a few trips around the city to capture the festive look.  Even the frigid temperatures holding steadily this year didn't stop us from visiting different places in Edmonton to admire the lights and decorations that adorned buildings and shops during the month leading to Christmas.  Dressed in layers and armed with cameras and friends ;) we have first ventured to Legislative Assembly of Alberta and its grounds to see what they've done this year.  We weren't disappointed at all and spent a pleasant hour or so walking around the grounds and when the cold has gotten to us, were pleasantly surprised by a cup of hot chocolate that the pleasant staff was serving for visitors inside the building.

It's always a pleasure to visit the grounds. They do a great job dressing a lot of trees in lights and it all looks just magical with the snow covered ground!

Next on our list of places to visit this time of year was Whyte Avenue. Another place, that does not disappoint, if you are in need of a little holiday spirit.

It's really hard not to appreciate the creativity that goes into decorations of most of the little boutiques that line Whyte Avenue and surrounding streets. It's always a pleasure to enjoy a stroll there, but with the lights and holiday atmosphere of that particular visit I must admit, this was one of my favorite trips there!

Christmas in Edmonton cannot be truly enjoyed, in my opinion, without a trip to Candy Cane Lane.  It's an adventure, every time we go there.  Every year the houses look great and the place is full of visitors. All you need to remember is to bring a donation to Edmonton Food Bank and you can enjoy a walk (or a drive when it's freezing) in a Christmas wonderland. I really don't know how the residents survive this amount of visitors each year, but I thank them for it!

I hope you have enjoyed this little tour of wintery Edmonton.  Yes, it can be cold and snowy, but around Christmas it is also beautiful and festive and definitely worth getting outside our cozy houses and braving the elements in search of the holiday spirit, in case we needed a little boost! :)

Kasia

Celebrating Canada Day

It's a tradition in our family, if the weather cooperates, to invite some friends and go and watch fireworks display on Canada Day evening. We tend to go early to find a good spot for pictures and spend as much time enjoying outdoors as possible.  This year was no different. Mind you, the day started with a downpour and a storm and, for a while, we were not sure there would be fireworks at all. But, as usual, our luck held and the sky cleared out so we packed our picnic supplies and went out to a spot that gave us a wonderful view of the Edmonton downtown.  There was not many people there when we arrived and we have had plenty of room to set up our stuff. The sun was shining, the sky was great and mosquitoes were not bothering us too much ;)

As you can see we've had plenty of time to experiment and enjoy ourselves ;D..  As time went by and the sky was getting darker more and more people started to show up and eventually a crowd has gathered to watch the spectacle:

We were very lucky this year, because Nature decided to compete with human display and the lightning started to highlight the sky behind the downtown adding to the awesome display! Soo cool!!! Eventually, when the fireworks display was over, we were the only people left on the hill, watching Mother Nature's show as well as a cool effect that smoke from fireworks and city lights have created.

Cool stuff, I tell you! Hope you have spent your evening as pleasantly as we did!

Kasia

The beginning of Christmas...

The Christmas at our house starts, when the whole family descends on the local store to pick up the Christmas Tree.

Then we pull out the boxes of lights and ornaments and we spend the next few hours listening to Christmas music, and decorating the tree like this:

Best time ever. Merry Christmas to all!

Lights in the Sky

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University of Alberta has a website that monitors geomagnetic activity in the  Edmonton area, called Aurora Watch.  There you can sign up for free email alerts, when aurora borealis or northern lights have a chance of occurring.  I received a red alert a few weeks ago, and decided to take my oldest son with me to Elk Island Park for a "capture the lights in the sky" mission.  Unfortunately at the site, Konrad realized that his little point and shoot camera did not have the settings necessary to record the northern lights.  I setup both of my cameras, one with fish eye lens, the other with wide angle, on the beach of Astotin Lake.  Since Konrad wasn't able to take any photos, I let him operate one of the cameras.  It was a great time, just being there, chatting, counting down exposure time, and watching the amazing light show in the skies above us.  Great great time.  Enjoy!

Stars shining bright

Stars shining bright, but not in the open skies. I wanted to do a little experiment to see if I can take a photo, edit it on the iPad, then blog it from the same. So this is the experiment. Hope you like the image. Enjoy!

Time again for Christmas

It's that time of year again.  The weekend in Edmonton was very very cold.  Temperatures reaching -40C with windchill, were a  perfect excuse to stay indoors watch a movie or two, play some games with the kids, and just enjoy the warmth and the fragrance of a fresh Christmas tree.  Here are some shots taken over the weekend to put you in the Christmas frame of mind.  Enjoy.

Driving

I wanted to try this  type of photo for a long while, just never got around to it.  So last night I decided to force my wife to drive, and I sat in the back seat with my camera wedged between the seats.  The camera has to be very secure in the car, because the bumps in the road make everything shake.  When it is secure at least the inside of the car come out unshaken.  It wasn't easy, this experiment, but I know what to do now.  Small apperture, around f11 or higher, and either set the camera on manual and play with the shutter time, or leave in on aperture priority, and hope for the best.  Also setting focus to manual and infinity, makes things a little easier.  Enjoy!