Self Care

 I posted yesterday about how down I was feeling and that I knew I needed to go get lost with my camera. I am pleased to say I did just that. Dressed in layers, put on my wellies, packed my camera, and off I went. It felt good to be out in the crisp air with no particular place to be and all I had was time. 

Deep breaths as I looked up in the trees and down at the ground to see what I might find. I watched geese land in the pond and a pair of swans glide effortlessly through the water as they found food. As I got nearer the lake the wind picked up and the air cooler, it invigorated me as I took it all in. A slow wander down the beach with some photos of the water crashing onto the rocks. I made my way back to the path and heard the twits of cardinals. I stopped to watch about 5 of them fly in and out of the bushes with brief stops on branches, the sound of a woodpecker in the distance. It seems whenever I need to see a cardinal they appear. 

Headed back toward the entrance and my car I heard a squawking sound and looked up in the trees. There was a dark shape and at first I thought maybe a hawk, as I raised my camera and zoomed in I was surprised to see a juvenile bald eagle. Looking farther up and out I saw an adult bald eagle. My excitement was huge, my first bald eagles! I just kept shooting hoping for one or two good shots as I played with settings and figuring out this lens. I went across the roadway to the marsh area to watch the geese when I heard quite the racket, I turned to see that there were now two adult eagles on the same perch. Back I go to try to get some good shots of these magestic birds. I just kept shooting, the sky was gloomy and dull but I was hoping for at least one decent photo of them. It was quite a moment and I look forward to more, I just have to keep looking up :)

I came home feeling energizing yet settled, it was what I needed. I need to listen to my body more and take off with my camera more often.  

Ahhhhhhh. . . . .In a Good Way

We've had some nice temperatures the last couple of days and boy what a difference it makes to my mood.  I have loved waking up and hearing the birds chirping and anticipating a sunny day.

Officially another hockey season is in the books.  We had the banquet on Tuesday night and as always it's nice to look over and see all the boys sitting together.  Some talking between whipping out their phones, but I will say many times it was three of them around one phone as they shared a funny video or something.  It was a successful year for our hockey association with three teams winning OMHA Championships and the B~man's team making it to the semis, nice to see all acknowledged. Now we wait for baseball.

Recently I have attended a couple of workshops through work that were interesting and intense.  The first was a two day for ASIST, which was about suicide and how to ask the questions we are all scared to ask.  There was a lot of wonderful information and we did some role play that got pretty intense, but so worth it.  I feel better prepared to ask the questions as well as recognizing some clues that I hadn't necessarily thought of.  The other one was about Mental Health and how many of our students are being diagnosed with or experiencing higher incidents of anxiety. Heavy duty topics but very worth my while.

I have another 5K this weekend!  I will be walking it again and no goodies for this one though.  I will be participating in the Run for Rocky on Sunday and it is to benefit GSAs in our local high schools.  A wonderful cause and our school has been the recipient of a Run for Rocky grant for a guest speaker.  Think I will bring my camera and hope to get some pics of the kids in their Bulldog gear.

On the digi front:

Rachel/Captivated Visions has a beautiful new kit in her store over at Scrapbookgraphics I am dying to play with.  It's sitting on my hard drive but have not been in the mood to sit and scrap. Here is a preview of her latest collection, I just love the colours!

Create, Captivate & Inspire: Signature Collection by Captivated Visions

 I think I have only completed one page since my DigiDares entry.  I had some fun with blending and masks and I think I came up with a cool effect.

My credits for this page are; Artful Intentions: Sunshine in my Soul [Value Bundle] | Artified: Cotton Candy [Layered Template]