a peek inside the fishbowl

I will be writing more about our lovely weekend away soon. In the meantime I will say this: if you’re looking for a place to relax and disconnect and isn’t far from Ottawa, THIS IS IT.

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One of my favourite features in Capital Parent Newspaper is my Editor’s Faves column. Basically, I pick three things I love and share them with our readers in the print edition of the paper. It’s short and sweet and fun. In the October issue I mentioned Printstagram, an online service that makes cool stuff out of Instagram photos: books, magnets, memory boxes, and posters. I tell ya, it was hard to pick just one thing, but I did. I decided to GO BIG OR GO HOME with a poster. The posters come in two sizes, big or bigger, and I went with the bigger. (What can I say, I like to make an impression.)

It was really easy. I granted the website access to my Instagram account and they copied all of my photos from there. Then I just chose which ones I wanted on the poster and switch them around for perfect placement. The poster was delivered a short time later. I was not disappointed. The overall effect is pretty awesome. After all, there are 200 moments collected in one place. (!)

At the moment it’s covering a large blank wall and is being held up with poster putty. The only not-so-great thing is that finding a frame may not be easy. It’s 20″x38″! I’ve already checked Michael’s and I don’t want to spring for custom framing. Sigh.

Now that I’m thinking about it, the spirit behind this project totally reminds me of this past post about preserving our family stories. From a parenting perspective, there truly is a benefit to keeping those memories alive and talking about them, don’t you think? And the fact that you can make a cool poster is a huge bonus if you ask me.

Watch for a new post over on MediaSmarts.ca about this soon! :)

p.s. if you want to follow me on Instagram you can find me under “quietfish.”

The clouds parted, and the sun shone with such force I had to squint. It was if the sun had been holding on to its heat and light and released it all at once. The darkness of the day beat a hasty retreat. The leaves glowed, the landscape glistened, the water sparkled, and there I was, sitting on the dock, taking it all in. All of this beauty was so perfect it was almost beyond belief.

Suddenly, to my far right, I saw a distinctive grey flutter. With a wave of a wing, a heron had given its position away amid the tall reeds and barely moving water. This was a mere moment in time, and watching it unfold was like watching a breeze blow through a meadow. He took to the sky within the space of a heartbeat; a graceful, effortless lift. He spread his wings wide, and with long, leisurely beats, started to make his way towards me following the line of the creek. I held my breath. This was an aerial dance unlike any other, and before I knew it, he was passing right in front of my eyes. And that’s when it happened: the biggest discharge of bird poop I’d ever seen (and the windshield of our car has seen plenty). It reminded me of those old war movies in which planes machine gunned soldiers below as they ran for their lives: RA-TA-TA-TA. But these weren’t military manoeuvres I was seeing, this was nature, and the only sound to be heard was the splashdown of the aforementioned bird poop and a ring of laughter. (Mine, not the bird’s.)

I’m still wondering what this all meant. I’m a rational person but part of me believes in omens. Was this a lucky sighting? Or a foreshadowing of things to come?

Coming soon, a bit more about the cabin on the creek.

Behind the Paywall: Wall Street Journal turns subscribers into members with WSJ+ http://t.co/s5wZMt5b3O pic.twitter.com/DKli1ScSP7

— Sidneyeve Matrix (@sidneyeve) September 19, 2014

• U.S. is off to a war that doesn’t make sense – again: Neil Macdonald, cbc.ca
• Vaccination exemptions: a growing public health concern at LA county schools, hollywoodreporter.com
• 13 Images Show What a True Cover Girl Looks Like, mic.com
• OkCupid founder: “I wish people exercised more humanity” on OkCupid, salon.com

On the nightstand: The Invisible Bridge