The End

Hello all, this has been a while in coming...but this will be my last post here. I'd like to just say I'm too busy to do this, but busyness is totally relative. We find the time to do the things we want and choose to do.

Anyway, each time I do go to post, I realize the last post was a month before. That's just not enough posting. Most of you who want to keep up with us, are on facebook anyway. Last year I took more of a different focus and started posting my photography here, but I do that on flickr and facebook so a third place seems to be overkill.

More than anything else, blogging stopped being fun a while ago. One of my friends gave me three or four months when I started, I'm not sure, but I think it's been something like eight years.

Not sure what I'm going to do with the site yet. Not ready to give it up just yet. And there's other things I've considered doing so, we might go through a rebirth. But not anytime soon, that I don't have time, don't want to make the time for just yet.

Thanks for those who've contributed to some fun conversations over the years.

Haircuts...

Today was haircut day for Lucas above and Marcelo below...

Lucas wanted an Emo? cut and Marcelo wanted a Sonic the Hedgehog haircut.

The colours were added in photoshop. Although both would have loved to have been able to get the colouring. Marcelo's will not stay like this, we can't afford the hairspray. Although, as you can tell, he feels very fast (if you don't know what Sonic the Hedgehog is, you won't get it - videogame character.)

Anyway, I laughed really hard as this was getting done. When Marcelo saw the photoshopped version, he said, "I want it that way!"

I'll post a picture soon, of what Marcelo's hair really looks like, although, until we get the pounds of hairspray out, we don't really know.

Lightroom & Presets

I've had Lightroom 2 for a while now. But because it wasn't very intuitive when I first looked at it, I've only used it to do minor edits on individual pictures, and still, I used photoshop to do most of that. That is, until now. My photo collections are getting pretty large and all of a sudden managing them is becoming a little more difficult. When you want to find a photo, among 6000 (I think I have more), all of a sudden remembering where you put that photo isn't always easy. So the need for a photo program that manages all your photos, as well as has really strong editing properties, has become imperative. With that in mind, I decided to tackle Lightroom. Armed with some milk and cookies, my MacBook Pro (I haven't said anything about that yet) I sat down and travelled into the world of internet video tutorials and wached, and watched and watched videos on Lightroom. And very soon, I was sold.

It's Winter, and I don't like it...

Okay, it's not even October, close, but not yet and inside my house it's a cold 16 degrees celsius, that's 68 degrees for those fahrenheit minded . It's never this cold inside my house even during the winter months. So, we might have to surrender and turn the heat on today.

In three weeks, God willing, I'm going to be lying on a beach in Cuba and I'm going to suck up every sun ray I can.

Anyway, I've got a million layers on, and I'm still freezing. I know useless post, no need to mention it.

Old Photos

Over this last year I took a lot of pictures that I never uploaded and have just taken up room in my hard drive. Well, the time has come, so I'm getting them all up. If you click on the picture above you'll be linked to a set of photos that I took at my brother-in-laws place, in Huntsville, last winter. They have since sold it and moved 15 minutes away from us down here in Niagara.

This was Emerson inside Ari's Motorcycle Saddlebags.

Photos and stuff...

As mentioned in the last post I had the opportunity to head out to Pennsylvania for a few days last month. While there, I commented to Glaucia about how cool it was to find an old Pentax Camera at a garage sale this summer for $20, actually it was the lens I was interested in, not the camera (with the exception of first generation - all Pentax lenses are compatible in all Pentax cameras, including DSLR's.)

Took the kids back to school this morning. Three of them full-time. Two at home (full-time). So, I guess, that, more than anything else signifies summer's done. Although, for someone, African blooded like myself, it seems that summer never started. Okay, it showed up for two weeks.

What did I do for my summer? Mostly worked, although, as in most churches, things slow down significantly during the summer as people go away, or some, just stay away, not sure which all the time.

Around the house, with the help of my father-in-law, I put in a fence in the backyard, as well as a long-asked for and awaited tree house for my kids. Which I think was exciting when it was being built, not sure how used it will be, we'll see. The general wet summer kept it from getting all the use I thought it might get. Will put up a picture soon.

Didn't get to do our usual summer camping get away as a family, as we've been anticipating and getting ready for my sister's wedding coming up this Thanksgiving. We were pretty bummed out about that, not camping, we're excited about Sandra's upcoming marriage. Since then, we've been offered a trip away several weeks after the wedding, so we're looking forward to that as well. Did get a two day away camping trip with some friends, and got to visit family down in Pennsylvania, while tenting in their backyard for a few days. So got some of the camping thrills in. The kids camped for a week with the grand parents at Sherkston Shores, a local resort, with a neat Quarry lake which we were able to enjoy when we visited. Even got in some cliff diving, which I really enjoy and don't get a chance to do too often. It was neat to see the three older kids get in on the action as well. Nina even got gutsy enough to dive off the cliff. The other two stuck to jumping. Fun for everyone.

Emerson began walking while we were down in Pennsylvania. Seems that he needed a carpet to feel safe enough to start.

Besides that, spent lots of time with the kids and I'm sure I'm missing a bunch of other stuff, like planting a vegetable garden that yielded lots of vegetables for the family. Anyway, that's the kind of summer it's been at the DeFreitas household.

Break...

As with last summer, I'll be taking a break from blogging. There might be the occasional post throughout the summer, but for the most part I'll be on a short blogging sabbatical :)

Ok, you could say I've been on break for a while already. Still...

Hope you enjoy your summer and your families and friends. Don't blink too much, it goes by way too fast.

And no, I won't be fishing all summer.