May 28th - Circus Show

Our goddaughter continues to take her circus courses. She LOVES it. Today we took a break from renos to attend her second annual show. It's mostly little guys but in between they have a few young adults performing. We're not allowed to use flashes so I had to adjust my ISO to 1600. The show was amazing and the little ones were adorable. It was definitely worth taking the break.

May 26th - Renovation Chaos

This is the scene Peg and I came home to today after school. Apparently, Pierre and his son had a very busy day. We expected the bathroom to look as it is but we didn't think they'd get to the kitchen as well. They're very efficient. We have no water upstairs. Thankfully, we do have a washroom downstairs. Our laundry basket is our new dishwasher. We load up the dirty dishes, take them downstairs, wash them in the bathroom sink, dry them and put them back in the basket to go upstairs. Our living room is filled with the cupboards. Thankfully, our electrician will be taking them tomorrow so we'll have more room. The microwave and toaster are in the spare bedroom and we've converted the armoire in that room into a temporary pantry. It's a bit inconvenient but we won't complain. We know it'll all be worth it. Also, when we hear about those people who are losing their homes due to flooding or fires, our inconvenience becomes rather insignificant.

May 24th - Portraits

I've been taking portraits of my students for a project I'm working on. I took these while we were outside today. I've been doing my best to get candid shots. I don't want them posing for me. It's tricky at times but I'm managing to get a few done each time we're out. However, I still have quite a few to do so hopefully we'll get out a bit next week.

May 22nd - Some colourful Spring flowers

The renovation pics are a bit depressing right now so I figured I'd changed to colourful and happy flowers from the front garden. We haven't had much sun lately so it's extra nice to have these to look at. I hope everyone's having a blooming time in their part of the world.

May 19th - The Demo continues

The demolition stage of the renovations is coming along. I managed to remove all the ceramic out of the washroom except for the bit under and behind the toilet. The doors are off all the cupboards in the kitchen and bathroom and we've managed to take down some of the cupboards in the kitchen. As you can see, I've started removing the ceramic from the kitchen wall. It comes off quite easily. I moved the fridge close to where it will be when the kitchen is completed. The handyman will be arriving soon to do some more demolition before the rebuilding begins. The kitchen is still functional but we both keep forgetting that someone moved the fridge.

May 18 - New windows

Peg stayed home today while the window company came to install the new windows in the back. It was very hard for her to let go of the beautiful cedar windows that were there before but everyone assures us that PVC is much easier to maintain. She snapped this pic just after they took the first part of the window out of Christopher's room. She finds them very white and is looking forward to when our handyman puts in the stained wooden casings.

May 16 - Pool or pond?

Between the renovations, school and the rainy weather we haven't had the time to get our pool up and running. However, these ducks don't seem to mind. They stopped by this morning and took a dip in the pool. I noticed them as I was eating breakfast. I grabbed my camera and headed outside. They didn't seem to mind getting their picture taken but decided to leave when Dexter joined me. Hmmm, I wonder why?

Monday, May 9th - Final Crocuses

After all the rain we had last week the sun has been a very welcome sight these last few days. The plants and trees are happy and colour is popping up everywhere. I spotted this bunch of crocuses and decided I would post one final shot. Hope the sun is shining at your house too.

Sunday, May 8th - The Demolition Begins

With most of the choices made and the shopping done, we figured it was time to start the demolition process. We thought it easiest to start in the bathroom. We managed to remove most of the ceramic tiles around the bathtub. It was a bit tricky to get started but went quite smoothly afterwards. It was actually quite cathartic, a good way to release any frustration or anger. We expect that removing the floor tiles won't be quite so easy. It was a messy job and Dexter isn't too keen about the changes. Unfortunately, he has quite a few more to encounter before the whole process is done.

Friday, May 6th - More Crocuses

The crocuses are opening nicely. Here are a couple more pictures. I took them with my macro lens.

Tuesday, May 3rd - Thoughtful

Snapped this picture of Em as he was deep in thought. Not sure what he was thinking about but it looks pretty serious. I decided to add a few dancing leaves in front of him. Not sure if I like the effect but . . . Em is a student and a loyal blog follower. He informed me that's it been quite some time since I've posted. Hmmm, who knows, maybe he was thinking, "I wonder when Mrs. Longney's going to post on her blog again?"

May 1st - They're opening!

Was very happy to see the crocuses opening today while working in the yard. Of course I had to run in the house and grab the camera. They're a bit dark but I like the contrast between the open and closed flowers. Hope you like these flowers too because I plan on taking a few more pictures of them.

Thursday, April 28th - The wonder of pictures

Woke up bright and early this morning and went to Montreal with my students for the book launch, Quebec Roots:The Place Where We Live. Before the book launch we visited the McCord Museum and saw this amazing exhibition by Andre Cornellier. It's a panorama of Montreal inspired by Wm. Notman and Son's panorama which was done 100 years before. Cornellier took approximately 5000 photos, 1300 of which make this panorama.
In the afternoon, the students got to see another amazing piece of work - their own chapter in the book. It was a long but gratifying day.

Tuesday, April 26th - Before

No, I haven't died or fallen off the face of the Earth. I won't bother making excuses because I know everyone is busy. I guess you could say I just sort of fell off the bandwagon for a bit. I will be doing a number of posts today but not one for every day. I've given myself permission to ease off since it's my second year doing the project. I will do my best to post a few times a week for now. Oh, and my sincerest apologies to my fellow bloggers. I not only haven't been posting myself but haven't been checking out all your wonderful pics. I do plan on catching up on all the great pics.
As I mentioned a few posts a go, we're renovating the bathroom and kitchen. I decided to post a couple of before pictures before the demolition starts. I will be sure to post pictures throughout the different stages. Wish us luck.