Over the next few months, I’ll be posting some of my favorite photos I took during my contract with the City of Lethbridge. Though I always loved looking at this house, last year was the first time I actually stopped, got out of the car, and took photos of it! The Annandale House on 13th Street South is actually a Lethbridge Historic site, so this was a learning experience for me. Driving by does not do it justice as their yard is filled with numerous Christmas decorations that you can only see from the sidewalk. There is such a great presence around this house at Christmas :)

Winter is just around the corner, so I wanted to share some memories from the summer! It’s not too often I take photos that don’t have people in them, but back in July when I had a dinner break for Erika and Josh’s wedding, I wandered around my mom’s flowers with my macro lens and found some neat things :)

This year I did Lethbridge’s Whoop Up Days a little differently… instead of going on rides and packing along a point and shoot, I brought a tripod and a good camera! I dragged myself out there with the intention to stay just a little past twilight, which would be about two hours; Cam was too sick to go and I was in a grumpy, tired mood all day, so it took a lot of effort to leave the house. Once I got there, I had so much fun taking photos that I stayed for over three hours :) I’ve been wanting to do this for a few years now and glad I finally crossed it off the to-do list.

Sadly they raised the price of individual ride tickets so I opted not to take in a ride, but instead enjoyed a jumbo “elephant ear” as a reward when I was finished, and ate it while watching Prism. Heck yeah!

Each time I go to Disneyland, I intend to blog my favorite photos but never get around to it… well, no more! This time around it was a challenge to find photos of things I have never taken there before, and with a few new Christmas elements and special touches around the park (along with some inclement weather), the task was much easier than I expected! Even though it rained quite a bit, it was nice to get away from the snow for a week and have a break :)

The Calgary Airport

Holiday candied apples

The artificial snow following the fireworks

It’s a Small World

Some odd stuffed animals for sale

A hidden Mickey in the orange tree

The cutest snowmen (and snow-women) you will ever see

The Grand Californian Hotel (which I sadly did not stay at!)

The rain puddles made for gorgeous reflections. It was still pouring at this time, so I had an umbrella over me and the camera.

No one here believes me that California gets cold in the winter, but those snow capped mountains aren’t at that high of an elevation!

Marshmallow snowman

The Haunted Mansion gets switched to the Nightmare Before Christmas for the entirety of the holiday season, so you can still experience Halloween belatedly :)

A murder of crows swarmed near the Haunted Mansion, how fitting :)

One of my favorite bands, Surburban Legends, was playing one night. I was so excited to find out that trumpet player Aaron has rejoined the band!

Another exciting gift from “Santa” was that my friend Alan had a piano shift on our last day at the park (he only fills in for other players, so we don’t always get to hear him).

That day they also had guest marching bands from the Rose Bowl Parade. This dog is naturally with the firemen.

This band trotted like horses while they played, which was super impressive.

With the release of the new Tron, Disneyland put on “ElecTRONica,” a street dance party inspired by the movie. They also recreated Flynn’s arcade, which was quite accurate (including 80s music!).

The event starts with a stage show, with 80s music and costumes, and then switches to the style of Tron Legacy, with music by Daft Punk.

Flynn’s

The infamous $80 Tron Mickey Mouse Ears

Leaving a bit of snow for a lot of snow.

Lastly, the highlight of my trip was my conversation with a talking trash can:

This is my sort of Halloween-ish post! I found these flowers at the university this week. They’re a little past their prime, but I still thought they looked beautiful in their own way :)

This hoarfrost stuff may look pretty and very awesome, but don’t let it fool you! It is evil! Is summer soon? I miss the days of +30C weather!

Usually this frost is gone by 9am, and I used to grumble as I groggily drove by it in the past on my way to work or school in the mornings, knowing that by the time I had a camera in hand it would be gone. In the last month, however, we’ve had these strange “fog storms” move in and freeze everything in sight, and this frost takes an exceptionally long time to melt, so I was finally able to capture some of it. Now that I’ve accomplished this, bring on the sunshine!

Proof that it is evil: this little guy sure took a liking to it…

He followed me home from California a few years ago, and I’ve grown rather fond of him. He may secretly be evil, but he’s so cute!