Welcome to my April 2023 Great and Powerful Blogging from A to Z Challenge!

I’ve revealed my theme (My life in first drafts), but this year, instead of pretending there were ever plans, I am unashamedly blogging my theme letters on the fly.  So, here goes nothing!

So, without further ado, D is for Defense of Thesis.

For those of you who don’t know, I have a Master of Arts in Linguistics which I completed, well, a really long time ago. Part of the process of getting a Masters degree is defending your thesis, a long paper that is usually not as long as a PhD dissertation, but longer than your standard course essay. Mine was long. Longer than normal because of what I worked on, which I am not going to go into here. I’m not sure why, but it doesn’t seem important to this post.

Anyway, the defense. Another one of those war metaphors that we like to use in English, like battling cancer or being on the warpath about something that you don’t agree with. We do like our fight expressions.

My thesis defense consisted of all the professors in my area, plus another one outside of my area, the head of the Graduate Studies department, or I guess the Dean or some such personage, as well as someone who was an expert on my topic from another institution. I was really lucky in this last as I got the true expert to come up from the states, and I don’t think anyone else getting a Masters in Linguistics was granted that privilege after that. But I could be wrong. I only know I was lucky.

The defense started with me being pulled out of the room by the Graduate Students dude to give me a pep talk, which didn’t leave me feeling very peppy. Then I went back to the room and gave a short presentation. I was told ahead of time that I had 20 minutes (I think that was the amount of time) and if I went over, I would be shut down. I was SO nervous. I have never been so nervous for anything and my voice shook – I’m surprised anyone could understand me. There was no PowerPoint back then, it was just me and my notes at a podium speaking to a room full of straight faced men. I don’t think there was another woman in the room, come to think of it.

I finished my presentation and sat down at the head of the table and the questions began. I think the external dude asked the first one, and I answered it! I remember the relief washing through me as I realized, hell, I knew what I was talking about!! All those years of study were actually still there in my brain.

And then I was ok. I was questioned for, well I don’t remember for how long. One hour? Two? But the moment I remember the most was when one of my professors (not my advisor, but another one) asked me a question about something he had asked me to change in my thesis before hand that I refused to change because, well, he was wrong about it. He asked, and I was about to answer when the external expert chimed in and said “Actually, Emily is right about that.” Boo and Yah! I wanted to fist bump right then and there, but I maintained my decorum only grinning to myself inside.

And then, it was done. I had some things to revise, they threw a party for me, and I got my Masters. Almost a let down because the adrenaline had been pumping for so long, and I spent so much time working on the damn thesis, that now I felt like I had nothing to do. Luckily having several jobs and beginning to teach classes took care that that feeling.

So that is the story of my thesis defense. I want to thank myself for taking me back through those lows and highs. Glad I have no intention of ever doing this again!

Thanks for visiting my 2023 A to Z Challenge – Letter D.  You can find links to more blogs participating in this challenge at Letter A, A to Z 2023 Challenge Master List (Google Docs).

Guess I’m kind of a rebel too…although I do like using the “official” letters…

Welcome to my April 2023 Great and Powerful Blogging from A to Z Challenge!

I’ve revealed my theme (My life in first drafts), but this year, instead of pretending there were ever plans, I am unashamedly blogging my theme letters on the fly.  So, here goes nothing!

So, without further ado, C is for Cats.

Yes indeed, and I have had a lot of them. Or really, many cats have deigned to cohabitate with me over the years.  As I work on my memoirs, each cat will have their own chapter (or chapters!)

We got our first cats when I was in grade 6. Some friends of mom and dad had Siamese cats who had kittens, and we got two of them. My brother and I each had one, you know, in the name of fairness. Mike imaginatively called his Sy (mom quickly changed this to Cyrano), and the little girl I called Taya. While they had the run of the house during the day, mom and dad shut them in the basement at night so they wouldn’t bother everyone trying to sleep. I never thought about it at the time, but now it seems weird that you would not invite kittens to drive you crazy while you are trying to sleep. Sy and Taya lived long lives – until 18. I was gone and back from university and had met Kevin before they were both gone.

When Kevin and I met, he had a little street cat (well he was a street cat when Kevin brought him home) named Luther. Luther never warmed to me, except one time when I was really sick and he decided to take care of me. Or maybe he was waiting for me to die….I will never know. Luther had feline Leukemia and while it was I remission for awhile, he died at four.

Kevin swore he didn’t want cats again any time soon, but one month later we found two black kittens in the newspaper (yes, before Kijiji there were paper want ads) and thus Simon and Bailey came into our lives, followed a short time later by Finnegan, the yin to their yang. They hated Finnegan for awhile, and while Bailey never did like him, he and Simon became friends. We moved from the apartment to our first house with these three. Bailey left us at 10, and then we moved Simon and Finnegan from Regina to Victoria when Kevin got his first optometry job here. It was traumatic for them because I stayed behind for a month to sell the house. But they adjusted. After we moved to our first house here in Victoria, Finnegan, who suffered from urinary tract disorder for years, succumbed to it at 13. Simon was alone.

But not for long, as we adopted Dexter to keep Simon company, not thinking that a 13 year old cat and a wild kitten might not be the best mix. And thus Nicholas entered our lives to keep Dexter company. Nico was a feral kitten and never did like to be around us, but he adored Simon and played with Dexter. When Simon died a couple of years later, It was just Nico and Dexter. But again, not for long.

In 2011, we brought home Jasper. Kevin had been googling Savannah cats and wanted one. Jasper fit the bill. A month later we traveled up island and after meeting a huge, tattooed, Latino mobile hairdresser who raised monkeys and Servals, we brought tiny Elliot home (half Bengal, half Savannah) to join our crew. Four cats, but I assured myself that two cats per person did not crazy cat people make.

In 2012 we uprooted the lot and moved the to our current house. Dexter left us suddenly in 2015, and last summer Jasper got cancer and our sweet sensitive angel was also gone.

But you all know that we love lots of cats, so Kevin, cruising the Kijiji net, found our latest family members, Lucy and Oliver. And so, the adventure continues.

Simon

Bailey

Finnegan

Dexter

Nicholas

Jasper

Elliot

Lucy and Oliver

Small, Medium, and Extra Large (Elliot, Jasper, and Dexter)

Jasper and Elliot

Thanks for visiting my 2023 A to Z Challenge – Letter C.  You can find links to more blogs participating in this challenge at Letter A, A to Z 2023 Challenge Master List (Google Docs).

Guess I’m kind of a rebel too…although I do like using the “official” letters…

Welcome to my April 2023 Great and Powerful Blogging from A to Z Challenge!

I’ve revealed my theme (My life in first drafts), but this year, instead of pretending there were ever plans, I am unashamedly blogging my theme letters on the fly.  So, here goes nothing!

So, without further ado, B is for Bass. String bass, that is.

Many years ago, although at the time I felt quite old (meaning mature…hah!), I began to play the bass. I was 19 and in Pre-Veterinary medicine, although I had been a musician all my life. I started piano at 5, flute when I was in grade school, and then began singing at 16, But I had wanted to be a vet since I was in Grade 5. It wasn’t going well, and I wanted to learn another instrument. I don’t remember why, but I wanted to play the viola. But the Principal bass player in the Regina Symphony convinced me to take up the bass. It would give me more opportunities to play somewhere, and hey, I thought, why not??

Thus began my bass journey. Nine months after I started playing bass, I was in the Regina Symphony, and had switched my major from Pre-Vet Med to Music. A year and a half after I started playing, I headed off to Kingston, Ontario to join the National Youth Orchestra for the summer (I did that for three summers in a row, the last summer was when I decide to move to Ottawa to get a Masters in Music).

I have played in a few orchestras in Regina and Ottawa, and when I moved back to Regina having not completed my Masters (this is part of my Life as a Quitter series), I began playing jazz bass with my brother and ultimately with a lot of other great musicians in Regina. Eventually I found my way back into the Regina Symphony, and I played gigs and symphony until I left Regina in 2007 to move to Victoria when Kevin finished Optometry school and got a gig out here.

I never did try to find a place to play out here. Thought about it, but I started to enjoy a life where I only had one job and didn’t have to haul a bass all over town to gigs during the evenings and weekends. Eventually I sold my bass and while sometimes I miss it a little, I just let myself enjoy listening to the music I used to play.

People think I miss it, or maybe think I should miss it. I really don’t. It’s another closed chapter of my life and I’m totally ok with that. Add it to the pile of things I did and eventually moved on from.

This was my bass, before I sold it. It was my third bass and while it was cracked and old, it served me well for a long time. I hope the person who bought it (a car salesman who wanted to learn to play upright bass) enjoyed it too.

Thanks for visiting my 2023 A to Z Challenge – Letter B.  You can find links to more blogs participating in this challenge at Letter A, A to Z 2023 Challenge Master List (Google Docs).

Guess I’m kind of a rebel too…although I do like using the “official” letters…

Welcome to my April 2023 Great and Powerful Blogging from A to Z Challenge!

I’ve revealed my theme (My life in first drafts), but this year, instead of pretending there were ever plans, I am unashamedly blogging my theme letters on the fly.  So, here goes nothing!

So, without further ado, A is for the deceptive but always delicious Avocado.

Why begin with avocado, you may ask. My life in first drafts. Well, I had to choose something and this was the first thing that popped into my mind. So there.

We love avocados. We eat them all the time, and I love them plain (with a hint of salt and pepper), as garnish on salads, and of course in guac. But they are deceptive. They are green which makes you think, hey, green…must be like good for you. But they are huge on the caloric front which you can forget really easily because they are a “good” fat, so we are told.

I don’t know when we started eating avocados all the time, but if we don’t have an avocado to add to our dinner plates, disappointment is in the air. Doesn’t matter what else we have on the plate, it just doesn’t quite taste as good.

Avocados are like the one food habit I have, not we cause Kevin has a lot of food habits (same things for breakfast and lunch on workdays for 20 years, whereas I like to mix it up, man). And I never really thought about it that way until writing this post. I guess there are worse things to have as a food habit. But I tell you, if I start carving them, please call someone….

Avocado Art

Thanks for visiting my 2023 A to Z Challenge – Letter A.  You can find links to more blogs participating in this challenge at Letter A, A to Z 2022 Challenge Master List (Google Docs).

Guess I’m kind of a rebel too…although I do like using the “official” letters…

Welcome to the Great and Powerful Blogging from A to Z 2023 Theme Reveal!

This is the 13th or 14th year of the challenge, I can’t rightly remember which, and I’ve been a participant since 2014.  Every year I choose a theme, and every year I blog it on the fly.  Like last year, I am starting to write my posts today, the day of the letter A, on the same day I am revealing to you, my precious reader, my theme.  No plan this year, aside from last night, loosely deciding what I might post about.

Before I reveal my 2022 theme, here are themes from challenges past:

• 2014:  I blogged about our house, and the befores and afters of the renos we did and changes we made after buying it.
• 2015: I blogged about interesting places in Victoria (all close to home).
• 2016: I blogged about learning to use my DSLR
• 2017: I blogged about my ‘hood in Welcome to James Bay!
• 2018: I blogged about the wonderful world of wabi-sabi in photographs.
• 2019:  I blogged about A picture-story a day (in the life, so to speak)
• 2020: I blogged about female photographers
• 2021 I blogged Photos and Stories
• 2022 I blogged Photo editing apps!

This year, it’s the exciting theme of: My life in first drafts!  I am in a memoir writing phase.  And don’t worry, there will be photos too…

So, I will see you on later today for my first post!

This post approved by Elliot.

Welcome to my April 2022 Great and Powerful Blogging from A to Z Challenge!

Today, Z is for Glaze.

I’m gonna keep this short for today as it’s Saturday, I am writing this of course at the last minute, and it’s the last letter of the A to Z challenge….We made it!

So Glaze, like TangledFX, is one of my go-to apps, one of the first apps I discovered on this journey to appdom of photo editing.  According to the iPhone Photography School “a photo to painting app that converts your pictures into textured paintings.”  And it is indeed.  There are 12 sets of glazes each with five styles, and using the “workshop” you can mix and match your glazes. I confess I haven’t quite got the hang of this but I tried and some of those tries are below.  There is also a masking tool, but as we all know I still haven’t learned how to use these yet…a summer vacation goal!

Websites

• Poem about Glaze

• GLAZE is still a standout ‘photo to painting’ app

Examples

Original Image

Glaze from set 1

Glaze from set 5

Glaze from set 12

Mix of 1 and 5 above

Mix of 1, 5, and 12 above

Thanks for visiting my 2022 A to Z Challenge – Letter Z. You can find links to more blogs participating in this challenge at Letter Z, A to Z 2022 Challenge Master List (Google Docs).

Welcome to my April 2022 Great and Powerful Blogging from A to Z Challenge!

Today, Y is for Skylab.

Skylab is an app for changing, basically replacing, skies.  I am curious to see someday what it can do to photos with no skies, but it is a little trick to figure out since I believe masking is a key component of the manipulation and, well, masking still eludes me.   The interface is very similar to AlienSky and Reflect.  The only site I really found was it’s creator’s site:  Skylab

Here’s what I found myself:

• There are several sky types with specific types in each Clear, Cloudy, Sunset, Stormy (my fav), Vortex, Vortex 2, Night, Moonlight, Pastel Skies, Heavy Skies, Rainbow Skies, Unstack Cities, Unstack Sunsets, Unstack Auroras
• There are masking tools which I have yet to learn
• You can add Elements like moons, trees, and people
• You can work with layers for your Elements
• There is a set of filters

Examples

Original Image

One of the Stormy Skies

One of the Vortex 2 with an Element

One of the Moonlights with a filter

One of the Unstack Sunsets with an Element

One of the Unstack Auroras with an Element

Thanks for visiting my 2022 A to Z Challenge – Letter Y. You can find links to more blogs participating in this challenge at Letter Y, A to Z 2022 Challenge Master List (Google Docs).

Welcome to my April 2022 Great and Powerful Blogging from A to Z Challenge!

Today, W is for Wagterlogue.

Waterlogue is a VERY simple app.  It takes your photos and turns them into watercolours.  You import an image, then select from any of 14 filters.They are: Vibrant, Natural, Bold, Luminous, “It’s Technical”, Streamlined, Travelogue, Rainy, Illustration, Soaked, Shallow, Color Bloom, Fashionable, and Blotted.

For each filter you can change the size of the brushstrokes (small, medium, large, giant) and you can adjust the brightness (dark, darker, normal, light, lighter) of your images to add more variety.  And you can add a border…and that’s it!

Websites

• The Waterlogue App is Awesome – Here’s What It Does

• Easy Watercolor Paintings with the Waterlogue App {Turn a Picture into a Painting}

Examples

Original image

Bold, Large brushstrokes, auto light

Rainy, Jumbo brushstrokes, Medium light

Fashionable, Small brushstrokes, darkest light

Thanks for visiting my 2022 A to Z Challenge – Letter W. You can find links to more blogs participating in this challenge at Letter W, A to Z 2022 Challenge Master List (Google Docs).

Welcome to my April 2022 Great and Powerful Blogging from A to Z Challenge!

Today, V is for VSCO.

VSCO, like Snapseed, is a really robust photo editing application.  Unlike Snapseed, however, it is not entirely free (you need to pay a subscription for full functionality) and it is a little harder (in my opinion) to navigate.  VSCO is not, however, just an editing platform.  It is also a social media platform allowing you to share images and comment on others’ images.  You can also follow your favs.  I have too many SM platforms, so I do not avail myself of this option.

Once you have imported a photo and opened the image editor, you have a lot of options.

First is an endless list of filter presets (Featured, Essential, Popular, Favourites, Recent, For this Photo, Warm, Cool, Vibrant, B&W, Portrait, Nature, and Urban.)  You can either choose a preset filter to begin with or keep your original image and click the Edit function.

Under Edit you have Dodge&Burn, Blur, Text, Adjust (crop), Exposure, Contrast, Remove, Sharpen, Clarity, Saturation, Tone, White Balance, Skin Tone, Vignette, Grain, Fade, Split Tone, Borders, HSL.  Under FX you have Essential, Distressed, Frames, Light, Texture.  Finally, you can create a “recipe” from your edits.

Finally, I know there is a lot more you can do with this app, so I will need to explore further (or invite you to do so and let us know how it goes!)

Websites

• VSCO at Wikipedia
• VSCO online
• How To Use VSCO App To Shoot & Edit Beautiful iPhone Photos

Examples

Original Image

No filter, basic edits, FX Distressed (Expired 3)+Frame (8mm5)

Nature Q5 filter, some edits, FX Texture (Scratch 3)

Processed with VSCO with p8 preset

Reopened image #1 and applied a Cool filter (G5)

Processed with VSCO with g5 preset

Thanks for visiting my 2022 A to Z Challenge – Letter V. You can find links to more blogs participating in this challenge at Letter V, A to Z 2022 Challenge Master List (Google Docs).

Welcome to my April 2022 Great and Powerful Blogging from A to Z Challenge!

Today, U is for Union.

Union is another app that allows you to blend photos.  In this case, one photo as the background and one as the foreground (you can’t add multiple foregrounds…it’s more like a double exposure app.)

Basically the background image is static, but you can manipulate the foreground using some good masking features that allow you to blend your photos in some pretty amazing ways, which I have yet to figure out.  In a nutshell:

1. Load a background image, solid color, or transparent layer
2. Load a foreground image, solid color, or shape
3. Efficiently erase areas of the foreground image using Union’s palette of intuitive, user-friendly tools
4. Adjust the position and size of the foreground image to reach desired composition
5. Make color adjustments on the background and foreground so they blend seamlessly (https://www.tapsmart.com/apps/union-photo-blending-combination-editor-goes-free-app-store/)

Websites

• Union
• Union: Combine and Edit Photos
• Union app review: image-blending at its finest 2021
• Union Quick Advice

Examples

2 of the Original images

Some random fun (showing that I really don’t have a clue what I’m doing….)

Thanks for visiting my 2022 A to Z Challenge – Letter U. You can find links to more blogs participating in this challenge at Letter U, A to Z 2022 Challenge Master List (Google Docs).