Vital Imagery Blog

A friend attended her son's high school graduation last evening. While we haven't quite arrived at the official date,  if there was any doubt that summer has arrived these ceremonies are a sure sign.

With the end of another school year,  young children are on the streets and playgrounds and teens are testing the waters in the shallow end of the employment pool. Young faces not glimpsed all day through the school year are now greeting us at stores and restaurants,  mowing our lawns and guarding our kids at the beach. Little ones free from the classroom are filling days pools, parks and gardens.

For moms and dads, not much has changed, though. Once a routine is set up to see to the caring for, and amusement of, energetic sons and daughters, it's just work as usual.

Except for one notable thing.  At this time of year,  adult minds are full of ideas and planning for the annual summer vacation from the day-to-day grind and rituals.  These thoughts lead us to campgrounds, beach…

When I think of the end of June my mind always wanders back to four particular events — the Grade 8 graduations of my kids.

These were such bittersweet events. It was so exciting to see a new chapter of their lives beginning. Though it's obviously not the milestone that future graduations would be, it was still easy to feel pride in their accomplishments to this point.

It was gratifying, too,  to see that pride reflected in their eyes as they thought ahead to the next phase of their lives.  And so wonderful to see a glimpse of the amazing adults they would become.

It was also, though, an emotional time for this parent as I acknowledged that nothing would be quite the same any more.  We were really saying goodbye to their childhood. With each passing day now they were going to face new responsibilities and challenges.  As would I as their parent.

While I've often thought that some parents go a little overboard with the whole Grade 8 graduation ritual  — gowns not intended for …

Summer is here and as the old tune intones the time is right for dancing in the street. As well as a multitude of other fun nighttime activities.

I can remember a street dance in my hometown decades ago. It was obviously one of the highlights of that early teenage life as I recall a lot of it in vivid detail, right down to what I was wearing.  To give you a hint as to what era we're talking about here, it was pink hot pants and white go-go-boots.

There was something about taking music and dancing out in the open that seemed to notch up the entertainment factor.   The looks on faces against the backdrop of a night sky are snippets of memory caught forever in my mind.

Several years later, when newly dating my future husband, we attended a 'fun and frolic' at the rural schoolhouse he had attended as a youth. The same aura of frivolity,  the same carefree ambiance existed in a very different place from the crowded urban street where I had danced before.

Over the decades since…

In home decor, wallpaper creates interest and hides blemishes. It can be used as an accent or pasted on to all four walls.

Personally, I swore off wallpapering a long time ago. Having purchased a century home, the two previous occupants of which had both been septuagenarian,  for hours on end my husband and I steamed and scraped off dated patterns in ridiculous colours.

Then, as wallpaper was still all the rage and we had plaster problems to hide, we reapplied new designs, matching seams and corners on walls that had never been straight.  Only, of course, to remove them a decade or so later when paper became passé

Never, never again would I use wallpaper I swore then and never, never again have I.

Which, of course,  takes nothing away from its versatility. All the attributes it had then it has now.

The same can be said of using seamless wallpaper or repeating patterns in graphic design. There are so many ways to use them in projects whether you're a scrapbooker or a professional …

What a wonderful Father's Day weekend that was.  While the weatherman had predicted a miserable Sunday of cloud and rain, the reality was an afternoon and evening of warmly-soothing temperatures,  gentle breezes and clear, bright skies. It was the perfect combination for families to gather and enjoy time outdoors.

Our crew took full advantage, spending the whole afternoon chilling out under the hot sun, even getting in a little physical activity,  dusting off the  old ball gloves and bats for an impromptu game.

Not that I was involved in that last part. Let's not be silly. There are other things for me to do, at which I'm much better than playing ball.  Besides getting in my share of toddler cuddles,  for example,  I kept my eyes peeled for some photo ops.  With camera strapped around my neck I was snap happy as always, trying to freeze forever every special moment I could.

It's always fun to photograph these family times and I like the challenge of finding different …