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August/September 2008, page two

The legislature grounds are two blocks west of our apartment so we have one of the grandest parks ever close by. It's beautifully landscaped.

Our neighbourhood is full of elm trees. The smaller ones have changed completely, but others, some of the largest in Edmonton, are still green. I shot these yesterday. September 27 -- they’re all at least 8 feet in diameter or more. You can see the smaller trees yellow or nearly bare in the background. I just loved the shapes of the branches when you look straight up at the sky. They remind me of the shapes in some of Tim Burton’s animated movies. They also made me think back to an evening’s walk with my mother, where a streetlight through ice on the trees gave us the shapes that we saw in Van Gogh’s paintings.

Here’s an August clutch of babies with mom in the park, quite late but they grow quickly so I’m sure they’re well on the wing by now. I have a lot of shots of wild birds for my upcoming printmaking projects and hope to be able to find the time in 2009 to work on them. September was another busy month, work-wise, but they all are these days. I’m years overdue for a couple of weeks on a hot and lazy beach in a foreign country. Another client has offered me a week in a time-share as a bonus and I think I’ll take it in January or February. I’d still like to go to New York or Miami but they also have options on Puerto Vallarta, Hawaii and Kuwaii so any of those would do nicely. I just spent a harried week trying to arrange a European trip as a sales rep for a martial arts client and, yet again, talked them out of sending me to Italy. I work one week a month for them, have designed almost everything they sell and have represented them here and in Las Vegas in the past so I’m comfortable with the work. Unfortunately, the international championships were in a location which was a flight out of Rome followed by an 80 km train trip to the resort without guarantee that the products would arrive with me. I’ll be happier going to Argentina next year with products ready in several languages. Jerry’s had the Alberta cough for several months now, I’ve had it for almost three and everyone I meet has a bit of a hack, seemingly regardless of where they live so maybe it’s just the air on earth these days. Who knows what we’ve put up in the atmosphere with years of aerosols, industrial yuck and exhaust from every sort of transportation. Which reminds me: the frogs are still disappearing all over the planet. A little guy I shot just to remind us that 2008 is the Year of the Frog.

Here’s us these days. I think Adri’s got some pink this week and my hair will probably be white, blond or even brown again by the weekend. I’ve been grey for several years so don’t feel loyalty to any colour in particular. I’m sure everyone has the Kunesky family birthdays and events from the last couple of years but I’m going to carry on with them to the end of the year at least. Belated birthday wishes to September 04 Kristina Reminsky September 07 Margaret Jones September 17 Kay Kumorek September 21 Jeremy Kroli September 22 Adrianne Woolsey September 25 Robert Bond September 25 Kathy Pipes Happy Birthday very soon: October 04 Laura Bond October 14 Eleanor Reminski October 22 Bryce Nickerson October 29 Danny Kunesky

Our birds are just as goofy as ever... George (on the right) is 20 this year and Pip’s not far behind. I’ve had a constant fight to keep them out of the pots above the cupboards but they’ve finally found a new spot. We have a wooden bird play centre on top of their cage which we’ve always moved when we cover them for the night. Last week, I covered the whole thing over when they were shrieking good morning and just opened it slightly leaving them a tent and it’s their new favourite place to roost. I’ve got a client project in the works where everything is due October 15 so will be parked in the office for a couple of weeks. Hope all is well, please keep in touch. Love, Dawn