Photography and GPS

December 15/11.

There are thousands of things I don't know how to do.

Top of the list right now?

Photography, and using the GPS.

Trying to get a grip on both. Not much success on the photog front, (although this one in the Beaches turned out kinda interesting, I guess). GPS, coming along. Will keep workin'!

Ever since starting the blog back in February, have been attempting to master the art of using a digi-cam. LOVE posting pix and writing about them, but taking them? Not so much.

Despite countless calm, cool, collected construction workers at Princess Margaret Hospital, who attempted to show me how to use the camera, (during my 16 radiation days back in the summer - this was treatment #7), -plus "mini-lessons" from so many (frustrated) others,

my shots almost always, inevitably turn out blurry -

and bad. (Have been trying to shoot these particularly gorgeous blue Christmas lights on the Danforth for weeks, but can't capture them the way I want them to look!) Will keep trying.
Meanwhile,

a fabulous Facebook friend of mine, Matthew McMahon, (is he not adorable?) - gave me an unexpected gift about a week ago, leaving me in tears, in the process. (Granted, NOT tough to do these days, but this particular generous gesture got me, BIGtime).

I first met Matthew, (who uses the above, insanely crazy caricature portrait, as his FB status pic), on the Danforth, back in mid-September. Unbeknownst to me, while driving around on his motorized scooter, Matthew quietly witnessed (in hysterical laughter), my futile attempt to catch an auto-pic shot with my high school pal, Dean, in front of a church at Danforth & Hampton.

Once Matthew stopped laughing, he offered his professional services as a photog, to take this pic of Dean & me. (which is pretty much my fave of the two of us, EVER!) At the time, I thought, "What the hell?" - Handed Matthew my camera, he snapped the shot from his scooter, and the rest is history!

Flash forward, weeks later, and Matthew, (who works at the Second Cup building,

just blocks from my house), offered to GIVE me a tripod, because he'd read of my interest in photography on FB. I tried to stop by to pick it up, but couldn't FIND him! Then one day, Matthew proclaimed he was driving over on his scooter, (in freezing cold weather), to drop off the tripod -

at my house! I answered the door, makeupless, in a mess, and promptly broke into tears when I saw he had managed to leave his scooter on the sidewalk, somehow made his way up the front steps to my doorway, and handed me the heavy tripod in person. Some people are really TOO much. Matthew is one of them. He doesn't KNOW me. There's no REASON he needed to put himself through this, but he did it anyway. (I thanked him and will try to pay his kindness forward in the future!) And I hope to use the tripod soon!!!

Continuing on the the photog front, my cousin, Kev, told me about this weird contraption called a Gorillapod. You can use it to wrap your digi-cam around a tree, a branch, a pole, whatever, (to take an auto-pic), instead of always attempting to stick the camera on the hood of a car.

Since I was in the area of Queen & Church this week to visit St. Mike's Hospital, (in memory of the death of my beloved Uncle Ev there one year ago), decided to stop by a couple of camera stores. The first one had the mini Gorillapod selling for just under $27. WHAT? Then,

went to Henry's, where the Gorillapod was on sale for 17 bucks. Dealo!

My radio hero,

Howard Stern, recently got into photography. He loves taking pics of his stunning wife, Beth O, and all the money he raises goes to charity.

Beth's worthy cause - The North Shore Animal League America, receives the proceeds from the one-of-a kind 2012 calendar showcasing her with cute, cuddly, healthy canines and felines

found in local shelters.

Howard talks a LOT about his passion for photography, his fancy Nikon, expensive lighting equipment, etc., on SIRIUS. (I've been taking notes).

Howard says the true key to everything is lighting. I KNOW! Without great lighting, you might as well just jump off a bridge. - So, for fun, looked at fancy lights! (camera! action!)...

with really pretty pricetags! - Yikes!

Umbrella lights. (reminded me of my old master Global TV cameraman, known far & wide as Yhoram "every frame a Rembrandt" Pirotsky)!

(Without Yhoram's supreme lighting skills, I would NEVER have had a job at Global for 18 years!) - This pic was taken at his retirement from Global in 2009.

I tried to take some auto shots at Henry's, behind their fab, floor model lights,

(but of course, only I COULD manage to make them look blurry, in a pro-camera store)!

Left Henry's, took off, walked across the street and spotted a trio of wildly mismatched dogs in front of the Metropolitan United Church!

The owners were kind enough to allow me to photograph their beloved pets. (left to right) - Owner, Dexter, with tiny 12-year-old, pomeranian- chihuahua, "Duke" and teeny 6-year-old, chihuahua, "Bijou",

plus owner, Gary with his 18-month-old Great Dane, "Billy the Kid!" (These owners and dogs had NEVER met before)!

Hiked up to 133 Church Street to check out the over 70-year-old Ontario Specialty Company toy store.

WOW! Sure brought back a lot of wacky memories!

And sunglasses-r-us. Sadly, the store is closing its doors next year.

Also looked in many pawn shop windows. This one featured old Canuck dollar bills and a shiny sax. Thought my bro-in-law, Garth Mosbaugh, of The Nylons, (who plays a mean sax), might like to see this one! - OK, so photography 101 is over for the moment.

ONWARDS now to the dreaded GPS mission!

Decided to throw caution to the wind. My new-found photog interest draws my eye to things I NEVER would have noticed before!

Set myself a goal to drive to a random airport hotel. Typed the Airport Road address into the GPS and actually DROVE there,

& arrived safely, without incident! Miracle!

However, after taking an auto-pic, a guy drove up beside me

and seemed to be offering to shoot a photo for me. A surprise, but then, found out, he really just wanted to take a shot of me on his phone! WTF? Well, OK buddy. Whatever. Aiga Hessein took this wild & hair-raising pic,

and drove off before I could even ask him which direction was west or east! Got lost on the way home. Bossy GPS broad ordered me to make an immediate u-turn ASAP, which I did, in rather dangerous circumstances, and managed to make it back to the city, unscathed. (Maybe there's hope for me yet)!

Ended up back at the Eaton Centre,

watching Marilyn Monroe in the new Charlize Theron J'Adore Dior commercial!
(what MORE could I ASK for?)

Freaky, frenzied fun with Franelle!!!

November 25/11.

Happy birthday to my Dad today!

Dad with my sister, Carrie (pic taken in September).
The infamous Rex Loring is 86 today! Will be seeing you on Sunday, Dad, in Oakville with prezzies!!

Can't stop myself from running this pic again! Dad in his twenties during the CHEX days in Peterborough, where my parents first met. SO cute!

This whole week has been a bit of a blur, faster than a speeding bullet, since the arrival of my best friend, Franelle, from L.A., on Monday night.

Haven't seen her in a very long time, so we've had a lot of catching up and 'splainin' to do (as our pal, Ricky Ricardo would say)!

The first night, (here with Franelle's fab sis, Valerie), we ordered Japanese food - salmon & sushi (with Henkell, natch)! - to celebrate her visit!

Later, (at 2 a.m.), Franelle & I watched the new episode of House, (which I PVR'd),

and let Hugh Laurie take us away for a while! - Thanks Hugh!

The next day, Val & I took Franelle to the Eaton Centre to shop and see the fabulous Christmas decorations!

The massive reindeer, all lit up - amazing!

The Swarovski Crystal Wish tree is pretty stunning!

The tree is 55 feet tall, (sorry, didn't have my calculator for metres),

and is decorated with over 40,000 crystal ornaments. Costly tree!
Must take a ton of security!

I really had no idea you can SKYPE with Santa!! Coolio!

The reindeer look beautiful and bright no matter what the angle!

You can't tell from this pic, but these pretty stars are rigged up to give off a gleaming, cascading, animated light effect.

Fun to watch!

Franelle accompanied me on a shopping spree at GUESS,

pouring me in & out of tight little black dresses for Sam's upcoming Christmas party.

Fell in love with this one and bought it! (but forgot to bring the
right shoes! Will look much better with sexy stockings and my shiny silver stilettos)! - And ya, judging by the back of this gown, have to hire a stylist to figure out what kind of magic bra to wear!

(only kidding. Meet my personal stylist, (i.e., Franelle), who already has all that figured out)! Whew!

After shopping till we dropped, caught an early dinner at a vegan restaurant called Fressen on Queen Street West.

Was a bit of a challenge for me, (with an aversion to onions & garlic), but they were accomodating and prepared a couple of dishes just for me, sans those ingredients! Meanwhile, Val & Franelle indulged in them!

Wednesday morning, hard to believe it's late November. Woke up to plenty of sunshine and lots of coloured leaves still on the trees!

We decided to take advantage of the sunny day and head for Kensington Market, where my daughter, Kate,

needed to pick up some custom-made t-shirts for her Improv team at Rosedale. Mission accomplished!

Then, off to a major-league, calorie-laden bakery, where we picked up mucho sinful goodies!

Ai Carumba! These guys have EVERYTHING!

For my pals who worry about my weight...don't! We picked up crusty bread, butter tarts, an amazing apricot almond torte, bagels, Havarti cheese and a Nanaimo bar (for Kate), and after THAT,

shuffled over to Spadina, where,

yep, you can get - ALL DIM SUM - ALL THE TIME!!!!

Franelle ate all this herself! (just kidding! We shared every dish! - and brought some home, too)!!

Fab food, especially the deep-fried calamari.
(and oh-so-good-for-you, too, - in case you didn't know)!

While shopping in Kensington, happened upon some Grinchy friends!

("Lady Grinch" was quite fond of me apparently! - while the Grinch himself was excellent at leering)!

Meanwhile,

Franelle found an amorous pal of her own! Look out! Here comes trouble!

So many wild & wacky stores in Kensington!

Checking out the vintage clothes and accessories at Courage My Love.

And at Flashback. Bought a pair of tiny silver heart clip-on earrings (for 10 bucks), to wear at Sam's Christmas party next Friday.

Finally, heading home along Dundas. The Yonge/Dundas square is sparkly, even amidst streetcars, billboards, construction workers and heavy traffic!

When we hit our street in Riverdale, couldn't believe it. ALL the leaves are gone! Now, it really looks like November!! No more bright colours.

Now, rolling into Thursday!

Franelle, (my personal stylist for two weeks), went with me to sexy, sizzling La Senza - (at not-so-sexy Gerrard Square),

to track down the hot item I so desperately need for that little black party dress. Since I've led a sheltered life (?) I wasn't really up on the benefits of Dream Shapers self-adhesive bra thingamajigs! REALLY??

let alone silicone gel-filled bra cups for backless and strapless wear! It ended up, La Senza didn't have my size in "gel-wear" (who knew?) - too small I guess! - So, had to go with a different make. Sure hope the adhesive holds up! (Don't want to risk a wardrobe malfunction)! Gak

"Sure hope my TAIL holds up!" (Hey, what the heck is my old Cowardly Lion blog mascot doing in this entry???)

After shimmying in & out of the little black dress so many times, it was off to, - you got it, another bake shop. THIS time, the famous HARBORD BAKERY!!

Living in the States, Franelle is butter tart-deprived, so here's the best place to buy them.

(albeit, $1.75 per tart)!

SO much chocolate nut bark!! My teeth hurt just LOOKING at this!!

Upon arriving home, checked out the baked goods inventory! Ai yi yi!
Cheese sticks, chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin pie, butter tarts, mundlebroit, chocolate brownie (for Max), Nanaimo bar (for Kate), cheese blintzes and a baguette! Clear the decks!

Oh, and hey, remember the rollicking ME DAY I took a while back, when I spotted that to-die-for short red "Santa Baby" dress in a store window?

Sure wanted to own one. Guess what? Saw MANY at La Senza, so come on! PLEASE? Lemme just try it ON!!!!!!

Stylist Franelle snapped the shot in the dressingroom. SHE sez it's OK to run it, if I just show the top! OK with YOU???????? Well, I didn't BUY it!!!! Santa, Baby, hurry down the chimney tonight!! Ho! Ho! Ho!

So, that's been our week so far! - (and I even left OUT all the wild, raunchy, convoluted conversations, raucous, racy laughs and sinful swearing. Franelle is a master. LOVE it)! And much more to come!
Update soon I hope!