Our Only Niece Graduates High School

Thursday, June 29, 2006 - Yesterday we made the drive into Ottawa to the Civic Centre in Lansdowne Park to join Sandra's younger sister Margie and her husband John in observing the graduation from Merivale High School of their daughter Danica, our only niece and sister of Nicholas our only nephew, who recently graduated from college.
    And not only did Danica graduate, but she did so with such a long list of awards and honors that almost everyone in the hall dozed off while they were being read.
    That, of course, is a slight exaggeration, but even she, who knew nothing in advance about these awards (so she claims) was surprised by them all.
    It's kids like Danica, Nicholas, and my own kids, Michelle and Ian, who give me hope for the future of the human race.
    Anyway, after the three hour graduation ceremony (lots of graduates) we dashed back through rush hour traffic to the RV to let the dog out and then headed back into the city to partake in the celebratory dinner at Margie and John's house.
    Joining us in all this was Sandra's older sister Betty, who is also Danica's godmother.
    Photo above is Danica who just received her diploma and is posing for photos and growing roots to the stage while her list of awards are being read. And as has been the case in the events we've been to lately (Nick's graduation, Danica's band concert, and her graduation) the lighting was absolutely abysmal. Once again, it was too dark from where we sat during the ceremony for Sandra's camera to take anything usable and it pushed my higher-end camera to its limits which at that point produces less than ideal photos, although usable enough for small prints. And not only was the lighting dim, but even worse in this case since there wasn't even any direct lighting on the stage so everyone's faces were in shadow and it takes quite a bit of processing to bring them out. Obviously, people who staged these events are clueless about lighting. Hmmppphhh!!!!
    For Sandra's view of Danica's graduation and more photos, click here.

Another Busy Week

Saturday, June 24, 2006 - As scheduled, my long-time friend and former business associate Mel and his wife Janice arrived last Sunday evening and have kept us hopping ever since.
    It's been a lot of fun having visitors from Ohio and having the opportunity to show Ottawa to people who've never been here before.
    In doing so, Sandra and I have seen some places we haven't seen ourselves in quite a while and a couple places one or the other of us had never seen.
    For instance, Mel and Janice like museums, so we went with them to see the Canada Science & Technology Museum, which Sandra had been to years ago but I'd never been inside and am glad I now have. Pictured here are Janice and Mel standing by one of the huge old steam locomotives in the museum.
    And because admission is free on Thursday evenings (but not parking), we also went with them to the Museum of Civilization, which Sandra had never been inside and I had been only one time years ago right after it had moved into its new facilities in what was then Hull, Quebec and has since been amalgamated with Gatineau. And when I was there, many of the exhibits were not open since they were still being set up, so this time I got to see what I had missed. It is a very interesting place and has one of the most unique architectures in the world.
    While there we also saw an Imax movie (not free) about ancient Greece. Again, it's been a long time since I've seen an Imax movie and I doubt I'd have ever seen this one either if it hadn't been for Janice and Mel wanting to see it. It turned out to be quite interesting and focused a lot on Santorini Island, Greece and the volcanic disaster that struck there 3,500 years ago. Sandra and I really should get out more. Pictured on the right, she is taking a photo of the museum after seeing the movie.
    Interspersed among these trips, I got a badly needed RAM upgrade in my laptop, we showed our guests the culinary delights of Summerhay's Grill and Feleena's Mexican Restaurant, the doctor looked at my lip surgery and proclaimed it healed, and our guests accompanied us to the barbecue dinner put on by Canada Retirement, our financial services company.
    Later today, I'm going with Janice and Mel to a horse show which is taking place at the Nepean Equestrian Park just down the road from the campground here and this is another thing I've always thought about doing but never actually did it until they got me motivated. The fact they found out it was free was also a motivating factor.
    Tomorrow, Janice and Mel are leaving us and heading for Lake George, New York.
    For Sandra's account of the week, click here.

Website Restoration Completed

Friday, June 16, 2006 - I've just finished restoring the Personal component of the website here in its new home. The Personal section is actually now a separate site within the site. Broken links have been fixed and data restored that I'd had to delete in the previous location to make room for this ever-growing news section here.
    Please let me know by using the email link in the sidebar if you find something in the site that still doesn't work.
    While I was at it, I regenerated the restored photo galleries with a cool new look and will be moving most of the personal photos that are currently in my pBase galleries to the Photos page here, where they are more appropriate.
    I'll also soon be adding a gallery of photos from our recent visit with the family in Ohio and a gallery of the photos my daughter Michelle has been sending of Luke, the newest member of the family, shown here in one of the photos Michelle sent showing Luke being held by his elder sister Grace while his other sister Faith looks to be mimicking her brother's crying.

Welcome to the New gordonwolford.com Site

Wednesday, June 14, 2006 - A couple weeks ago I mentioned I'd be moving this website to a different hosting ISP (canaca.ca), because they offer much more space at an affordable price, and yesterday I did just that. And while I was at it, I once again registered an internet domain of my own. This time it's...

The website here on the new domain at the moment contains only this page, the Intro, and the Links page from the old site, so many of the links within the site no longer work, but I'll eventually get things smoothed out.
    From its inception years ago, this was intended as primarily a personal site with work being presented in a secondary manner, but in its final form the new website will focus primarily on my photography with personal matters being secondary, so a lot of design changes will have to be done. This will take place as a gradual transition rather than a complete and immediate redesign.
    As the first step in this transition I've replaced the boring placeholder page supplied by the hosting site with a quickie temporary homepage of my own design showing the photographic direction I intend to take my domain.
    With all that in mind, the old site hosted by NewsGuy.com, will remain as it was but will no longer be updated. So, if you're reading this you've found my latest news...