Christmas Thoughts

I had the privilege of telling my son the full story of the birth of Christ for the first time this Christmas. At three years old, he's beginning to understand a bit more about Christmas and what it is about. How encouraging it is to hear "Christmas is Jesus' birthday" when asked the question "What's Christmas about?". (Of course he still wonders where the birthday cake is...)

I had been reading to him from the gospel of Luke this past Christmas. I like this particular account of the gospel because Luke provides a very colourful narrative of the nativity events - it is a storytelling gospel.

I am never ceased to be amazed how I manage to pick up something new every time I reread an account of the gospel. This particular time, I was really struck by the character of Simeon in Luke 2:25-35. It says:

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel."

The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too."

Can you imagine this old fellow waiting all of his life for the yet unseen Messiah... and then suddenly meeting him? Wouldn't that be an enormously moving moment? Simeon knew that the Lord was God and what God said would come to pass was truth - and that it would happen in his lifetime. That is faith. Then I think of how so often I, (or we collectively!) are so caught up with our lives that we miss out on times when God might be telling us what He is going to do. We miss out on experiencing God. What's even more - we have the benefit of hindsight and knowing the Messiah (Jesus!) and yet we still so often choose to ignore Him.

I want a faith like Simeon's. I want to know Jesus not only in my mind, but also in my heart. I want to recognize who He is, and I want to worship Him. He is, afterall, the long awaited Messiah. He is Emmanuel; He is God with us.

New Year, Old Treasures

I've been reading a book lately (part of the advantage of working right above a Chapters bookstore) called "It's all too much" by Peter Walsh. It is a book about decluttering your home, but also a bit about decluttering your life. I've been reading the book because over the years my house has been slowly accumulating clutter - so much so that just the weekly maintenance of my home is becoming stressful. I've found the book fascinating because it doesn't talk about the latest organizational fad, but rather attacks the root causes of why we end with the clutter we have.

Call it a New Years resolution, or just frustrated - I've been on a decluttering mission over the past few weeks, and will be continuing throughout this coming year. As I've slowly begun this process, I've noticed that one of the hardest types of things to get rid of (I have found) is stuff with sentimental value (but are otherwise junk). To this, author Peter offers a suggestion in his book: photograph the item, have a ceremony (paying tribute), then get rid of it. So, over the next year, I will be starting a series of posts. Each will be on an item of sentimental value. I will pay tribute to it here on the blog, then it will be on its way to the recyclers, the Salvation Army, or the rubbish bin.

Erich is 3 years old!

Erich turned the big three years old today. Of course, he's thought of himself as a "big boy" for a long time already. Ask him whether he thinks he's a baby anymore, and he'll be the first to tell you that "no, he's a big boy now".

Just the other day, we were helping Opa with moving some appliances. (We brought Erich along just for fun.) As we were heading out the door, a very masculine sounding, puffed up chest and all Erich said "yeah, we're gonna go load up the fridge and the stove on the dolly and we're gonna go push'em." I didn't know quite what to say, but I did think it was the funniest thing I heard!

So, Happy Birthday to my big boy Erich!

-- * -- * -- * --

By the way, turning three of course means that I sat him down for our traditional bi-annual photo session (read: daddy gets to play with camera equipment!). It was a blast doing this little cross lit composition.

Whiter than snow: Congratulations Ron Larsen!

King David once asked God to cleanse him and make him "whiter than snow" (c.f. Psalm 51:7) after the prophet Nathan confronted him with his own sin namely adultery with Bathsheba, and subsequent cover-up by murder.

Followers of Jesus ask of God the same thing when we make personal confessions of faith. We believe that Jesus Christ (the reason for Christmas) came and shed his blood to atone for our sin so that we might be declared "whiter than snow" because of what He did on the cross.

Christians (particularly baptists and other evangelicals) around the world make public declarations of this faith in Jesus through adult, full immersion water baptism. Though not a requirement for salvation, baptism publically symbolizes our personal faith in Jesus Christ. Symbolically, as we enter the water, we identify with Christ's death; we identify with His resurrection when we arise, and most importantly we identify with what Christ's shed blood means to us - the water symbolizes the cleansing of our sin through His blood.

Ron Larsen, a friend and member of the Bridge Church recently decided to do this. As is custom in our church, baptism is done at the beach next to the Vancouver Museum. But what you cannot tell from this picture is that Vancouver had recently had a bout of winter weather. Not only was there snow, but it was about -3C outside! Nevertheless, our pastor (Jerry Conner), Jim, and Ron braved the ice cold waters to declare that indeed Jesus does make us whiter than snow.

Congratulations Ron, and welcome to the family!

A very informative night with Joe McNally

Kudos to friends Renee and Nathan Derksen for hooking me up with a seminar that Joe McNally was doing in town. Considering I had been following his work through National Geographic, Strobist, and his book ("the moment it clicks") over the past couple of years, I was stoked to be able to hear him speak in person. It was an inspiring enough to see him talk about pictures he had done, but even more inspiring when he did a sort of bonus live demonstration (complete with a ballerina as model). It was the live demonstration that was really neat to see.

He demonstrated how easy it is to be able to take quality, lit, on location portraits with just a few speedlights, and a reflector. He also demonstrated that even the pros experience difficulties on the field sometimes. (One of his flashes kept malfunctioning during the session.) It is comforting to know that even people who have done this for 25 years still encounter the same problems!

I put what I learned to practice that Sunday by doing a quick, lit portrait of Abby. She had needed a portrait for her upcoming prayer card / short term missions letter, and I thought what better way to practice what I learned. Here are some of the results:

Photo Caption: This was taken in a boardroom with 70s style wood panelling.
I shot this at ISO 400, 1/200, f4.0 @ 73mm with flash 1/2 CTO at 1/8 power
camera right through umbrella, reflector underneath subject to
slight camera left.

Photo Caption: Against a white wall. ISO 400, 1/200, f4.0 @ 70mm.

Flash at 1/8 power camera right, reflector underneath subject to slight
camera left, plus background flash at 1/4 power aimed at the wall.

Photo Caption: Taken outside against North shore mountains.
ISO 100, 1/200, f/16 @ 75mm. Flash full power camera right throwing
hard 1/2 CTO'd light from further distance than previous two shots. (attempt
to sort of emulate a setting sun.) Reflector camera left, close to subject.

It took about 20-30 minutes for all three scenes including setup. All things considered, this is really a very easy way to do some quick portraits - definitely good enough for the purpose she wanted. To be honest, this sort of stuff (off camera lighting on manual) used to scare me a bit - but as I've been practicing on how to effectively use off camera lighting, I'm beginning to understand how much more control one has over the photograph when you can introduce light.... and as they say, practice makes perfect.

Day 7: Safe arrival back in Vancouver and fun with Pocketwizards!

We arrived safely back in Vancouver. I had been anticipating this moment for a while: not so much because I had been dying to come home but because I had been gearing up to take an interesting photograph of Erich and Karen with the train. Hey - Photographers think of crazy ideas when they have nothing better to do on a 16 hour train ride!

Now first some background: This was the first major trip I had taken without taking an SLR with me. On almost all previous trips, I had always brought along an SLR, and a sometimes with dizzying array of lenses. But when you're trying to travel light (read: married with kids), this doesn't work so well.

So this time, I brought along a Canon G9 point-and-shoot, a flash, two pocketwizards, and a compact light stand. Comparatively speaking, this was very light gear inspired by this Strobist article. The great thing about this setup was that it allowed me to take both interesting lit or available light photographs without the overhead of a lot of equipment. The very configurable G9 combined with the relatively fast f2.8 lens work well to suit any serious amateur or professional photographer wanting to travel light. Combine this with the power of a 580EX and the range of pocketwizard remote triggers and you have a great setup.

I digress. Back to what I had been dying to do. I had been anticipating that we would have decent morning light when we arrived back - a necessary requirement to making this photo work. (I had actually tried this same photo the night we left, but did not have sufficient available light to balance properly.)

With the train safely back at the station, I asked one of the train attendants whether it would be okay if we stayed an extra minute while I took a photo. I quickly handed Karen a slaved flash on pocketwizard mounted on a light stand. She placed it at the same position as one of the overhead reading lights inside the train. I guessed at the power setting, figuring I would adjust it by asking Karen to vary the distance via walkie-talkie. I went outside the train and took a photo. The result was this photo where you have dark window upon dark window with the exception of one lit (as if by reading light). It's simple, but illustrates the power of what one can do with a light setup like this.

Strobist Info: Canon G9 @ f/5.6, 1/30, ISO 400, Flash set to 1/8th power.

Day 6: The trip back and the rowdies

We spent our last day in Jasper exploring some of the attractions frequented by local town folk. We rented skates and skated at the local ice rink. This is where we met some local high school students (on lunch break) who seemed to have nothing better to do than to make rude noises of flatulence in the public address system. This unfortunately made Erich very uncomfortable to the point of crying. Karen eventually gave them a piece of her mind, as I skated menacingly toward them (remember I have toe-picks on my skates!) and just as quickly as they had appeared, they fled. At last, we got some good quality skating time!

After lunch, we made our way back to the train station where Erich eagerly watched as the train readied itself for the journey home.

Once on the train, we were once again treated to beautiful views of the Rockies as the train weaved slowly along the tracks. At dinner time, we ate in the dining cart where we enjoyed a nice three course meal. (Erich's favourite course was the desert of course!) We also enjoyed chatting with some fellow travellers from Canada, the U.S., and Austria.

Then things began to get interesting. Being on a cross Canada train means you get to meet people from all over the country. Although there were many many nice people on the train, it's the obnoxious ones that we tend to remember unfortunately. Allow me to relate some examples:

• One (who obviously had a bit too much to drink in Jasper) chatted angrily on the phone with his "buddy" (think: yo! whassup!) about how he had backstabbed him. He proceeded to pace up and down the car yelling obsenities until finally the attendants threatened to thrown him off at the next stop where police would be waiting.
  
• Another talked about how he had just gotten a call from his parole officer. Boy! Just the kind of thing you want to hear as parents of a two year old... Actually he was mostly ok, except that he unilaterally served as alarm clock when he decided to make a 5am phone call. (I suppose the years of living in jail meant that you lose a sense of mutual politeness.)
  
• One older fellow whom we had chatted with on the dining car also had a bit too much to drink and spent most of the night walking up and down the length of the train hitting on all the older women.

Despite the few obnoxious people, most others were very pleasant. I must say that all things considered, we really did have a very good ride back. At least we have good stories to tell! The attendants were extremely helpful, and it was comforting to see that they dealt with the rowdier people swiftly.

Day 5: Surreal Beauty

Here are some more photos of the scenery in Jasper National Park. November is a very interesting time of year to visit the park because the weather can be so unpredictable (sunshine, rain and snow). The unpredictability makes for some rather unbelievable contrasts of light and darkness. These photos taken on Maligne Road illustrate my point.

Day 4 & 5: Jasper National Park

Come Monday, we had arranged to rent a car. We spent most of Monday and Tuesday sightseeing through the National Park. We explored the Athabasca falls (photo left), looked at the Columbia icefields, walked through Maligne Canyon, and stood speechless at the magnificent beauty of Medicine Lake and Maligne Lake in the winter time. (Yes, I took lots of photos...)

We also came across lots of wildlife. (I had expected some, but not quite this many!) We saw big horn sheep, mountain goats, cariboo, white-tailed deer, and even a pair of wolves. About the only thing we didn't see were bears. But that was expected as most bears are likely getting ready or already in hibernation this time of year.

A not so common sighting of a pair of wolves (that's what
we think they were anyway!) on the way to Maligne Lake.


Maligne Canyon. This waterfall actually freezes over in a few
weeks allowing hikers to walk through the canyon on foot. People
with higher risk tolerance actually ice-climb the waterfall.

Medicine Lake: A beautiful scene as the sun highlighted parts of this
seemingly all enclosed lake with no exit point. Water in fact flows out
of this lake through several underground rivers / streams to Maligne Lake.

Maligne Lake. Incredibly beautiful and pristine views of the
Rocky Mountains were visible from the lake.


On the road between Maligne Lake and Jasper. It had just snowed a few
hours ago, and the trees were still sprinkled with snow, creating beautiful
contrasts in the trees. Notice the layering of trees in this valley.

It was so pretty outside, we decided to stop the car on the
highway and take a picture. (Not to worry - there was not
high traffic whatsoever!)

Day 3: Jasper Town

Sunday was spent mostly exploring the town of Jasper itself. We began the morning by attending worship service at a local baptist church. Apart from having the opportunity to worship God in such a beautiful town where the beauty of God's creation was so abundant, we also noted the incredible sense of community in the church.

For example, we were greeted by Paul, a brother in Christ who also happened to be the Parks Canada tour guide at the train station. We also recognized other familiar faces from around town. Indeed Paul remembered us from the day before, and was delighted to see that we had come to worship with them as well. (It turns out Paul had also heard of the Bridge church -- spotting a recent advertisment for worship leaders at Regent College last time he was in Vancouver! God works in mysterious ways.) The tight knit community reminded us a bit of the ficticious "Stars Hollow" in the Gilmore Girls.

Much like the ficticious "Stars Hollow", much of the commerce and industry in Jasper revolves around tourism. During the peak seasons of the year, Jasper is bustling with people interested in skiing, seeing wildlife and generally having a good time. However, during the non-peak seasons (November is definitely one of those times), the town seems to settle into a more local mode. Some restaurants even close altogether during this month either for renovations or to enjoy some vacation time of their own.

Photo Right Caption: This one shown in the photo to the right was an example of a restaurant that had closed. Of course the sign caught my attention -- I guess changing times and demographics had this previously "Chinese Canadian Food" restaurant rebranding itself as purely "Chinese" food.... though a quick glance at their menu has me questioning that a bit.

Visiting Jasper in November thus gave us a bit of an insider's look at Jasper - which we appreciated. We even had the chance of visiting the local arena and community centre.

Here are some of the places we discovered:

Cafe Mondo seemed to be a local hangout. This italian themed cafe (I mean with the flag draped at the back - what was your first clue?) was buzzling with music, TV with the latest sports, local town folk and a wonderful variety of coffees, hot chocolates and cookies. Karen and I visited this cafe a few times during our trip to chat and thoroughly enjoyed it.


The Other Paw Bakery and Cafe was also another place where locals and passing train engineers seemed to hang out. Though the atmosphere was more of a darker theme than Cafe Mondo's, we enjoyed their freshly baked pastries.

Day 1 & 2: All Aboard the train to Jasper!

The Ng's climbed aboard the Canadian VIA Rail train enroute to Jasper in the early part of November for our annual "vacation in the winter time". (Vancouver is typically grey, rainy and wet this time of year, so it's a perfect time to get away.)

Though some may think we were crazy to bring a two year old on yet another 16 hour journey, the train turned out to be a remakably fun mode of transport for Erich:

• The coach class had wide open seats facing seats (similar to sitting business class on an airplane)
• The washrooms, though not huge were certainly bigger than airplane washrooms and were cleaned regularly.
  
• The train afforded us the luxury of being able to walk up and down through cars.
• Included in the train of cars was an observation deck, a games/activity area, a cafeteria, and a dining car - all of which meant that two year olds can have lots of fun exploring while we all took in the breathtaking view of the Canadian Rockies.
  

Shown here is a picture (right) of Erich assembling a paper VIA train after finishing a Thomas the tank engine puzzle in the activity car.

When we arrived in Jasper, we checked into a suite at the Jasper Inn. The Jasper Inn was a reasonable hotel. Our one bedroom suite included a small kitchen and a wood fireplace; we made use of both extensively. With the kitchen, we were able to prepare all of our own meals. This meant of course cost savings, guaranteed healthy meals and additional family time. The fireplace afforded me and Erich male bonding time as I dutifully passed on how to start a wood fire, the proper way!

After settling in, buying groceries at the local supermarket (photo left), and exploring the quaint (albeit partly closed due to off-season) town we settled in for a good night's rest. Unlike Erich, who could actually fit across two seats on the train to sleep, Karen and I had not gotten as much sleep as we would have liked. We traded positions throughout most of the night while we tried to get some sleep.

Jam packed days...

September and October have been very busy for us - probably why you haven't seen too many posts on this blog lately.

Both Karen and I had major upgrades to deal with at work, and we've also been preparing Erich to attend his new daycare upstairs.

On the note of daycare -- this was so touch and go ... coordinating daycare spaces is difficult, particularly when one wants to keep the child's best interest in mind. All of his friends had "graduated" to the upstairs daycare while he was still downstairs. But as his friends graduated, the upstairs spaces quickly filled, creating a situation where we were worried he might not be able to attend daycare with all his friends after he turns three. Fortunately, a space freed up in November, and so he has been able to attend his new daycare as of November 1st.

Phew! We need a vacation!

A week with an incredible team!

Part of the joys of being part of a small church plant is that we are often heavily dependent on outside support. In our case, the Bridge Church is blessed to have much support from various churches in Canada and the United States. While others may consider this a weakness, I consider it a tremendous blessing. It is a golden opportunity to see God working in the lives of His children.

Specifically, these churches faithfully pray for us, support us financially and send teams of 10-15 every summer. We are grateful not only to them, and to the churches they represent, but we are ultimately grateful to the Holy Spirit. These teams provide both the beneficiary of mission work (in this case our church and our community) and the giver of the work a glimpse into the providence and the abundant love of God.

Many of you know that Karen and I have a heart for missions; those at Joy Fellowship or Reading, UK know firsthand the impact God can have when He motivates people for Christ. What a blessing it was to fellowship with like minded people - youth no less, who have a genuine heart for the kids in our community and for our city at large.

This particular team, led by John and Pam Peccararo and Floyd Romero of First Baptist Church, The Colony, Texas came to help us with our summer kids camp (Vacation Bible School). Though the number of kids that attended were not numerous, this team had hearts that were big, and the kids that did attend benefited greatly from their ministry.

Throughout the week they were here, we were able to build relationships with many of them. We delighted in serving them, and were encouraged by their dedication to share the gospel, but most of all we were encouraged that they were willing to go beyond their comfort zone and experience God through contexts they might not have been accustomed to. As they toured around our city, they began to tune their hearts to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and in turn grasped the spiritual condition of our city.

Both Karen and I were particularly moved when this team (who normally are not accustomed to walking) covered our community in prayer. They walked and prayed from Broadway and Burrard through Kitsilano to the West End, and then on through Gastown and the Downtown Eastside.

God is at work in this city. After having spent a week with this wonderful team, I know this to be true. What a privilege it is to be a part of His work.

A very busy July!

Well indeed it has been a very busy summer for the Ng family this year - so busy that this blog has been kept rather out of date for quite some time. Rather than do individual entries, I'll attempt to summarise:

The Bridge Church hosted our annual sports camp with kids from the community. This event has always been fun to watch, and to be a part of. It is amazing to watch what happens as youth from our mission teams interact and encourage these kids. Shown here is the awards night. This is where each child from the sports camp is presented with an award -- a character attribute that someone at the camp noticed about them. I cannot begin to describe how much this encourages them. What is more is that relationships are built, and kids in our community have a chance to experience what it is like to be a Christ follower.


Erich, keen as always to sing began some rudimentary piano lessons with his aunt this summer. It's been a really cool time for aunt Joycelin to get together and interact with Erich.





Emily, the youngest of the Bartlett family had her birthday over the summer as well. Shown here is a picture of her admiring the cake her mom made for her.

Erich had lots of fun too. He made quite the deal out of being able to 'drive' to Emily's birthday party!










We visited with good friends from high school (Karen) and university (Jonathan) to see their one month old boy. He is so very cute and so very tiny! I think I have forgotten what it is like to hold a newborn compared to Erich! It was so much fun being able to catch up with old friends. I even managed to put their baby to sleep for them!







Eddie, our IT consultant turned pastry chef, now long-term missionary tentmaking as a baker friend came back from Liberia briefly and had a wonderful stay with us. Erich graciously gave up his room so that Eddie could stay. I had the formidable task of transforming Erich's crib into a makeshift bed... something I managed to do with a few step stools, the top of an old desk, a futon mattress and a whole bunch C clamps. (Now Eddie, no jumping on the bed!) On a more serious note though, it was inspiring hearing what God has done in Eddie's life over the past 6 months, and he certainly encouraged me in my walk with Jesus and my faith. If you get the chance, I would encourage you to check out his blog!






Richard, a friend and relatively new member to our small group was baptized on Sunday, July 27th. I always like to boast about our baptismal tank - always available, never needs refilling and ample space. :-) Shown here are two photos - one just as he is making a public confession of his faith in Jesus Christ, and the next of his baptism. Congratulations Richard!







Erich took swimming lessons again over the summer. Shown here is him about to take a jump from the platform. Move over Michael Phelps! He's coming to get ya!






Erich has also taken to other forms of exercise. In particular, I've noticed he's become REALLY good at climbing stuff. Here at a playground near Port Moody (Belcarra Park), Erich easily handles the faux-stone climbing wall set out before him... and he searches methodically for the next best step!






Goodbye Sarah! Sarah Conner moved back to Kansas this summer as well. She finished her last year of high school this year and has moved back to Kansas in hopes of beginning her freshman year in the new year. We wish you the very best Sarah!

Happy Birthday Isaak and Elias!

My nephews celebrated their 3rd and 1st birthdays this summer. The Tsos held a grand party to celebrate. What fun it is to see them grow, and to see them celebrate another year. I love these photos because they show so much of their individual personalities.

Elias, is quietly content and happy to be held by Opa as he blows out his candle. Isaak, the adventurous explorer is already curious what happens if you should touch the candle!

Happy Birthday Isaak and Elias, and many more to come!

Sarah's Photo Shoot

With graduations come graduation photographs. This past July, I had the privelege of taking Sarah's "seniors" photos. Sarah, who has spent the last several years in Vancouver along with her missionary parents, is moving back to Kansas where she will begin her freshman year.

She is a beautiful young lady, and a joy to photograph. Some bystanders even mistook her for a model! Not a bad situation to be in considering we got a free cruise on the harbour because of that!

Exposure Information: Canon 10D, EF 70-200mm f/4L lens @ 200mm, f/4.0, 1/800 ISO 200. Gold reflector camera left.

From a photographical point of view, this was my favourite shoot yet. I had a lot of fun, and I was able to employ techniques I hadn't tried in 'production' before. For instance, I made heavy use of off camera diffused strobe lighting: first as the fill, then as the key light as the evening wore on. It made for a great learning experience and good confidence booster.

Many thanks to the Conners who trusted me with this opportunity and also many thanks to my wife Karen for encouraging me to pursue my photographic skills. (plus she's pretty good at getting people to pose also!)

Here are some of the results.

Exposure Information: Canon 10D, EF 70-200mm f/4L lens
@ 70mm, f/5.6, 1/60 ISO 200. (Strobist) Shot into sun, fill flash from off
camera flash @ 1/4 power through white umbrella, camera right.

Exposure Information: Canon 10D, EF 70-200mm f/4L lens
@ 104mm, f/5.0, 1/40 ISO 200, tripod mounted. (Strobist) Shot into
sun, fill flash from off camera flash @ 1/4 power through white
umbrella, camera right.

Exposure Information: Canon 10D, EF 35mm f/2 lens @ f/3.5, 1/60 ISO 100
(Strobist) Off camera flash @ 1/2 power through white umbrella, camera left.

Happy Canada Day!

The Ng family took a journey to Canada Place to celebrate Canada Day today -- probably our first time since our early university days. It's amazing how having kids will kick one's sorry butt off the couch and out doing something fun instead! Erich had a blast. We saw concerts, mounties, bagpipe bands, military equipment, and even tasted the very quebecois treat of maple-syrup taffee.... where they roll the maple syrup on packed snow into a lollipop. Mmmmm.... I remember having those in Quebec in the dead of winter as a kid. Of course, one does have to wonder the wisdom of having ice cold taffee (which melts almost the instance it leaves the ice) on a hot hot Vancouver day.

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Johnston!

Two old friends from university got married today at a chapel near Stanley Park. Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Johnston! We are so happy for you two.

Two and a half...

Another 6 month mark... oh just too cute. We were just coming home from a walk, and the sun had this interesting glowing quality about it on the porch. So I grabbed the camera, and this is the result.

I also took the opportunity to take a shot of the little guy hanging out with mommy. :-)