Of dads and daughters

A grand day at the office
London, ON
January 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Look, it's spontaneous take-your-kid-to-work day!

Seriously, I haven't kidnapped her, or forced her into doing my work for me. She's spending the afternoon with me here, churning through her uni coursework while I type away next to her.

I have no words to describe what it's like to have a kid like Dahlia (immensely proud comes to mind), and to be able to spend time working alongside her here. I also have no words to describe what it's like to work for an organization that's so family-centric, and so supportive of moments like this.

In other words, this is a good day, and I'm thankful.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #345ridout #infotechrg #InfoTech #itrg #workhardplayhard #bestjobever #parenthood #dahlia #peanut #girl #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Jack of hearts, dirty and forgotten

Bad hand
London, ON
January 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Noticed this forlorn scene on the sidewalk as I was walking the dog early Wednesday morning, and all I could think of was how we're all dealt a hand of cards, and it's entirely our call how we choose to play them.

A dirty card on a dirty, frozen sidewalk probably shouldn't be much of a theme for an Instagram post, but I can't see in advance what will trigger me as I move through the day. On this morning it was a discarded playing card. Some other day it might be a giant root. Or a butterfly, or some cracked pavement. I'm weird that way.

It's been two days since I took this, yet I'm only sharing it now. Some things take time to settle. Your brain needs to percolate them first, figure out what they mean, if they mean anything at all. Even if they're seemingly trivial things like dirty cards on dirty, frozen sidewalks.

There's beauty in the trivial. I have to remind myself to keep looking for it. Or, as increasingly seems to be the case, to allow it to keep finding me.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #random #urban #street #stilllife #photography #card #cards #jack #hearts #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Old bridge over a swollen river

Engineering that (still) works
London, ON
January 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I finally figured out what the bridge over troubled water looks like.

Sorry.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #bridge #bridgesofinstagram #weather #thames #river #flood #composition #lines #zoom #random #urban #street #photography #canon #canon_photography #canonphotography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Not quite Homer's monorail

Surprise!
Orlando, FL
January 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

When a passing monorail photobombs your picture of the giant golf ball in the sky, your only choice is to shoot first and figure it out later.

I know it's a theme park, where everything is programmed and calculated to deliver a specific experience in a specific manner. I know this isn't reality, that the Utopian vision baked into every facet of this overwhelming place is barely sustainable outside the main gates. I get that all of Walt Disney's outsized optimism was ultimately designed to do one thing: Sell us more stuff we likely don't need.

But still, this place makes you think about what could be if we manage get our collective act together, if we decide global interests matter more than regional, national, and individual ones. If we decide to finally look at our differences as reasons to connect instead of separate.

Overly optimistic? Of course. But optimism never hurt anyone.

The monorail, in particular, still feels like a future transportation vision come to life, a nod toward sustainable placemaking where communities are designed around collective transportation networks that don't start and end with the car. Again, this is uber-commercial Disney, but the fact that something conceived in the 1950s still looks and feels current in 2020 is remarkable.

Wouldn't it be nice if more city planners came to this place, then returned home with heads full of ideas for a better future? Don't we all need some kind of spark? And shouldn't those sparks be as diverse and wild as can be?

Maybe there's more to a place like this than Fast Passes, Mickey and Minnie Mouse ears, and overpriced junk food.

#orlando #florida #fla #road #trip #disney #disneyworld #waltdisneyworld #epcot #monorail #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #vacation #explore #photography #canon #canon_photography #canonphotography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Saying thanks to the Challenger crew

Shattered
Merritt Island, FL
December 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

34 years ago yesterday, a shining example of the best technology humans could create blew itself to pieces in the cold, blue skies above the Florida coast.

The Space Shuttle Challenger accident was a turning point, the end of an era when we believed technology was largely invincible. It opened our eyes to human factors, and taught us they mattered as much as - or perhaps more than - the greasy bits.

I was privileged to visit the Kennedy Space Center last month, and was moved by the memorials to the Apollo 1, Challenger, and Columbia crews. Seeing the wreckage was hard, and more than anything drove home just how thankful we should be to those who choose to explore on our behalf.

I've never believed in simply lamenting what's been lost. There has to be a takeaway, some good from the bad. 17 astronauts died for a reason. Progress always demands sacrifice, and we can't use risk as an excuse to stop pushing for more.

We've come so far since each of these tragedies. We've (largely) learned from each of them and fed that knowledge into future space systems. We just marked 20 years of continuous human presence in orbit, in a vehicle larger than a football field, built and maintained by experts from many nations. SpaceX and Boeing will soon launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil. Mega Moon and Mars ships are already being built. The very seeds of humanity's eventual expansion beyond Earth are starting to bear early fruit. And they were planted by the crews of these three ill-starred craft.

So as I stood on the other side of the glass and lingered over the shattered remnant of a ship that once carried our hopes into the heavens, I found myself wishing her crew could somehow know that their journey didn't end on that awful day over the Atlantic. Thanks to them, we've gone further than we ever could have dreamed.

It seemed appropriate to whisper a quiet thank you before I headed for the exit.

#kennedy #space #center #ksc #kennedyspacecenter #florida #fla #spaceshuttle #shuttle #challenger #ov099 #accident #spaceflight #iss #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #google #pixel2 #teampixel #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Let's talk, for real, about #BellLetsTalk

Sick, not weak
London, ON
January 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It’s a big day for #mentalhealth here in the Great White North, as our nation’s largest telecom company, Bell Canada, blankets the airwaves as part of #BellLetsTalk Day.

All you need to do is tweet, retweet, watch the video, use the Facebook frame or Snapchat filter, or if you’re a Bell customer, send a text or make a mobile or long distance call. For each one, Bell will donate 5 cents to Canadian mental health initiatives.

Awesome stuff all. But let’s not fool ourselves into thinking we can sling around a hashtag for a few hours and call the problem solved. Slacktivism hasn’t cured war, eliminated terrorism, ended racism, or rebalanced historic gender imbalance. And it won’t “fix” this, either.

Let’s also not subscribe to the notion that Bell, which regularly sends HR teams to offices across the country to fire people simply because the accountants need better margins this quarter, is somehow not qualified to do this because it’s a lousy place to work.

Disclosure: I worked for Bell Media for a few years before resigning. I remember well when the HR folks showed up and called folks, one-by-one, into the conference room. I remember what it felt like to work for a company where individual performance had zero correlation to your career path. The depressive shockwaves buffeted us year-round, as otherwise loyal employees wondered when their time would be up.

It feels disingenuous for a company that summarily abuses employees’ mental health to wrap itself in the kumbaya flag of mental health awareness. But life isn’t black-and-white. And if Bell doesn’t underpin this campaign, who will? Who else, at this scale, is out there pushing toward a better future where mental health is finally, justifiably viewed on the same plane as every other kind of health?

I grew up in a house where those who suffered were “cuckoo”, where mental health professionals were derisively called “shrinks”, and those who suffered were shunned. Bell may indeed suck as an employer, but it deserves our support in ensuring all of us can seek mental health care just as easily as we get treated for cancer or heart disease.

Until that happens, #BellLetsTalk is our best hope to #endthestigma.

Shattered illusion on a downtown street

No, not really
London, ON
January 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Cities often struggle to put their best foot forward when the rest of the world comes to town.

To wit, #LdnONT’s attempts to make the downtown core look festive and vital in advance of Country Music Week in 2017 and the Juno Awards last year. With thousands of industry heavyweights descending on the city to celebrate the best of the best, a fresh coat of something was needed to hide the usual warts that normally cover this neighborhood.

On a streetscape pockmarked by empty storefronts often populated by members of the city’s burgeoning homeless population, it’s a tough illusion to pull off. And now that the events are long over and the glittering crowds have returned to wherever they came from, the remnants of these times look even sadder than they did then.

The only thing worse than a sad scene is a sad scene punctuated by half-baked attempts to make it look less sad. Which, as we know, only amplifies the sadness.

Such is the case here. No one, especially the individual looking for warmth in the barely sheltered doorway, would realistically read the slogan and buy what its creators are trying to sell, especially in light of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary that crowds into - and beyond - this frame.

You can load up a pig with a decade’s worth of lipstick, and no one will be fooled into believing there’s anything but a pig underneath it all.

The completion of the slick-looking flex street only adds insult to injury. Tens of millions of dollars worth of fancy grey-and-black-shaded pavement stones, but still countless souls live outside, on those very stones, in torment and addiction.

If only a liberal dose of makeup could fix what ails this place.

#london #ontario #canada #random #urban #downtown #dundas #street #photography #building #community #crisis #hope #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #google #pixel2 #teampixel #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Rocket science, up close

Five bells
Merritt Island, FL
December 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Nothing much to see here. Just the business end of 3 Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25D (Block II) engines - aka Space Shuttle Main Engines, or SSMEs.

These reusable closed-cycle, cryogenic liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen-powered monsters were known as the Ferraris of rocket engines, and they set all sorts of records for their class when they were first designed in the late 1970s. In fact, they’re still flying, sort of, almost 9 years after they were last fired in anger, on the last shuttle mission ever, Atlantis's STS-135.

16 leftover RS-25s from the shuttle era are, 4 at a time, being built into the core stage of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket, and as we speak the first flightworthy core stage sits in the B Test Stand at NASA's Stennis Space Center. The Green Run campaign will see all four engines light off and run the full 8-minute launch-to-orbit flight profile while bolted solidly to the ground.

I'll bring the popcorn.

Unfortunately, reusability isn’t part of the deal with SLS, with the engines and rockets burning up on re-entry after their job is done. After the 4th mission, new-build RS-25Es will slot into place.

But all that was theoretical. On this December day with my family, it was enough for me to stand beneath the bell nozzles at the back of Atlantis and stare for a bit. As a child, I used to watch these same nozzles come to life on TV and online, so it was rather unreal to be This Close.

What does any of this have to do with the price of eggs? Aerospace, space, science, rockets and such may not have much of a direct connection to my day job, but when the world gets choppy, these become refuges of sorts, virtual places where I can immerse myself in engineering that opens up opportunity for us all, in ways we can't even begin to imagine.

We all need a bit more wonder in our lives. This is some of what I consider wonder. What’s yours?

#kennedy #space #center #ksc #kennedyspacecenter #florida #fla #spaceshuttle #shuttle #atlantis #ov104 #rocket #science #rs25 #aviation #avgeek #spaceflight #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #google #pixel2 #teampixel #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

The dangers of forgetting about Auschwitz

Always follow the light
London, ON
November 2018
This photo originally shared on Instagram

As the world marks 75 years since the liberation of the #Auschwitz death camp, the largest killing grounds in history, I can't let the day go without saying something. A few thoughts:

The #Holocaust can happen again.

In fact, the conditions for the rise of Nazism - or something terrifyingly like it - are ripe.

The signs are all around us. Ignore them at our peril.

Those who survived the Holocaust are reaching the end of their natural lives, and the number of living witnesses to this unfathomable atrocity is moving inevitably toward zero.

Their story must continue to be told even after they are gone.

The storytelling is our responsibility. Every single one of us.

Anti-Israel, BDS, and anti-Zionism are all anti-Semitism. Full stop.

Those who practice it, and deny it is anti-Semitism, are anti-Semitic.

The Token Jew excuse doesn't hide that fact.

Jew-hatred was around long before Hitler.

He and his henchmen raised it to industrially, massively scaled levels.

Jew-hatred isn't going anywhere.

It is the canary in the coal mine of hatred.

It touches us all.

We are all barely removed from someone deciding we are worthy of being singled out. Of extermination.

Jewish. Or not.

We are more alike than not.

Hitler was elected to office.

Those who follow his ideologies are being elected to office as we speak. Check the European map. The American one, too.

It's not much of a jump between random spewing of racist thought to participation in national policy implementation.

And it's happening now.

We say "never again".

The world seems to be ignoring this.

Silence is not an option. For any of us. Jew or not.

Tell their story. Stop history from repeating itself. Be the light.

Walking on air

Where to next?
London, ON
January 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Two dogs on a green bridge on a grey day.

Because moments take place all around us, all the time. All we have to do is look up. Or look far. Or just look at all.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #dog #dogs #dogsofinstagram #instapuppy #actofdog #pets #weather #green #bridge #composition #lines #zoom #random #urban #street #photography #canon #canon_photography #canonphotography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Blue neon at night

That nostalgic glow
Orlando, FL
January 2020
This photo originally shared on Instgram

As neon slowly, almost imperceptibly disappears from the landscape, I feel even more compelled to grab a photo when given the chance.

Whatever replaces it is doubtless higher-tech, more efficient, more marketable. High-res screens can scatter endless kinds of content across the nighttime sky. And then the daytime sky for good measure. They can plaster our eyeballs with gigapixels of ads we never knew we needed.

But they'll never look, or feel, quite like this, where the soft light almost seems to brush the darkness aside, each one seemingly unable to coexist without the other.

Pity that.

Who ever said progress was always a good thing?

#orlando #florida #fla #road #trip #disney #disneyworld #waltdisneyworld #hollywood #studios #night #neon #light #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #vacation #explore #zoom #photography #canon #canon_photography #canonphotography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

#IfYouReadOneThingToday - Negative Space

My latest #IfYouReadOneThingToday isn’t a read at all.‬

‪Negative Space is an Oscar-nominated, stop-motion animated short, and beyond the breathtaking production, it is an achingly beautiful story of family.‬

‪Please watch, the YouTube vid (link here), and share:

Foggy doggy morning

I don't think so, Dad
London, ON
January 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Someone wasn't happy with this morning's fog.

I tried to explain the wonder of it all to her. But she whimpered the entire time we were out, and kept trying to turn around and pull back toward the house.

We may not speak each other's language, but goodness does she ever do a great job making herself understood.

I reverted to the old standby trick of picking her wiggly form up and carrying her partway down the block for just long enough that she'd forget her original angst and be distracted by some other bright shiny object along our path.

This one, of course, forgets nothing, so that plan didn't quite work out. But she did pose for me just before we got back to the house. So I won't call the morning a total washout.

And yet, we love her limitlessly. Funny how that works, no?

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #calli #callitheachnauzer #dog #dogs #schnauzerpuppy #schnauzersofinstagram #schnauzergram #schnauzers #dogsofinstagram #instapuppy #actofdog #pets #winter #snow #weather #fog #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Don't look down

Frozen in the middle of the river
London, ON
January 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Yesterday's lunchtime adventure:

1 - Take a walk.
2 - Find a bridge over potentially troubled, partially frozen waters.
3 - Shoot downwards. Carefully.
4 - Return to the office, refreshed.

Okay. Your turn now. Go...

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #random #urban #street #photography #ridout #bridge #thames #river #frozen #winter #monochrome #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Someone's selling seashells by the seashore

Transience in the sand
Cocoa Beach, FL
December 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Every visit I make to an ocean beach ends with a pocket full of seashells. Or more than one pocket.

It's not like I actually need more dirty ex-crustacean exoskeletons in my life. But somehow it makes me feel better knowing I've held onto a piece of the sea, that I did something tangible to remember having been at this particular spot on this particular day. That feeling of random, wet, sand-covered shells clicking and clacking as I wander off the beach and head back to the real world? Priceless.

The scene you see here, captured in the intertidal zone where waves wash the sand flat as they remove any evidence that anyone was there, has stuck in my brain since I took it on the morning of the last day of the last year of the last decade. At first glance, it looks like randomly scattered shells. But it's the tracks in the sand that stick with me.

Because they'll be here only until the next wave rolls in and redraws the landscape. And shifts the shells a tiny bit. Soon enough, another wave rolls in and does the same thing - new tracks, slightly moved locations. Then another wave, and another, all part of an endless back-and-forth of energy, matter, and what once sheltered life. Stick around long enough to see the longer-lead erosion of the shells themselves. Or even the sand. Because these cycles are timeless. And relentless.

This dance in the shallows takes place largely unnoticed by the few humans who have come to this beach to take in the sunrise. Even when the beach is packed later on in the day, I doubt anyone will take notice of the subtle show playing out at their feet.

Far be it for me to dictate the behaviors of others, but I wish they would. Because they're missing quite the show. And all they have to do is look down.

What does this have to do with the rest of our lives? Still figuring that out.

#cocoa #beach #cocoabeach #florida #fla #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #vacation #explore #sunrise #waves #shells #stilllife #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Staring down at the pounding surf

Temporary texture
Delray Beach, FL
December 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Every once in a while, I like to wade into the surf, point my camera down, and see what I can come up with.

Like so many of my little, um, peculiarities, there isn't a whole lot of rationale behind this one. If I were asked about it, I suppose I'd explain it as follows:

I like water. Ocean water tops the list, but fresh water from the Great Lakes fits the bill, too. Okay, any water, really.

I like what it does when it tumbles into, over, and across a sandy beach, powered by the energy of a manta ray deep underwater thousands of kilometres away. Or a puff of wind. Or some other force I can't identify, but trust that it exists.

I like the randomness of it all.

I like how it makes me feel, both from the powerful rush of the crashing wave, and the foamy massage I get when the water reverses direction and heads back to sea.

I like the feel of the wind in my ears, and the smell of the salt in my nose. It makes me feel alive in a way few other experiences do.

I like the way nothing else matters while I'm shooting here - as if the rest of the world gets put on hold while I play photographer in the surf.

I like knowing that somewhere else, also on another beach near another edge of the planet, some complete stranger is likely doing exactly the same thing. Because we're never truly alone.

I like it, period. And we should all be spending the limited time we've been given doing things that touch our respective souls.

If you end up with a decent picture at the end of it all, so much the better.

#delray #beach #delraybeach #florida #fla #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #vacation #explore #waves #atlantic #ocean #water #texture #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

The warmer side of (space capsule) cool

Gemini 9A, post-descent
Merritt Island, FL
December 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

A not-so-funny thing happens to things when they slam into the Earth's atmosphere at 25 times the speed of sound: They burn to a crisp. So spacecraft designers use every trick available to them to keep that from happening.

Ablative heat shields - like the ones found on the blunt ends of early U.S. capsules like the Gemini 9A you see here - are designed to literally disintegrate as the vehicle descends deeper into the ever-thicker air. That carries away excess heat and keeps the inside as cool as a cucumber.

The space shuttle orbiters used more sophisticated non-ablative materials - together they formed the thermal protection system, or TPS - that, along with a bunch of other technologies, allowed these winged wonders to be reused. Old-style or new, the Columbia accident proved just how critical these technologies are, and just how lethal the high-speed, high-altitude regime in which they operate can be when they fail.

So getting up close and personal with the business end of a capsule that NASA legends Gene Cernan (later Apollo 10 & 17) and Tom Stafford (later Apollo 10 & ASTP, and instrumental developer of the F-117 Nighthawk and B-2 Spirit) flew in before I was even born was quite the rush, and I lingered over the heat-scarred heat shield for a while. Plasma can do some incredible things to human-made objects, and it's not a bad thing for any of us to see it first-hand.

It's weird how that works. You can study the physics and the engineering, and understand at a detail level how the shape of a vehicle and the materials used to build it can keep its occupants safe amid the harshest environments ever encountered by humanity. But until you can stand Right There, you'll never appreciate just what an achievement - even 53-plus years later - it was, and is.

Perhaps that's a lesson for the Digital Age, when we seem to think experiencing something on-screen is sufficient. Not always.

#kennedy #space #center #ksc #kennedyspacecenter #florida #fla #gemini #gemini9a #spaceship #rocket #science #technology #aviation #avgeek #spaceflight #monochrome #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #google #pixel2 #teampixel #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

QOTD: On deadlines

Found on a wall at Disney
Orlando, FL
January 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Walt Disney was right: Everyone needs deadlines. But do they respect them? Perhaps that's a question for another day.

#orlando #florida #fla #road #trip #disney #disneyworld #waltdisneyworld #mickey #mickeymouse #hollywood #studios #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #vacation #explore #zoom #photography #canon #canon_photography #canonphotography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Art deco on blue

Color, tone, and history
Orlando, FL
January 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I have a weakness for art deco, blue sky, and artful combinations of the two.

Sorry.

#orlando #florida #fla #road #trip #disney #disneyworld #waltdisneyworld #mickey #mickeymouse #hollywood #studios #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #vacation #explore #zoom #design #photography #canon #canon_photography #canonphotography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Connected by a Chevy Suburban

The way it used to be
Orlando, FL
January 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

The scene: We're wandering through Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park under a perfectly blue Florida sky.

The period-correct streetscapes seem to have come alive in the warm morning sun, the art deco architecture snapping into sharp relief in a riot of pastel shades and rich textures. If I do nothing more than stare at everything I see today, I'll consider it a day well spent.

Retro-looking billboards dot the rooftops, and each one merits a photo. But this particular one is special.

When my wife was a child, her dad drove a Chevrolet Suburban. The brown and beige giant towed the family trailer, and together they formed the backbone of memories of trips across the continent that she carries with her to this day.

The towed trailer was gone by the time we started dating, replaced by an even larger one permanently moored deep inside an upstate New York campground. But the Suburban was still in the driveway. And its shadow loomed large as we slowly built the foundation of our own life together. It was a sad day when the Suburban gave way to the big green Olds.

Years later, I brought a Chevy HHR home. My little black retro-wagon was styled after the 1940s-era Suburban, something that made my father-in-law chuckle when I first told him. It was just a car, but it connected us.

So when I saw the basis for my since-replaced Chevy on this billboard, I instantly thought of him. He would have smiled. I did for both of us.

Because you never know when a cherished, deep-rooted memory will present itself. Or when the universe will choose to gently tell you where to look to find it.

#orlando #florida #fla #road #trip #disney #disneyworld #waltdisneyworld #mickey #mickeymouse #hollywood #studios #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #vacation #explore #zoom #photography #canon #canon_photography #canonphotography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Finding details in a Disney facade

Ornate against the sky
Orlando, FL
January 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

You can't appreciate the details if you aren't looking for them in the first place.

Theme parks are, as you'd imagine, packed with them. Wherever you choose to look, there's some element of artful design that jumps out at you. Or should.

The neat thing about details is they're everywhere. Sure, Disney creates a perfect little world within a world, a snowglobe-like bubble where anything can happen as long as you can afford it.

But here's the thing: Details can be found outside that bubble, as well. Stare closely enough at a facade as you make your way to work and you're bound to see something worth capturing. Old Walt didn't have a monopoly on compelling streetscapes.

Which begs the question: Where will you look next?

#orlando #florida #fla #road #trip #disney #disneyworld #waltdisneyworld #mickey #mickeymouse #hollywood #studios #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #vacation #explore #zoom #photography #canon #canon_photography #canonphotography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Bringing an iPad to life

Dinner is (almost) served
Delray Beach, FL
December 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

First light is an interesting concept. For astronomers, it is the first thing they see when they bring a brand new telescope to life.

So you can imagine they put a lot of thought into where they want to focus before they flip the switch. Meaning and history and lore and all that good stuff.

Photographers have, ah, borrowed the concept of first light, and we apply it to the first photo we take with a new camera. For example, when I brought my new Nikon home a few years ago, my wife was my first light. It remains one of my all-time favorite photos.

No surprise, as she's my all-time favorite person. But I digress.

I replaced my old, rather dead iPad recently, and then promptly forgot that the new one has a nifty camera on it.

Unlike the DSLR, where I agonized over what to shoot for first light, the iPad's camera was brought to life with much less fanfare.

Our kids love these little hot dogs in blankets, especially because kosher ones are really hard to find around here. So when my aunt and uncle ordered deli one night, it seemed like the perfect way to remember a perfect moment with folks who mean the world to us.

On the surface, this may seem like a silly way to mark first light. But it makes me smile.

And it makes me wish we had more moments just like this one, sitting around the kitchen table, eating happy food, sharing happy stories.

#delray #beach #delraybeach #florida #fla #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #vacation #explore #stilllife #food #foodie #foodporn #hotdog #photography #apple #ipad #firstlight #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Dog snow day

Guarding her yard
London, ON
January 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Large chunks of the country are being blanketed by snow today. Eastern Canada, in particular, is experiencing the kind of storm that's already rewriting history and laying down lifelong memories for all who live there.

None of this matters to Calli the Wonderschnauzer. As she is most weekend mornings, she's just as happy to sit on the back of the living room couch and take it all in. And I'm just as happy to sit here, quietly, and watch her.

That said, this is a dog who absolutely loves snow. This morning's walk was spent with her nose firmly buried in a fresh layer of it. She bounced out of the house, threw herself into the first snowbank she could find, and pulled hard the entire time we were out. If only I could borrow some of her energy.

As we both sit here by the window and watch the white stuff fall, I ponder why we got a dog in the first place. So many reasons, really, and each of them would be more than enough to validate the decision.

But on this day, in this spot, a dog's innate ability to drink in the moment without being bothered by anything else seems like the best reason of all.

Blinkered vision. Where can I get some of that for myself?

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #calli #callitheachnauzer #dog #dogs #schnauzerpuppy #schnauzersofinstagram #schnauzergram #schnauzers #dogsofinstagram #instapuppy #actofdog #pets #snow #onstorm #snowmageddon #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Mouse ears in the sky

Come on in
Orlando, FL
January 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

When Mickey stands ready to welcome the world, we'd do well to stop for a bit and take in the spectacle.

It's easy to be cynical around a Disney character, especially one as overcommercialized as Mickey Mouse, but we should avoid the temptation. Almost a century after Steamboat Willie first appeared and introduced us to the magic of animated motion pictures, Mickey and his buddies have become not only icons of the entertainment industry, but universally recognized symbols of childhood, happiness, and inclusion.

So the image of him standing high atop the entrance to Hollywood Studios struck me as worth remembering on this, our first visit to this place. I spent much of the day with half an eye looking for signs, snippets, elements that would serve as signatures of our time here. So grabbing something right at the front door seemed like a worthwhile use of megapixels, and an effective way to kickstart a day of childlike exploration with my family.

The deeper we got into the park, the more I thought about what I had seen at its entrance. Seeing the fine detail in something as typically simple as this makes me wonder why we don't make a bigger deal of the welcome.

Even something as basic as a welcome mat on the front porch seems to soften the moment, crack a smile, instantly change how visitors feel as they cross the threshold and enter someone else's space. Humans seem to be big on beginnings and endings, greetings and goodbyes and other milestones, so it makes eminent sense to record them a bit more deliberately, to be a little more in the moment as we experience them.

I'm just naive enough to believe that paying more attention to the welcome will somehow ripple out some goodness into the universe. Call me an optimist.

Who would have imagined it would be Mickey who would remind me why this matters as much as it does? Thanks, buddy.

#orlando #florida #fla #road #trip #disney #disneyworld #waltdisneyworld #mickey #mickeymouse #hollywood #studios #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #vacation #explore #zoom #photography #canon #canon_photography #canonphotography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Burn the sky down

Catch it while you can
Orlando, FL
January 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Who doesn't like a good fireworks display?

It is the quintessential exclamation point to a great party. As American as baseball (without the cheating), apple pie (reduced-sugar recipe), and Chevrolet (but not the ones imported from Mexico, because 'Murica!)

But it's 2020. And in between sharing and looking at cat videos, the digital literati have decided that fireworks may not be the most eco friendly way to celebrate something. They scare puppies and kittens. They light brush on fire. They annoy the daylights out of the old man down the street who's been cursing your kids for playing stickball in front of his yard since before they were born.

And they can hurt us. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says 9,100 Americans were hospitalized with fireworks-related injuries. Over one-third were children, and I'll leave the visuals out of it, because they're jarring.

And yet, they retain a certain elemental appeal. Who doesn't like to watch lots of stuff get blown up in the sky? Who doesn't want to stand on the ground and go "wow" over and over? Who wouldn't be moved by a pyrotechnic dance in the heavens?

Coordinated drone swarms are starting to replace fireworks here and there, and I'm guessing we'll see this trend continue. Because, hey, technology!

But as I stood beside a giant lake with my family and watched the sky fill with the very signature of Americana, I couldn't help but think that in the right hands, at the right moment, under the right conditions, there was nothing quite like a good old fashioned fireworks show.

We should take them in while we still can. Because nothing lasts forever.

#orlando #florida #fla #canada #road #trip #disney #disneyworld #waltdisneyworld #epcot #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #vacation #explore #fireworks #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

A chef sings in an alley

Hidden art
London, ON
January 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

You have to look carefully for the signs, but if you do, they're everywhere.

Of an undercurrent of creativity in this city.

Of artists looking for new ways - any ways, really - to find an audience.

Of building owners trying to tighten their connections to the community.

Of hope lurking in the darkest places.

Of new discoveries waiting around every corner.

I found this delightful example just off of Richmond Street. I had gone for a walk looking for inspiration, and once again my fair city didn't disappoint.

Some gifted stranger has clearly been busy. And on a gray afternoon deep in the shadows of a forgotten alley, I smiled at the prospect of someone I've never met having the power to move me, if only for the briefest of moments.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #downtown #urban #city #richmond #street #photography #streetphotography #art #color #alley #chef #restaurant #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Cool lamp in a cool hotel

Shedding some light on the subject
Knoxville, TN
January 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Let's get this out of the way right here: I shoot weird things. Sorry. (I'm also Canadian, so...)

It's my way of dealing with Planet Earth and all the unpredictable stuff that happens on it. Some folks get me. Some don't. That's OK, too.

My latest example of weird is this desk lamp, found in, of all places, a hotel room in Knoxville, TN. Weird as it may seem, this seemingly unassuming light fixture, in this room, in this place, on this day, helped shape a moment that our little brood will likely remember for some time.

A few hours earlier, we had found a delightful hotel tucked away in a quiet corner of a city far from home. Rather, my wife had found it. From her phone. As I drove on a crowded, darkened highway.

Technology. Wonder. Serendipity. Whatever we call it, the universe seemed to want us to stop at this hotel. So we did.

The place was fairly new, and whoever designed it was given free rein to fill it with the kind of flourishes that made weary travellers smile. It's a little thing, but ultimately it isn't. Good design matters. So do smiles. Never forget that.

As we happily buzzed around the room in the morning, getting ready to leave this place behind on our way home, I zeroed in on the lamp. I can still hear the banter in my ears as I composed and shot. It was a good moment, a sign from the universe that dark chapters eventually end. Or maybe they continue on, but you keep finding flashes of light amid them.

I'm actually not entirely sure how that works. But as long as you keep looking for the light, then chances are you'll find your way through. Or maybe it's as long as the light continues to find you.

Whatever the case, there was light in this place, and I didn't want to forget what it felt like before we continued on our journey.

#knoxville #tennessee #tn #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #vacation #explore #i75 #tru #hilton #hotel #stilllife #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

You're shooting the wrong way, moron

With the sun at my back...
Cocoa Beach, FL
December 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

While everyone shoots toward the horizon, I'm the idiot facing the other way. Why?

Directional challenges notwithstanding, I'm out here in the early morning for two reasons:

1) I don't enjoy hot days on the beach. I’m not particularly fond of crowds or oppressive heat, so the prospect of wedging myself in between towel-flicking groups of teens and middle-aged men spilling out of their Speedos while they fish crumpled Camel cigarettes out of their cracked blue-and-yellow pleather Adidas gym bags doesn’t rank high on my priority list. Goodness, this makes me seem old. So be it.

2) We were only in Cocoa Beach for the night, and would be leaving just after breakfast. So I needed to log some quiet time by the ocean before we loaded Stella up and hit the road.

Thankfully early mornings, when the beach is nearly empty, have always been my jam. And this morning, just south of where NASA and its partners launch rockets - and soon humans - into space, was a perfect example of why I love places like this. As I shot the sunrise, I dug my toes into the cool sand, and wished I could somehow capture, or freeze in time, what that felt like.

Once the requisite sunrise photos were taken, I turned 180 degrees and focused up the beach instead. I love these moments, when the low-angled golden sun paints shadowy evidence of all who were once here. Doubtless in a few hours it’ll all get jumbled again under the feet of countless new visitors to this place, but for now, it feels frozen in time.

I could feel through my toes the warmth slowly displacing the coolness in the sand, a sign that my quiet break from the rest of the planet would soon have to end. So I finished shooting and headed back, promising myself I'd return soon.

Almost forgot to answer that why-I-face-the-opposite-direction question. Simple: I'd rather tell my own stories, which sometimes means going where others don't. Or looking where they aren't.

#cocoa #beach #cocoabeach #florida #fla #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #vacation #explore #sunrise #waves #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Learning a sweet, difficult lesson

Almost too perfect to eat
Cancun, Mexico
November 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Not a day goes by that we each don't learn some hard lesson about how tough life can be.

Yet as one hard day in a hard world gives way to another, I'd like to think we largely retain the capacity to hold on, hang in, and find the good amid the less-than-good.

Because I refuse to believe that we've been given life so we can fritter it away whining about how much it sucks. Headlines notwithstanding, it doesn't. Far from it.

This is a plate of desserts that was left in our hotel room during our recent vacation. These lovelies didn't last very long after this photo was taken, and for the record, they were divine.

The more I look at the sole remaining photographic evidence that they ever existed, the more I like the shot. It isn't often that texture, color, and composition somehow suggest sweetness, but somehow here they do.

And I'd give anything to have that moment back.

#cancun #mexico #food #foodporn #foodie #instafood #foodphotography #foodstagram #dessert #color #stilllife #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Finding Canada in a distant land

Maple Leaf Forever, Wherever
Orlando, FL
January 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

You can't help but smile when you find a tiny slice of Canadiana so far from home.

#orlando #florida #fla #canada #road #trip #disney #disneyworld #waltdisneyworld #epcot #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #vacation #explore #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Hanging out on the backlot

Light from darkness
Orlando, FL
January 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I don't think I view theme parks through the same lens as anyone else. Then again, I don't think I view ANYTHING through the same lens as anyone else. Part of the joy of being me, I guess, for better or for worse.

To wit, Hollywood Studios. Disney's newest park is a riot of overlapping storylines, themes, and architectures. Everywhere you look, there's some kind of stimulus, some kind of element, be it large or small, that defines the movie-ness of this place to the exclusion of all else.

There is no real world here, which is what makes being here such a remarkable experience. Just come on in and immerse yourself in the storytelling.

I admit I struggled a bit at first to take it all in, not sure where to look or what to focus on. It was the most obvious kind of sensory overload I've likely ever experienced, yet I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. When I eventually stopped worrying about what I might miss along the way, I got back into my usual look-into-the-margins groove and started to really get the vibe of the place.

The Backlot Express is one of the park's countless restaurants, and it quickly became one of my favorites thanks to an aesthetic that seemed perfectly aligned with the "why" of this entire park. Standing outside the warehouse-like architecture, I was struck by how subtly it echoed what an actual studio lot might feel like, right down to the roughly scrubbed, corrugated metal shed that housed it all.

This photo belies the frantic pace that seems to define life in Disney's world, and transports me right back to a moment when we got to pause and take in a gently nuanced corner of the planet, under the watchful eye of a crescent moon.

Light, darkness, and composition: A perfect mix that moviemakers for generations have been striving to refine. In this frozen moment toward the end of an epic day for my family, it all somehow seemed to come together.

#orlando #florida #fla #road #trip #disney #disneyworld #waltdisneyworld ##hollywood #studios #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #vacation #explore #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Face-to-face with Space Shuttle Atlantis

Where she rests
Merritt Island, FL
December 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

So I saw Atlantis.

I grew up watching her and her sister ships expand our horizons in space. I would wake up early, stay up late, or even fake being sick so that I could stay home from school and catch a launch or a landing. I plastered my walls with newspaper and magazine clippings (so old school) and memorized every last data point about the program. I viscerally remember where I was and how I felt as I watched the Challenger and Columbia accidents, live on TV.

But I had never seen an orbiter up close - until now. And despite the fact that adults my age aren't supposed to be humbled by much, the moment humbled me. Profoundly.

She was born in an era when America still reached for the stars. Never mind that the original promise of routine access to space was laughably unattainable, or that the Space Transportation System as designed was fatally flawed from the start. It still represented the best in American engineering, and it built today's space reality.

At one point, I just stood under her, near the midbody, and simply reflected. I'd spent a lifetime following this program, and was now in the shadow of its very centrepiece. It felt strangely comforting to be so close to something that had been a faraway reality for so long. Something that defined both my childhood and my adulthood. Something that had lit the fires that pushed me into a technology-based career and fuelled the wonder that drives me to this day.

To that end, the value of an artifact like Atlantis goes far beyond the merely physical. The hundreds of people milling around her weren't just looking at a decommissioned, pockmarked spaceship. Almost without exception, I could see new fires of inspiration being lit, and future plans being drawn up.

It's how we build better tomorrows: By allowing past triumphs to open our eyes to what we'd each like to accomplish next.

#kennedy #space #center #ksc #kennedyspacecenter #florida #fla #spaceshuttle #shuttle #atlantis #ov104 #rocket #science #aviation #avgeek #spaceflight #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #google #pixel2 #teampixel #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

When twin tragedies hit home

No way out
London, ON
January 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

On a day when #LdnONT joined other communities across the country and around the world in coming to grips with the unspeakable loss in Iran of 176 of our best and brightest, one anonymous person tried to stay warm in the city's biting cold.

There is no easy answer for either one of these tragedies. Maybe if we tried being kinder to each other. Maybe if we looked outward instead of inward. Maybe if we stopped seeing others as "others" at all.

I just don't know. But something's got to change.

#london #ontario #canada #iran #iranplanecrash #ukraine #ps752 #downtown #urban #city #dundas #street #photography #streetphotography #alley #homeless #homelessness #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Spaceship Earth, up close

Multifaceted, defined
Orlando, FL
January 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

This may come as a shock to you, but I was a Disney Virgin* until a couple of weeks ago.

Never went as a child, and never much wanted to go as an adult. I love Mickey's sweetness and all that he represents, but I don’t much like crowds. Or wall-to-wall commercialism.

That all ended on New Year’s Eve with an absolutely wild and unforgettable trip to the Magic Kingdom. It was so crowded that they ultimately had to close the park to new admissions. At various times through the day, we stood sardine-like in the middle of the street, waiting for the throngs to clear.

Don’t worry, I have plenty of pictures of that, but it’s this one, taken on a much less frenetic New Year's Day at EPCOT, that sticks with me.

I’ve always had a thing for domes, and the iconic Spaceship Earth ranks near the top of list thanks to its multifaceted surfaces that could keep me occupied all day. I especially love how it's been the centrepiece of Disney's message on sustainability since long before sustainability was even a thing. This structure is inspiring on a number of levels, and we'd do well to listen up.

Of course, if I had the time, I'd shoot every facet of this remarkable piece of architecture. But we had a park to explore, so I shot quickly before we moved on.

I rather like how this one turned out, but I've already got other ideas. Guess we'll have to plan a return visit.

*Credit for the term “Disney Virgin” goes to our daughter, Dahlia. Find her on Instagram @dahlialevyphotography

#orlando #florida #fla #road #trip #disney #disneyworld #waltdisneyworld #epcot #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #vacation #explore #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Quasi-museum in a pharmacy

Classic lineup
Delray Beach, FL
December 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Pharmacies are supposed to be places where you obtain (legal) drugs, make squeamish jokes in the birth control aisle, make even more squeamish jokes in the adult diaper aisle, buy overpriced junk food, and wait in line while Thelma* pays for her Vitamin D supplements with exact change from her teal-colored patent leather change purse.

Pharmacies aren't supposed to be photographic studios.

Except, of course, when they are. When an unseen buyer in an anonymous concrete-block office in suburban Chicago orders too many slightly oversized toy metal cars for the almost 10,000 CVS locations that dot the American landscape.

When that same buyer ships them across the country and forces beleaguered employees from coast to coast to sell the hell out of them to people who just wanted to get some (legal) drugs, cheap (but hopefully effective) condoms, adult diapers that didn't look like adult diapers, and Vitamin D supplements that wouldn't turn their fingertips teal.

So why would Thelma buy a die cast vintage Mercedes 300 SL gullwing coupe? Well, it turns out she wouldn't. And neither did anyone else.

So these things were EVERYWHERE in this particular southern Florida CVS, cascading down and off of a giant display plunked right in the middle of the service desk. Where Thelma felt compelled to complain about the price of her supplements.

Be that as it may, I seized the opportunity to shoot some still-lifes in a place seemingly built for them. Canadian pharmacies, you see, aren't this cool. They're smaller. No toys. No exotic variations of M&Ms and Snickers.

And our versions of Thelma aren't nearly as entertaining.

* Names have been changed to protect the perpetually annoying.

#delray #beach #delraybeach #florida #fla #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #vacation #explore #stilllife #cars #carporn #retail #pharmacy #cvs #store #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Waiting for the light

The last day of the year dawns over the Space Coast
Cocoa Beach, FL
December 2019

Sometimes you need to find a beach before sunrise and just stand there for a bit.

Sometimes you don't need to do much more than close your eyes and feel the steady onshore wind on your face. Or smell the salt in the air.

Sometimes you'll want to wander down close to the spot where the waves break, where the sand is perfectly flat and shiny, and wait for the foamy water to spread over your feet and ankles.

Sometimes you'll need to stand there for a bit and watch the waves wash your footprints away, as if you had never been here.

Sometimes you'll have to pick seashells out of the surf not because you need to, but because you want to.

Sometimes you'll want to listen closely for the sounds of birds dancing through the turbulent air just above the waves. Or fighting with each other. Or both.

Sometimes you'll want to let your feet sink into the cool sand, for no other reason than it feels so elemental.

Sometimes you'll want to linger there longer than you probably should, because you wonder how long it'll be before you can return.

Sometimes you'll turn around one last time for one last look as you walk off the beach. Just because.

Sometimes you won't want to clean up the inevitable wisps of sand in the back of the car, because they serve as reminders of times you wish you could hold onto.

Sometimes, you just want to spend time doing things that make your heart and your soul smile just a little bit wider.

This is one of my sometimes. Whatever your sometime may be, I hope you find it, throw yourself into it, and then find some way to share it with the folks who matter.

Because a life with sometimes in it seems infinitely better than the alternative.

#cocoa #beach #cocoabeach #florida #fla #road #trip #travel #travelphotography #travelgram #vacation #explore #sunrise #waves #photography #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Light the way home

Filthy, but safe
London, ON
January 2020
This photo originally shared on Instagram

Home. Finally. Safely.

Pics - and stories from the road - soon. But first, sleep.

#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #road #trip #travel #vacation #car #auto #automotive #carporn #dirty #stella #lights #google #pixel2 #teampixel #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #lifeinthemargins #family #everything

Neon dreams

Don't look too closely
Grand Bend, ON
July 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

We often don't realize what we've lost until it's too late.

This occurred to me as my family and I strolled along Grand Bend's main drag on a hot and sunny afternoon last summer. Not far from the beach that gives this town its name, we came across an ice cream store that seemed to have been around forever, and I was instantly drawn to its vintage neon sign.

I couldn't remember the last time I had seen one, and while I instantly chimed into why this was the case, I nevertheless felt oddly nostalgic.

Neon isn't terribly energy efficient, especially compared to newer display technologies. It's expensive to make, and ponderous to maintain. It may be difficult to find anyone who knows how it works. It just can't compete against today's giant-sized high-def screens that turn streetscapes into multimedia playgrounds - all controlled by a smartphone.

But this isn't a discussion about the latest technology. It's about art, and the things it says about us, about certain eras, and the lives that were led during them. It's about the way art serves as a signature to who we are, and defines us.

Neon would have dominated long before I was born, when the world looked, felt, and worked very differently than it does today. It painted the urban look when my parents and in-laws were young, and the city at night was their playground. It was their story more than mine.

And when neon vanishes, the stories may fade as well. Which is why despite the fact that old neon signs look pretty sad in the daylight, I'm not quite ready to say goodbye to them for good.

#grand #bend #grandbend #ontario #canada #beach #great #lake #huron #neon #glass #sign #architecture #summer #nikon #nikonphotography #nikon_photography #dslr #instagood #photooftheday #nofilter #nofilterneeded #photography #life #lifeinthemargins #family #everything