biscuit's space | The blog of photographer Katherine Carver

Oct 9

Photographs: Vacationing in Quebec City

We went to Quebec City in September this year, and I have finally had time to finish culling and editing the images from our vacation, our second vacation with our dear, Victory! You can view the snapshot of our vacation here, which I posted upon our return from Quebec City! (You can also view our vacation last year to Montreal, Quebec here.)

We started our vacation In Manchester, Vermont. We took Victory to Mount Equinox, and the views were just beautiful and it was so peaceful. We also previously took Biscuit to Mount Equinox, and we thought a lot about our dear Biscuit. We still miss him very much. We also took Victory to the Orvis Flagship Store where Victory had fun picking out and trying out the Orvis dog beds along with trying on her new Orvis coat! We also went to the Vermont Country Store, where I got some goodies and Victory walked around with Doug! We also visited Robert Frost’s home.

We stopped in Montreal on our way to Quebec City, and where we went to the Orange Julep! The Orange Julep has the world’s best orange juice ever!

We made it to our lake house that we rented for several weeks on the Saint Lawrence River, just outside of Quebec City. The views were beautiful and we witnessed many lovely sunsets each night! Victory loved being by the water! We also enjoyed many long walks together each day. And, we ate way too much ice cream, which was delicious — the best ever!

We also visited the vineyards located on an island not too far from where we stayed. It was very pretty with a real French-country feel. The iced cider and fire cider are very popular, as there were many apple orchards located on the island!

We went to Quebec City multiple times. On our first visit to Quebec City, we even met a native sheltie named Choco! We ate outside with Victory in Quebec City and the food was absolutely delicious! We also walked all over the city, saw the main sites, and did some shopping.

Most of all, we are grateful for our time away together. We enjoyed spending time together; getting away; having a break; having a change of scenery; and having days where we had no plans and were able to take each day as it came! Everyone was nice in Quebec City and the pace of everything was much slower than we are accustomed to, which is refreshing! Enjoy a few images from our vacation, shown below!

Happy Friday! Have a great weekend! We are looking forward to this weekend! The weather is supposed to be beautiful and we are celebrating our seventh wedding anniversary; and we are also celebrating Victory’s birthday! We cannot believe that our fur girl has been with us for two years on Monday already! The time is flying by and we are trying to savor it! (You can view Victory’s birthday from last year here!)

Vermont

Quebec and Quebec City

Oct 7

Dog: The Universal Language

After visiting Quebec City, a French-speaking territory, during our recent vacation, we realized that no matter what language someone speaks, everyone can relate to a dog/chien! Many people, total strangers, came up to us to meet Victory! Even though we do not speak French (Doug knows more French than I do), everyone can relate to a furry family member! Many people commented to us that they loved the Ergo Performance Carrier and others wanted to take a photo of Victory in her Ergo Carrier — and they could not believe that she liked her Ergo Carrier! For those whom we could not understand what he/she was saying to us in French, we could understand “Beau Chien!”

We rarely meet other shelties while we are out and about with Victory. However, during our first visit to Quebec City, we met a native Quebec sheltie named, Choco, a male, tri-colored sheltie, shown below! Victory and Choco met giving each other some sniffs and kisses, and the Ergo Carrier came in handy — otherwise, Victory would have been quite overwhelmed! Choco’s parents were so happy to meet Victory, even though we could not understand most of what they were saying — we could discern their excitement and enthusiasm to meet our fur girl!

Additionally, shown below, is a very short iphone video of our fluffy girl in motion during our vacation!

Happy Wednesday!

Oct 5

Two Views: Mount Equinox

During the spring of 2013, we took Biscuit to Vermont, which marked our last trip together. During this trip, we visited Mount Equinox, which Biscuit loved. It was also our first time visiting Mount Equinox, which is very beautiful. During our recent vacation, we stopped in Manchester, Vermont, on our way to Quebec. During this trip, we also took Victory to Mount Equinox, which made us think a lot about Biscuit; and we felt Biscuit there with us.

Shown below are Biscuit and Victory photographed in nearly the same place at the top of Mount Equinox along with the view from this area.

Happy Monday!

Oct 2

Victory: Photography Project — 73

Beginning in January 2014, I started a weekly photography project with my muse, Victory! I will continue to share this project on the blog this year! My goal is to document all of Victory’s changes, while preserving fleeting moments and memories, while capturing moments of our everyday.

This past Saturday, we took Victory to Pups in the Park, and it was fun and Victory liked it, too! We even met three shelties who were also attending the baseball game, including a four-month old sheltie, named Missile, checking Victory out, pictured below! A few images from our trip to the National’s baseball game/Pups in the Park, are shown below!

This weekend, we were scheduled to head south and go away for a long weekend with our fur girl. However, with the direction of the pending hurricane, we thought that it would be best to reschedule. We, therefore, rescheduled our trip for early November, and we hope for better weather. We will have a quiet weekend and we hope to catch up on some things at home and watch some Netflix/Amazon Prime!

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Sep 30

Photo Book: Engagement

When I recently made our wedding photo books, I also made a photo book of my sister’s engagement images to commemorate her first wedding anniversary, which is this weekend! I took these engagement images during the fall of 2013 when we traveled to Michigan to adopt our fur girl, Victory!

The images in this photo book are printed on matte art paper, mostly containing color images, with thick boarders surrounding each image. (You can view the inside of a sample book here.) Each image is printed on the right side and a blank page appears on the left side. This way, the viewer can focus on one image at a time.

I am pleased with the way this photo book turned out from Artifact Uprising — and my sister and brother-in-law loved it! I am a strong proponent of making my images tangible, which creates wonderful family heirlooms and joy!

Happy Anniversary, Kassie and Jason! See you soon!

Sep 28

1 Comment

Around Here: September

Well, it is officially fall, our favorite time of the year! Below are some items that have occurred around here in September, a fun month, as we took our vacation during this time!

-continuing to work steadily on my project; I am about half way through drafting the draft the copy for my project; and I continue to work on the final images.

-continue to prepare filings with the U.S. Copyright Office, Library of Congress.

-we has a great vacation together. It was very nice to have a break from the normal routine along with some much needed rest. We loved Vermont and Quebec, and we had many adventures together that we will cherish always.

-we loved taking Victory to Mount Equinox, where her brother, Biscuit, also visited.

-editing images from our vacation.

-finished reading this book — a great read!

-finished reading this book — a good read!

-started reading this book — so far, an excellent read!

-on our drive home from Quebec, Doug and I listened to and finished the entire Serial Podcast, an interesting podcast. It made our time in the car pass more quickly! Next up is the Limetown Podcast!

-this was the best ice cream that we have ever had, even beating out Cow’s!

-we ate far too many Tim Horton’s pastries while we were on vacation!

-we took Victory to Pups in the Park this weekend — it was fun and Victory liked it, too!

-we got Victory’s gifts for her birthday, which is quickly approaching!

-we purchased Victory’s Halloween costume — it is just darling — and I can’t wait to share!

-Doug is working on the theme for this year’s pumpkin, an annual tradition!

-loved using the Ergo Performance Carrier on vacation — Victory absolutely loved it! Here is Doug wearing the Ergo on vacation; and here is me wearing the Ergo on vacation!

-Victory is gaining confidence. She is barking a little more in the evenings, prior to bedtime. We had three barks in one night, a record! She has started to follow me all around the house, which is a new development. She even likes to go out on the deck by herself, while keeping an eye on the neighborhood! She loved being with us during vacation and she seems to be getting more confident with each passing day!

-burning fall-scented candles all over the house!

-enjoying opening the windows and waking up to the crisp fall air in the mornings.

-enjoying cooler evenings and walks together outside, breathing in the crisper air, a welcome change from the humidity!

-enjoying the return to yoga after missing several weeks of class.

-enjoyed the first season of the original Danish/Swedish version of The Bridge.

-started the series, The Hand of God, on Amazon Prime, and so far it is really good.

-beginning to think about our annual Pawliday card!

-working on finishing framing my images for the house — I am almost finished — this project has taken a lot of time and dedication to finish!

-continuing to make more progress on our ever-growing to do list!

Happy Monday!

Sep 25

Snapshot: Vacationing in Quebec City!

We’re back and it’s officially fall! We had a wonderful time on vacation! This was Victory’s second vacation and her second time visiting Quebec and it was very nice! We began our vacation in Manchester, Vermont for a few days, and then on to our destination, Quebec City! (We stayed further north in Quebec this year from last year.) Doug, fortunately, drove the entire way both ways and Victory sat on my lap! To make the 14 hour drive home go by more quickly, we listened to the entire Serial Podcast!

We were really fortunate that we had nice weather and nice temperatures during our entire vacation! Doug and I relaxed and we did not do any work during our vacation, which was very liberating! Thus, today’s post is a sneak peek, as I have not finished editing the images from our trip. If you follow along on Instagram, I shared a few images from our vacation during our vacation!

We had a great time in Manchester, Vermont, which is extremely dog friendly, and Victory was able to go into all the stores with us. We took Victory to Mount Equinox, and the views were just beautiful and it was so peaceful. We also previously took Biscuit to Mount Equinox, and we thought a lot about our Biscuit. We also took Victory to the Orvis Flagship Store where Victory had fun trying out (picking out — Victory now has 5 Orvis beds) the Orvis dog beds and trying on her new Orvis coat! (Flannel is supposed to be in, so Victory is ready!) We also went to the Vermont Country Store, where I got some goodies and Victory walked around with Doug! We also visited Robert Frost’s home.

On the way to Quebec City, we stopped for lunch in Montreal at the Orange Julep! The Orange Julep has the world’s best orange juice ever, and I took a half gallon to the house we rented! Plus, you have to love that the orange juice is served from an orange!

We made it to our lake house that we rented for several weeks just outside of Quebec City located on the Saint Lawrence River. The views were wonderful and beautiful and the sunsets were grand! Victory had a great time and she loved looking at the water. We left her ‘hut’ at home this year and she managed well. We also made ample time to relax, read, and take long walks together. We also discovered the best ice cream ever! We walked down to the water when the tide was low and we had a lot of fun with Victory! Also, Doug and I are now hooked on The Bridge (the original Swedish/Danish version) — we watched the first season on Netflix and we look forward to season two!

We went to the vineyards located on an island not too far from where we stayed. It was very pretty with a real French-country feel. The iced cider and fire cider are very popular, as there were many apple orchards located on the island!

We went to Quebec City multiple times. On our first visit to Quebec City, we even met a native sheltie named Choco! We ate outside with Victory in Quebec City and the food was absolutely delicious! We also walked all over the city and did some shopping. Quebec is probably the closest Victory will come to France!

This year, we left the Hound About at home as the streets and alleys are cobblestone, narrow, and crowded in Quebec City, making it difficult to push her in the Hound About. As such, we purchased the Ergo Performance Carrier prior to leaving for our trip. Just before leaving, I researched possible carriers for our vacation and the Ergo Performance Carrier seemed to be the best option for support and for its material — it has a breathable mesh material as our fur girl is covered in fur after all! Doug was skeptical at first, but the Ergo Performance Carrier even won him over! Victory loved it and many people took her photograph in her Ergo Performance Carrier and many people came up to us to meet our Victory! Victory got to see the world from a whole new perspective in her Ergo Performance Carrier versus about a foot off the ground! I am sure that the Ergo Performance Carrier will come in handy in the future as well! We are totally smitten with our fur girl and we are more than ok with having the most beautiful, loved, and coddled sheltie girl around!

Oh, how can we forget Tim Hortons? Doug loves Tim Horton’s; we do not have one near us; and they just are not the same in the U.S. So, as a result, we ate way too many donuts over the course of a few weeks! The frosted cinnamon rolls are fantastic — I’m sure I had about a half a dozen of them!

Most of all, we are grateful for our time away together. We enjoyed spending time together; getting away; having a break; having a change of scenery; and having days where we had no plans and were able to take each day as it came! Everyone was nice in Quebec City and the pace of everything was much slower than we are accustomed to, which is refreshing!

Even after 14 hours in the car on the ride home, Victory still spotted her exit to her house. She was exhausted, she did not sleep a wink in the car on my lap, but she still managed to recognize her exit to her house and to the garage — one of her all time favorite activities — returning home via the garage! She was so excited to be home in familiar surroundings!

Enjoy the snapshot of photos from our vacation below! Once I finish editing the images from our vacation, I will put a proper blog post together to share in the next week or two, I hope. Stay tuned.

Have a great weekend! We are happy that it is officially fall, our favorite time of year! We are taking Victory to the Pups in the Park on Saturday — it should be fun! (I also have lots of catching up to do from being away, and I hope to make some headway this weekend!)

Happy Friday, Everyone!

Sep 4

Gone Fishing…

We are headed to Quebec for vacation for a few weeks! This will be Victory’s second time visiting Quebec! We are very much looking forward to our time away together! We are visiting and staying in a different part of Quebec this year from last year, and it should be beautiful. We are stopping in Manchester, Vermont for a few days on our way to Quebec, one of Biscuit’s and Victory’s favorite places to visit as it is very dog friendly!

In other news, we are grateful and happy to report that Victory had no issues at her recent annual exam at the vet earlier this week — the vet said that her urine “looked beautiful” after receiving the lab results of her recent urinalysis after battling persistent urinary tract infections this past spring into the summer. The fur clipping and wiping, the supplement, and the human-grade wet food diet are all working to keep her clean and flushing out her system regularly preventing bacteria. Thankfully, Victory is healthy and ready for her travels!

We are disconnecting during our vacation. So I’ll be back to the blog when we return in late September, and I will share our vacation adventures at that time! We look forward to rest, relaxing, reading good books, and spending time together!

Meanwhile, if you are in a blog-reading mood, you are warmly invited to visit the archives — the links are shown below.

Dog Related posts

Dog Rescue posts

‘Dog-Centric’ Artists Interviews

For Artists posts

Photography posts

Personal posts

Victory Related posts

Additionally, you can sign up to receive regular blog posts along with the newsletter, shown below.

1. You can receive regular blog posts straight to your inbox via entering your email address in the box located on the upper right side of the blog.

2. You can receive the periodic newsletter where you will receive information before anyone else!

We’ll see you back here in late September! As always, thank you so very much for visiting and reading the blog! I am most grateful for you! Thank you!

Have a wonderful few weeks!

P.S. While we are away, I do plan to post images via Instagram (our Instagram feed is also shown on the right side of the blog!)

Sep 2

1 Comment

Victory: Photography Project — 72

Beginning in January 2014, I started a weekly photography project with my muse, Victory! I will continue to share this project on the blog this year! My goal is to document all of Victory’s changes, while preserving fleeting moments and memories, while capturing moments of our everyday.

Below is our little Victory with her and her Daddy’s trains! Victory is the conductor of the trains at our house and she helped her Daddy set everything up to run the trains simultaneously! As you can see, Victory loves her trains!

Happy Wednesday!

Aug 31

The Key to Success: Grit

The people who are the most successful, according to Angela Lee Duckworth — possess grit: passion and perseverance for long-term goals, day in and day out, and working really hard to make your vision of your future a reality. To learn more, you can view Angela Lee Duckworth’s Ted Talk here, which is also shown below.

The most successful people are those who have failed again and again, but found a way to get up, learn, and improve. The lesson: grit pays off in the long run to achieving one’s goals and dreams.

When someone is successful, it often looks easy and it appears that the success happened over night to an outsider. However, in these instances, there are typically years of hard work, dedication, and perseverance despite setbacks and failures at the heels of one’s success. The grit occurs behind the scenes, and the grit is vital to one’s success. The lesson is not to give up despite setbacks and failures, even while navigating uncharted territory.

I began reading Rising Strong by Brene Brown this weekend. One of my favorites quotes from her new book states, “The truth is that falling hurts. The dare is to keep being brave and feel your way through it.”

Additionally, to learn more about grit and the unexpected gifts of failure in relation to children, see Jessica Lahey’s new book entitled, The Gifts of Failure.