Today I met Tonic, an English Bulldog in the care of Victoria Bulldog Society. 

This girl has thankfully landed in the lap of someone who can help her and ensure she gets the medical care she needs... and yes, that includes a dental.

I fell in love the moment I saw her waddle down the grassy hill. She's almost 11 and pretty deaf so getting her to actually look at the camera was a bit of a challenge, but it was fun making sounds and confusing everyone at the park. 
She was a bit drooly (see photo below) and a lot sweet.

I'm hoping she'll be part of a larger project in the new year (fingers crossed), so for now, I share these two images.

If you're interested in learning more about her, or donating to her care, you can visit their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/VictoriaBulldogSociety

for those times when you're needing to get back in the studio with a human, putz around and try out new lights, angles and work on your directing of humans, it's great to have a bronwyn in your life.
truth be told though, all i really did was tell her to fluff her hair every once in a while... she did all the rest.

thank you bronwyn!

if you want to be a part of my photo playgroup, drop me a note and i'll fill you in on details!

Norma, along with her husband Gord, were always ready to foster dogs and they were kind enough to let me into their home to photograph some of their charges - whether they were learning to experience love for the first time, they just needed a landing place, or had found their forever home... with them.   They gave them a place to heal, decompress and be themselves.

I met them while being a volunteer photographer for the Victoria Humane Society back in 2014. They don't live far from me so I'd always think I was just 'popping over' to get some 'quick photos', but inevitably we'd end up talking gardens and art, but then back to the doggos and I'd be gone for a couple hours. 

Norma passed away yesterday and I know her absence will be felt by her husband, family, friends, and all the animals she doted on and gave that unconditional love to. She was kind and gentle and had the best laugh.

Norma was pretty camera shy when I was there, but I did manage to get a couple photos she didn't 'hate'. ;)

Pictured below are just some of Norma + Gord's furry family:
Mollie, Tilly, Taffy, Angel, Simon, Paisley, Calli + Rosie

​My condolences to her family + friends. May you rest in peace and love, Norma.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Victoria Humane Society. 

​More photos of those helped by VHS, here.

I'll add this one to #3 in my series of books titled Dogs With Their Eyes Closed

This is Morley, a former sled dog. She came into retirement back in April 2020 (as Splash) and hung out at a foster home to get her bearings and learn all that is new about living inside a home as a beloved member of a family. She got adopted recently and is finding all the comfy spots to hang out in her new home.

You can see more of my sled dog advocacy at: www.iwasasleddog.com

when in a garden
one must stop
and listen and look

see the light, the lines, the leaves
the littles and the bigs

and the notes to commit to memory... or memory card

© words + photographs by wendy nesbitt

yesterday evening i went out into the garden...
in the dark
after the rain
... as one does.

on my way out i noticed the rain droplets on my office window...

after admiring the blueness of the sky, i went outside with camera in one hand, and a little LED solar powered light in the other, my aim was to capture the feel of the garden - that 'after the rain' feeling - water droplets hanging on vines and stems and the way the damp glistens on leaves, 

sweet 100 tomatoes, grapes, sedum, quinoa, carrots, lemon balm, geranium, bean leaves, kale, the next-door neighbour's tree
​
it was warm out
the rain had stopped and the sky had cleared
the dogs came out

all images © wendy nesbitt

I just re-found this group of images - like so many photos, they were sitting on my hard drive, edited, but not shared. 
Does that mean they existed?

They were taken in May 2019, and I believe Heather holding her hands up in the first photo is illustrating that she dropped Chester's leash and let him walk without tether... although his leash was still attached to his collar... just in case.
I realized there are more photos of Saru the Shiba, Chester's brother, than the other dogs. Going beyond his photogenic-ness, maybe I was trying to show him some extra attention as we were all so smitten with Chester and his ability to figure out jumping logs (it took him a few moments to figure out what to do!) and the fact he didn't run away.  
There's even more of Saru than my own dogs, Mister Coco + Bella Boo.

Whatever. 

It was a peaceful walk with four very different dogs all at various stages of their lives, just getting to be dogs.
Thanks gang. 
xo

I should probably start by saying, it's not really 'my' own garden, but 'my family's' own garden because my husband and our two dogs use it too, along with racoons, other people's cats, a bunny, lots of birds like hummingbirds, twohees, robins, woodpeckers, northern flickers and so many more that I will one day identify.

There are also the ladybirds, pillbugs, aphids, wasps, bees, hoverbees, dragonflies... I could go on.

We bought our house in 2005 and a couple years later I built a couple raised veggie beds. Then two more raised veggie beds, then an ornamental bed to create more room because neighbours down the street kept giving us shrubs and perennials. And so it went for a few years. But then my focus changed as I immersed myself into volunteering at a local animal shelter.
I'd plant some veggies some summers, but things started to languish a bit. Then we started going out to visit family on the prairies for a 2-3 weeks each summer and I didn't see the point of growing things I wouldn't be around to water or harvest... 

But then came 2020.
Knowing we weren't going to go far from home, I put lots of time and energy into the back garden - building new beds, hauling rocks, planting seeds and seedlings.
Then it started to grow.

My photography is very documentary based and I've spent a lot of time photographing all the things that make up other people's lives.
So one day I decided to document the garden, like I did for other people.
And I'm so glad I did because it's given me a chance to look back on some of my own life and the hits, misses, accomplishments and moments in time that make up our family garden.

All images © wendy nesbitt | Prints available by request.

my dad turned 90 years old today... although he's not really old.
he still gardens, mows the lawn, mixes cement and build houses for his mason bees

he's also very social so the last few months have been hard, but today my mom organized a drive by/pop in for him on their front lawn so he got to see some friends and family in person

i asked him for the photo wearing the hat, he asked me to take one of him 'sleeping'... 
the sleeping has nothing to do with age, he's been doing it for as long as i can remember

​Happy birthday dad!

What does it look like when visitors come over these days?
We wait for nice weather, then hang outside....