Wilson!!? Is that you??

This adventure actually occurred a few weeks ago. But its still legit and interesting. We were walking the pier at the Burlington lift bridge. Guess who I saw?? Wilson!!!

okay well it wasn't exactly Wilson the volleyball from Castaway, possibly it was his cousin. Either way the poor thing was stranded floating all alone in the bay. If you look really close, you can see him smiling at the camera!

I was lucky to take my camera that day, because I had the opportunity to take some great pics of a large ship coming into the channel into Hamilton Harbour. The ships name is Canadian Enterprise. "Make it so, Number One"  



Pretty cool??  I thought it was.
These two other pics are my favourites of the sky, sun and "sea".

Most of my pics will have cloudy skies. I think its more interesting, and the colours, shadows and lights express a deeper emotion than the sunny clear blue sky! :)
Happy Flashpointing!

Surfing, shwarma, super dogs and socializing

The CNE, Canadian National Exhibition is still one of the coolest events around. Affectionately know as "The Ex" in the GTA, it was first established in 1879, according to Wiki.


My daughter and I spent the day yesterday wandering around this great exhibition. She spent some time trying out her skills on the flow rider. We took in the great shows, including the Super Dog show, always a fun time. The miniature horses were sooo cute. I think one of my cats is bigger than some of them!! lol

The Food Building is self-explanatory. My daughter and I both being adventurous, tried out a few new items, and indulged in the familiar chicken shwarma with a wonderful sweet finish of baklava. Yum Yum!!


Of course we had to check out the International Building, which is chock-full of incredible products from around the world. You have to know your merchandise and your prices to survive this part of the exhibition with your wallet still heavy enough to buy lunch; but, its well worth wandering around and looking at all the great stuff. One vendor of particular note, was offering hand-made hats, mitts, scarves, sweaters etc all 100% alpaca wool!! Incredible! And quite affordable as most of the sweaters were in the $50-60 range. We also met a very nice gentleman who was demonstrating all-natural body products. He showed us a mint body and face wash, a mud and gold flake masque and a wonderful moisturizer. We didn't buy, but will definitely check out his products later online and likely purchase some later on. He said they have a shop in Hamilton.....we were like, "really?"  LOL We live in Hamilton. Another place we stopped at hailed from Grimsby. It seemed that even though we were in Toronto, we were oddly attracted to vendors from our own neighbourhood.

Moving on to the Arts and Crafts building, we found so many talented people offering so many cool and unique items; it was starting to get hard to keep the cash in my pocket. We decided to start collecting business cards instead, so we could check out the vendors online, for purchases later. I was very surprised that not all of the vendors had business cards or a web site.

I have no formal training in marketing, however, I do know that the best way to get the word out about your products is to talk about what you do to everyone you know and to always have at the very least, business cards on hand in case anyone asks for it. I could be wrong, but my thinking is that if you are paying for a vendors table or booth at a fair or festival or exhibition, its extremely important to realize the full potential of the event. The potential for sales are not limited to just the event, because many visitors like myself, will use the event as a time to explore and inquire about new products, collecting information and contact the vendor later to make a purchase. In addition, if I liked something in particular, I will tell my peers about what I saw and again another possible sales opportunity for the vendor. BUT! If you don't have a business card; this can't happen! 

In addition to the business card, anyone who has a product or service to sell should have a web site. There are tons of free web site hosting services on the internet. It costs nothing except your time to setup a one page site with your basic product details, a few nice pictures and contact information for prospective buyers to find out.

As you know, I am a graphic and web designer; and if you don't know how to design your card or web site, this I can do for you!!

The other item of interested that I noted is that the website for the CNE does not offer detailed information or contact information for any of the vendors at the show. I think that adding this to their web site would generate more interest by fair-goers. AND, the CNE could offer this service to the vendors for an additional fee. All that would be needed is a simple listing of the vendor/company name, the product and a link to the vendor's web site. Think of the possibilities!!

All in all, I had a really great day, and so did my daughter. I can't wait till next year!!

Ants and Bureaucracy

Recently, John and I were at a local designated park area. While we sat and chatted, we noticed a line of ants, stretching from a cement pillar, across the stone patio and into the forest.
Curious, John began to mess around with them. We noticed that the trail they followed was darkened, almost like it was drawn across the patio. I figured it was probably a scent trail, although I don't work for National Geographic, so that could be inaccurate. John stepped and smeared the trail at one point, to see what would happen.
Mass confusion; by the ants, ensued.
On either side of the disruption, the flow stopped and like a dam in a river, the overflow built up.
We saw a few ants that veered off the trail, wandered around, seeming to be collecting information and returning to the melee. I ventured that these were scouts. Dunno for sure, it sounded good. Wonder what they will do to find their way back to a new trail?
Another test, a small piece of pizza was placed on the trail.  Ants gathered almost immediately, seeming to gorge themselves without care. Wonder what they will do when its all gone?    

Recently; I have been dealing with bureaucracy. Forms, lineups, more forms, interviews; you get the picture.  I was like an ant, lining up, following the flow. But I didn't fit the flow. When I asked for clarification, since none of the questions seemed to apply to my situation, it was like the trail was smeared; the needle screeched off the record.
Thus far, I have not received word from a scout to find my way back to the trail. So I wait, in the melee; off to the side of the main trail.
Up ahead, I can see the piece of pizza. But already I'm thinking; when I reach the pizza and its all gone, then what? Where will I go and what will I do?

Pizza doesn't last forever.  I never wanted any to begin with.