A New Chapter

Shutter Painting by Edith Mackenzie

August 30, 2014 changed my life. That is when I ended up in hospital with severe sciatic nerve pain thinking I had a hairline fracture in my leg. It turns out I had done something to my back that was sending horrible pain signals down my leg.

And what was a setback for me ended up being a blessing. I had been taking pictures with my small Canon Powershot camera on my runs, enjoying every minute detail of the landscape I ran in daily. In 2012 I was the lucky person to accompany my beautiful sister, Peggy Mackenzie, on a trip to Malawi, Africa as her "official photographer" which made me upgrade that camera to a Nikon D7000. My wonderful friend and mentor, Nelson Lutz, helped me make the leap to a DSLR camera and I was hooked.

But what really got me out taking pictures was that darn "old" back. No more runs for me. A full-time job, lots of stress without that morning run to pump those endorphins and I started walking with my camera instead. The Spring of 2015 was a turning point. I started walking along the overflow in the early mornings and discovered this whole new world of birds, mostly ducks, geese, eagles and lots of elusive songbirds.

And that got me exploring the wonderful world around me. Slave Lake, Alberta is my town, my home community for the past 35 years, all my adult life! And we are surrounded by the most beautiful country in the world, the Boreal Forest and a major migratory route for birds as we are on the shores of Lesser Slave Lake (not Great Slave Lake!). Within a 30 km radius of town there are the most beautiful paths, ponds, small lakes, the world famous Boreal Centre for Bird Conservation & Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory bird banding station. Amazing adventures await!

I have learned so much about the birds and wildlife that surround us. I have spent many mornings, afternoons and evenings taking photo after photo of what I see only to learn that what I see doesn't translate to the photo very often. But once in a while I get that "perfect" shot. Every day I get that "perfect" moment, moment after moment.

My best pictures are seared into my memory with the surround sound that accompanies my journeys. What I am posting to my galleries are the ones that made the "cut", a watered down version of the reality I experience. I will not be a professional bird photographer. What I will be is an observer of what moves me as I explore my surroundings, relish in the "zen" of the moment, and appreciate what Mother Nature gives us every day - peace, calm, home.

I hope these pictures bring you peace, calm and that wonderful sense of being home.

Edith Mackenzie

The Original About Post: An Eruption of Thought Blog

Why start a blog? Good question…one I have been asking myself as I gear up to go online. I have always wanted to write and have in bits and pieces, never seriously. I wanted to write a great novel and couldn't keep at it long enough and then just gave up. It kept niggling at me…you have to write, get your butt in gear, just do it. Then our daughter went to Kenya for 7 weeks and our oldest son created a blog for her to post a travel diary to share with family and friends, and the idea came that this is how I could start to write –  in snippets, fits and starts, just let it all flow out.

It fits with my personality, a desire to create and a huge desire to purge. My home and my office is constantly being purged –  I could have been a great nun in a monastery. Give me a bed, a table, chair and nothing else to clutter up my space. But the one place I haven't purged, that needs a good house cleaning is my mind. I am a headcase, my thoughts jumbled, overflowing, disorganized, all-consuming and energy sapping. I can see my blog as a great place to give away, recycle, dump and organize my mind. I can free up space, de-clutter and hopefully breathe without the “whirling dervishes” of my thoughts consuming me. At the same time I can have a creative outlet, let it go organic and grow into whatever all this thought wants to be.

I am ready. Now is the time to act, no longer try, just be. To start I have set up categories that I will post to, maybe they will stay, maybe not. Like a kitchen cupboard, you start off placing objects in cupboards & drawers thinking it will work best that way and then rearrange as you find it needs tweaking. Right now I have a General Eruptions of Thought/Opinions category that will be a catchall of musings.  Free Ideas will be my space to give-away ideas I have had for novels, products, business ventures, etc. that I haven't used and don't see myself using.  Why not give it away to someone who can do something with it?

Reading/Movies will track books/movies I have read/watched and any comments that I want to let out.  Travel will be about the travel that I do or maybe want to do.

What does the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull, have to do with my blog? My mom is of Icelandic descent and grew up in Gimli, Manitoba. I recently went on a trip with her, my 2 sisters and my 2 aunts to Iceland. The name for the blog came from that, a reference to my Icelandic roots and the power of the volcano to erupt and purge the lava from its core. My thoughts now have the vent it needs to flow out and become a part of the landscape…..