I realized I never put up July’s total: $132 was raised through your generous comments for Vancouver’s Food Bank!

October’s total comes to: $106!

Does anyone have any ideas of a worthy Vancouver group to donate to in 2010? I’m considering Battered Women’s Support Services or Vancouver Rape Relief as I would like Jane Photo to support a group that provides support for women, although I am also considering Parents and Friends of Lesbian and Gays. Although not a huge donation, it will be up to $2400 for the year, so (as they say) it’s surely better than a kick in the butt! And I think when word gets out there about this worthy endeavor, the months’ totals will start to climb toward the $200 monthly cap.

And just ’cause what’s a post without a pic, here’s a loverly shot of a loverly family I photographed this week:

And that means the Vancouver Food Bank will be receiving their $156 donation soon. With that, they can purchase approximately $450 worth of food for Vancouver’s hungry families. Thanks so much, everyone. Keep those comments coming!

Thanks, everyone, for all the comments on the blog. Every single one is worth $1 to the Vancouver Food Bank (except for April, when I donated cans instead). As you can imagine, in the bad economy so many more people rely on the Food Bank to supplement their groceries, and they struggle in the warm months to get enough donations. It’s a cause I really believe in. The Food Bank can purchase $3 worth of food for every $1 donated, so your generosity with blog comments in May nets them about $400 worth of food. So keep those cards and letters coming in, everybody. Let’s make sure we don’t slack off for the summer.

And just because I am totally smitten with this little mermaid swimming through her bead waterfall, here is the gorgeous baby R from a few weeks back (more of her soon, I promise):

Woo hoo! I never got around to posting about it, but our Jane Photo donation to Vancouver’s Food Bank for April was $102! Congrats, everyone. I know there will be many grateful families. And what a cool way to donate, eh? All you have to do is comment on any blog post, below, and ca-ching!

‘Tis the time of the month again to announce the Cans for Comments total for February! There were 88 comments on the blog last month, so that’s a good little donation to Vancouver’s Food Bank. Congrats and thanks, everyone who participated. The following thanks is from the Food Bank in December, but it’s still nice to have a tangible reminder that this is real and important, small though it is.

January 2009: 98 comments
February 2009: 88 comments

NOTE: I do not seem to be getting my emails currently, so please do try:

janeeatonhamilton@shaw.ca

December’s total for our Cans for Comments Food Bank donation is 41 cans. Congrats, everyone who participated! We are continuing Cans for Comments indefinitely, so please feel free to leave comments, everyone, since Jane Photo is committed to (a tiny portion of) feeding Vancouver’s hungry. The more comments you leave, the more cans we’ll donate.

Woohoo! Our new website is live, so the next project is upgrading this blog. Check out the snazzy new site at: www.janephoto.ca

There are great new specials just below and more on the bar on the right.

‘Kay, everybody, Jane Photo is proud to announce that from Monday Dec 8 to Monday Dec 22 we will be donating one can of food to Vancouver’s food bank for every comment left on the blog.

So get busy leaving your comments! We’d love to donate enough to make a difference to at least one family.

And just ’cause it’s hard to post without a snap, here’s a pic I may have taken myself as a very little girl of my mom and one of our newborn foals–just to show I was into newborn photography even back in Ontario in the sixties. We had a turquoise Bakelite intercom, and through this, mom would spend weeks listening for the sounds of the mares going into labour. What will it sound like? I’d ask. How will you know? Mom, can I watch? Please? Pretty please with a cherry on top?

Finally, on one occasion, I remember my mother waking me up and carrying me in her arms out to the barn in the middle of the night. The air was chilly against my bare feet and I wiggled my toes, testing it, and could feel the hem of my long flannel nightgown. I’m guessing it was March or April. The stars winked as if someone had poked holes in black fabric, and I was enchanted by the sight–and by being in my mother’s arms in the dark, still night. In the barn, where my dad was waiting, it was warmer, and smelled of manure and ammonia, and it was quiet in every stall except for the last one where a restless mare was down on her side, ribs heaving, nostrils flared. Mom tucked me into a corner, burrowing me in straw, then turned to soothe the mare, stroking her cheek and neck and cooing in a reassuring tone.

The mare showed the whites of her eyes, and struggled to her feet as the foal came slithering out hooves first in its white bag of cowl, falling gently to the yellow straw, and sending up plumes of steam into the chillier air. The foal twitched in her bag. My mother pulled the cowl open, and the mare licked the birth bag away. Minutes later, the little foal rose on shaky, spindly legs, fell, then got up again for good, nuzzling for milk.

I was beyond enchanted. I was in love with every tiny particle of this experience, and have been in love with birth–and mothers and babies whether animal or human–ever since.

I wrote a poem about that magical night once, though I don’t think I included it in either of my poetry books.