It's been a couple of months since Abby and I saw what I thought might be a beaver in the lake near our house. It seemed too big for a muskrat but I was seeing it through a stand of willows and never got a clear look at its tail before it went into the water. Since then, however, we've seen plenty of evidence that there is a beaver in the lake.

The wire in that picture is an attempt by one of the home owners along the trail to protect what remains of the stand of trees that formed their back 'fence'.

Last night when we were out for our walk we stopped just before the bridge to say hello to another dog walker and when I glanced down towards the water the beaver was sitting right there. Not four metres away from me. By the time I got my camera out  of my (left? why??) pocket he was already in the water but I still got a couple of pictures of him.

He was sitting right in that gap in the brush when I first saw him. I was really impressed at how big he was - about the same size as Abby (10 Kg or 20 lb.) - and how unconcerned about the dogs (the other was a German Shepard) and people he seemed to be. He also looked very glossy - I suppose because he was still wet - and very squashy. I know beavers have large claws and big teeth but they also look seriously huggable.

I've been taking a photography course for the last few weeks. I should have been posting as we went along but just never got around to it. The course is through Willette Designs and is completely over the internet. It's designed for everyone who looks at their photos but never sees themselves and is all about getting you into your pictures (if you noticed me upload a zillion self portraits to Flickr a little while ago that what that was about).

When I look back through my photos I see myself pretty frequently (considering I'm generally the one taking the pictures) but they tend to be pictures of me modelling something I've made and want to post about, often with a blank wall behind me. There are very few pictures of me from vacations, camping trips or regular life. I loved the idea of capturing a little more of how I spend my time and not just in terms of finished products.

The class was split into three weeks. Week One was called "All About You" and was focused on self portraits. We were encourage to try different poses, expressions, times of day and locations. This is one of my favourites: it was taken with my tripod and timer in my sewing room just after making my morning cup of tea. I'd never really realized before that both my bathrobe and my tea cups match my sewing room walls.

The category of "self portrait" also included parts of ourselves (like hands or feet). One of the creative suggestions was "in your favourite jeans" so I used that one to take a picture of my knees in the garden one morning (that's my coffee cup on the edge of the garden box). My jeans are starting to wear out at the knees and I was hoping to show that in my picture but it didn't really come through.

Week Two was all about what brought you joy: things, people, pets. I tried to get pictures of me with Rob, Abby and Zeke in the course of the week. Lots of these (especially the ones involving the critters) are kind of blurry but I really like them. I also wanted to capture some of the things in my life in a different way than usual. So instead of just a picture of my machine or my cutting table I set up my tripod and timer again and took pictures of me actually working on a project (a scarf to get my hair out of the way).

I enlisted help for quite a few pictures during the course: Rob, my friend Amy, my sister's friend Sarah, my class teacher at the gym. I think I get too nervous about handing over my camera and it was a good exercise to have someone else take the picture for me. Amy took this one of my with my coffee mug one morning as we were heading back to work from the coffee shop.

That last picture also works nicely in Week Three where the theme was "Routines". I think this week was the most challenging for me. There are still a few bits and pieces of our routines that I want to capture: the toothpaste, putting on make-up, getting the laundry done. I did a lot of cooking with a tripod at my shoulder.

I had to get creative about finding camera supports when I was out and about: sometimes I had a table or a bench to put my camera on, sometimes it ended up on the ground.

The course is supposed to finish up in the next couple of weeks with us each making an 8" x 8" photobook. I think it will be really neat in a decade or two to look through a book and see myself as I am now. Routines and pastimes can change so much over time. It will be so interesting to see what changes and what stays the same.