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Feeling Lonely

2/28/2026

As they travelled on, Maya couldn't help but notice that Aeran and Kyle were becoming closer.

He and Aeran had been friends since they were children, and he wasn't sure how he felt about it.

He had never entertained any romantic feelings toward her, yet he still felt a bit jealous that she and Kyle seemed to be getting closer.

He was also missing Byuri.

He couldn't explain why, as she was still a young girl, but he had felt there was something special about her.

Then one day, after another long hike, he was very tired and he broke down....

Tangle Falls

2/27/2026

Kyle had also developed feelings for Aeran, and the two of them started spending more of their time together.

And now that their quest was complete, they could all just take their time and enjoy the spectacular scenery....

"Look, there's another waterfalls."

"I love waterfalls." said Aeran as she went to take a closer look.

Kyle agreed. "It is a beautiful waterfall."

and he put his arm around her...

More than Just Travelling Companions

2/26/2026

After the storm subsided, the group continued on with their trek back towards home. Aeran had originally resented her grandfather sending Kyle along,

But as the weeks went on, Aeran's opinion had changed. She noticed that Kyle was brave and kind, and realized that she could never have done this trip without him.
'He is also rather handsome.' she thought.

They had become friends....

...and maybe even a bit more....

Camp in the Storm

2/25/2026

Aeran and her companions finally arrived at camp.

The storm was raging and it was bitterly cold, but Narian and Adrian had set up the tents and had dinner cooking over the fire....

"It should be ready soon." commented Narin.

"It will be nice to eat something warm."

"It sure will."

"And then we'll need to take shelter in the tents to wait out the storm."

"Hopefully it won't last too long."

In the Storm

2/24/2026

It started to snow. Narin and Adrian had gone ahead to set up camp. "We need to get to the camp up beyond that ridge."

The snow became ever deeper as they made their way through the forest....

"I hope it doesn't get any worse."

But as they left the relative shelter of the trees, the wind and snow really picked up.....

Yet, on they went...

"I hope the camp isn't too much farther."

Into the Mountains

2/23/2026

The next morning it was cold and windy....

Ahead of them lay the mountains that they'd have to cross....

They climbed ever higher, and the sun came out for a little while....

It turned into a nice day.

But the clouds soon moved in again. "Looks like it's going to snow." commented Aeran....

"It sure looks like it." agreed Maya...

Starting for Home

2/22/2026

The group was very quiet after leaving Byuri, as they made their way back through the rain forest.....

Maya was already missing his new friend...

It took a few days before they arrived at the foothills....

They stopped for the night, knowing the next day they'd have to climb higher into the mountains....

A Few More

2/21/2026

A Wolf Encounter

Another scene for the story taken in the fall of 2024, at our campsite in the Rabbit Blanket campground in Lake Superior Provincial Park. I covered the picnic table with the tarp, set up the tents, and spread fallen leaves everywhere....

Then took the photos for the story,

later superimposing real flames over the 'fire' in every photo....

Taking a Break

The scene of Maya, Aeran, and Byuri taking a lunch break, was taken in 2024 in the campground in Uclulet on Vancouver Island. We needed to do laundry, so were parked opposite the laundromat, and while the laundry was going, I set up the dolls on the edge of the clearing beside the small parking lot. After I sat down on the ground to take the photos, Jan changed some poses for me....

Mottled shade is one of the very worst things for doll photos, so then Jan cast some shade on the dolls for me...

No Animals Injured

2/20/2026

In the fall of 2024 I took all the dolls with us again on another trip. This time I wanted to take more scenes featuring Byuri, and I had a few ideas. I'd taken the photo of Aeran holding back Maya and Byuri in 2013 in Kilarney Provincial Park....

And I'd taken lots of photos of bears on our trip out west back in 2012, and chose this one, taken in Jasper National Park...

I wanted to add to the story, so I set up the scene involving the bear in Sinclair Cove in Lake Superior Provincial Park. I posed everyone at the edge of the beach in the driftwood in front of the trees, and sat down to take the photos....

Then after I was done taking the photos for the story, I took one of Byuri and the bear as a disclaimer to prove no animals had actually been harmed

More Behind the Scenes

2/19/2026

Hilda Ridge

Traveling up the Icefields Parkway, in Banff, in 2024, I was constantly on the look out for places to photograph my dolls, and the pull-off at Hilda Ridge was perfect - and there was no one else there. It was cold, and snowing a bit, and very windy, so I positioned the horses facing into the wind...

I went to lay down on the tarp on the gravel parking lot, and Jan supported the dolls in the wind, until I was ready to take the photos....

Pukaskwa

On our way back home in 2024 from our cross-country trip, we stopped in at Pukaskwa National Park along the north shore of Lake Superior. I had wanted to take more camp photo, and it's always a lot easier on a picnic table, so we booked a campsite. Problem was it was black-fly season, and I didn't feel like being eaten alive. But the next morning, I REALLY wanted to take some photo, so I decided to brave the bugs, slathered myself in bug repellent, and set up a camp scene on the picnic table. *Note - all the dolls are stored in individual labelled boxes, so we know who's in which box when we go to get them down out of the overhead storage compartments in the RV.

Like everywhere else, it was windy, so the tent had to be supported by cans from the pantry....

I had covered the table with the tarp, then spread gravel, moss and twigs, but a picnic table isn't very big and it's almost impossible to not have the edges show up in photos, so it takes some post production to remove the table edges. I do have a fake fire which I take along and put into the scene, but it's not the most realistic thing ever....

So I took lots of photos of the fire-pit at our son's lake house that summer

Which I could then superimpose parts of onto the fake fire....

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A Wolf Encounter

Taking a Break

Hilda Ridge

Pukaskwa

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