Life of Dave

Life of Dave

Monday, December 10, 2018

Gibsons Landing

The weather wasn't looking promising this morning as I headed out at 6 a.m. to catch the 7:30 ferry to Langdale en route to Gibsons. I packed rain pants just in case. However the threateningly dark clouds never produced a drop of rain today during my short stay. It was actually sunny for a while with the temperature hovering around 10 degrees Celsius. A somewhat unsettling high considering it's only two weeks away from Christmas. I installed snow tires for a reason ya know, you fickle weather gods!

The final approach to Langdale ferry terminal.

Having completed my business in upper Gibsons, turns out I had a bit of down-time before the return ferry so I headed for the old part of town, Gibsons Landing.

Nick's trusty tug.

Big hint here that I'm not a Millennial. A bit older than that as I remember watching "The Beachcombers" as a kid. Good ol' open shirt, hairy-chested Nick Adonidas piloting the Persephone through local waters in search of salvageable marine timber, seemingly thwarted at every turn by the scurrilous Relic, basically a binner in a boat, often appearing out of nowhere to snag rogue logs (i.e., logs that most likely broke free of log booms) from Nick's grasp. Oh I tell ya, the tension was palpable.



I played the part of tourist today and had lunch at the
iconic "Molly's Reach". 

The Relic burger with clam chowder. How "West Coast"!

A very picturesque harbour. Almost makes me want to take up boating.
Almost.

The weather was just perfect this afternoon for touristy photos.

Monday, December 3, 2018

Celestial Seasons Greetings

Being only a hobbyist star watcher, it would seem that I may have been mis-identifying a planet all summer. I've been trying to snap a photo of the moon in close proximity to what I though was Mars as they danced through the southern sky. I've since learned it's Venus. I would often see them both in the early evening as I took Tannah for her nightly walks. Or sometimes I'd see them in the morning. My goal was to get them aligned in one photo.

I did it once a few years ago from my back yard. As I recall it was summer. My shot was a thin crescent hook hanging just above Venus, low on the western horizon. I refer to this one as my "question mark" photo.


More recently I did get a chance to recreate that pairing on July 16th of this year. On my morning walk with Tannah today I encountered a similar set-up in the southern sky. Totally different celestial placings of course being (almost) Winter, much higher in the sky. I was half tempted to go home to get a better camera, but that risked missing the shot entirely. Recently I've heard that the best camera for the job is the one in your hand, and although I quite like the iPhone's performance in many situations, such a long zoom as a moon shot is stretching its limits. However, it was the camera that was in my hand at the time.



Monday, November 26, 2018

Weather Typo

As I ate my Dynamite Roll in a local sushi spot near the office today the news program I was half watching had just switched to the weather report. I was only half watching because the sound was muted, and the closed captioning made me put some effort into the experience (i.e., read). It was a bit of a visual battle between the closed-captioning and the ever-present bottom-of-screen news scroll.

My mind was a bit geared towards weather and climate this morning as CBC had been advertising their latest installment of "2050 Degrees of Change", quickly following (although perhaps unintentionally) the recent forest fire devastation in Paradise and Malibu, CA. And this coupled with a November rain deluge we're experiencing right now in Vancouver.

Anyway, I was watching the colour-coded temperature map showing moisture and temperature flow across the West plus reading the weather forecast when the following statement flashed past: "...with this system bringing lizard conditions to parts of the Midwest..."

A more blatant mind's image of predicted climate change catastrophe I'd be hard-pressed to conjure up.

Sunday, November 18, 2018

Birds of a Feather and the Missing Mandarin

During my recovery from "The Calamitous Incident of the Motorcycle in the Morning" I've gathered the troops of the walking contingent within our running group. Due to its very nature, i.e., jogging, there seem to always be a few of us that are recovering from something, usually knee-related it seems.

This week it was Phillip (and June) and me. Chris (Karen's husband, not Jenn's) was also going to join us along with their dog, but the dog had suffered some sort of emergency vet visit during the night and Chris was still attending to the event. Then Phillip and June's dog developed Kennel Cough, so it turned out to be only three humans and one dog, Tannah, that enjoyed the early morning solitude of Deer Lake.

I brought along my "big" camera, an ancient first generation dSLR in home of spotting Trevor, the rumoured Mandarin duck at Deer Lake that's been written about in the local papers. But alas, no beginners luck on that front.

Lotsa gulls and ducks at Deer Lake on Saturday morning.


I love these long (almost) winter shadows.

Mostly dozing ducks.

We're so fortunate to have such a tranquil lake right in the middle of Burnaby.

Whoever said "Birds of a feather flock together" must never have seen someone
feeding the birds (of which a Park sign requested people not do). There were
crows in the mix too, just not in my camera frame.


Sunday, November 11, 2018

Remembrance Day 2018

I felt compelled to watch the Remembrance Day service held at Victory Square in Vancouver this year. I don't know why. Perhaps it held added relevance due to it being the 100th Anniversary. I don't usually watch it, although it's certainly not that I don't have a very high appreciation for the sacrifices that have been made for our freedom; I am greatly appreciative. Perhaps it's that our family never really talked about military service when I was a kid. My dad had endured many traumatic experiences growing up during World War II in the region that was to become East Germany. I think because of that, war was not talked about much in our family. Best not to bring it up. And on my mom's side, her three uncles had served in the three branches of the Armed Services. Similarly their experiences were not discussed; I don't know why. 

Today the master of ceremonies at Victory Square announced that a flypast would take place at 11 o'clock, and I figured I'd be able to see it from my perch in East Van. A few tips of buildings in the downtown core are visible from our deck. So I grabbed my dSLR with its zoom lens and caught a couple of shots of a 4-prop transporter that flew directly over our house. I'm not up on identification of planes so I don't know what make and model it was, but it's based in Comox I think. Quite a somber observance to imagine being part of a troop flying off to combat.




Saturday, November 10, 2018

More Sunny Saturday Shots

Just had to post a few more random shots from today.

The Aqua Bus crosses a quasi-rainbow in False Creek.

The low Fall-Winter sun angle made me look twice and appreciate the
texture of these faux-brick asphalt panels (shingles really) vertically
mounted to a commercial building on Main Street. I've always thought these
to be an odd cladding choice, but under the right lighting conditions,
quite photogenic.

Apparently our life sustaining orb is third spider from the sun.

Just your typical Main Street felt Steller's Jay.

Super Sunny Saturday

Due to my present recuperation status I walked partway around False Creek this morning rather than jogged with our regular crew. Then later we decided to check out Main Street where I walked further still while waiting for my wife to peruse some clothing stores. Tannah accompanied me both times, being very photogenic as usual the whole time.

Tannah with her friend Geordie.

Walking the False Creek seawall.

Tannah meets her shadow on Main Street.

If she'd known it was a bird she'd probably have barked at it.


Friday, November 9, 2018

2018 Fall Classic

So much for punctuality; I should have posted these photos days ago considering the event was held last Sunday. The photos are courtesy of Phillip, one of our Persistent Pacers members; a founding member really as he's the one that suggested our group name. Unfortunately Phillip's been side-lined lately with a knee issue, but we were certainly fortunate to have had him take a few snaps of us participating in this year's Fall Classic 10K and Half Marathon held on the UBC campus.

It was a picture-perfect day weather-wise. Couldn't ask for better. Especially since the day before was an absolute downpour. What a difference a day makes.

My elapsed time was one full minute faster than the East Side 10K held in September.

Shauna's dash to the finish  line.

The Persistent Pacers reveling after another event success. That's almost all of us. Remember, Phillip is the photographer.


Thursday, November 8, 2018

The Calamitous Incident of the Motorcycle in the Morning

Eye level with the asphalt; in a micro-second. That's all it took for me to realize I'd greatly underestimated the rapidly approaching winter driving conditions; in relation to motorcycling at least.

To be fair to myself it's been at least 25 years since I last rode a motorcycle through the winter season. I remember once, probably 30 years ago, riding on a rural stretch of 16th Avenue in South Surrey as snow flakes began to fall. I was close to home however and they were only small dry flakes, not the huge wet pie plate-style of flakes the Lower Mainland is known for. But none-the-less, a motorcycle is not the vehicle of choice during a snowfall event.

But...back to the present, I realize its not officially winter (we're really only about halfway through Autumn), but my 6-month insurance policy doesn't expire until the middle of this month. I got a late start this year due to our wet Spring. So every non-rainy day I anticipate that I can squeeze in one more motorcycle day into my work-week commute.

That leads me to my fateful flip-a-coin moment yesterday morning as I evaluated the pros and cons of motorcycling. It should have been a no-brainer; frost on the neighbour's garage roof. Decision made; full stop.

I even had the choice of driving my wife's car to work as she had been picked up by her part-time carpool co-worker. And to complicate the motorcycle plan further, I'd have to back out her car, roll out the bike and park her car again within the garage, all the while delicately weaving through a maze of garbage containers: regular trash, leaves bin and recycling blue box.

Shoulda been a no-brainer.

But in another sense it really was a no-brainer because I didn't use my brain to its full potential in evaluating the risks involved of riding that particular day. Yes, it was sunny, but there was frost on my neighbour's roof!

In terms of risk evaluation I was kind of only thinking of being extra careful while traversing fallen and crushed leaves on the side streets prior to reaching a major arterial such as Knight Street. The leaves can act almost like ice if one is not careful.

So...I backed the car out, pushed the bike out, made room amidst trash and recycling containers to lean it onto its kickstand, returned the car to the garage, closed the garage door, started the bike, warmed it up as I donned my helmet and gloves, and off I went. Careful procession through the neighbourhood side streets...finally riding down Knight Street, in the clear all the way to the office.

And it was all rainbows and unicorns until I applied the brakes in reaction to the preceding car on Knight Street's south slope. Brake application resulted in instantaneous impact with the asphalt. Boom!! (Have you ever found a seed in an orange or a grapefruit and squeezed it between two fingers as a method of rapidly propelling it some distance away from you? That is the timeframe, force and velocity with which I felt that my motorcycle was ejected away away from me. It felt like a massive unseen hand had flicked the bike out from under me the same way a coiled finger cocked against an opposing finger might might flick a crumb off a table.)

Shock. I'm in the heavy morning commute and I'm lying on the asphalt in a lane of traffic. Where's my motorcycle?! On my hands and knees I look around and see my motorcycle is on its side in the centre lane of southbound traffic; I'm in the lane adjacent to the centreline. Time seems to stop. I carefully stand up, evaluating to ensure that I can stand up. I look at the stunned driver behind me and make eye contact before I do the same in the next two lanes; I limp to the side of the road. I think I picked up one of my boots on the way, and a small piece of my motorcycle known as a frame-saver, which apparently broke off while preventing major damage to the side of my bike.

I take off my helmet, being surprised to see that the visor which was dangling is not really broken, it's just become unclipped on one side. By this time a motorist has parked his car and is walking up to me asking it I'm OK and if he can help. I look at my motorcycle lying in the centre lane and gesture with my arms that I'd like his assistance to raise the bike so I can roll it to the side street, thus permitting traffic to flow freely again. We do this successfully and he again asks if I'm OK and I say yes. By this time another driver has stopped to offer help. I thank him and say it's fine now; I seem to be OK and the bike is now removed from traffic.

I stand there for a minute or so before examining the bike for expected damage. While doing this, yet another driver rolls down his window and asks if I need him to call for assistance. I thank him and say no, I think I must of hit a patch of black ice and I seem to be OK. It's then that I realize that the low angle of the rising run has probably not yet reached the portion of asphalt on which I wiped out. But still, you'd think that the hundreds of cars that have passed this spot this morning would have warmed up the pavement sufficiently to eliminate the possibility of ice build-up. But then again, maybe it was a patch of spilled fuel. Gasoline or oil on asphalt can have a similar effect to ice.

After a quick evaluation of the motorcycle I realize it's probably rideable. Only a bent shifter lever. If my booted foot can still change gears I can ride this thing home and park it.

So that's what I did. Once home I realized the damage inflicted to my body. Nothing really serious but my left hip was very tender and had started to swell by this time. It'll develop into one helluva bruise. That's the worst of it. Fortunately for me this life lesson was learned in slow traffic. This year's motorcycling season has come to a rather abrupt halt. 


Kind of fitting that the road rash should be on the sticker for a
performance riding school (applied by the previous owner, btw).

Frame-saver; I still say it looks more like a skateboard wheel.

At least these scrapes are on the side of the visor. Didn't affect my vision as
I didn't even notice them until I got home.

Friday, November 2, 2018

All Souls

Last night I took full advantage of a lull between storms to walk Tannah. Despite being a water dog, i.e., Spaniel, she's not as big a fan as one might think of getting wet; in the rain at least. I haven't noticed much of an aversion to her trotting through a puddle. However I like the evenings immediately following the trick-or-treating, and often leash her up once I realize the raindrops thrumming atop the roof have stopped. It's really the last opportunity to see the many Hallowe'en displays that have not yet been dismantled. Sometimes even the odd pumpkin's been re-lit.

We were on the back stretch of our walk and approaching Mountain View Cemetery when I thought I heard trumpets, or at least brass instruments of some sort. Immediately I thought of the All Souls event that the cemetery has been producing for a while now; I really don't know for how many years. I followed the sound of the music down the designated bike route along E. 37th until I caught up with the band. I began filming because the music was so mesmerizing, paired with the darkness of such a large site illuminated only by hand-held candles held by the slowly marching crowd.

If I can figure out how to post a short clip of my video (the size of video files is the limiting factor it seems) I will do so soon. I just looked up the band; they call themselves "Balkan Shmalkan". The style of music kinda reminded me of a slow musical procession as part of a funeral in New Orleans I saw in a movie once.

These are my pumpkin art contributions for 2018. 

Monday, October 22, 2018

Sunflower Abstract

My last standing sunflower is really coming into its own as somewhat of a photoshop crash test dummy.


Sunday, October 14, 2018

Last Sunflower Standing

This extended stretch of October sunshine is certainly a welcome surprise, despite its underlying hint of climate change. There have been murmurings of Vancouver's weather gradually shifting towards San Diego's. This month is starting to bring some relevance to that argument.

But on the plus side, my sunflower has been given a second chance to bloom. I planted a half dozen or so rather too late in the season, and had largely given up hope that they would bloom. All but one have been pulled out; I thought they were done. But the tallest one (now about 12 feet high assisted by a bungee cord to the deck railing) is stretching for all its worth toward each day's afternoon sun. I've been photo-documenting its progress.






Apple Festival 2018 at UBC

The UBC Apple Festival has been on my radar for several years, especially since Jane (from our running group) told me about Salish apples. They're relatively new and hard to find. She mentioned a small market near Nanaimo Street had them last year, but I never ran across any.

Then this year many of us in the running group have signed up to run the Fall Classic event at UBC so it was suggested that we pre-run the course on the same Saturday as the Apple Festival, which started at 11 a.m., giving us ample time to run first.


Of course I bought a bag of Salish, plus I decided to try Organic Winter Banana apples. How could I not want to try an apple infused with a hint of banana?

The one thing I find curious about the event however is that after you pay your 5 bucks entrance fee there is another 5 buck fee to enter the tasting area. In my humble opinion, the initial $5 should cover the whole event. That's just my 2 cents worth.

The apples are delicious, BTW!

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Timing Is Everything

Would you believe it? Barely 3 days after a glorious day of motorcycling through the Whistler corridor on our Vancouver to Lillooet excursion, Whistler gets an afternoon forecast of snow!


I don't yet have any confirmation that snowfall did indeed occur, but we really couldn't have cut it much closer for a ride we'd been talking about doing all summer. I guess the moral of the story is, don't procrastinate when dealing with Canadian weather.

A cold weather system is moving in this evening to Vancouver. Tomorrow morning is supposed to be a crisp 5 degrees Celsius. And strangely enough, this evening as we ate dinner Shauna noticed that raindrops were falling despite the fact the sun was shining brightly. Not that unprecedented really until you consider that it literally was not raining in our front yard!

Sunday, September 30, 2018

Duffey Lake Road - Sept. 29, 2018

It took us all summer to plan this trip. Actually summer formally ended before we put rubber to pavement. The fact that my motorcycle was out of commission for a month due to maintenance issues didn't help our cause either. But it certainly turned out in our favour as I would not have been impressed if it'd broken down on a 500 km trip.

Somewhere between Whistler and Pemberton.

As we were stopped for a traffic entanglement somewhere between Whistler and Pemberton we met a couple from Holland that were motorhoming through BC and Alberta. The gentleman was a fellow motorcyclist. I was impressed that he knew my bike was significantly older than Chris' by about 25 years.

This photo of our gas stop in Pemberton is not meant as a corporate plug; being a dog person, I just
like their logo.

The Autumn colours somewhere south of Lillooet.

Fortunately we didn't encounter a single transport truck, and only a couple
of motorhomes.

Our lunch stop in Lillooet.

On the return to Pemberton I noticed this tiny spot of snow.

Here's Duffey Lake between Lillooet and Pemberton.
The north part is blue and is divided by a log jam; the south part is green.

Here's the green part.

Here's the first sign of the clouds moving in at the south end of Duffey Lake.

Lillooet Lake near Pemberton.

Back in Squamish and the rain has begun.

As I compose this post on Sunday evening it's pouring outside and has been since I got home around 7 pm.