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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.