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.

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.

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.