restful Sunday - not exactly

Well, Sunday was supposed to be a day of rest, sort of, after an active day Saturday. On my journey Saturday I walked down to Queens Park near home and then on toward Fraser Cemetery in Sapperton before heading on to downtown Vancouver by SkyTrain with Stanley Park being the focus that day. I did a bit too much walking and got a bit more sun than was wise, so I thought of staying at home today. That meant a leisurely breakfast, checking emails and such and then getting some needed laundry done and out of the way. After that was done, I cooked up some soup (rice with vegetables, pork) and then prepared a bread dough to bake around suppertime. As the bread (olive) was baking, the aroma of fresh baked bread filled the entire apartment. I'll take some in to work over the next two days along with soup made today. I also spent some time listening to music on Radio Canada's "Espace Musique" that was playing various kinds of music from Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, etc, and then I got down to playing some cds toward evening (Austrian and Bavarian folk music). With the warmer weather my computer shuts down unannounced at the most inconvenient times, so posts may be sparse during hot weather. It likely has to do with the heat generated by the new hard drive which is not exactly as the old one it replaced but a new one that fits this machine would cost me over $600. I opted for a cheaper hard drive and put the money into a new work station. Anyway, more posts coming, including Saturday's activities. Have a great week!!! - V.

Edilson - summer mood

Sunshine and warm temperatures have returned to us after a time of rainy, overcast weather and with a mere three weeks left in spring our thoughts are on the promiss of summer. What better guy to help us get in the mood than our favourite Brazilian model, Edilson Nascimento, who has an awesome physique who must look good in most anything. I'll let the photos speak for themselves, as in "a picture is worth a thousand words!" Some pics are by the photographer Marcio del Nero and the last two in particular are by photographer Pieter Henket. Meantime, enjoy the warm weather, if you're in the northern hemisphere, or if you're in the southern half of the world, you can dream of a summer yet to come. Those in the tropics, well, you have the best because warm, pleasant weather is with you year round. Have a great weekend!!! - V.

Philip Fusco - more pics

Remember Philip Fusco? Here are some more pics of this hot model to remind you! Have a great night and an awesome weekend to come!!! Its bedtime for me. - V.

Kris Kranz - model from Minnesota

Kris Kranz is a model born in 1985 in Bloomington, Minnesota in the United States, starting modeling at age 19 with photos featured in Cosmopolitan's Cosmo's Guy with a golden tanned physique, short blond hair, a young, square jaw and a muscular body. He is currently represented by Major Model Management as of 2009. I love the first photo! The next two show how Kris looked at the time of his first venture into modeling. The latter ones are as he is now (including the first). Enjoy the pics!!! - V.

Sexy

As one of my recent posts might suggest (the train), I see stuff on the way to work that piques my interest, so here's another one to share.

The other day, as I was heading off to work in town, using the SkyTrain as usual, a good looking guy in his early 20s, I'd guess, got on the train at Joyce station (I believe). As usual, I was standing at the door against the partition facing toward the back of the train and he was standing in front of me but facing away from the door, towards the aisle in other words. Then he suddenly turned to face me. Seeing as he was less than two feet away from me, I got a good look at him. Being caucasian, his hair was a sandy blond and short, similar in length to Orlando in the previous post, with blue eyes (lighter shade) and stunningly handsome wearing grey-coloured sweats with a bag over his shoulder. I'm just under 5 foot 10 inches tall and he was probably a bit taller. He would make a perfect model for me to photograph (by the way, I hope to start shooting models by July, if not sooner). I don't know whether he was gay or str8, and don't care either way, but he was very easy on the eyes as you might imagine.

A couple of young women got on at the next station, so one of them was between him and me. I'd rather he had been closer but heck, that's the way things are sometimes. As the train was approaching Broadway station, he turned to face the door and he departed the train at that station. Such a shame! I could easily have taken to seeing more of him. If I were to hazard a guess, he was likely a university student, perhaps UBC (University of British Columbia).

There are a number of hotties that are seen often enough on the trains or buses locally, so keep posted for more. I just wanted to share my experience, so you can comment with your own if you wish. - V.

Orlando Delgado - Venezuelan model

One of my readers sent me a few photos recently. This one of Venezuelan model, Orlando Delgado, was just one of them and the one I loved the best. Orlando participated in last year's Manhunt International in Seoul, Korea. I believe he would be about 19 years of age now (he was 18 at the time of the Manhunt International participation). Thanks, Wade, for sending this one along and brightening everyone's day, including mine! - V.

Proper eating habits a la Scott Herman

My friend Scott Herman has produced another video, this one to do with proper eating habits. I'll let Scott explain all this in his own words, and a great inspiration he is!!! Meantime, as far as eating is concerned, I had a version of bubble and squeek using thickly sliced new potatoes, savoy cabbage with garlic, sea salt and freshly ground pepper added. Bubble and squeek is a British dish in case you're wondering and the fact that I'm of German background makes no difference. If it tastes good and I like it, I'll eat it. Now have a look at Scott's video! - V.

Checking out Stanley Park

Saturday was a beautiful, warm, sunny day. It was 23 degrees with a cloudless sky though you could see the mist off in the distance. This area is known for its temperate rainforests, so this shouldn't be surprising. I took a number of photos during my trip into Vancouver, the main destination being Stanley Park. The photo above was taken near the entrance to the park on West Georgia Street. Off in the distance (looking east) you can see the Coal Harbour development. A Canada goose (there were a few) is seen on the grassy boulevard on the northside of West Georgia Street.

The swallows are back at Lost Lagoon (above). Here are a few at a nesting box at the north end of the lagoon.

Near the rose garden in the park you may spot a bee house-hive for the blue mason bee native to this part of the British Columbia coast (see pic above). The bees even have their own garden with flowers suited to their needs. The alliums (below) also keep them busy collecting nectar for making honey.

A couple of "lions" guard the entrance to the Lion's Gate Bridge crossing the first narrows on Burrard Inlet between Vancouver and North and West Vancouver on the northside of the inlet. The photo above shows one of the lions. Below is a view of part of the seawall as seen from the bridge.

Downtown Vancouver can be seen from the bridge just beyond Stanley Park. The view includes one of the tallest structures at West Georgia and Thurlow Streets. Then there is a view of the bridge looking up (below).

Another view of the bridge is shown above, this one from the Stanley Park side and a close-up view below.

Prospect Point, to the immediate west of the bridge, has an awesome view, this one looking to the northwest across to West Vancouver (Hollyburn Mountain in the background). There are all sorts of wild flowers to be seen on the walk between Prospect Point and Ferguson Point on English Bay (see below).

The above photos shows a fern frond unfurling and there are all sorts of stumps to be found, all put to good use as "nurse stumps" (below).

I did manage to see another couple of bald eagles. If you look carefully at the centre of the above photo, you can see an eagle. When I spotted them and took this photo, that one and its partner obscured by the trees took off westward. This was the best I could do with my telephoto lens and reason enough for me to get a bigger one! The clearing have all sorts of wild flowers, such as the buttercups below. I did want to get a close-up shot of a bumblebee but it took off rather quickly unlike the garden variety that are used to having people about.

The fruit of the blackberries are starting to form (above) and below you can see a view of one of the clearings. A number of clearings were created after the big wild storm of late 2006 (I have photos of before and after with dramatic changes).

Above is a view of English Bay as seen from Ferguson Point. Then below is a photo of rock art which can be seen along the seawall between the 2nd and 3rd beach on the English Bay side of the park.

People were braving the water at the 3rd beach (above) and there's another view of the beach from the lookout above the beach itself (note the fan palm).

A view of English Bay's main beach near Denman and Davie Streets can be seen below. Despite the warm temperatures, people are well clothed for the most part, even in the heat of the summer. Back east in southern Ontario, beaches there would display a lot more skin. This something that immediately struck me when I came here to stay in 2006 but a couple of factors come to mind that might account for this: an awareness of the damaging affects of the sun and perhaps, in part, a British prudishness to cover up, something that has been tossed away back east though sunscreen is well used there. The benefits of exposure to the air and the sun's rays is the body's ability to produce vitamin D plus drying out the skin (we all know what moist skin is the breeding ground for!). Anyway, that's my journey through the park for Saturday. I hope you've enjoyed the photos! Hope your weekend was a pleasant one too! As for today, I spent the day resting up after all the walking I did yesterday. My right foot and knee have not healed up enough yet, so both (especially the foot) were a bit sore after the end of the day. Take care!!! - V.

Edilson on Gus

Our favourite Brazilian male model, Edilson Nascimento, is on the latest cover of Gus magazine based in Belgium. I had never heard of the magazine until I stumpled on a post concerning it on the blog called London Calling Luv. What a way of getting one's attention by putting his photo on the front of a magazine! Then if you check out the following link, you'll find Edilson's mug in a header photo! [ http://www.gussip.com ] and while you're at it, check out the Gus link too [ http://www.gusmag.com ]. Google it if you encounter any problems. Then the pic below is inside that issue #41. Have a great day!!! - V.

sun and high cloud

Sunday was a beautiful day. It was warm, sunny and had just enough high clouds in the sky to make it interesting. I took the shot above at Fraser Cemetery in Sapperton (New Westminster) along with others before heading off on the SkyTrain for downtown Vancouver. The cloud patterns caught my eye and that's the Fraser River at the bottom right. By evening heavier clouds were moving in and by Monday it was overcast with rain late in the afternoon and into the evening. Its been rather odd weather all winter and into the spring. Let's see what summer brings! - V.

the New Moon poster

Well, the New Moon poster to the movie The Twilight Saga: New Moon is out (see above). The film appears in the theatres November 20 and is the sequel to the movie Twilight which grossed $380 million globally at the box office. Locally, filming just ended at David Thompson Secondary School and has moved to Montepulciano, Italy. The movie is based upon the novel of the same name written by Stephanie Meyer and starring Robert Pattinson (born May 13, 1986 in London, England) as Edward Cullen, Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan and Taylor Lautner (born February 11, 1992 in Grand Rapids, Michigan) as Jacob Black. Pattinson was in the news locally often enough as people spotted him going to and from the film location and elsewhere. Now to wait until the movie comes out in the theatres! - V.

Saturday, after a day of doing two loads of laundry and some shopping I decided to do some cooking as evening approached. I made a fresh salad of romaine lettuce with croutons along with a simple home-made oil and vinegar dressing (olive oil with white wine vinegar). That was just an appetizer. Then I got down to business making up some home fries with diced onion. When those were done, I grated (coursely) some asiago cheese over top. Sometimes I use emmentaler or gruyere, or what ever is available. If I had meat, I would have chosen bratwurst or hot Italian sausage but since that wasn't available I had to do without.

The top photo shows the plate of home fries and the second pic is a close-up. A wedge of asiago cheese is shown below. Sunday evening I just had sandwiches with fine liverwurst on olive bread along with orange-spice black tea, nothing particularly fancy. Then late this afternoon (Monday), home as it was a statutory holiday (Victoria Day), I cooked up some beef vegetable soup from scratch (as usual) using a cheap cut of beef I picked up Sunday afternoon while in Vancouver. Everything was slow cooked and then I had some for supper with some to take in to work on Tuesday (yes, the work week starts again, though only four days as opposed to five).

As for teas, its a mix this week with orange-spice black tea, or rooibos vanilla tea, or bengal spice tea or loose-leaf green tea with some fresh ginger root, again nothing fancy just healthy stuff. Have a great week where ever you are!!! - V.