hot dude

There are pics that really catch my attention on occasion and this is one of them! Devon looks hot in those red pants, the shades and bandana around his head. The colours look hot, and that and the well-sculpted physique is what caught my attention in the first place. Thanks, Dev!!!

Meantime, I made my supper, a hot beef vegetable soup made from scatch, of which I had two serving and have had my nightcap, a hot toddy with a liberal amount of Barbadian rum, and am ready to go to bed. Hope you've all had great weekend! Have a great week to come!! Good night all!!! - V.

wrestling dudes

Here are some wrestling dudes in action. If you click on the image, you can look at a larger view of the same image. Check out the guy on top. See the look in his eyes? I guess he's not to happy about being in that position up off the mat and I guess most of us wouldn't find it the best place to be either. And the guy on the bottom? What's he going to do next??? Your answer is as good as mine! - V.

inspiration

Its time for some inspiration! Aside for the awesome muscles, I love the background colours!!! In the meantime, I hope you're having a great weekend! - V.

more on the tall ship

Sunday, February 21st, I went up to Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver to have a look at the Russian tall ship called the Kruzenshtern. I shot 97 photos but the ones here are just a selection of some of the best images. As you can see, the weather was awesome: clear blue skies and warm spring-like temperatures! It wasn't at all like a typical winter in this part of British Columbia, which is now dull, overcast and rainy, but still spring-like as far as temperatures are concerned.

There were a few diversions along the way, such as this figure sleeping in a boat called the SnoozyQ, and then there are the ever present seagulls keeping watch for any opportunity to grab a meal.

I took photos as I was getting closer to the Kruzenshtern. The ship, a barque, was originally built as S408 in Bremerhaven-Wesermuende, Germany by the shipbuilder F.Laeisz of Hamburg in 1926 for the route from Hamburg to Chile, Australia and back to Germany. Her original name was the Padua, the same name as the Italian city. The ship also appeared in three German films, "Die Meuterei auf der Elsinore" (1935), "Herz geht vor Anker"(1940) and "Grosse Freiheit Nr. 7"(1944). The last film was refused a showing by the Nazi censors and wasn't seen until 1946 when the western Allies allowed it to be shown.

The original colours of the hull were black above the waterline, a white stripe at the waterline and red below that, the same colours as the flag of the German Empire. Now the colours are black and white as you see them. The Padua was given to the USSR as part of war reparations in January 1946, refitted and renamed the Kruzenshtern, named after a Baltic German who had been in the Russian service (navy) from the late 18th into the 19th century. His German name was Adam Johann Ritter von Krusenstern with roots to the Swedish aristocratic family, Krusenstjerna, and known in Russian as Ivan Federovich Kruzenshtern. The ship's home ports are Kaliningrad (the former Koenigsberg, East Prussia) and Murmansk. With a Google search you can find out more about this beautiful ship, the only remaining Flying P-Liners in the world still in use, in this case, as a training ship. The history here is courtesy of Wikipedia, a great beginning for any research on the web.

I was surprised that there weren't the insanely large crowds of other venues around Vancouver and area connected with the winter games. The sun was to the south-southwest which created some challenges in getting decent photos. In the image below, I had to position the camera in such a way as to have the sun behind one of the large masts. You can see the long shadows of both the ship and the people on Lonsdale Quay.

Then I made sure there were people in the photos, so you could get an idea of the size of the ship and the height of the masts.

The Kruzenshtern was decorated with all sorts of small flags, including the Russian flag aft.

Among other diversions, I found this cross section of a ship before getting to the quay. Interesting how the guts of a ship could look like. I hope you've enjoyed these images and would honour us with some comments. - V.

tall ship

Yesterday afternoon (Sunday) I went up to Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver to see the Russian tall ship called the "Kruzenshtern." As soon as I've got all of the 100 or so images edited, I'll be posting some of the best ones here. Meantime, I've only managed to edit 30 of them so far, so be patient. Enjoy this one for now and let it whet you interest to see the others. Have a great week!!! - V.

olympic spirit

The crowds at this year's winter olympics in Vancouver (and Whistler) are insane. Sochi World (aka Science World), pictured above, has line-ups so long that it takes up to two hours to enter this Russian exhibit promoting the next winter games in Sochi, Russia one the Black Sea in 2014. The line-up here is short. Friday it was an "S" shape winding around a couple of times. Some venues have waits of four or more hours, so the wait to enter Sochi World seems short. The olympic village is at the top left where you see the flags of the various participants flying. Below is a closer look at the front entrance to the Russian exhibit.

In front of the steps to the Main Street SkyTrain station the crowds are constant. More people come as trains unload. The olympic village and the stadium for the opening and closing ceremonies are nearby adding to the numbers of people entering the area. They're in the same olympic spirit below where the Vancity Centre has mounted a "Go Canada Go" banner above their main entrance. Meantime, its a constant stream throughout the day. More to come later! - V.

Spring-like signs all around!

I was off to buy a new pair of blue jeans this afternoon but to get to the SkyTrain station I decided to walk to take advantage of the fine weather complete with warm temperatures and blue skies. Since my camera was along, these are just some of the photos that resulted from the shoot along the way.

The photo above has a bumblebee busy collecting nectar from heather flowers (Erica) and it was the colours of yellow, green and blue that caught my attention in the photo below!

Tulips are in bloom too and always a plus to add brightness to a spring scene, not to mention a photo. The last image was taken at 8th Avenue and Braid where a Roman Catholic church is located. Again it was the green of the tree and the white of the building against a blue sky that caught my attention. Enjoy the photos, and enjoy your weekend!!! - V.

wrestling dudes and more II

During the early years of high school, John was in my gym class but when I was paired with someone during our wrestling classes, I would often end up with someone that wasn't matched and that I didn't really want to wrestle. I'd end up laying on the mat with this guy on top of me, somewhat heavier than me. I know, I made it tough for him to interact but if truth be known, I'd have rather been paired with John. That never happened but John did go on to compete in the wrestling team which was good for him obviously! - V.

wrestling dudes and more!

The point of wrestling is to pin your opponent's shoulders to the mat for a specified period of time, right? In theory it sounds simple enough a task for two well-matched wrestlers but not necessarily.

John, a friend of mine from high school, was on the wrestling team, handsome and well suited to the sport. We hung around some together after high school during our free time, like for dinner, church services or even watching some hockey games in which a friend of his played (his friend had also joined us on occasion or the reverse). During one such game, Pierre, one of John's friends, skated up to the boards where I was standing watching the game with interest while chatting with John and others, put his hands under my armpits and lifted me up. It all happen so fast and I was up off the floor so quickly that it caught me by surprise but I also got a sense of Pierre's strength and learned to appreciate it. I've not seen either one of them for years.

My friend and former classmate got licensed to ride a motorbike after I did and we'd often ride our bikes to where we had to go. He eloped with a girl and was not seen again, not even a goodbye. His roommate at the time couldn't tell me what happened nor why. For me, I couldn't understand why someone would do that and not at least say a farewell.

Anyway, both guys would look great on a wrestling team together and I'd gladly wrestle either one of them, whether I win the match or not makes no difference. I think of them from time to time. And gee, the memories that are brought to mind by a simple photo. Oh, and keep in mind I was in my 30s at the time I last saw them both!!!

So, as a result of my various friendships and relationships in general, along with the high points and low points, I can greatly appreciate a deep, loving relationship. For this reason, and many others, Brad and I are drawn together to fulfill our destiny individually and collectively, if that makes any sense. - V.

lynx

While we're on the subject of cats, the European Lynx (Lynx lynx) has been reintroduced to the Harz Mountain region of north central Germany. Here's a lovely photo of this beautiful feline from Wikipedia. I guess I won't have to tell you why it went extinct in central Europe in the first place? Do a Google search and check it out! - V.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

According to the Chinese calendar its the Year of the Tiger. Celebrations took place here on Sunday, February 14th and more are planned for next Saturday. Here are a few images from Wikipedia.com and if you entertained the notion that cats don't like water, purge the thought from your mind. It would appear that its not true and the photos above of a tiger cooling itself off in water would indicate.

Above is a photo of a pair of tigers from Indochina and below an image of a tiger in a piece of artwork by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861).

And finally, the map below shows the tiger's range as it used to be in 1900 (orange). The darker colour indicates its current range as of 1990. This is quite a decline and we can thank the ever increase and expension of the human population plus the disappearance of the cat's habitat. We can be thankful for what is left for other generations to see. To find out more, do a Google search. Beginning with Wikipedia would be a good start. Meantime, Gung Hay Fat Choy!!! - V.

mirror image

I love mirror images and this one is no exception. This wallpaper image is of dancer, Antonio Anuk. Go to guypaper to find more of Antonio and other excellent images! - V.

cowboy

While my thoughts are on my partner, Brad has done many interesting things in his life so far, including working as a cowboy! The photo above could be that of any cowboy at all but what's important is, its my cowboy!!! His handle, "SaltWaterCowboy" gives it away, with sailing being one of his other passions in life. We'll have to wait for Brad to give us his story of what it was like and how he felt about doing it. We're all looking forward to your next post as soon as you have ready access to a computer. And for now that's as much of him as you'll see until we have photos of both of us together to post. Until then, you'll just see little hints here and there. Happy Valentine's Day, Brad!!!! - V.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Happy Valentine's Day, guys! I hope you are enjoying this special day with you partner, whether same sex or opposite, or you're spending the day doing something awesome with friends or family members you love and appreciate.

So with your partner, both of you nude (it kind of works better this way), why not spend a bit of time exploring each other by touch alone. Feel each other's breath as they inhale and exhale, feel each other's heart beat and explore every surface, nook and cranny with your eyes closed. It can lead to other things but for the moment the focus is touch. What are you learning about your partner and about yourself?

And if you are without a partner, just give someone a deep, loving embrace, whether a friend or a family member and tell them how much you love them and what they mean to you. You can leave your clothes on for this one! Don't wait until its too late to tell them that you love them. Just set aside your fears and hesitations and say it!!! And to the special someone in my life, Brad, Happy Valentine's Day!!!! I wish we were together right now but however you are spending your day, have an awesome one.... and give your mother a great hug!!! - V.

faces

We see people's faces every day of our lives, both full of expression or not. Its said that the eyes are the gateway to the soul, so here are some examples. Take a look at the eyes to see what they express and take the time to look at the many other features, such as the nose, the lips, the chin, the eyebrows and so on. What do you see reflected back to you? Have an awesome Sunday, and feel free to comment whether briefly or in great complexity! - V.