morning mist

I take the time (and opportunity) to take photos when the mood strikes me.  In this case I was living on the 12th floor of a 16 floor apartment building in north London (Ontario) during the mid-1980s.  As summer starts to cool, they air may be cool but the ground is still very warm, so ground mist collects along the ground.  This is just one of many images I took during a morning that featured plenty of this.  Then there was the sun trying to burn its way through the next cloud layer.  Enjoy the photo, there are more if you'd like to see them! - V

clouds from the air

Here is another shot that I took as the plane was making an approach to Vancouver airport.  You can see a bit of the sun and the many layers of clouds in the sky. This was December 23rd, 1978.  The next day it was raining but it was the only such day.  Otherwise it was cold and mostly clear.  The children loved it since the ponds were frozen over which as I understand it, usually doesn't happen in this part of British Columbia.  Sun and cold pretty well described the rest of the 2 and a half week stay in Vancouver.

I stayed at the YMCA Vancouver on Burrard Street.  That place has since been completely renovated.  I met a young man from Hamilton, Ontario that was staying down the hall from me.  We went to a restaurant on Burrard and I accompanied him to the Greyhound Bus Terminal which in those days was in the downtown, not at the Train station on Main Street as it is now.  The last time I saw him he was catching a bus to Edmonton supposedly to work in the oil fields and I've not seen him since.  Such is life!  We meet people and see them for years and others we see once and never again.  That was just over 30 years ago.  So, what sort of adventures have you undertaken? - V

the sky

Have you ever taken the time to appreciate the beauty that the sky offers us daily? In this case its the sky over English Bay in Vancouver, British Columbia during a recent summer (but not the one we just had). That's the landing to the ferry at Sunset Beach on the right. Take the time to enjoy the simple pleasures in life! Life is over too quickly to spend it asleep at the switch!! - V

autumn grasses and turbulent clouds

Yesterday (Saturday) on returning home from grocery shopping I stopped to take a few photos which included the autumn grasses with their fall colours and the turbulent clouds in the sky above. A storm was brewing but it didn't amount to much in the end. These photos were taken near the Canada Pools building and the Justice Institute of BC in New Westminster. Enjoy! - 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.

Surreal

Heading out to work in the morning is usually uneventful and dull but this morning (Friday) as the bus drove east toward the SkyTrain station, I could see that the Fraser River was covered in a fog with the sun just starting to peek above the clouds and the Cascade Mountains to the east. Once I was on the train and we were past New Westminster station, the surreal nature of the fog became very apparent. The Fraser River had a fog hanging over it which spilled over to the land to the east. Between New Westminster station and 2nd Street station highrise condos on land and barge cranes on the water poked through the low-hanging cloudcover. Off to the east and low on the horizon the sun shon like a beacon over this surreal display and off to the south-east Mount Baker, a volcano, rose above all the clouds and mist to add its bit to the scene.

As the train continued on toward Vancouver from 22nd Street, frost was noticed on the roof tops of houses and off to the south the city of Richmond, much of it just above sea level, had both mist and frost as far as the eye could see. Smoke and exhaust stacks sent their contents high into the sky. If you looked carefully, you could see the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state plus the Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island in British Columbia off in the distance.

After Metrotown station the train usually fills up rather quickly. At Joyce station the people would just file in like lemmings. This morning I don't know how many times my toes were stepped on but enough times or pressed toward the wall near the entrance to the train, one of three on each side of each car. Its almost necessary to wear body armour to keep from getting injured. Some would push their way in eventhough there was little free room. Then Broadway station was another similar scene as it is most days. Then the doors had trouble closing, so SkyTrain staff advised passengers to assist closing the doors that were having trouble closing. The trains are driverless you know! However, the train finally got to its destination in Vancouver where I got off to make the short walk to work.

This brings to mind that I miss having someone with me on these treks on the train. Of those times when I was squeezed in amongst people, I didn't mind sharing space with a cute guy, if you know what I mean. This would have me thinking of Brad, of course. He would love sharing the ride with me, I'm sure. The odd occasion a guy would rest his back against my chest or an arm would stretch over my shoulder while he would hang on to the pole behind me.

The oddest scene was a short woman, likely southern European, in a crowded train facing me and pushing her hands against my chest to keep her balance, all the while laughing nervously. This has happen in the past and happened again a couple of days ago. Or the case where I stood near the door and crowded in as usual only to hear a woman behind me say "excuse me" when the train hadn't stopped yet and therefore the doors still closed. I had turned around, look her straight in the eyes and said, "I'll move when the doors open!" or something to that effect. When they did open, people spilled out and another woman thanked me for saying what I did. I guess it had to be said to remind these people lacking common sense. We all have our days, so I guess this person had hers!

Meantime, with all this aside, I am still waiting for Brad to arrive. I do hope he hasn't gotten lost of something. He's a lot better at navigating at sea than on land, so I promissed to take care of navigating on land when we travel and leave the water navigation to him. That way none of us will ever get lost and we benefit from each others strengths. Something to look forward to, don't you think? Mostlikely, though, I think he may have stopped at a number of locations along the way and is having too much fun!

Well, it is late and time for bed, so I'll close this post for now. Have a great weekend and keep coming back for more commentary and photos! - Volker