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
Since we're well into the month of October, Halloween is not all that far off. Here are some photo I took in January one year during a warm spell which saw the nearby Fraser Cemetery in New Westminster's Sapperton covered in fog. A rather eerie look, don't you think?!?! Above the fog was clear blue sky. I didn't find any ghouls or ghosts lurking about, so all was safe! It was late morning anyway. Just imagine what it would look like at night?!?! Enjoy the photos!!! - V 
The fog we've been experiencing for the last week is continuing. The fog is found in the valley near the Fraser River, in low lying areas such as the city of Richmond, English Bay, Burrard Inlet and the Georgia Strait. Yesterday as I left home for work, New Westminster wasn't too bad except near the river but as we got to Vancouver on the train, the mist became more evident. That's pretty well what was seen all day at work yesterday: fog! The photo above was taken Sunday from the Fraser Cemetery in Sapperton (New Westminster). You can see the mist above the Fraser River in the distance. In Vancouver it was a different story as can be seen in the photo below taken along the seawall in Stanley Park, just past the 2nd beach. English Bay was shrouded in fog and the fog horns from freighters could be heard constantly. There was a photo posted on one of the local papers on the weekend of the office towers in downtown Vancouver poking through the fog, the city fog-shrouded except for that! I believe the photo was taken from Grouse Mountain, which of course enjoyed sun-filled skies! If this continues into the weekend, I will make a trip to Burnaby Mountain, an excellent vantage point, and take some photos from there. Meantime, I'm off to work!
Time ran out for me yesterday but I made it a point to visit Vancouver's Stanley Park today (Sunday). It was sunny with a bright blue sky but near rivers, lakes and the ocean there was plenty of fog/mist. The small pond in the photo above is located just north of the Lost Lagoon. The mist you see is coming from English Bay via Lost Lagoon. The low-hanging mist obscured the sun near the water as you can see in the photo below (Lost Lagoon). 
Lost Lagoon, a pond now that its long been land-locked, was frozen over for the most part and not as many birds were seen as would normally be the case. This will change as we get into February and March but there were swans, coots, mallard ducks and other fowl to be seen.
This grey squirrel looking for handouts was spotted in the shrubbery near a bridge about halfway between Coal Harbour and English Bay's 2nd beach. The photo below captured one of the many chickadees to be seen in the park. They travel in flocks and can be spotted by listening for their distinctive call which gives them their name. I hope you all had a lovely weekend what ever it is you chose to do. Have a great week!
The sun did appear today (Saturday) but much of it was obscured by a ground fog/mist that hung in the valleys and depressions in the Greater Vancouver Area for much of the day. Above the mist you could see clear blue skies and when I took the train into Vancouver to complete some errands, that fog was less severe in around Metrotown because of the higher elevation than elsewhere. The scene above was taken this afternoon in the mist shrouded Fraser Cemetery in Sapperton, a part of New Westminster, British Columbia. During my walk to Sapperton SkyTrain station I noticed some lichen that was in bloom with the recent warmer temperatures we've been having (well, for us its warmer!). The tombstone in the centre of the photo, by the way, dates from 1886. I had hoped to get to the Lost Lagoon in Stanley Park to feed the birds but it was nearing sunset and it gets dark early yet. We'll have to wait a few more months for longer daylight hours!
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