Remembering the old days, in the cold

Old Man Winter - When will you go away?

Peeking Out
When I was younger, about ten years ago when I was about 10 (work with me here, I'm in denial about my age today), I used to think I was really good at every sport I tried. This isn't necessarily the truth, but faith that what your parents tell you is true can be very convincing. I still contend that my mother making one off hand comment about blue mascara is the ONLY reason I put that crap on my lashes.

Nonetheless, when I was 9 I tried out for and made the travelling soccer team. The season was longer than the local league's season, and we got to go to several exotic places like Sebastopol, Fresno,and Rohnert Park. Yes, I know. WOW, right? Plus, we wore special uniforms and we got to play teams from towns in which we did not live. It was remarkably more fun than I'm making it sound.

Between seasons, however, I was exceedingly bored. So my mother took me to an ice skating rink and dropped me off at the front door. The first couple times she did that, I sat on the curb in front of the entrance and picked at my shoelaces until she came back to get me a few hours later. But one day, it was raining, I had no umbrella, and I'm too precious to get rained on. So, I sat inside on the bench and stared out the window until some scarily thin girl tapped me on the shoulder, scaring me half to death. She told me that if I was going to come inside the building, I either had to skate or fake like I wasn't loitering by going into the rink to watch the skaters. I ended up skating for several years, and taking a lot of lessons. I never got good enough to do more than a single (yes, a full 360) and I dislike spins immensely. Who needs to get all dizzy and fall all over themselves with BLADES attached to their feet? NOT ME, that's who!

It was only recently that I discovered Canadians are awesome. I wish I'd had one of these that first time I hit the ice. I doubt it would have kept me skating, but it would have looked awesome.

Young Lady and Her Walker

Cold, cold, cold snow

I am officially done looking for a new apartment to move into at the end of this month. I have a lease to sign already for one of the places I've already seen. And I'm oh so glad I don't have a fear of heights, as the place is on a very high floor. The skies have turned grey and dreary lately - perfect for spring cleaning! Please enjoy another installment of me attempting to embrace my least favorite season...

Twinkling

Heavy Eaves

Embracing Old Man Winter

In an effort to not be so hot and bothered (HA! FUNNY PUN!) about the long, cold winter, I ventured to the top of a local mountain here to take in the sights and enjoy the entertainment value of all the locals enjoying the snow sports. And the following weekend, I went up to Whistler for a little skiing adventure. Its like I'm trying too hard to embrace the passing season, and sharing it with you just two photos at a time. This is part 1 of about 30. Or really maybe more like 4. Somewhere between 4 and 30.

Faintly Mooned

Tracking Wildlife

Death by Cuteness

I'm clearing out archives. Can you tell?

Otter, Cute

More written word coming soon.

Road Trip!

Of the 8 days after Christmas day, I spent 4 of them driving a car. Initially, the plan was to drive down the coast to SF from probably somewhere a little west of Seattle. The reality of the southerly drive was not at all along the coast. We left late because I procrastinate.

Canadian Sunset

Highway 99

Because we started off so late, there was very little coverage on the first day. We managed to get from Vancouver to Seattle for an early-ish dinner. Consequently, we hoteled in Portland.

Ace

Right Here

The bar we went to for a few drinks to take the edge off driving for the end of the day was awesome. Because it was actually Boxing Day, there weren't many people out, which was just fine - more time under the beer tap for me. It was a perfect way to put my ass to sleep.

Boxing Day plus one... We bought chains for the car (by the way, I have a car, did I mention that?), I drove, white-knuckled for two hours over the Siskayou Pass where it was snowing and there was slush and I felt like I might have had control of the car for like 10 whole seconds over those two hours. Oh and it was pitch black. Needless to say, it was terrifying. I'd recommend it to everyone.

Haze

Left

Felled

Fluffy White

The snow, it looks so pretty, but, no sir, I don't like it.

To be continued...

Seaworld-ly

If it weren't for that decaying fishy smell near all the fresh fish counters at the markets, I'd stand around looking at the poor freezing fishes for hours.

Stacks

Ice Stacks

Day Tripper

From the old photos folder, here's a few I took while we had a friend visiting and went over to the North Shore on the SeaBus. I have a fascination with the SeaBus, so I like to find any excuse to go to the North Shore on the SeaBus.

Parallel

Wake

Skylight

AtAt at Work

Blenheim Palace, Catching up

A Place to Rest

Enter Here

Pond at the Palace

Fluff in the Skies

Doors, Iron

Submerged

I feel a little bit like this guy lately - sink or swim!



He's a caiman. And very sweet looking - behind big glass walls.

Under the Sea!

I'm trying to distract myself with the pretty pictures from the aquarium. So help me out, which one of these do you like better?

Spike

Against the Glass

Aquatic Life, again

A couple weekends ago, I made it to the Vancouver Aquarium for the first time after living here for over a year. I know! It only took a year! SO impressive!

I was enchanted by the sea otters. The adorableness with which they swim around and snack on pieces of fish is unmatched by any other living being (in that aquarium) and after a couple weeks, I have nearly stopped reciting "I WANT ONE!" Nearly, but not quite. I never knew that they can break ginormous hunks of ice into edible little pieces and who knew they like frozen water for snacks? And, also? Toys! Those little guys are so smart!

There was one Beluga Whale that made bubble rings to play with, which I consider to also be nearly unbearably cute. He was very good at smashing a bubble ring with his tail, as well. Oh and later? I found out that he's good at splashing everyone standing above the pool! One a rainy day! I'm so sad I wasn't there with all the rest of the wet people. So sad!

Jelly-bean


Crush


Slippery little Fins

Like a fish

I'm doing a lot of emailing and writing of letters lately. I'm all aflutter with communication. And I feel a bit like I'm swimming upstream. In camo. Like this trout.


And here's the most appropriate joke that was sent to me in email as a reply to a recent post here.

You know you're really drunk if you can't lie on the floor without holding on.

From way back when

I'm trying to clear out the archives which I haven't yet uploaded, so here are a few shots from England.

After the Show

Last Wednesday was the third night of the Vancouver Celebration of Lights which was China's submission to the competition. Sadly, I was pretty late getting home and I only caught a few minutes of the show from the north side of downtown, which is to say I was nowhere near the actual fireworks. So I took a few shots through some buildings and they're up on flickr. On the walk home, I used some railings and pillars in the place of actually carrying a tripod because, well, I'm lazy and I didn't think about taking the tripod when I was running out the door 5 minutes before the show started. I think they turned out alright...

East

West

Another flower because I'm lazy

While waiting for dinner to be ready to devour, since I'm starving, I decided to upload a shot for the blog. A flower. Again. Because, oh how I love them so.

A little after a little rain

Look, we're almost through the old crap

So I've eliminated about 5,000 pictures from last month that I had intended to upload but then never got a chance to because DAYUM that'd be a lot to upload. All that uploading would have interfered in my grilling and cooking and drinking time. And let's just all agree that that would be disastrous. There is no need to interrupt drinking time. So, look at me, I'm down to about 4 pictures left. They're the worst of them all. I thought everyone's eyes could use a little assault. So, yeah. You're welcome!

How about a vacation - there's one right behind this door! 10 points if you can tell me what's on the other side. 1,000 points if you have a photo!

Open ThisTaken on March 6, 2007, 4:27pm
Freehand, 1/80s, f/4.00, 27mm, ISO 200

If a vacation doesn't sound like you're cup of tea around this time of year - and let's face it, some people like to work all the time and don't believe in vacations - how about something to wet your whistle?

Stupid interruption for a little known factoid about that phrase "wet your whistle" from a website.

Wet your whistle

Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim or handle of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. Wet your whistle, is the phrase inspired by this practice.

Stupid interruption for a little known factoid about that phrase "wet your whistle" from a website now over.

Here, have one. God knows I can't drink anymore of this stuff for the next hour if I'm going to drive that car.

Ta Kill YaTaken on May 5, 2007, 8:31pm
Freehand, 1/60s, f/4.00, 200mm, ISO 400

(Pssst! I don't have a car. And I was mostly kidding about not having a drink for the next hour. I'm subscribing to the beer, water, beer, water, beer, water, etc. philosophy, except substitute "coffee mug of vodka" for beer. And it's water's turn.)

Spanning things, and still catching up

Okay. I'll fess up. I haven't taken a picture in over a day. I'm trying to cut back. It's like an addiction. And for some kind of sick reason I feel like I should be uploading a big percentage of the shots I take. Mind you, I generally take at least 3 shots that look essentially THE EXACT SAME, and if I'm "taking pictures" then I take about 600. I can't stop myself once I start. So I'm trying to ease my way into the whole idea of taking INTERESTING pictures.

But since I still haven't gotten through uploading all the old crap, I thought I'd share some spanning of the sea boat pictures with you. I took this on that plane ride I KEEP TALKING ABOUT. I'll stop soon. I promise. (I think I only have about 16 more pictures to show you from that flight. It'll be fun!)

C-SpanTaken on April 15, 2007, 1:02pm
Freehand, 1/4000s, f/5.60, 70mm, ISO 1600

And yes, I did only take this shot because I found it endlessly amusing that the seaspan logo on the barge thing there was spelled wrong. As we all know, OBVIOUSLY, it should be "C-Span".

Recap, The only day of the year where I sip tequila

There's really not much to recap from Cinco de Mayo yesterday. I made tacos from scratch, guacamole from scratch and bought tortillas because who makes those from scratch? (And if it's you, can you send me the recipe please? Thanks!)

And then there was the one drink I had with tequila in it because I'm terrified of tequila coming back to say hi to me. Those college years really put me off. So I finished my terribly eventful night of watching movies with gin and tonics and vodka and tonics. Clear liquor - I can get on board with that whole idea.

High ClassTaken on May 5, 2007, 8:29pm
Freehand, 1/60s, f/4.00, 200mm, ISO 400

Is the reason I am terrified of the agave juice because I've only had Cuervo and Olmeca and all the other similarly classed tequilas? Because, somehow, I feel like I need to get over the fear.

That morning (ok, ok! afternoon) on the plane, I took some pictures

I think I've mentioned before what I did on my Easter Sunday. That plane ride was smooth. Remarkably smooth. It was nice, and I'd do it again - not still drunk, if that's okay with you. I imagine that the haze that was surrounding my poor little head made the pictures turn out a bit fuzzy. You tell me. (Tip: Click on the picture so you can see what it is that I'm talking about.)

BendyTaken on April 15, 2007, 1:22pm
Freehand, 1/640s, f/16, 70mm, ISO 800

Oh my god, I just now realized that that wasn't Easter at all. Easter was when I was in Whistler trying to break myself at the top of a mountain. WOW. I think I need a drink.

Oh and also - this shot was not photoshopped or post-processed at all. It was the funny windows that bent the image. Pinky swear.

Stop staring at me!

When the weather isn't playing along with the RAIN ALL THE TIME season, the sun sometimes comes out and that's when I like to wander about outside. Its the inherent exerciser in me to want to wander about aimlessly at a particularly stressless pace and be amazed at the small details of the outside world. Its a good time to take pictures of all the amazing little things that one can notice if one just slows down a little bit and gets my kind of exercise.

I must admit, though, that before living in Vancouver, I found no time for such things because I had other things to worry about - like the continuous problem of never being on time to anything, including, and most especially, work. But if it wasn't work it was everything else. Meeting friends or getting home, you name it, I wasn't ever on time. I blame the public transportation that was always on time and my severe disinterest in running to catch a bus when another one would be along "in a few minutes anyways". Every damn time, I swear. And add all of those "few minutes" together and you can end up with 30 minutes of standing around when I know very well that I could have just been there already if I had expended the energy of running for that first bus. Through all that standing around, I don't think it was ever a passing thought to look around at where I was and what was happening, for I had a book(!) or a blackberry(!!) or a magazine(!!!) on which to focus while waiting for the new bus. So I would have missed all of these animals stalking me on my leisurely walks before I lived in this rainy haven. Aren't they all so cute?

BeggarTaken on March 28, 2007, 3:46pm
Freehand, 1/60s, f/5.60, 55mm, ISO 200

Puff up, Puff up, they hate that!Taken on April 16, 2007, 6:12pm with rented 100-300mm Canon lens
Freehand, 1/100s, f/10, 270mm, ISO 800

Pretty teethTaken on April 16, 2007, 6:31pm with rented 100-300mm Canon lens
Freehand, 1/400s, f/11.00, 205mm, ISO 800

I can see you, tooTaken on April 16, 2007, 6:33pm with rented 100-300mm Canon lens
Freehand, 1/1250s, f/8.00, 230mm, ISO 800