Thursday, June 30, 2011

Day 100: Road trip

We just spent three full days in Wells Gray Provincial Park in central British Columbia. I'll get round to putting up photos from the other days soon enough, but for now here's a photo from the early part of the drive. I took it in slow traffic as we crossed the Fraser River on the Alex Fraser (no relation) bridge. From there we headed east through Surrey until we joined the queues on Highway 1. Actually the road wasn't too bad with just a couple of slowdowns near Abbotsford. Our journey was made much easier by the fact the mudslide of the day before had been cleared already (a big thank you to the highway cleanup crews!).

We stopped briefly in Hope before heading up through the Coquihalla region under grey skies. By now the traffic was light and we made good time to our next stop for petrol in Kamloops, about five hours after we'd left Vancouver. However, the weather was beginning to turn against us and we continued north through several heavy showers. The North Thompson River was high, and looked like it was ready to flood the road if any more rain fell. The only upside was that Maria spotted a bedraggled bear wending its way up the hillside.

Another hour-and-a-half later, we reached Clearwater just as night was truly falling. We turned off Highway 5 and headed into the darkness of Wells Gray provincial park (where Maria spotted another bear!). We passed through a few more showers but they eased off by the time we left the tarmac behind, finishing the journey with about 20 km of good dirt road. We startled a third bear at the roadside (this time we all saw it), causing it to lollop into the undergrowth as we sped along a straight section of muddy gravel road. Finally, at 10:30 pm we reached the campground, found our camp site and set about pitching our tents. Within an hour we were all curled up in our sleeping bags.

On the road
On the Road, 30 Jun 2011

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Day 99: Struck gold

Another dull day, but this time I had the new camera. I started off with a few flower pictures as usual when I noticed the sheer number of swallows circling and swooping low over me. I knew better than to try and get photos of them. Really, I did. OK so I couldn't resist trying one or two... Fortunately a heron flew overhead which gave me something big enough to focus on, and I got a couple of photos of it. A little under-exposed but in sharp focus, at least.

Then it was back to the swallows... I gave up after half-a-dozen failed attempts to get something decent. But luckily I caught sight of another bird flitting from one lupine to another: a bright yellow American goldfinch. It settled on one seed-stacked lupine and I was able to line up a few shots. I needed full zoom on the telephoto lens and I still needed to crop it quite heavily to get a good shot, but it'll do. As far as I was concerned I had proverbially struck gold :-)

American goldfinch
UBC, 29 Jun 2011

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Day 98: The point of it all

A dull day and I had the bright idea of taking in the old camera. I revisited the flower-filled lupine patch of recent days and tried a few flower shots. I got a couple of nice photos of beetles and/or flies on the same white flowers I captured yesterday, but I think it's a little bit of a cheat to use the same subject twice (especially two days in a row). There are exceptions, of course, but it would be easy to "game" the project by finding, say, a different daisy every day they're out. I'd feel like a fraud doing that.

After a few otherwise unsatisfactory flower shots (especially the California poppies: the old camera simply can't focus on anything yellow against a green background) I sat down on the bench and looked around for inspiration. A few large blackberry branches are snaking their way out of the flower bed and out into the wide-open space beyond. They're large and quite intimidating, armed with all those thorns, but seeing them gave me the idea for today's photo. I put the camera in macro mode, focussed on a particularly large thorn, and aimed it along the branch for a nice perspective view. It worked.

Bramble thorns
UBC, 28 Jun 2011

Monday, June 27, 2011

Day 97: What's in a number?

Number 97 - I grew up in a house with that number. That has absolutely nothing to do with today's photo though :-) Since the summer solstice, the Earth has travelled another 1.6 per cent or so around its orbit; another way of looking at it is that there's about 97 per cent of the journey to the winter solstice remaining.

I wandered out just after lunch to stalk my new favourite flower patch. The lupines are growing up fast and will soon be past it, although a few new ones are still pushing through. A few colourful California poppies are dotted here and there among the lupines and dandelions (and ever-encroaching brambles). But the flower that caught my eye today was this white one. I don't know what it is, but I liked the edge-on view and that all the yellow stamens were pointing up towards the sky.

Edge-on flower
UBC, 27 Jun 2011

Update: it's yarrow (I should have known that...).

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Day 96: Glacier lilies!

Yup - you read that right :-) It's still June and we've seen our first glacier lilies of the year. And I hope that they won't be the last :-) Much like my search for white fawn lilies, I can get a little excited about finding glacier lilies. It's become a bit of a standing joke among our hiking friends, dating back to 2007 when we saw our first glacier lilies along the trail to Mt Frosty.

In practice I get excited about seeing a whole range of flowers when they first bloom: western anemone, alpine marsh marigold, paintbrush, bleeding heart, queen's cup, arnica, oregon grape, bunchberry, coralroot, trillium, columbine, stonecrop, gentian, monkeyflower... You get the picture :-) In fact, one of the amazing discoveries of today's hike was the number of trillium blooming on the upper reaches of the trail. That was a surprise, as I regard them as low-level spring flowers. Even more amazing was that they were much smaller than the lower-elevation versions, often barely 8 inches high, and with leaves only a couple of inches long (compared with 6-8 inch leaves in the valley bottom). And then there were the views... All in all a pretty good day out.

Glacier lilies
Elk Mountain, 26 Jun 2011

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Day 95: Green snail

I've walked past the topiary snail in this garden many times and either not had the camera with me or it's been too dark to take a photo. This afternoon, I had the camera over my shoulder and the light was good - time to take its picture, at last.

Topiary snail
Kitsilano, 25 Jun 2011

Friday, June 24, 2011

Day 94: Dodging the rain

I biked in to work again today, despite the huge grey clouds heading my way, but first I had to take a 2-km detour to return a Blu-Ray disc we'd rented last night. The rain began as I headed towards the video store, very lightly at first, but got heavier as I turned round and retraced my route. I was already quite wet and cold thanks to the wind when I reached the back of Safeway, and pulled off to hide under a little gazebo-type shelter. Good timing as the heavens opened and it poured down.

Five minutes later, the rain eased off and soon stopped altogether. I got on my bike and continued in to work, thankful for quick-dry clothing. A very pleasant ride this morning :-)

Downpour
Rain, 24 Jun 2011

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Day 93: Dragonfly

Have you ever tried to take a photo of a dragonfly in flight? Neither had I until today. After a successful flower hunt (where I found some nice California poppies) I was on my way back to the office when I thought I'd try my hand at getting a picture of one of the numerous large insects circling in a small grassy patch. I must have spent the better part of 15 minutes sitting in the grass following whichever dragonfly seemed to be flying the closest/slowest. I was able to follow one of them - sometimes - but then trying to get the camera to focus on it was next-to-impossible. I switched to manual focus at one point, but that was way off. After a few fuzzy dragonfly photos I managed to get one of them right in the focus cross-hairs and took the shot as quickly as possible, not worrying about such niceties as composition. And with that, I left my patch of damper-than-I-first-realized grass and went back to Perl coding. I'll revisit the flowers tomorrow.

Dragonfly in flight
UBC, 23 Jun 2011

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Day 92: Red sky in the morning

Isn't that some kind of warning? It may even be right as the weather forecast for the rest of the week is less than stellar. Ha ha - get it? Stellar? Sunshine? Or the lack thereof...

After seeing the sunset on the longest day last night, I had half an idea to see the following sunrise. To my surprise, I awoke around 5 am and got up to see whether the sky was still clear. There were a few clouds to the east, and the high cloud over Mt Seymour was lit up a bright fire-red. Behind me the almost-last-quarter moon played hide-and-seek with the clouds. I watched the clouds shift and the light change on them, but the sunrise was anti-climactic in the end thanks to a large cloud which rolled in over Mt Seymour, where I thought the sun would rise. Ah well, time to go back to bed for a couple of hours.

Red morning skies over Mt Seymour
Sunrise, 22 Jun 2011

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Day 91: A quarter at the half

Today is the summer solstice, the beginning of summer. I hope. It's the half-way mark in the year. It also makes the passing of the first quarter of my photo-a-day project (approximately). I made a few notes at the 10 % point, so maybe it's time again to revisit those thoughts.

I think pretty much all of what I said then remains true. With the extra time that's since passed, I've settled into a bit of a rhythm and in some ways I'm finding it less difficult. However, I'm keenly aware of the fact that I have a lot of daylight to play with here, and that it's easy for me to postpone picture taking until the end of my working day. Somehow I still need to work it into a regular day, and usually the earlier the better.

The biggest surprise to me is how the project has morphed. I originally envisaged taking everyday scenes, snapshots with a story, and not paying too much attention to getting the photo "right". But I've slowly realized that I'm not satisfied with that and I've moved into trying to take a "good" photograph every day. Here, I define "good" as a photo which causes me (and hopefully others) to stop and look closely and explore the scene. I've found that out when sifting through a couple of dozen scatter-gun attempts at finding a daily photo. The ones that stop me in my tracks usually end up being the winners, even if they're not the most colourful or detailed. I've been pleasantly surprised on several occasions and have often ended up passing over a photo I thought would be great in favour of something more subtle. The challenge is undoubtedly going to be maintaining that through the dreary winter.

For the next six months I'm losing light, so here's the western sky at the end of the longest day of 2011, taken from Kitsilano outdoor pool. I've wanted to get a nice picture of the Tetrahedron peaks for a while and I'm finally happy with this one.

Peach sunset behind the Tetrahedron peaks
Kits Beach, 21 Jun 2011

Monday, June 20, 2011

Day 90: Beach habit

I've been reading "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall and to my utter amazement it has inspired me to try the running technique described in the book. I don't run, and have always scratched my head and wondered exactly what the appeal is. Doubly so since I was a sprinter at school, and not much good at long-distance running. But the description of the barefoot running technique and the ability of some people to run for 50 miles and more had me wondering just whether there was any merit to it.

On the back of yesterday's migraine, I took today off work and by late afternoon felt well-rested enough to venture out and try some running on the beach at low tide. I drove down to Spanish Banks and walked out onto the sandy flats. I'm guessing the water line was a couple of hundred metres from shore. I padded through the shallow tidal pools, silty mud squishing between my toes and tiny fish scattering in all directions, until I reached the outermost sandbank. I set down my sandals and backpack, looked up and down the beach and set off into the wind at a gentle trot.

I did my best to maintain the form described in the book - head up, back straight and short light steps - and soon covered my first out-and-back of about 300 m. I rested for a bit and then repeated it. I moved on and found another section right by the waterline with a nice smooth patch of firm sand. I set off into the wind again, turned round at the water and returned with the wind on my back, past my gear and down to the waterline again, before turning back and returning to my stuff. I felt fine - a little out of breath but not really tired. I paddled in the shallow water for a bit and took a few photos before running one last time. To my surprise I ran my out-and-back circuit twice without stopping, counting the steps on one pass to work out how far I'd run. I measured my stride and it came out to be about a metre: that meant each leg of my run was about 200 m - and I'd run that distance at least half-a-dozen times. I don't remember the last time I ran that kind of distance but I must have been at school. I figured that was enough, but couldn't put my finger on exactly why it was enough. I wasn't tired, I wasn't out of breath, and the only thing that came to mind was that I shouldn't push it too hard at first. Back at home, I could feel my calf muscles complaining - they had been worked quite hard after all - so it was a good decision to stop.

So I begin to see the state of mind that runners aim for, and I'm looking forward to trying it again.

City in the sea
Spanish Banks, 20 Jun 2011

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Day 89: Marine migraine

A marine migraine is no fun. But kayaking in calm water with visits by inquisitive little seals is. One of the Black Sheep runs the kayaking place and he invited us to go out on the water for a couple of hours. Five of us paddled out from the pier in Snug Cove heading around the corner into Deep Bay. I lagged behind a little to grab a couple of photos and as I worked to catch up I saw something floating in the water ahead of me. At first I thought it was a piece of driftwood but then it turned to look at me with big soulful brown eyes. I stopped paddling and began to unroll the dry-bag as quickly as I could to get the camera. Just as I turned on the camera, the seal ducked under. I put it away again and caught up with the others.

Into the bay, we paddled in towards the shore, investigating a boat festooned in plants of various kinds (no, it wasn't a grow-op ;-). The seal joined us again, splashing in the water just in front of Maria. And of course, the moment I had the camera ready, it ducked back underwater. Just as we reached the far side of the way I did a double-take in front of me and sure enough I could sense a blind spot - the first indications of a migraine. A classic day for it too: bright, overcast. I called out to let people know, and set off back to the dock with Dawn (always good to have someone with you who can actually see...) so I could take something. I should have had it with me so I could the tablets immediately, but I wasn't really expecting a migraine. I would still have had to paddle home since sloshing around on the water feeling nauseous from the headache isn't the most pleasurable experience. The others followed in at their own pace.

We weren't out for that long in the end, but as always it was good practice to be out on the water again. And my legs couldn't have taken much more time in the kayak anyway ;-) Even the water taxi ride back to Granville Island was nice and smooth.

Calm kayaking
Bowen Island, 19 Jun 2011

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Day 88: Tiddley sheep

Today was originally meant to be a mini-ale on Bowen Island with half-a-dozen morris-dancing sides from the Pacific Northwest. In the end it was just the hosts, Bowen Island Black Sheep, and Tiddley Cove. That made for a more relaxed affair, the two teams mixing it up nicely and each including a few from the other team in a couple of dances.

Lunch was at Doc Morgan's (washed down with the nice Howe Sound IPA) and the dancing resumed on the boardwalk out the back of the pub. Time for a group photo - everyone squeezed in together, bloomers ashow and smiles aplenty and I snapped a few photos. Then I yelled out, "Look fierce!" and took a few more. So here we are, the official fierce group photo. I think the Tiddlies look more fearsome than the Sheep - but is that really so surprising? ;-)

"Look fierce"
Bowen Island, 18 Jun 2011

Friday, June 17, 2011

Day 87: Cars

Barely two weeks ago I casually answered an advert on Craigslist for a Honda CR-V. I'd had it in mind that the replacement for our aging Integra would be something more suited to getting to remote trailheads, but it was one of those tasks I wasn't really looking forward to - finding a car, test-driving, getting it inspected, haggling over the price and then all the ensuing paperwork. I didn't hear anything back about the ad for 3 days and had given up on it when I got a reply saying the car was indeed still available. We arranged a time to take a look and it seemed to live up to the advert. Later that week I got it inspected, which revealed nothing of immediate concern and so we found ourselves on Friday evening going through the necessary forms involved in buying a new car.

The fact that the buying part went smoothly enough had us in a state of bewilderment. Now it was time to sell the old car. I was looking forward to this part even less. At one point I wasn't even convinced that our car was worth trying to sell, but spelling out the facts assured me it was, and that we should be able to get a reasonable price. The sticking point was always going to be the rust on the boot (or trunk if you prefer). People are funny about cars like that: it irritates me no end that a shiny PoS is more likely to sell than a weathered gem. And I looked upon our Integra as a weathered gem: it was the best car we've ever owned. Damn good fun to drive (when the mood took me), especially for an automatic, and economical by North American standards.

I put it through its emissions test (always a selling point), hoovered the inside, ran it through the car wash and took a few pictures of it in nice morning sunshine. I must admit it looked good in the photos. I've always liked the colour and style. Finally, this morning, with some trepidation, I put the ad on Craigslist. To my astonishment, I received five inquiries over the course of the day. I arranged a time with two people for tonight and, to my further astonishment, the first person gave me an offer I was more than happy with. So within the space of a little over two weeks we've bought and sold a car, with about as little hassle as you could possibly hope for.

Which kinda brings me to today's photo in a roundabout way. I'd spotted this sign a while back on my bike route into work, and promised to take a picture during the Stanley Cup finals. That didn't happen, but I figured today was as good a day as any to get that photo. I was tempted to include the nearest parked car as it was an oldish Chrysler (a genuine PoS in my opinion), but in the end I was content to just allude to what may have been parked there, with an oblique reference to the trouble after the final game on Wednesday.

No parking!
Kitsilano, 17 Jun 2011

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Day 86: Three eagles and a raccoon

Last night was the full moon closest to midsummer. Many parts of the world witnessed a lovely lunar eclipse which happened mid-afternoon here. I thought about heading out somewhere to catch the moonrise over the city but that didn't happen. I did go out and get a couple of moon pictures (startling a skunk in the process), but it was high in the sky by then. (Or at least as high as the moon gets in the summer.)

I awoke a little after 4:30 am and padded through into the dining room to see if the moon was still visible. Since the sky was clear I picked up the camera and went out onto the balcony to snap a couple of shots. Then I had another idea. I could see where the moon was going to set and I thought I'd be able to combine driving out there with a couple of early-morning errands. And so by 5 am I was driving away from our apartment, the streets empty of traffic. Somewhere along 16th Ave I had to slow down for a well-fed raccoon crossing the road. Five minutes later I was at the viewpoint on Marine Drive with a clear view of the Iona log-booming area, the Strait of Georgia, Vancouver Island and the moon. I noticed a line of clouds over the water, and within a few minutes they were threatening to cover the moon, spoiling my chances of getting a moonset shot over Vancouver Island.

I grabbed a couple of shots as the moon began to duck below the clouds, looking like it was settling into a soft cushy bed. I got back in the car and headed for Siegel's Bagels (passing a couple of trees with three eagles perched on high branches) to pick up the best bagel I've had in ages: still warm from the oven with some delicious tangy cream cheese. Then time for a quick car-wash (no queues at 6 in the morning...) and home again for some coffee.

Putting the moon to bed
Moonset, 16 Jun 2011

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Day 85: Helicopters

And with that, the hockey season is done. After starting off so well, the Vancouver Canucks caved at the last and lost the Stanley Cup final to the Boston Bruins. I didn't see much of the game, just the final period, where we sat on the sofa drinking beer and eating pizza. Unfortunately, some idiots decided that Vancouver needed a replay of the events that unfolded when Vancouver lost the Stanley Cup back in 1994. Live on TV, right outside the local CBC studios, a couple of cars were overturned and set alight.

All in all it seems a fairly small affair (thinking back to the kinds of riots we saw in Northern Ireland, Liverpool and east London in the 80s), but it gives a really bad impression of Vancouver to the watching media. The top headline on CNN is "Boston Bruins win Stanley Cup; Vancouver fans riot". Jeez, thanks. From our balcony we could see the plume of smoke rising over the city, and three police helicopters circling. Now it's dark and I hope things settle down. Maybe I'll wander out to see tonight's full moon.

Police helicopters over Vancouver
Helicopters, 15 Jun 2011

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Day 84: Lupine the loop

A couple of weeks ago I used a lupine flower photo as my picture for the day. Having run out of other ideas, I decided to revisit the lupine patch today to see how they'd come on. And, my, how they've grown! (Hmmm - I'm sure I've said that before...) There's a nice little forest of tall lupines among the encroaching brambles. I think the species is the large-leaved lupine, which grows in damp, disturbed areas at low elevation. They're one of the first road-side flowers to bloom and add a splash of rich colour to the central reservation (or median if you're from round here). We're more used to seeing the smaller arctic lupine in subalpine meadows.

Having used a tall-looking lupine shot before, I wanted to find a different angle. I had the old camera with me (no comment) so as ever I had to play to its strengths. I tried a couple of busy lupine-filled shots, but they didn't really work on this dull overcast day. So back to macro shots it was. It helped that the lupines were quite tall so I didn't have to bend down and squint as usually happens for flower macros. Still not happy with the close-ups I had taken, I tried something I'd previously attempted a couple of years ago in Manning Park: I pointed the camera straight down from an overhead position. I made sure to get the camera positioned symmetrically over the lupine tower and took a few photos. That was more like it - you'd never guess it was a lupine :-)

Aerial lupine shot
UBC, 14 Jun 2011

Monday, June 13, 2011

Day 83: And so to game 7

Tonight was game 6 of the Stanley Cup final and I figured it would be one of my last chances to get a photo of a couple of cup-themed modifications to local landmarks. For weeks the lions on the Lions Gate bridge have been decked out in Vancouver Canucks tops, only for them to go missing. Then the statue of Lord Stanley - the bloke for whom Stanley Park and the Stanley Cup are named - was given a Canucks jersey and a replica cup to hold aloft. Finally my favourite: the Girl in a Wetsuit sculpture on the Stanley Park seawall was dressed in yet another Canucks jersey :-) It was also a good excuse to bike down to Stanley Park and enjoy a leisurely evening ride around the seawall.

Vancouver could have won it tonight, but alas they did not. Now it's winner takes all in game 7 on Wednesday (day 85). This city is going to go nuts either way...

Girl in a wetsuit, in a Canucks jersey
Stanley Park, 13 Jun 2011

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Day 82: Under sail

When we saw the Hawaiian Chieftain and the Lady Washington the other night(s) we quickly went online to buy tickets for one of their 3-hour sailing trips. The only one available was the today's morning "Adventure Sail", three hours in English Bay learning a bit about sailing a square-rigged ship from the late 19th Century. Quite apt given that we've only recently read Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian.

We boarded the Lady Washington a little after 10 am, and chugged out of the harbour soon after. The next three hours passed by quite leisurely as we watched the crew manouevre the ship back and forth in the breeze, giving us chance to admire the Vancouver skyline and watch the Hawaiian Chieftain sweep by at close quarters. We were even treated to a cannon firing demo, despite the fact that this wasn't one of the battle cruises. What I enjoyed most was seeing how all the rigging was used to swing the spars and set the sails and I began to appreciate how such ships were handled and run. It was a great way to spend a sunny morning and, to my surprise, worth every penny of the ticket fee.

Square rigging
Lady Washington, 12 Jun 2011

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Day 81: Another green day

After taking the plunge of buying a new car yesterday we took it in to get its emissions test done (which it passed no problem) before picking up Andrew and Merewyn and heading to the North Shore for another gentle hike. First stop was lunch by Lynn Creek, where we watched a dipper diving into the fast-flowing water to find morsels for its noisy youngster, stood on a nearby rock. We ambled along the Lynn Headwaters loop, enjoying our surroundings, filled with fresh greenery. The new leaves on the vine maples glowed among the tall second growth.

We found many spring things to marvel at and photograph, from tiny fungi to giant skunk cabbage leaves, and dozens of flowers in between. It was a good day to be in the trees as the clouds never left the mountain tops, and the little sprinkle of rain just added to the freshness.

Peering into the heart of skunk cabbage
Lynn Headwaters, 11 Jun 2011

Friday, June 10, 2011

Day 80: Game five

Funny how coincidences come about. We bought a new car tonight, the fifth one we've ever owned (and the first that's not red). And tonight was game 5 of the Stanley Cup final and Vancouver needed to bounce back after two absolute drubbings by Boston. And they did - just. A 1-0 victory in the last few minutes. Cue wild celebrations in town. Every other car is beeping its horn which made for entertaining viewing (or rather, listening) from the balcony. For weeks now the buses have been alternating the route information with support for the Canucks, much like they did during the Winter Olympics. It's been on my mind to get a record of it, and tonight I snapped a few shots of different buses as they drove by, hoping to get one that looked decent. I think this one will do. Game 6 is in Boston on Sunday, and it'll be a nail-biter for Canucks fans. Can they win the Stanley Cup?

Go Canucks Go
On the buses, 10 Jun 2011

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Day 79: All at sea

As promised, we went down to Kits Point again to watch the Hawaiian Chieftain and the Lady Washington as they set sail for the evening cruise. We got there just as the Lady Washington was pulling away from the dock. We picked a bench and sat down to eat our takeout dinner from Planet Veg as the other ship made ready to leave. She soon puttered away from the dock and ventured out into English Bay to join her sister ship. I took a few more pictures as she glided in front of the Vancouver skyline.

Out in the bay, both ships began unfurling their sails, the crew crawling up the rigging onto the spars. Made for a pretty nice photo :-)

Unfurling
Hawaiian Chieftain, 9 Jun 2011

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Day 78: I saw three ships

Actually it was only two ships. Well actually, actually, it was more like a dozen or more, but two stood out from the rest. The sailing ships Hawaiian Chieftain and Lady Washington are in Vancouver for a few days. We only heard about it through a friend who'd seen them down in Steveston at the weekend, and decided we should head down to the beach to take a look.

We got to the beach just as the ships reached their furthest point from the harbour and were turning to head back in to port. Both were under sail, and both looked tiny next to the bulk carriers anchored in the bay. We timed our walk along the shore quite well, matching their inbound speed, and we reached the harbour by the Maritime Museum a few minutes after the Hawaiian Chieftain had docked. The Lady Washington took her time coming in, giving us plenty of time to get photos of the old ship and new city together, and I guess they had someone new at the wheel as they took a looong time to manoeuvre into position and reverse into the berth. Somewhat disappointingly, though understandable, both ships had diesel engines in addition to their sails. It spoils the illusion to hear them chugging around like tugs.

I think we'll head down again tomorrow night to catch them as they sail out of the harbour.

The Lady Washington
Lady Washington, 8 Jun 2011

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Day 77: Midnight moon

As soon as I'd opened my mouth about getting a photo early in the day I thought that there is one way to beat that: take a photo just after midnight. And last night that's what I did :-) I waited until just after midnight and set up the camera on a tripod to capture the crescent moon close to the horizon. Being so close to setting, the photo isn't very sharp - I could clearly see the effects of atmospheric turbulence in the sequence of shots I took, with different parts of the moon looking fuzzier than others at different times. I decided to leave the streetlights on 4th Ave in the frame to add some perspective, as it's a well-known illusion that the moon looks larger when close to the horizon.

Eight minutes into the day. There's clearly some scope to better that ;-) I'm not so sure I'm confident enough to leave taking a photo until just before midnight...

Setting crescent moon
Moonset, 7 Jun 2011

Monday, June 6, 2011

Day 76: Peace

I knew what I wanted to photograph today, spent 5 minutes taking the pictures and found a couple of possibilities. Today's target was some lilac-coloured columbine holding its ground against an enveloping azalea bush. Normally we see orange columbine (or yellow in the Rockies), but I guess several variants have been cultivated to yield different colours. At least this variant looks pretty much exactly like the wild one, so I'm quite happy to take pictures of it.

Columbine is named after the Latin word for dove, columba, because the flowers look like a handful of doves roosting, the long slender curve of the top of the flower mimicking their necks. For the first time I could really see that, especially as the splayed petals looked like wings, and the curve of the bell looked like tail feathers. Can you see it?

Lilac columbine, looking columbine
UBC, 6 Jun 2011

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Day 75: A fine day for a mini-hike

A fine day indeed, and we met with Andrew and Merewyn for a gentle hike around Minnekhada Regional Park out near Port Coquitlam. Lots of woodland flowers in bloom: bleeding heart, foamflower, fringe-cup, false lily-of-the-valley, piggyback plant, starflower (lots of starflower!) and some western columbine (or rain-flowers as the Haida people call them).

For one reason or another, most of the flower photos didn't really turn out, but we found one spectacular patch of spiky orange fungi growing on a log, and one of those photos turned out just right. We finished up the hike and found a gelato place to cool down.

Fungi mini-forest
Minnekhada Regional Park, 5 Jun 2011

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Day 74: On two wheels again

Maria had another Morris gig today, so I loaded the bike onto the bike rack and drove up to the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve again. This time I parked outside the gate that gets locked overnight and cycled in - I really couldn't face driving over all those speed bumps again. The first 3 km was a gentle uphill to the main parking lot and it wasn't too bad. I was taken aback by the masses of people at the start of the trailway but I managed to get through the crowd, past the families and I was soon on emptier road. I passed a couple of hikers, and met a number of cyclists on their return journey and then to my surprise I had the road mostly to myself.

The sun was warm on my back as I reached a long (slightly-wiggly) straight, lighting up the whole road ahead. I made a note of how it would make a nice photo but didn't feel like stopping yet. The rest of the trip up to the hatchery went remarkably well considering I'd biked in to work all week. I had little trouble with the hills, unlike the time Andrew and I came up to Hydraulic Creek for our little photo walk. From there it was mostly downhill towards the picnic area and then the last km on gravel paths through old-growth forest. I made my way up to a viewpoint over the reservoir and then cycled back.

I stopped at the wiggly straight, which was now in shadow so I was kicking myself about not stopping to take the photo earlier but I tried it anyway. And I was pleased to find it worked, capturing the essence of the road as it passes through tall second growth trees. A lovely way to spend a couple of hours, flower spotting, taking in the river and enjoying the air. I felt I was beginning to re-discover the love of cycling I had as a teenager.

A canyon of trees
Seymour Valley, 4 Jun 2011

Friday, June 3, 2011

Day 73: Biked to work week

Well that wasn't so hard now, was it? :-) Nice to end the week on a sunny note, too. Even more remarkable is that the whole weekend is forecast to be warm and sunny. I think the locals will like that...

I think I can honestly say that the cycling got easier as the week progressed. Maybe I was pacing myself better, or maybe my muscles were getting used to it, but the hill up to UBC doesn't seem so daunting right now. This morning I rode along the beach and tackled the big hill on Marine Drive that everybody hates. Usually I avoid the hill mostly because the route adds an extra mile to my journey, and I seem to be in a hurry to get in to work. This morning I couldn't care less :-) It was Friday.

By the afternoon the clouds had cleared and the sun was shining, just as predicted by Environment Canada. (They got it right for once!) I wandered out for some sun and revisited the purple flowers I'd checked out in the rain yesterday. I also got a test shot of them a few weeks ago when they were still in bud, looking like purple poppy heads, and I hadn't seen them at any intermediate stages. Now they were massive, 4-inch wide spheres of tiny purple flowers. A bumble-bee landed on the one I was sizing up, and I followed it to another, nicer, flower where it joined another. I rarely get bees on flowers so I was pleased to grab this chance and make it my picture for the day.

The world of bees
UBC, 3 Jun 2011

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Day 72: Wet wheels

Today was the first test of my dedication to Bike To Work Week: it was raining. The rain was light, and even though the roads were wet and there were some big puddles along University Boulevard, I enjoyed my ride to and from work. Hooray for quick-dry clothing.

I had put mud-guards on my bike the other night in anticipation of rain yesterday, but they weren't put to the test until today. And I must say it made a nice change to not have a muddy, wet streak up my back. I haven't owned a bike with mud-guards for nearly thirty years (wow - that's a long time when you write it out!). I remember the constant battles to keep a rear mud-guard attached on a bike I had at junior school, and the noisy rattling when it worked its way loose.

Back to flower photos - it's been a while. A couple of days ago I'd taken a short walk around the area to look for anything new to photograph and spotted lupines beginning to bloom on a slope near the hummingbird's favourite perch. Having not been inspired to take the camera out in the wet I went for the easy option and just went straight to those lupines today. I'm used to seeing much smaller plants: it's a bit of a shock to see them growing two-to-three feet high at this early stage of their growth. The emerging tower of blooms is really quite striking and I particularly like the change in colour from pale green at the tip through pinky-blue to deep violet. I'm looking forward to watching them grow - expect to see more of them. :-)

Lupine tower of flowers
UBC, 2 Jun 2011

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Day 71: Under my own steam

It's day 3 of Vancouver's Bike To Work Week (BTWW), and to my amazement I have managed to cycle up that hill for three days in a row. I don't think I've ever actually done that before - I've done two days in a row, but then always had a rest day after that. I spent a little time last night attaching mud-guards as today's weather forecast called for rain, which never materialized. In fact I rode home without my coat on it was that warm. (I think it got to 17 degrees today!)

UBC had a commuter station set up along University Boulevard and I stopped to see what was on offer, only to find that they had run out of (Ethical Bean) coffee....! :-o Well it didn't really matter since I had my own perfectly good Salt Spring brew in my bag ;-) I picked a couple of sample-sized granola bars for later.

I like the idea of BTWW, yet my participation doesn't really do very much as I always take public transport to work anyway. The only time I've driven in to UBC is on the occasional weekend (maybe three times in total). Most of the cyclists I see along the way are undoubtedly regulars, and the academic year is over so there are no students doing their bit. And yet UBC still has the highest number of participants of all the companies taking part (in second place is the city of Vancouver itself). It's not clear to me which company has the highest participation rate but I don't think it's possible to work that out (since I don't know how many employees each company has). To my surprise, though, the UBC Physics team is the largest at UBC with 25 participants.

There's a second BTWW in November - now taking part in that one will be quite a challenge. Watch this space... :-)

My means of contributing to BTWW
Bike to Work Week, 1 Jun 2011