Traditional and Unexpected Glowing Objects in the Neighbourhood

 It's the festive time of year full of holiday cheer, final exams, and bright lights. The first two items have been consuming more than their share of my spare time lately, so we're a little late bringing you this update on the third item. The west end of Vancouver gets some pretty nice lights, as we have mentioned in the past, and this year was no exception.

 The middle of December had a festival called "Lumiere" which featured some nice light sculptures, the highlight of which is the life-size orca sculpture by a Slovakian artist which is covered in tiny LED lights and turned on nightly. It's a very pleasing addition to the area and we're both hoping it becomes a permanent installation.

 But winning the prize hands down for "Most Unexpected Glowing Object in the Neighborhood" was A-Borgg who decided to do a photo shoot in the park near our home on the same night as my work Christmas party. Yep, that is a 9-foot tall robot covered in LED lights. He is available for all your rave party/wedding needs, and apparently has a giant gun that shoots CO2 over the crowd... because of course he does. I love our neighborhood...

Salt Spring Free Range

 Salt Spring Island is dotted with small family-run farms which produce small amounts of dairy, poultry and produce for local consumption. The cows below were at a small dairy we visited and I was very pleased to know that our cheese came from "those cows right over there" as it is easy to have a disconnect between a food source and our plates.

 Our bed and breakfast had several dozen chickens scratching around the grounds and one morning we were treated to free-range eggs laid that very morning. I also got a pretty nice portrait of the rooster, which I think gives an air of majesty which poultry is rarely considered to possess.

 Our bed and breakfast also had a number of sheep, and while these individuals were more for the entertainment of guests as part of the hobby farm, we did pass several fields where quite a few sheep were out grazing, and sheepskin was for sale at the Saturday market.

 

 Not shown here, but worth mentioning, Salt Spring Island has dozens of small produce stands along the roads. Running on an honor system, farmers will leave their surplus eggs, fruits, and vegetables in wooden stands along the roads and passersby can help themselves and leave the appropriate payment.

In Vancouver, such a system would be quickly looted and vandalized, and while I'm sure there are some problems with that on Salt Spring, there was enough of it going on that its clearly a reasonably profitable venture without too much of a cost.

Wild winds, high tides, and the blood moon

 This fall there was a blood moon which resulted in some extreme tides in the same week as a fall storm brought in fairly high winds. Since you've all seen countless clear blood moon photos, I thought I'd share this stylized and shakey picture Kathryn took which neatly emphasizes the energy of the moon and the city night.

 Those high winds and tides caused a number of poorly moored ships in English Bay to slip from their ropes and wash up on shore. For a brief period there were 4 boats washed up in False Creek and while two of them were reclaimed fairly quickly, two were abandoned by their owners and have sunken further into disrepair. The boat below washed up quite high on the rocks and has since had its mast removed as it was hanging strangely over the seawall.

 The ship below, Tabasco, had apparently slipped its moorings several times already this year and had a bad reputation. This has no doubt been compounded as the owners have also abandoned it, and the day after this photo was taken, it had filled completely with water and was lying on its side underwater. This continued for a few weeks until someone pulled it out of the water, but not very gentley such that the keel and mast have both been removed.

 

So in summary, if you're lucky enough to own a sail boat, please tie it up properly, and if you can't be bothered to do that, don't be surprised if nobody else can be bothered to keep your boat ship shape for you.

Officially escaped visual effects!

 Having recently had my 3 month review at Bardel and not been fired for gross incompetance, I think its fair to say that my accounting career is on track with my labour-camp days in film behind me. Crossing that threshold, I thought I would share a few photos of the office and its features. Below is a picture of our office, which is really an unremarkable collection of cubicles, but there are 2 things I would like to highlight here:

1. This is the biggest desk I have ever had. It's not grand my any stretch, but its nice.
2. Sure, the view is of an overpass, but this is the first time I have worked in a room with windows in my professional career, including every job I have had since 1998 (except three months in a video store I guess).

 The office is a stones throw from Granville Island, which gives me a nice bicycle commute that I can share with Kathryn when our starting hours overlap. Its even a pleasant 40 minute walk on days where I have somewhere else to go after work and don't want to lug a bike around with me.

 Bardel has had turtles (though not these particular turtles) for several decades and their new tank is right outside the accounting office. They have it pretty good with room to swim about and a spot to haul out under a timed heat lamp, but there's something particulary hilarious about this pose to me. Maybe its saying something about visual effects, or business in general, or the human condition as a whole, but one turtle being resignedly pushed to the bottom of the tank while the other stands on his back and strains as far as he can to just get his head above water was too good a photo for me to pass up.

Checking in on Chester

 I had intended for this to be a follow-up, but we never previously covered Kathryn's work with the false killer whale calf "Chester" who was taken in by the Marine Mammal Rescue last summer (2014). Kathyrn spent many shifts monitoring and tending to him when he was first brought in but in time he outgrew the tanks available and was moved to Vancouver Aquarium.

 

Chester is currently sharing the dolphin tank with Helen, the last of their wounded Pacific White Sided dolphins, and is much larger than he was when Kathryn was looking after him. While we know that cetaceans in captivity is a touchy subject these days, we were saddened to hear interpreters at the aquarium explaining his drooping fin as a natural part of their design when it has a 0% incidence in the wild, and has been proven to be a direct result of tanks that are not large or deep enough to allow the animals room to properly dive and exercise.

 That aside, he is a very curious and inquisitive animal, and came over to visit us at one of the windows for a few minutes. He was very enrapt by the pair of us, and while we both very much want to believe it was because he remembered Kathryn and her efforts, it could just as easily have been light reflecting out of my camera lens that caught his eye as something new.

Fall blooms and garden harvests

 A few years ago, Kathryn had a New Years resolution to grow something from a seed, and that idea quickly grew into a sizeable balcony garden with a nice selection of tasty vegetables, savoury spices, and hummingbird-friendly flowers. Much like her father, she enjoys growing hot peppers, and while not AS hot as the ones Bevan cultivates, these ones have been pleasantly fiery and recently helped out with a turkey curry.

 This is her second year of growing tomatoes and they have done very well although the extreme heat of this summer has kept them a little more parched than would be ideal, even after nightly waterings. Still, that cluster of delicious multicoloured fruits goes to show that her efforts are far from in vain.

 Rounding out the set, a few years ago Valerie brought several cuttings from her hoya plant, which had always been a favorite of Kathryn's. Since then, not only have the plants thrived and grown several feet of vines which are currently weaving around the vertical blinds by the balcony, but for the first time every they are blossoming. There are currently 4 little clusters of waxy, earthy-smelling flowers which have all opened in the last few days, much to our delight.

Unexpected but Fortunate Visitor

 Kathryn has been ridiculously busy with her whale watching work the last few months, but had a stroke of strangely fortunate luck when her boats were cancelled one day recently due to high winds in the Strait of Georgia. We set the alarm forward from her earlier start time to my regular start time and went back to bed. Our alarm plays a local radio station for about 30 seconds each day and on that particular day, the DJs were talking about a whale at Third Beach (maybe 2km from our home) Kathryn was ready and out the door in under 5 minutes.

 A grey whale had made an unexpected appearance right near Stanley Park and was visible for several hours reasonably close to shore before heading out to deeper waters. As bottom feeders that dredge for clams and the like they show up in the city once every few years but we've never had good luck seeing them locally and actually went to California earlier this year to try and spot a few. Kathryn has been on the water with Wild Whales several days a week for the last 3 summers and never seen one in our waters.

 She got some nice close pictures too, and I wanted to share the one below just to show a little more of the mottled detail on the tops of these beasties heads. Grey whales are frequently covered in barnacles and whale lice, and I think the picture below shows a bit of that texture which is quite different from humpbacks.

All in all, an encouraging sight to see such a magestic giant returning to our waters despite hunting in the last century and the generally busy and polluted state of our waters today.

Busy busy busy

We've been fairly slow about updating our blog the last few months, and to be fair we've been ridiculously busy getting caught up on our socializing and taking in all the summer fun to be had in Vancouver. This week has had 3 nights of fireworks (with the stunt flier shown below), a concert, a get together with classmates, and work functions for BOTH our employers.

 We saw Imagine Dragons at the stadium and they put on a suitably over the top and fantastic show. They put on a great live show and are notable for switching instruments and each doing backing vocals more than most bands.Not only where they excellent, but both of their opening acts (Hallsey and Metric) were good choices we want to follow up more with as well.

 The week ended as it started with another night of fireworks as part of the Celebration of Light. The picture below is an 8 second exposure close to the finale of the Canada presentation that ended the festivities. All in all a wonderful but hectic week of summer fun and we'll try to get back to our regular update schedule for both of our regular readers before long ;)

Trekking up Mount Galiano

 On our visit to Galiano Island this summer, we made sure to hike up to the top of Mount Galiano. The trail was longer than I had expected, but thoroughly pleasant and the view from the summit was as breath-taking a view of the Gulf Islands as you would expect (click on the panorama below to enlarge it)

 Vancouver is filled with crows, but it's always a treat to see ravens, and there were several of them playing around and being quite acrobatic in the thermal currents where the ocean met the mountain. I always enjoy the opportunity to see birds in flight from above and Kathryn took this excellent picture of one zipping along doing his very best impression of a fighter jet.

 The day was hot and the trail was long, but the view from the top was certainly worth it. We had a bit of a tight schedule that day, so we didn't have TOO long to relax at the top, but we managed to get a few self-congratulatory photos from the summit before heading back down. I would like very much to do a time lapse from the peak, but that will obviously have to wait for next time, and then maybe we'll take a little more time to enjoy the climb up as well ;)

Mayne Island Japanese Garden

 While both sets of parents were in town, we took a short visit to the Gulf Islands, and in one little jaunt we took a day to explore Mayne Island. As luck would have it the "Tour des Isles" was taking place that very weekend and we found ourselves with locals eager to drive us to the sites and showcase their home. So what began as a trip to a nearby harbor quickly escalated into royal treatment with chauffeured excursions.

 One spot immediately suggested by our guide was the Japanese garden, which was an absolutely stunning place to spent an hour in relatively quiet contemplation. Originally built to commemorate the early Japanese settlers of the island, many of whom were unfairly imprisoned during World War 2, it evokes an exotic feel to this little west coast town.

(click on the panorama below to enlarge it)

 We had never heard of this garden, so it came as a delightful and unexpected surprise. The combination of plants and sculptures made for a very pleasing landscape to relax and explore at our leisure.

Convocation and Valedictorian Speech

After 2 very stressful (but in hindsight very quick) years, I graduated from the BCIT Accounting Diploma Program. Both sets of parents came out for the ceremony along with my lovely Kathryn, which really reinforced what a special event it was for me. I have several years of part-time schooling to go before I complete my degree and then my designation, but this certainly marked the cut-off point where I quit worrying about returning to VFX and officially began my new career.

The ceremony was in a church near the BCIT campus which comfortably sat the board and top instructors from several programs along with 230-ish graduates and 1200-ish guests, so that seemed like a good excuse to try out New Professional George and deliver the Valedictorian address. A few years ago I would have hidden in the back, but now I am quite comfortable talking infront of large groups of people, so long as I have time to prepare.

Since BCIT was very clever and recorded the whole ceremony, I have easy access to my speech, and to save anyone else from having to sift through 2+ hours of people in funny hats receiving awards, I have edited out just my speech below:

Ministry

 It had been a long time since I'd been to a loud concert, so when I found Ministry was playing in Vancouver and that tickets were not as outlandish as I had feared, I found a good friend to go with and was thoroughly rocked. Opening act This Sixxis was not bad and certainly scored extra points for being the first metal band I have seen that prominently featured a violin.

 Ministry has been around in various incarnations since 1981 and I got into them in the mid 90's. Having seen them twice before (once in Winnipeg, once in Vancouver) I knew what to expect and my expectations were thoroughly met by an excellent set. If it's your particular cup of tea to hear a 57 year old scream about the NSA, Fox News, and climate change deniers while being blasted by a wall of guitars then this is certainly the band for you.

The crowd at the show was pretty great and varied as well. Beyond the usual meatheads there to charge into each other, there was a guy in a wheelchair in the main area about 6 feet from the stage and a family with their 8-ish year old daughter sporting a fine pair of industrial strength earplugs. Since Ministry has been around so long, they have a pretty big and varied fan base with people well in their 60s alongside the usual wispy early twenties goth crowd. Heartily recommended!

The Scorpion Submarine

 On the same day in Long Beach that we clambered around the Queen Mary, we also took in a tour of the Russian Scorpion Submarine. While there are interenet rumors that it was submarine which The Hunt for Red October was based on (and the portrait of Sean Connery in the gift shop does nothing to dissuade that idea), the truth is a little less cinematic. It was actually decommissioned by the Russian military during the collapse of the Soviet Union and sold to a group of Australian investors.

 Being right beside the Queen Mary gives you a nice opportunity to see it from above as well and appreciate the size and shape of the whole craft. This photo also shows the entry and exit ramps tp reach the ship and the edge of the gift shop in the lower left corner.

 The inside is a great spot for photographers who like to combine low light with tubes, gauges, and valves. Once again I put my trusty fisheye lens to the test and got some nice pictures of the interior, my favorite of which is Kathryn crouched at the end of this array of torpedo tubes. Scorpion had 4 at the front and back, along with elaborate winches for loading the next shot in. There were also a number of round doors to crawl/sling your way through and an active periscope on the bridge.

Weekend Wanderings

 Now that my exams are all done and summer has arrived, I actually have time to spare to go out and enjoy the city we live in. So while there is still plenty to share about California, I thought I'd mix things up for one week and share a trio of events that I was able to take in recently. Below is the affordable housing protest at the art gallery.

While I do agree that housing in this city is disconnected from reality, the people at the protest didn't really have a clear message of what they wanted or even what they were protesting for (against foreign owners? raise minimum wage? magically make more land?) Vancouverites themselves were clearly uncertain how they felt about the issue as well since there were perhaps 200 people there, but for pro-marajuana day there are thousands in every direction.

 Next up was the Vancouver Comic Arts Festival (Vancaf) which is in its 4th or so year and gets bigger and better every year. They had 2 full exhibition rooms of artists plying their wares and sharing their creativity which is a real boatload of fun to be around. I actually went on both days since one trip can be a little overwhelming and I didn't want to miss anything.

 Finally, I went to a local Show & Shine to see everyones nice vintage toys. Most everything there was a collector's piece from a time when there was a whole lot more chrome and leather going into car design.The highlights were a very nice firebird and a vintage corvette, but I thought the picture below better shows the mix of cars and people.

Strange sightings in the sky around LA

 We saw quite a few strange things up in the skies of Los Angeles, like this Ultralight craft which looks far too big and heavy to me to be supported by what looks like such a small wing. That said, they were contentedly soaring across the ocean and clearly know what they were doing, so it's clearly a viable vehicle.

 We've seen the Good Year blimp both times we've been in LA, but I particularly like the marquee in this picture. As far as I can tell, the pilot was just fine and we just had good luck in the timing of the photo... though being L.A. its equally likely that there was a superspy chase culminating in a zeppelin battle which we were totally unaware of.

 I'm not sure if it was because President Obama was in town that weekend, or if I'm just not used to seeing military aircraft randomly, but this helicopter was an unexpected sight. There were quite a few traffic and civilian choppers as well, but this one in particular looks a little more warlike, though I could be completely misunderstanding its mission. Either way a neat sighting.

Aboard the Queen Mary

The RMS Queen Mary served as an ocean liner from the 30s to the late 60s as everything from a luxury liner to a WW2 troop transport until its retirement as a tourist attraction/hotel in Long Beach. Kathryn and I initially weren't too keen on what we thought would be a kitchy tribute to excess, but changed our minds and thoroughly enjoyed our time onboard.

 We had free roam of most of the ship (which ones again, is a great place to bring a wide angle lens) and also took a behind-the-scenes ghost tour. I continue to not believe in ghosts, but our guide had excellent delivery and knew his stuff. It was also a great opportunity to peer around some creepy bits of the ship like the old pool and where the boilers used to be. (Part of the contract to keep the ship in Long Beach involved a guarantee to remove any transportation functionality, so the enormous furnaces that once powered it were removed).

 Its been awhile since I shared a fisheye planet with everyone, and I was particularly pleased with the way this one from the front of the ship turned out. Having lots of wires running overhead forced a particularly interesting perspective to avoid cutting anything out and I very much enjoy the binary feel the final image has.

 

As a quirky aside for this picture, near the bottom left there is a large white dome (click on the image to enlarge, as always) which once housed Howard Hughes's "Spruce Goose"

California Marine Mammal Assortment

 We saw quite a few different marine mammals in California and want to share a few highlights in a single post. Starting off, Grey Whales were making their annual migration from Mexico to the Arctic and all along the coastal highway we could see the puffs of their breath as small groups passed us by. Kathryn was quite delighted to look for them for hours and while they were hard to photograph or see very closesly, it was enthralling to look out for their plumes of exhalation. This was a new species for us both and an exciting opportunity.

 We have seen Sea Otters in the Aquarium numerous times, but both hoped to maybe catch a glimpse of one in the distance. They are very rare in B.C. so we assumed they would be rare elsewhere, but in California they seem to be doing just fine. We saw groups of them at least half a dozen times, including this heap of mothers with sleeping babies on their tummies all rafted in kelp near Monterey.

California Sea Lions were certainly the easiest of all our marine mammals to spot as they congregate in large numbers on piers and beaches across the state. They also grunt at each other 24/7 so they are pretty easy to locate but still very charming to see them lounge around on land or dash about in the water.