Brilliant Fall Day in Vancouver

Often with the Thursday Walking group, I do the walk along the southern foreshore of the harbour starting at Spanish Banks. The view towards the North Shore Mountains is spectacular so it is a splendid walk on a fine day.

There was a heavy wind during the night and when we met last Thursday we were not surprised to find it still quite windy there. So it was a brilliant clear day and there were lots of white caps.

The high wind had tempted all these kite surfers out of the woodwork to enjoy being pulled along in the water. To be honest I had never seen them doing this here before in Vancouver. I thought it was amazing and I even saw a couple of them actually flying but unfortunately I was unable to capture it.

A closer look. I imagine one has to be quite strong to enjoy this activity. Certainly this fellow below was quite a husky chap.

There was quite a group of them and they had set up their equipment on the beach. Do you think they all called in sick when they saw what a great day it was and how ideal the conditions were for this sport?

Above, looking towards the downtown skyline.



A quiet eddy, near the yacht club. I did not see any sail boats out that day

We get the most amazing pieces of driftwood on the beach sometimes. I have never noticed this one before but it had been nicely arranged and we used it for a background for a group photo.

All in all a perfect day. A healthy walk in the brisk air, with an interesting view, followed by lunch at the house of one of the group. What more can one ask?

Happy Birthday ---to the Old Scientist

Yes Amarone Classico della Valpolicella, 16% alcohol,
2003, a good year I guess. Goes
well with fava beans I hear.

Yes, we are both Scorpios but so completely different. Not that I pay any mind to astrology.

When you get to our age you have most everything you really want and if you don't, you buy it at any time, since you are wasting time without it while you wait for your birthday. Plus we believe in asking each other since we are not too big on surprises.

JMB: What do you want for your birthday. New CD's? Tell me.

OS: No, I already have over 400 CD's.

(Editorial comment--all in a database, let me tell you, all played in rotation. More editorial comment, gee I only have about 170, some in a database but others not. I'll have to get cracking, I'm falling behind!)

JMB: So what do you want?

OS: A bottle of Valpolicella.

JMB: OK, do you want to choose it or shall I?

OS: I'll choose.

So off we went to the liquor store to survey the choices. Usually he shops in the $20 range but this time he chose one at $29.99! Wow, he's going all out. Now in the meantime, I had been poking around and came up with this one above. Normally $115 but on special for $80.50. Now that is more like a bottle of wine worthy of a birthday present. And on sale, such a bargain!

Suspiciously I asked the clerk stocking the shelves, Why is that on sale? No space ,she said, we sell more liquor at Christmas and have to make room. We are clearing out our back room of some of the more expensive wines, but it is regular price at the other branches.

So I told him, not that one, this one. He hesitated, but only for a moment. I asked him are you saving it or drinking it right away? I'm drinking it on my birthday, he replied. I was absolutely petrified we would drop it on the way home.

So he and my son will partake of this gem. I will not know how the most expensive bottle of wine I have ever bought (original price more than the champagne for our daughter's wedding) tastes since I am teetotal.

I also bought him some of his favourite marmalade which I normally do not since it is ridiculously expensive here.

Robertson's finest. I don't eat marmalade either.

Finally I thought this card rather appropriate don't you?

So happy birthday to my dear Old Scientist and I wish you many more healthy years.

Saturday Photo Hunt --- Ruin(ed)

PhotoHunt


RUIN(ED)

I think I did all my ruin visiting in pre-digital camera days. So these are scanned and not such excellent photos I'm afraid. They may have been seen on this blog before but not for photo hunt so I hope you don't mind.

This is probably one of the most famous ruins of them all. No, not JMB, who was in her prime, in those days, in front of the Colosseum in Rome, on her honeymoon in 1961.

One of my favourite ruins although not shown at its best here, the Villa Romana at Piazza Armerina in Sicily. The furnaces where the wood was burned to heat the water both for the baths and the heating system of the villa itself.

The Roman Greek theatre at Taormina Sicily below


A view of the approach to the same theatre



This is the famous Greek theatre at Syracuse in Sicily



HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE

Remembrance Day ---- Poppy Day 2008

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

— John McCrae

John McCrae was a Canadian doctor who served in the First World War and in honour of his friend he wrote this very famous poem, In Flanders Field, which is commonly used on this day, November 11th, when we remember those who have died while fighting for their country. Click on the link to read it in full.

Last year the Political Umpire of Fora, who has given up blogging for the moment but whose blog lives on, wrote a series of posts about the First World War which I found extremely informative and different to boot. Reading them again I can still recommend them. It begins here, followed by Parts II, III, IV, V, and VI.

Last week, many people posted Peace Globes. Maybe, one day, there will be no more wars. Even then we must never forget those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

from For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon

Lest we forget

Black and white, or colour

The other day Crushed did a post about the election of President Elect Obama. Now some times I agree with some things he posts, sometimes I don’t… and sometimes he makes me mad. But most times he also makes me think.

As sometimes happens I had some slightly out of the box thoughts on that post and commented, but I thought on it some more and figured they might make a post on their own, so hat tip to Crushed.

It’s a controversial subject, so hard hat time ^_^

Before anyone tries to misinterpret me, while I might not necessarily agree with all of Mr Obama’s politics, I am truly profoundly pleased that it was possible for him to be elected. I think that says something very positive about the US, a country I am familiar with and am, on balance, fond of.

I think the English speaking nations generally work quite hard to be fair and not be racist. Maybe even more than some non-English speaking nations judging by what you see from time to time. But I do think there are some underlying ways of thinking and assumptions that everyone seems to accept, black or white that could do with actually being thought about.

Examined rationally... And I don’t mean politically correct stupidities like banning the word "blackboard".

I figure sometimes it is good to look at stuff, fresh, from scratch.

For a start there is the words “black” and “white” being applied to people. Black people aren’t really black. They range from pink/tan/very light brown through to very dark brown. Also white people aren’t really white either. They range from pink/tan/very light brown through to dark brown.

Still I figure it is mostly arbitrary. If you graphed it, the height of the bell curve for “blacks” would probably be slightly towards one end and for ‘whites’ slightly towards the other.

But simply put there are lots of “white” people who are darker than some "black" people.

Now Take President Elect Obama. A black president everyone says, but why is he black?

I mean that seriously. His father is African and black, his mother is American and white, so why is he black and not white?

After all he is as much white as he is black when you think about it isn’t he? Yet It seems even he sees himself as black

Now suppose his father had had one white parent and one black parent. That would make him three quarters white instead, but many, possibly also including himself, would still see him as black.

This sort of thinking seems to me far too horribly close the old US “one drop rule” used in slave days to decide if a person was black. Basically a black person was anyone with any known African ancestry.

You can’t help thinking the one drop rule might have been a lot to do with increasing the number of slaves.

More to the point surely it’s what sort of a person he is that really matters. Is he a good man and a good husband, good father, good neighbour, and for most of the world, will he be a good president? It ought to be.

It seems that electing any politician with such a landslide is, as they say about second marriages ^_^ rather a triumph of optimism over experience. It would be lovely to think he will turn out to be another George Washington, Abe Lincoln or Nelson Mandela and maybe he will be, but I still remember the sense of optimism in the UK when Tony Blair was elected with a similar landslide. Ultimately Blair was a terrible disillusionment.

When he is President Obama he will have his work cut out for him indeed, he will have to be very good indeed to even mark time. I am sure we all wish him every success, the better job he does the better, safer, world we will all have.

Though I figure if the only thing he ever manages to accomplish is to make people stop thinking colour and race matters so much by example, then it will be a job well done. Maybe a little colour blindness might do us all some good.

Another Year Older

and deeper in debt, well not true but certainly significantly poorer after the recent stock market meltdown has reduced my retirement savings more than somewhat.

Yes today is my birthday. Today I have reached the venerable age of 73 years. Last year on my birthday I pondered life expectancy. This year I am going to look back a little and ponder on how truly fortunate and blessed I have been for most of those years.

I was the first in my family to attend university although that was not an easy task, let me tell you. I grew up in a rather emotionally dysfunctional family although I did not know it at the time and things finally came to head when my severely clinically depressed father committed suicide when I was seventeen years old. I had won a scholarship to attend university and had hoped to study science and chemistry in particular, which was my first interest but these plans were shelved for a time.

I suppose you would say that we were part of the working poor, for while we always had enough for necessities there was nothing at all for luxuries, although my mother was an amazing manager of the money that my father earned. However his death put everything into disarray financially speaking and for the next several years my brother who had just finished his engineering studies at a technical college and I worked to support my mother and our household.

Finally I was able to go to university but instead of Science I studied Pharmacy since it allowed me to work and study at the same time. Eventually my mother qualified for a widow's pension and things became much easier for us. My brother married and moved to Perth and since my mother was now self sufficient I travelled to England on a working holiday, intending to return after several years.

Now look how that worked out as I got married in England, to another Australian it is true, but we came to Vancouver to live and here we are 47 years later. Together the "old scientist" who was the young scientist then, and I made a very satisfactory life here, brought up our two very healthy children and saw them well educated. Although, as is quite common nowadays, their careers have changed somewhat as the theoretical physicist is now the chartered accountant and the university French professor is now the high school French teacher. But we are very proud of them both and they seem content enough.

I had the luxury of being a stay at home mother for my children's early years and then working part time and finally full time when the younger one reached twelve and I went into hospital pharmacy where for the next 18 years I like to think I made a small contribution to society.

I have been very fortunate in that I have travelled extensively over the years to many interesting places and experienced other cultures. I have lived in three different countries in my lifetime, in two of the most exciting cities in the world, Sydney and London, and in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, Vancouver.

While in these latter years I struggle with a weight problem I have been unbelievably healthy overall and I am so grateful for that. Better than most, I know how many things can go wrong with the human body through illness or trauma and so far I have enjoyed good health . Although there is always that niggardly thought in the back of my mind, when am I going to get my comeuppance.

Finally, after listening to my friends' stories of their grandchildren for years, at the age of 67 I became a grandmother and this young one has brought much delight to our lives even though she lives far away. The modern technology of the webcam along with visits to each other and amusing phone conversations have allowed us to share in her growing up in a way that was not possible even twenty years ago.

So the "old scientist" and I cruise happily along together, even after 47 years. Yesterday afternoon he said, "Do you want a new laptop for your birthday? Let's go out and look at them." My reply was "Oh no, I'm still thinking about it." PC? No, who wants to deal with Vista. Mac? Twice the price of the equivalent PC and hard to justify. Maybe by Christmas I will have decided. It's quite amazing how you can adapt to anything and this external keyboard is a very good one if a trifle large. I suppose I'll get some fancy soap for a birthday gift. He doesn't have any imagination and I'm sure he was hoping I would choose my own birthday present and he would just slap down his credit card. Hah! Think again!

So you see I have lived an amazingly fortunate 73 years on the whole and I am looking forward to more of the same. So Happy Birthday JMB, you have been truly blessed.

While in my mind I still feel like that confident 35 year old of so long ago, the mirror tells a different story. From last year's birthday post, the very pertinent last five lines of a poem written by Janice Thompson of Drinking the Moon called When did I grow old?

Now the hair on my head has gone whiter;

the wrinkles on the face deeper and wider.

Now the seasons pass by so quickly

the taste of death is in the air...

When did I begin to grow old?

Saturday Photo Hunt ---- Together

PhotoHunt

TOGETHER

OK, let's all get together, turtles on the raft and ducks on the log. What is that turtle doing on the log together with the ducks? Obviously he is confused. Click to enlarge.

While just across the path from the canal the belted Galloways all sit around together chewing their cud and enjoying the beautiful summer day. Another maverick off to the left, stoking up on the summer grass.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE