My take on the Olympics

Like many Canadians, we've just spent the last seventeen days buzzing about the Winter Olympics, catching the skiing events, cheering the figure skaters and speed track hopefuls, getting up at stupid hours to watch curling and hockey.

Aside from the sheer excitement of double Canadian gold in curling and hockey, we enjoyed the look behind the icy veneer that we have come to think of as Russia. Sochi has helped redefine Russia and her people .. in our minds and hopefully in the minds of the millions of others who watched Russia host the world.  She was friendly and outgoing, the people were enthusiastically welcoming ...we were treated to an invitation to grandma's house ...  she chucked our cheeks and fed us borscht and sausage. Then just when we got really comfy toasting our toes in front of the fire, she opened more doors and showed us how centuries of experience have created regal refinement and art we might ourselves one day attain if we're creative enough; in her appreciation for the past, she showed zest for a future that promises even better.  We were dazzled with splendor and wrapped in homey quilts.

CBC did some pieces on Russia that really showed the quiet pride that most take in their country ... and it made me think of Canada and our people.  We are, most of us, proud of our national identity in the global community .. and yet, we don't make a fuss about it.  Unless we're in a spot where its considered good form to make a fuss.  Congratulations to all of our athletes who've dedicated years to achieving the chance to be called an Olympian.  Go Canada!!

Back here in the real world, Mother Nature has shown us her quirky side.  Its as if she was as wild about the Winter Olympics as anyone else.  She's given us toboggan hills where we normally have flower beds and roads, sheets of ice that are normally sidewalks and a reason to put on a crockpot of stew and cuddle up with a good book.

For those of you I laughed at earlier this winter ... go ahead.  Its your turn now.  I'd also like to nominate my neighbor with the bobcat for a neighborhood hero award.  He deserves a pie.  I think I'll make him one .. once I can get to the grocery store for apples.

Diamonds in the Rough

When Nature wants to dress up, she doesn't settle for second best or care that the sun isn't shining.  She's decked out our Japanese maple with strings of the finest diamonds .. enough to lift the fog that seems ever present these days.

Snow Day!

We got snow!

I took the picture so I could mock my Alberta relatives and friends, because .. hey, I'm that kinda girl.  This is how snow is best enjoyed ... in wee little bits.  Bruce wore sandals to clean the driveway!  He bought a new snow shovel and just had to try it out. Ian, Liz... we miss you on days like this.  We know you and Bruce would have raced to strap on those snow sandals to clean the walk before the other got out of bed.

I shit you not, one of the school districts up-island an hour or less called a 'snow day.' No wonder the people who grew up here love the snow.  Come to think of it, I might have a greater appreciation for it as well.

This picture is of the pyracantha outside Bruce's office.  We grow it in yellow, orange and red varieties.

A Foggy Day in January

This is what greeted us today out the front room window.  Surprisingly, its not as dark and gloomy as a normal rainy day.  Go figure.

I went for my workout a few blocks away where the sun was practically blazing (for this time of year).  Spreading tendrils of warm golden happiness throughout my workout, the fog had pushed it back by the time I rolled out of the doors an hour later.  But for a while, I found sunshine in winter.  It was glorious.

White Christmas

Historically, there is a one in three chance that Nanaimo will have a white Christmas.  This is according to Bruce who is quoting a weather source somewhere.  He's much more weather dependant (and weather interested) than I, so I'll just call him an "expert source."  I can count on him, any time of day, to know what's going to happen with the weather today, in two hours, tomorrow or for the next 10 days.  Yup, he's that kind of interested.  I realize that weather is almost a uniquely Canadian chat topic since I chat with a lot of people from all over the world.  We love the stuff; be it rain, snow or sunshine.  Any chit chat starts with talk about it, as well as the quality and quantity.

That being said, December has seen the rain come down steadily, sometimes sideways.  We've had a few days of rare "Alberta sunshine" so bright that you forget Albertans travel with sunglasses even in winter.  The really unusual weather for us here has been the snow .. so I took pictures.  After all, its only fair that if I laugh at you poor folks cocooned in your homes at -30° (like Grande Prairie is today) .. you get to see what its like when the shoe is on the other foot.  Not that its -30° or even the -20° of Calgary.  It's a darned chilly 1°.  Yea, I know .. poor princess.  ::snicker::

Here's my photo lineup for the day.

I love wreaths.  My pal Bev and I enchanced one with a garland of sparkly
bits and a cheery red bow.

I'm surprised the birds don't like these berries.

Looking out my front room window onto Georgia Strait

Someday, you might see this on a Christmas card.  I love how it turned out.

These two are the same photograph, with different post-production treatments. The first reads as very cold and wintry, albeit pretty; while the second, more saturated photo almost looks like a magical fairyland..  That poor greenery on the left is my normally upright bamboo.

A 1960s color treatment created a surreal feel to this photo.

I hope today finds you in a cheery Christmas sweater, with enough rum n eggnog to not care about the pictures they'll circulate of you .. I hope you're surrounded by friends or family (maybe both) and have enough board games or puzzles or genial atmosphere to keep you entertained all day.   And I hope your Christmas dinner has at least one spectacular dish.  

Also .. get in a Christmas nap if you can; they're good for your soul.  That's where I'm going now.  ::big hug::

Keepin' cool on the long weekend

If your August long weekend was anything like mine, you were looking for any sort of way to cool off.  I actually spent a bit of the night sleeping on the patio.  However, many of us headed for the water .. just like this fella I caught enjoying my birdbath.

I've been playing around with the Google Chrome add-ons .. this one is called Psykopaint .. Cezanne brush style.

Drama!

Sometimes, drama is the good kind.  This sunset begged to be captured on film and I wanted to see what my camera could do on auto settings.  I fluked this shot, in truth.

Taken from my upstairs patio overlooking the strait of Georgia.  Bruce and his outrigger team were on the water when I shot this.

There's something about snow In Nanaimo ...

.. that makes me want to grab my camera.

A snow day in Nanaimo is cause for celebration among the locals.  Jaded expatriate Albertans simply yawn, roll over and go back to sleep .. while the British Columbians are scrambling through closets to find boots and mitts so they can go out and play in it.  It's not unusual to hear some of my adult friends (sorta) (and yes, I'm looking at you, Bev) have been making snow angels.

Former Albertans are thinking in terms of snow shovels and how heavy that damn stuff is going to be.  Nanaimo snow comes down wet and soggy most times, although this one was light and fluffy.  

Still, one can't help but feel a little excited.  The usual sullen lead skies are replaced by a lighter shade of grey, enough to send one's spirits racing upwards.  In some cases this week, I've actually seen bright sunlight and .. wonder of wonders here in BC .. a chinook cloud.  Although it was on the wrong horizon.

This is the view from my back balcony.  Almost looks like a real forest, although its just the back yard.

A proper sidewalk cleaning is not as common as you'd hope out here where the rain
does most of the snow removal.   What you can't see is Bruce around the
corner with his shovel and our neighbour on his little bobcat.

This probably best represents the juxtaposition of snow in Lalaland.

I was standing upstairs, peering into cupboard and fridge, taking inventory counts and making lists in preparation for a pre-weekend trip to the grocery store.  I refuse to shop on the weekend anymore.  I remember that hell and how grouchy it made me ... so impatient with the blue-haired ladies who want to block an aisle with their carts while they catch up on the latest in their respective families.  I'm pretty sure all those working people out there appreciate me not being another clog in the aisle as they hurry about the insane amount of ordinary everyday stuff they need to cram into two whole days off.

I chanced to look distractedly out the window and thought to myself, "now that looks like an Alberta sky."  And since that was something that had never before crossed my mind .. that skies in different areas could have completely different temperaments and familial characteristics ... I walked over to the window to actively note the differences.

What I saw was a massive bulbous black sky, bright white clouds like ghosts fleeing in fright before the inky contortions behind them, their mouths extended in screams of horror, robes shredded by the winds as they ran.  The winds picked up and hurled bright sunshine and my neighbor's oak leaves across my balcony in vortexes of frightened Autumn.  My own forest pansy bent before the wind and gave up its crown of glory in seconds.  On the lower deck, the large pot of bamboo paid obeisance to Mother Nature.

And then ... then it did something I've never seen in six years of living here.  It hailed. Oh, not golf ball sized car bodywork hail, just pellets slashing down, bouncing from the patio.  It was exciting.

Now, half an hour later, the power flickers occasionally, but doesn't look like it will fail.  The skies are returning to their normal grey upon grey upon grey.  Or is that gray on gray on gray?  Never quite sure of that word.

Anyway, here are my pics.   Enjoy ... while I hit the grocery store.

Focus is a bit shaky here.  I was shivering.  LOL .. I really have become a British Columbian.

Taken through my office window .. you can see the screen pattern.

Forest Pansy .. this morning

Forest Pansy now.

Through it all, the Japanese maple stood and glowed!

Hedges

Oh man, the smell in the air this morning was incredible.  Layer woodsmoke and windfall apples, add in a touch of leaf mulch, the tang of the ocean just a couple of blocks away and top it off with the crispness of a Fall morning.  My nose was all a-tingle as I took in Harpooner Place today.

Across the street, an older gentleman pottered around in his garage ... he obviously cared a great deal about his yard.  He made sure to give me the eyeball, as I was an intruder in his area, so I felt like I had to surreptitiously get this photo.  I loved the hedge and I laughed, thinking about Bruce and how he hated the hedges of his teens.  Betcha, if a realtor had lined up this house to show us a few years ago, he wouldn't even have got out of the car.

Oh man, imagine the work necessary to keep this trimmed properly

Not a half hour later, I chanced upon another well-manicured hedge that caught my eye. 

Admit it.  You also thought "Hobbits!!"

Across from all that summer greenery was evidence of Autum.

Days like this make me wish I had a dog to go walk with .. or a pony to ride.  Or maybe a Shetland pony to take for a walk.

Autumn in Nanaimo doesn't happen in gradual stages, at least in my experience.  The oak tree next door is a really good example.  Where the leaves are not glossy emerald, they've gone brilliant orange and carmine. 

All of these will end up just off our front step in the spot where
they eddy lazily and can't achieve escape velocity.

In Alberta, the leaves turn from green to a beautiful yellow outlined in green or gold with green freckles.  Sometimes, you'll find variations on the gold theme, but not color like we find here. On a sunny Autumn morning, you can drive around a corner and smack into color that takes your breath away.

Turner Road & Uplands Drive

Longwood Station Shopping Centre

The lights at Turner Road

Out here, it often seems like horticulturalists plant for Fall color rather than what will happen in the Spring or Summer.  I'm all for that. Fall is my favorite time of year.  :D

The grocery store parking lot

And that reminds me of something kinda funny.

If you're going to be doing jackassery on the road and slide around the corner into the shopping centre, maybe you should make sure that the police aren't behind you.  Maybe you should not pull over into the grocery store parking lot when the police lights start their dance in your rear view mirror.  And maybe you shouldn't park in front of the main doors of the grocery store where the lights and ticketing process get watched by every customer heading in and out of the store, and reported on at length by the cashiers working the tills.

I'm laying odds his mother heard about it before he got home.  *snicker*

I promised myself that I wouldn't make any more posts about rain in Nanaimo, but this was one of those exceptional days and I just had to share.  I'll probably break that rule a lot anyway .. we talk about weather in Canada and this is just as true in BC as it is in always-changing Alberta.



I needed to run out and do the most mundane of tasks .. pick up some alterations and some cream for my tea.  Yea, yea, I know .. don't shoot me .. I like cream in my tea.  Lemon just strikes me as bitter on bitter.  Cream takes the edge off.   Anyway ... I hadn't had any real tea since yesterday morning, so I thought I'd stop and get a steaming big cup of decaff Starbucks Cinnamon Dolce latté.  Which I hadn't had for a couple of months, so .. treat time. 

It wasn't coming down in buckets, but it was coming down hard.  Which is a relative term here.  Prairie rains can sting, but west coast rains are generally soft.

Here are some of the things I saw/did/heard/felt/experienced ...

• Driver's side door handle (on the inside with my window, door and mirror controls ) so wet from simply getting in and out that I seriously considered stopping at a drive-through to get a napkin to clean it up.  But then, I'd have to open that window and let more of the deluge in, so I passed on that.  Forgot about that collection of vintage 2009 McDonald's napkins that are stuffed into the glovebox for emergencies.  They really should design rain protections for those electronically stuffed door handles.
• Pants hem wet and slapping against my ankles. The alterations I was picking up include yoga pants whose leg length I'd ensured was longer than what I'm wearing today.  This plan may have flaws. I'll keep you posted.
• My beautiful pansy umbrella flipping inside out from the wind.  We've all been there.  Said umbrella not wanting to collapse properly afterword.  I fixed it, thankfully.  It will live to be rained upon another day.  Cheerily.   Those pansies have a job to do when I go out in the rain .. which is to drive back the dull greyness of the skies.
• Having to turn on my kitchen lights at 10:00am in order to see anything.
• Dropping my Starbucks snack on the floor in Chapter's.  *sigh*
• Rain spatters on my glasses.  A lot of them.  Umbrella plan was good in theory .. in practicality, not so much.
• Insta-fog inside the car.   Each time I got back into the car, its welcoming response was to fog up.  So turn up the heat and defoggers .. rear and front. 
• Rain sucking at my car tires, trying to pull me off course.  I was only doing 30kph in that school zone! 
• Sheets of water sliding down Rutherford hill.  
• A huge spray of water from the big puddle on the side of the road that almost hit a poor pedestrian walking near the plant nursery.
• Pine branches all over the road near the nursery.  I'll bet Bruce finds chunky water tomorrow when he goes out paddling.  You can always tell when we've had high wind from the amount of debris you run into when you're in a small water craft.
• Hair style by Mother Nature.  My hair looks a bit moppish most days .. curly and a bit frizzy, but generally under control.  When I arrived home today, it had frizzed out to three times its normal size.  Good times.  Now I know what to do for Halloween.
• Grocery bags (I picked up more than just cream) dripping rain on my entry floor and then kitchen counter.

So my trip outside was a bit like going to the dentist .. just something you have to do, not something you really wanted to put into a day perfect for plain old couch surfing.

On the other hand, that coffee was almost worth it.

Here's a picture, not of the rain because I'd hesitate to take my camera into that much Wet, but of a halcyon afternoon in the garden when the Japanese maples and mock orange were playing tag with the sunshine. 

Dog days

There is something about September on the island that .. well, frankly .. it's what drew Bruce and I to come live here. The days are long and sultry, the ocean breezes play along the shoreline in the evening and cool you off enough to drift off peacefully.

The last two days have finally seen us hit the 30° mark in what has been an otherwise unremarkable summer except for its inability to get started properly.  Oh, its been pleasant, but its not been necessary to start shedding clothing as soon as breakfast is done.  We're getting a chance now to give our fan motors their annual workout.

Jamie called about the earthquake that happened near Port Hardy up in the northern part of the island today.  It was pretty much a non-event for us here.  Like you, the first we knew of it was on the news. 

But maybe it was the earthquake that freaked out Murray enough yesterday while Bruce was watching a movie.  He jumped straight up, then made a mad scramble for a safe spot.  Now, since  he was already on high ground, his back claws made purchase on the first tall item around ... my fifty year old floor lamp that came from Gram and Gramps' place in Three Hills.  It made for a hell of a crash, which freaked out Murray even more.  The only sweet thing was that he came running to me for safety.

Tomorrow, Round 3 of "Stain the Fence" .. a game we seem to be playing too often.  This will be the third time we've done the fences since installing them four years ago.  Here's hoping that this one does the trick.  And hey .. if you want to drop around and lend a hand ... I'll certainly make you an iced tea.

Could it be ... ?

There have been some signs of Spring around the Neuman homestead.  First, the endless rain has occasionally stopped for a day or sometimes two at a time.  Gasp!  I know, I know .. I feel that way every time it happens .. like I need to get outside and have a picnic or something crazy.  A few days ago, I saw a fat robin sitting atop one of our pergolas. 

 
And this morning, I went outside to take a picture of the rain and was met with an overwhelming fragrance from the wee flowers outside my door.  No idea what they are and I don't care ... they are like lily of the valley in that they are small with a fragrance as big as the outdoors.  They make ringing my doorbell a real pleasure as you wait for me to answer it. 

I turned around to see if anything else was looking springlike and sure enough .. the Pieris is about to go nuts.  We have a hedge of these in the front .. makes for a rather intense display.

We took a trip to Vancouver yesterday ... Bruce was seeing someone for his ongoing (and hopefully resolved) back issues ... and saw further evidence of Spring .. and how oddly flowerlike vegetables can be.

 For those of you whose lot in life is not caught up like mine, I thought I'd give you a picture that is something Islanders see often enough that it's commonplace.  For me, however, I still get a prairie girl thrill waiting for the ferry.

And finally, another street sign.  I know I usually post these separate, but this is the street that the ferry terminal sits and it falls within the Nanaimo's unusual street names meme that I've got going on.  This is Zorkin Road.  Apparently, Mr. Zorkin was a developer here in the city.  How his name came to be emblazoned upon this particular road, I've no idea.

A study in contrasts

I headed out of my house shortly after lunch to go to the mailbox .. I've ordered a new pair of moccasins and am looking forward to their arrival.  They're officially called 'red' .. so I suppose once I get them, you could say I'll have my own pair of ruby slippers.  Harrr.

Ahem, anyway ... we don't often get frost that stays around during the day, so I took a picture of my street to show you.

And then ... as I swiveled back toward the house, I spotted this.  I know you Albertans will be green with envy.  Which is, of course, why I'm showing it to you.

The camellia is getting ready to bloom.  Those buds that look strangely like pussy willows are actually going to be flowers soonish.

Hmmm ... not quite there

Forgive the untidy state of my webpage today ... I promise I'll work on it a bit more tomorrow once the creative juices have quit sloshing around and around in my brain, spiraling downward into the toilet.  Too much stimulus seems to be the issue of the moment. I have a great piece of inspiration .. a mug I purchased from Starbucks ... but everything is turning out a bit too busy.  Hold on for another day while I get it worked out.  [Edit:  Fixed!]

Normally this process is all done behind the scenes and I take a few days to work out changes, try this, move  that or simply remove items.  However, I've been fighting with Blogger for the past few days, which had inexplicably quit showing me the engine behind this site.  Turned out I simply needed to update Firefox, but getting to the point where I learned that handy bit of information took some doing.  All I can say is 'thank god for Google.'

Bruce and I spent a rainy Monday in Vancouver visiting with Ilana and Elsa who has become a fan of "a snow."  She was a bit shy around us, but did eventually get to show us how well her new winter hat, sparkly wand and princess shoes all matched.  Ilana had said that getting Elsa to adapt sleeping patterns was quite difficult and during our visit, she nodded off within the space of a moment ... I couldn't resist taking a picture.

The day was soaking wet .. it came down in buckets all day long and made for an interesting ferry ride back home as the downpour increased and winds howled.  I tried grabbing a picture from the car on the way across the Lion's Gate Bridge.  Even with the reflection, I love this picture. :)

A Tale of Footprints

The snow fell, fat and sloppy on dimpled sidewalks, piling slush near the edges as occasional passersby splashed in their haste to get home for the evening, chins tucked into their collars and hands pushed deep into pockets.  I'd stood at the window, drink in hand, watching the sprites play an extreme game of team tag, zipping in between the six pointed stars and dodging the larger, dangerous flakes.  They'd flit over to the glowball hanging under the eaves by my door and warm their hands, trash-talking their competition all the while.

The city slept late and woke muzzily, drawing apart bedroom curtains to blink in the whiteness of a snow hushed morning.  Opening my door for the morning paper, I was dismayed to find it gone again.  For weeks now, it had intermittently gone missing, supposedly to a neighbour who rose earlier than I.   From the huge pine beside the house, Old Crow laughed raucously down at me.  She absolutely knew the culprit .. she never missed knowing where treasure was, even if it wasn't her idea of treasure.  This time, however, the weather worked with me, leaving evidence that lead through my back gardens and out to the cedar hedging.  I had to admire the intrepid nature of my paper thief, venturing out into a world that few in this area had experienced.

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All of which is a long way of saying ... I wonder who walked through my garden early this morning.  I suppose it was the neighbour's cat, but could have been anything.