Imagine….

 

I rose early this morning.  It is not quite 10:30 AM and I have all my domestic duties done.  It has at times been a struggle.  I am now 16 weeks into the whole ‘no hot water’ debacle here at home.  The challenge of bathing and cleaning and adopting the guise of water bearer, and one with a bad back at that, has been tough.  Home hasn’t felt quite so homey.  The end is now in sight.  June 12th, 2015 marks the completion date for the re-piping of the building.

My anger peaked around six weeks ago.  You may recall the rant I offered up on this forum which was a little on the melodramatic side. 🙂

The biggest issue has been the lack of communication.  All we;ve seen are posts of when they’ll need access to certain suites wallpapered on doors as the walls and ceilings in the hallways are now exposed.

Just one progress report was forthcoming after my rant.  Why they can’t take the time to write and post a short paragraph weekly and upload it to our building’s website or to our property manager is beyond me.

Had they done this I don’t believe the tempers would have flared the way they have.

So I am still working on a rather intense post regarding time.   I’ve also joined Toastmasters and will be reading my first speech on this coming Tuesday.  I’m working on distribution for the book still, working me arse off and will be entering physical rehab with a kinesiolgist.  Hopefully this will be the final hurdle to help me regain the level health I enjoyed two years ago.

I just want to feel good.

I’ve given myself the challenge of writing a poem everyday for the next thirty days.  Just thought it might be a fun thing to do.  If at day fifteen I’ve become a mad woman, obsessed and manic…

No, wait a moment…I already am.

I’m being silly.  I have been out taking a few photos so I thought I would share those with you on this beautiful Sunday morning.

Enjoy!

This first series was taken a week ago down at False Creek South in the Science World and Athletes Village portion.  Major construction has been underway in this area over the last five years converting this former industrial wasteland into a vibrant community.

Talk about a beautiful evening sky.  Downtown Vancouver and BC Place can be seen silhouetted below

BC Place now has a remarkable retractable roof though it often reminds me of a spaceship and the iconic Woodwards ‘W’ once a beacon in Vancouver.

Science World at dusk

Science World as the sun sets

Spacey looking walkways and giant birds!

Canada Geese goslings.  Too cute!  The Vancouver Salt Building is now home to CRAFT a gastro pub.  False Creek has been home to many breweries over the years.  There is now an explosion of micro-breweries in this area.  From Molson’s, Granville Island Brewery, Steel Toad, Red Truck, Craft and the Flying Pig just to name a few.

And yes, we make damn good beer!

Looking westward along False Creek South.  Downtown Vancouver rises in the background.

Lighting features that compliment some to the buildings’ cosmetic makeup in the area.  Geese having a early evening bath.

I am in desperate need of decent tripod.  I had purchased what I thought was a pretty good one and it turned out to be sadly lacking.  This was a photo walk with my group titled ‘Dusk to Dark’.

Unfortunately, once night fell, without the benefit of a tripod I could not continue on.  Next time I’ll have a good one.

The next series found me going for a stroll along the river very close to my home.  Spring is in full swing as is evidenced by the florals and bees are busy as are ants!

I just happened to be admiring the sky when this eagle happened to slip into my viewfinder.  And here a bee bumbling about.

The Fraser River is really low at the moment.  We didn’t have much of a winter at all and while we’ve had some rain, we need more.

Capturing images of ants and water droplets.

Beautiful flowers that line the river’s boardwalk.

The colours are exquisite this year!

Baby ducklings swim where the coy fish usually are.  The fish weren’t poking about the surface but this little guy and lily pads were.

The mighty muddy Fraser River.

This is taken from the Quayside overpass looking east along Columbia Street which is the downtown core of New Westminster.

They’ve covered this power utility box with historical images of the police force.  The center image is the Hyack Square which now is home to the ‘Wait For Me Daddy’ monument.

Some images of the Anvil’s Centre’s angles.  Beautiful building.

And this is at one end of the boardwalk on the Quay.  Now Downtown New West is indeed a short walk from here.  Metrotown, however, is a shopping mall in Burnaby!  It is NOT on the river at all and well it would be an incredibly long walk.  Not too sure why this sign was put up.

Below is a map.  It would take approximately two hours to walk their and the distance is 7 1/2 km.  A lot of hills on this walk as well.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this photo montage.  Have a great day.

https://ca.maps.yahoo.com/e/?lat=49.21417710832532&lon=-122.9610013961792&bb=49.23940103%2C-123.0264473%2C49.18894031%2C-122.8955555&o=1305%20Quayside%20Dr%2C%20New%20Westminster%2C%20BC%20V3M&d=4664%20Kingsway%2C%20Burnaby%2C%20BC%20V5H%204L9&mode=6

 

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Transformation…A City Grows Up, Literally!

 

Springtime in the lower mainland finds us in the pink

Last week I began doing research on Vancouver for an article that I was working regarding the recent oil spill. It really is quite remarkable how Vancouver has in fact changed.  The thing now is the height of the buildings they are erecting in the downtown core.

Having worked in the architectural world for eight years the term ‘densification’ has been tossed about and embraced by cities throughout the lower mainland.  There is really nowhere to go but up.  At one time Vancouver had height restrictions regarding the view of the mountains.  As you will see the Vancouver skyline is being dominated by high-rise condo towers.  This is trickling into the suburbs as well.  I live in New Westminster and there are two 19 storey buildings going up.  One is on the corner from my building and the other is right next door. They are planning on building three towers down on the New West Quay which sits right on the water.  I’ve seen signs up in front of automotive shops over on Carnarvon Street indicating that application for rezoning has been made with the image of yet another tower to be built.

New Westminster has held onto many of her historical buildings.  And I am now wondering what is to become of this place?  Is New West going to follow in the footsteps of Vancouver with condo towers obliterating the river view?

The following photo essay is a then and now expose.

Downtown Vancouver in the 1970’s and today

As you can see industry once ruled the waterfront.

This location now houses Science World.  This vantage point shows the Georgia Viaduct at the top of the photo and we are looking at Quebec St. northbound

This is Science World today as it sits at the mouth of False Creek. 

Industry no longer exists on this part of the waterfront and a seawall has been built along the shore line.  You can now walk from Kitsilano Beach over to Coal Harbour.  Might take you a few hours.

Above the Burrard Street Bridge with the Granville St. Bridge to your right looking at the downtown core in the 1970’s

The Cambie Street bridge which was built and opened in 1983 and the view of the downtown core now.  As you can see the difference over just a 20 year span is quite dramatic.

The Vancouver Skyline today is slowly obliterating the mountain view 

View of Burrard Street Bridge from Granville Island

Image of the old Cambie Street Bridge.  You can see the waterfront was used primarily for industry.  This would begin to change in the late 1970’s when the city began to buy back the land and redevelop  False Creek area West of the Cambie Bridge

Granville Island 1971 was a rough area at that time. 

Granville Island today is a tourist hot spot. 

A shantytown was set up on Granville Island when the sawmills began to struggle during the Great Depression

The marina now hosts houseboats and a yachts galore 

The Mansion sits at Davie St. & Cardero St. just a few blocks up from English Bay.  It was built by Rogers who also built the Sugar Refinery.  This grand dame has served as a restaurant for many years and is currently sitting empty.  It is a heritage house though.  It is believed to be haunted.

Quite the change to False Creek. 

Some views of the City.  Top Left:  Downtown view from Granville Bridge circa 1970’s

Bottom Left: Aerial view of Granville Bridge circa 1990’s

Top Right: View from Hotel Vancouver looking North circa 1930’s

Bottom Right:  Science World looking East circa 2000’s

Sunset Beach was developed back in 1977 and a photo of the Grey Whale that returned to False Creek in 2010

The Hotel Georgia 

The Hotel Vancouver, downtown Vancouver

8th & Columbia in New Westminster

Commercial Dr. & Napier Street, Vancovuer

1st & Clark Street in Vancouver

Commercial & Broadway looking west

Industry in the City circa 1970’s

The Blue Horizon Hotel on Robson St. 

This is one of the few industries that still remains on Granville Island.  They have worked very hard, however, to conform to keeping their business practices environmentally sound.

Commercial Dr. & 1st Ave looking East & West

Granville Street Bridge heading North into the downtown core.

Well I do hope you’ve enjoyed this little photographic essay.  As stated I personally would like to see them slow down on the building. Vancouver’s transformation and her surrounding suburbs has been quite remarkable.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Life

 

She sits in the Rose Garden at Queen’s Park…a vision of peace and solitude

Just breathe.  Think of all the good things that are to come.

Just breathe.  Know that the current series of events being experienced are temporary.

I’ve not written a blog post in a couple of weeks now.  In the 3 1/2 years since beginning in this forum, this is the longest I’ve gone without expressing what’s been in my head.  I’ve been writing though.  Make no mistake.

I’ve even written a few posts that upon review were abandoned.

A gift from a friend

Just breathe.   The pain will pass.

It has been four weeks now since I’ve had hot water in my home.  Tonight hot water was restored to my bathroom sink only.  All of this has thrown me into a quagmire of sorts.  Still, I adjusted my schedule and just made do.

And the posts I found myself tossing onto the page were more rants than anything else.  There was at times a rather petulant attitude dripping from the words that I felt didn’t serve the purpose of this blog at all.

I’ll muscle through.  I always do.

I need to bring my focus back to marketing the book and returning to good health.  Much more advantageous to focus on these avenues.

Last weekend I took my daughter to see the Fleetwood Mac concert at Rogers Arena here in Vancouver.  It was truly a spectacular show.  Stevie and Lindsay shared a few memories with us.  Mick was crazy on the drums and Christine was back in the fold!

This band now ranges in age from 65 to 71 years of age.  And they played without an intermission for over 2 1/2 hours.  We were beside the stage in the 10th row.  Fabulous seats!

Aging really is all in your head.  Keep moving  and doing the things you love and are passionate about and you’ll barley notice when the skin begins to sag a bit.

I’m working through the pain of the car accident.  It’ll be tough…but I’ll get there.

I went out for a walk on Easter Sunday and grabbed my camera.  I’ve not done this in a good long while.  An eagle soared above me and the trees look lovely in their spring green foliage.

These darker emotions that I’ve been experiencing I’ve channeled into the beginnings of a murder mystery.  I penned the first few chapters last weekend.  I think I’ve covered all the genres now.

In any case, here are few photos from last Sunday.  Enjoy!

Queen’s Park on Easter Sunday…the cherry blossoms are bloomin’ and everything just seems to be set to rights.

Simple and enduring beauty everywhere.

Namaste!

 

 

 

 

What’s Goin’ On?

 

All the pretty flowers!

The sleep thing is beginning to square off.  I am making it a point to not look at the clock should I waken and to just keep my eyes closed unless of course I need to use the facilities or take a sip of water.

Perhaps I should stop the water thing.  I went for a very long time without having water at my bedside.  I don’t even recall why I began this ritual again.

A wild rose…how wild?  Didn’t say but it is a West End Rose!

I am babbling.

It’s Friday!  I am happy its Friday.  This has been an odd week of imagined negotiations with myself.  And I will explain this when I am not feeling quite as discombobulated as is my current state.

I have one functioning neuron…the rest have gone on strike or something. So I am going to share a few pictures with you.

This is a red-winged blackbird though I didn’t quite get the red in there. 

 

I went for bit of walk at lunch yesterday to clear my head of the eleven cent discrepancy on my bank reconcilation and to calm the sense of righteous indignation I was feeling having gotten a ridiculously high bill for my sister’s cell phone after just switching providers to make it more affordable.

The fact too that sleep has been sporadic at best over the last few weeks, I may well have looked like I was auditioning for the ‘Walking Dead’.

 

This is the one neuron look.  What’s scary is that I look eerily similar to the animation….oooooooooooooo!

The great thing about getting out and actually smelling the roses is that I feel that much needed connection to everything around me.

Upon return to the office I found and corrected the discrepancy on the bank reconciliation and negotiated a suitable resolution regarding the phone issue.

I was tying up loose ends yesterday it seemed.  It occurred to me, and I don’t know why, that Mercury is retrograde.

I laughed at this thought.  Isn’t Mercury always retrograde?

Bird of a very different feather.  See what happens if you sit around all day?  You get a little bottom heavy and the next thing you know Sir Mix-a-Lot appears and sings ‘Baby Got Back’ to you! Oye!

In any case I hope you’ve enjoyed some of the pics I posted today.

Thanks for stopping by.

Peace.

 

Picture This…Part One Summer 2013

I’ve been rather absent from here as of late.  A lot going on in this head of mine.  A lot going on in this life of mine.  I am trying to center myself and get back on track with a host of projects. What I realized is that I have to make sure I’m healthy.  Not just physically but on every level, emotionally, spiritually, intellectually, etc.

I like to head out with my camera and try to capture a little of the world that I reside in.  Because words are currently a little hesitant to make their way onto the page these days, I thought I would share some of my favorite photos that I’ve taken over the course of the last year.

English Bay June 2013

Just prior to surgery I headed down to the English Bay which is a favorite place of mine.  I like to stroll along the surf and get my toes wet.  This little guy was totally ready for his close-up.  I was feeling quite a bit of anxiety leading up to surgery.

Get well and the view from my sofa.

Friends stopped by to wish me well.  For two weeks I took up residence on my sofa. Short walks became a daily ritual. I had to take it easy for six to eight weeks.

As summer progressed I extended my walks.  Queen’s Park hosts a petting zoo from May to September every year.  On one of my walks I grabbed the camera and stopped by to say ‘Hello’ to a goat or two.

The Queen of Soul (as a Chicken)

This is just the craziest chicken going.  Love the ‘hair-do’.  This lovely chicky-poo is, in my mind, is a cross between Tina Turner and James Brown.  I don’t know if it is male or a female but talk about attitude.

And look at that head of…feathers?

 

I love all the colours of summer.  I managed to get cozy with some bees.  After photographing them I was curious as to their life span.  Bumblebee queens live on average of a year.  Some of these bees live for only two weeks.  From birth they are part of a process to keep the system they are born into going.  It is basic and instinctually programmed into them.

These creatures benefit our existence in such an enormous way.  Beautiful, really!

Honey Bee July 2013

I loved the way the light caught this little guy.  Amazing little creatures.

I don’t know what these are called.  At times they remind me of a baby dragon fly.  I wasn’t even aware that I had captured this anonymous little creature until I downloaded the images.

I was enjoying the shadows being cast and how the foliage was proving to be so dynamic.

As July slipped away and August pulled us into the dog days of summer I headed down to Vancouver’s annual firework’s festival with my photography group.  I haven’t done a great deal of night shooting so this was exciting.  And I once I figured out what I was doing, I just had fun.

And as summer faded I found myself gazing at these images, amazed and in awe of the life force that surrounds me.  Of the raw beauty that exists, of the magic we are capable of.

Perhaps because of the cancer that had invaded my body, I was seeing things in a totally new light.

And I was appreciating the fragility of life but also the tough and driven aspect to it as well.

There are no guarantees.  I have this day.  Nothing more.  If I can close my eyes at the end each day with the remembrance of having lived it well, then I can ask for no more.