Web, photos and assorted geekery
So I hadn’t been to Granville Island in years. Since the Sunday of the May long weekend was the first really nice Spring we’ve had in a long while, and the terminal was just down the street from my new place, I decided to take the False Creek Ferry and see Granville Island again.
So I hadn’t been to Granville Island in years. Since the Sunday of the May long weekend was the first really nice Spring we’ve had in a long while, and the terminal was just down the street from my new place, I decided to take the False Creek Ferry and see Granville Island again.
It honestly took me several minutes of being stuck in traffic to parse that sign.
Seriously, WTF?
Seriously, WTF?
I was going through iPhoto, and saw a whole album of photos I took in Port Coquitlam (where I’m currently living, though not for much longer). A lot of these were sunsets and I thought of adding them to the sunsets album… but no, it’s only right to acknowledge the place I’ve lived for almost six years (Gawd, time does fly!).
I was going through iPhoto and discovered a whole album of photos I’ve taken in Port Coquitlam (where I’m currently living, though not for much longer) over the last couple of years. I admit, I’d totally forgotten about those photos. A lot of them were sunsets and I thought of adding them to the sunsets album… but no, it’s only right to acknowledge the place I’ve lived for almost six years (Gawd, time does fly!).
So there you go. Never let it be said that that fugly overheard walkway at Shaughnessy & Lougheed wasn’t good for anything: I got some killer shots in my day, not least of which the one of the lunar eclipse.
One more sunset shot, not of PoCo but of Downtown.
Also, some more commuting pics. Don’t think there’ll be many more of those, so enjoy them while you can.
…this being National Poetry Month and all. But as I said last year, I just don’t read much poetry, and what with being insanely busy at work (in a good way, though) I honestly haven’t been inspired to read any, though apparently I have enough energy for supremely long run-on sentences that overuse adverbs terribly.
But behold, I bring you instead some more commuting photos.
…this being National Poetry Month and all. But as I said last year, I just don’t read much poetry, and what with being insanely busy at work (in a good way, though) I honestly haven’t been inspired to read any, though apparently I have enough energy for supremely long run-on sentences that overuse adverbs terribly.
But behold, I bring you instead some more commuting photos. Who needs mere human words when you can let Nature herself weave her spell?
And it’s that time of year, too. The days are warmer, the cherry trees are blooming… Who knows? Maybe you’ll get a haiku or two before the month’s out.
A couple of sunset shots for your pleasure.
A couple of sunset shots for your enjoyment.
Looking down Cambie St. at a sunset reflected off a Yaletown highrise.
Taken from English Bay Beach last Friday night.
I’ve just posted a little medley of pictures I took over the month of January. Enjoy!
Thanksgiving photos are coming soon. Meantime, here’s what you might call an anti-Thanksgiving photo. I saw this graffiti for the first time as the train pulled into Waterfront station, and took this photo during lunch.
Enjoy. Or, not.
Thanksgiving photos are coming soon. Meantime, here’s what you might call an anti-Thanksgiving photo. I saw this graffiti for the first time as the train pulled into Waterfront station, and took the photo during lunch.
Boo on me. Working so hard on my blog & gallery redesign that I totally forgot to write about Thanksgiving. And it was pretty special, since I spent it in Whistler with a few close friends. Just one day (Sunday afternoon to Monday afternoon), but it was a hell of a day.
Boo on me. Working so hard on my blog & gallery redesign that I totally forgot to write about Thanksgiving. And it was pretty special, since I spent it in Whistler with a few close friends. Just one day (Sunday afternoon to Monday afternoon), but it was a hell of a day.
The good omens started on the drive up. It had been raining for a few days, but the weather was just then clearing up. Which meant dozens of gorgeous rainbows lining Highway 99. The first almost took my breath away, and it took all my concentration to keep my eyes on the road. Over the next couple of hours, I did get a little more used to them—and the gorgeous scenery I hadn’t seen in a while.
Then dinner, walking around a bit, and hanging out, then off to bed.
Monday promised to be clear, so I set my alarm for 6:00 to get some sunrise pics… forgetting the crucial detail that Whistler is surrounded by mountains. At 6AM it was still mostly dark, nowhere near actual sunrise. Oh well. So I wandered around, took some nice photos of Whistler in the early morning fog, went back to my room, tried to get back to sleep, couldn’t, went out again and finally saw a good sunrise over Blackcomb Mountain around 9AM. Then a few minutes later the fog came back in and hid it. Boo.
We had breakfast, walked around Whistler for a bit, then spontaneously decided to go up Whistler Mountain. What a difference 2 months makes! The last (and first) time I was there in 2003, it was August. Now snow covered the whole mountain (enough for at least one small avalanche), the hiking trails were closed, and I was kind of freezing. Sure, I was dressed warm, but obviously not enough for the mountain. Still: we kept moving, admired the scenery—and it was breathtakingly gorgeous with the fog-slash-clouds playing around the many mountains whose names I never bother to learn. Oh, and on the way down, we caught a glimpse of a mother bear out with two cubs.
We had an early turkey dinner, because most of us had to go back to Vancouver. That evening I went to see Between Heaven and Earth, part of the VIFF lineup. Excellent movie, much better than what I expected. I thought it would be about the trials and tribulations of two families of wandering circus folks in Uzbekistan. And it is about their trials, but so much more than that. The circus people are not passive recipients, they’re involved in their community, and even in national politics. There’s issues of tradition vs. modernity, faith and religion, and the greater social/economic picture of Uzbekistan. Great stuff, stark and troubling at times, but not sensationalistic.
I’ve got a new pet.
About a week ago, I noticed a big Orb Weaver spider had settled outside my living room window. It’s a beauty, a bit over 1cm long not counting the legs, with pretty patterns of brown and orange on its abdomen… and the impressive web itself, a couple of feet across, spun in the traditional spiral pattern that gives these beasties their name.
I’ve got a new pet.
About a week ago, I noticed a big Orb Weaver spider had settled outside my living room window. It’s a beauty, a bit over 1cm long not counting the legs, with pretty patterns of brown and orange on its abdomen… and the impressive web itself, a couple of feet across, spun in the traditional spiral pattern that gives these beasties their name.
I never thought I’d call a spider beautiful. Some insects are pretty: ladybugs, dragonflies, butterflies… but spiders? I don’t really have anything against them, but I guess there are too many bad connotations. Poisonous. Related to scorpions. Hallowe’en. Monster movies. This spider isn’t cute or pretty: but it is beautiful and elegant, delicately picking its way across its web—an amazing piece of engineering. No, I can’t be repulsed or afraid, since I’m pretty sure it’s not poisonous. This is a fascinating little living being, simple yet complex.
I’ve watched it take down and rebuild its web at night, a process that takes several hours. First it reabsorbed the radiating support strands one by one, spinning out a new replacement strand as it ate each one, using its rear pair of legs to guide the new webbing in place. The sticky spiral strands were torn down and it ate those too, using its third pair of legs to stuff the collapsed clumps of webbing in its mouth. Smart: its four front legs aren’t flexible enough to reach its head. Unfortunately I had to go to bed, so I missed the rest. A couple of nights before, around 1AM, I came home to find it in the last stages of rebuilding, laying out the spiral webbing from the outside in. And it does this every day, following instincts that evolution has been carving into its ancestors’ genes for tens of millions of years.
The most exciting part came Sunday afternoon. I’d gone to the window to check up on my little friend, when suddenly a fruit fly (I think) flew in the web and got stuck. Immediately the spider rushed in, grabbed the fly and—this is the best part—quickly spun a cocoon around it, twirling the fly around in its mandibles. Just like Shelob and Frodo in Return of the King. Who knew spiders did that in real life? Heh. Then it parked itself back in the centre of its web to suck out the juicy fly insides. Awesome. Just awesome. When I realized what was happening I wanted to get my camera, but the whole thing was over in less than ten seconds. I’d just read about stuff like this, and I wasn’t sure how grossed out I’d be but, really, it was pretty tame. Nothing like the half-chewed mice and baby birds our old cat would leave on the doorstep, back in the day. Interesting factoid: when it’s wrapping up prey, the spider spins out many strands at the same time, whereas when it’s building its web, there’s only one single strand.
I still wonder how much food it’s getting, though. My first thought was that it didn’t seem like a great location (since the web is mostly parallel to my window), but what do I know? Still, can it move, if it finds the pickings too slim? It should, shouldn’t it? That web isn’t like a hive: if it needs to, the spider can just abandon it and walk away… right? I mean, how else did it get here? Or did it fly in as a young on a little webbing parachute? Do Orb Weavers do that? (Not a simple question: that term covers lots of different species). But this one already looks mature… Just how long has it been here, anyways? I’ve suddenly got all these questions because it’s not abstract anymore. There’s so much I don’t know about this little creature, and I do plan to get better informed. Meantime, I feel privileged to have a front-row seat to its life.