Signs of Obliviousness

Despite the amusing title, I'm absolutely serious about this one - and furious too!

Really it's two issues, though the second one grows out of the first.

Every time. Every time I am in a park - regional, provincial or national - I see people ignoring the posted signs.

"PLEASE KEEP OFF THE RE-VEGETATED AREA"
The signs are posted, the area is clearly fenced off - at least from the path side - I'm slightly willing to cut some slack when it comes to people crossing from the other side. The beach continues along past the re-vegetated area with no access paths - but it's not clearly marked from that side. I've managed to do it once without realizing right away. In my defense, I think the tide was coming in pretty quickly too. However, I've also seen people just hop over the fence to go wander in that area - kids chasing the rabbits, or people not wanting to walk all the way back to the proper beach access path from the washrooms. The other day I even saw some people with bicycles on the wrong side of that fence! And if someone confronts a person doing that, they're likely to get told to F*** *** and mind their own business. I've seen that very response - and it makes me feel very uncomfortable about speaking up when I see this kind of behavior.

"NO DOGS ALLOWED ON THE BEACH BETWEEN THESE DATES"
Inevitably I'll see dogs running freely on the beach, off leash with their owners throwing balls or sticks. Ask them about it and the response is usually "I didn't see the signs". Said signs are placed at every access path. How could you not see them? Perhaps you just didn't want to see them?

Same thing is true for the signs that say "ALL DOGS MUST BE LEASHED".
Or, you'll hear "My dog is well behaved and doesn't need to be on a leash". Which suggests that the owner doesn't think that the rules need to apply to them.

The other one - one I haven't seen in person yet, but have definitely seen evidence for is people ignoring the "NO BICYCLES" signs along the trails. It's kind of hard to disguise the tire-tracks left behind in the mud, so I know this sign is another frequently ignored one.

Those are all bad enough. Here is the one that has me finally going ahead with this rant.

I live in British Columbia. This year we're having a real problem with forest fires all across the province. There's a fire ban in place for nearly all of the province. All the parks have clearly posted signs to say "NO FIRES" and also "NO SMOKING"  at the entries to each trail and also posted along the trails. I was out two days ago enjoying a wonderful hike up in the mountains two days ago - except that as I came along the route back, I was stuck behind a group who insisted on smoking - despite the signs. There were four of them, and only two of us, so I didn't feel comfortable about speaking up. Perhaps I should have anyway. I could see the cigarettes in their hands, and most definitely smell the smoke!

They're not the only ones though. Despite clear announcements of the fire ban, people are still lighting campfires! I just can't fathom the attitude.

Fire Restrictions Ignored By Campers
Ignored Fire Ban and Evac
Some Campers On The B.C. Coast Ignoring Open Fire Ban Despite Interior Wildfires
Campfire Ban Ignored
B.C. officials to investigate after firefighters reportedly breach campfire ban

And those are just a selection of articles on the topic. I just can't understand people sometimes. We're seeing the devastation caused by fires all around the province - not to mention more of them in the USA. It's bad enough when those fires are caused by lightning. There's not a lot we can do about that. But to risk causing more fires through human stupidity?

I sincerely hope that nobody reading this blog condones behavior like this, but I won't apologize for my attitude towards it all.

I am so sick and tired of the obliviousness to clearly posted signs and rules, either because people don't think they should apply to them, or they think they can get away with breaking the rules - sadly this is probably true all too often. I'm tired of it. Tired of going to the beach and seeing the remains of fires. Tired of hearing people in campgrounds stamping around in the brush to find wood to burn - when the rules clearly say it's not allowed. Tired of seeing dogs chasing birds in areas where dogs aren't allowed off leash. Tired of seeing unauthorized trails ground into the parks by people who figure they can just go anywhere they please. I'm tired of it all! And I don't know what can be done about it. 

Or, am I just an old-fashioned kill-joy of a stick in the mud who wants to take away peoples fun when I believe that these rules should be followed? Do we live in a society where rules don't mean anything anymore? Should I simply get used to seeing this kind of behavior and start closing my eyes towards it?  Sometimes I wonder.

Saturday Snapshots - April 15, 2017

Saturday Snapshots is a meme hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. The rules of the game are:

To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky below. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Personally, I find that this is one of the most fun memes that I've participated in. Not to mention that it's a bit of an incentive to get out and take more photos every week!

After a couple of months on hiatus, I'm back with one of my favorite photos so far.

Last month I had the chance to go back to the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary for the first time in about five years. Among the far too many photos I took was this gem:

Spotted Towhee perched on a branch.

And then, last week I was lucky enough to get this shot:

Male Rufus Hummingbird

Saturday Snapshots - January 7th 2017

Saturday Snapshots is a meme hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. The rules of the game are:

To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky below. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Personally, I find that this is one of the most fun memes that I've participated in. Not to mention that it's a bit of an incentive to get out and take more photos every week!

All photos are new ones this week. I got out earlier in the week to do some birdwatching and photography - finally able to really test out the new 80-400mm lens, and I have to say I'm pretty happy with the results. Any remaining annoyance is pointed firmly at my need to improve my own skills, and not at the equipment (I need to learn to use manual focus properly - so as to ensure that the focus is on the right part of the bird (head and eye) rather than the branches around the bird or the wing or tail).

Anyway, these are the three that I'm most proud of:

All three were taken somewhere I'd driven by several times and not realized what it was. Buttertubs Marsh, Nanaimo.  I'm definitely going back there. It's a beautiful little walk - though the path was pretty icy this week. Lots of different birds too.

I saw some kind of hawk-type bird flying by, a male red-winged blackbird, spotted towhees, dark-eyed juncos, chickadees and assorted sparrows like the ones above. Not to mention a couple of American robins. What the heck. I'm going to add one more photo today:

I can't forget about the squirrels either. We saw quite a few of them. No waterfowl (ducks, geese, or swans) though. Not too surprising as the whole marsh was frozen more or less solid. I definitely want to go back through the year to watch the wildlife change as the birds come and go with the seasons.

Saturday Snapshots - December 31st 2016

Saturday Snapshots is a meme hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. The rules of the game are:

To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky below. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Personally, I find that this is one of the most fun memes that I've participated in. Not to mention that it's a bit of an incentive to get out and take more photos every week!

I'm sticking with the Christmas theme for the first photo - taken at my cousin's place on Christmas Day. I had a bit of fun experimenting with my camera using their Christmas tree as a target. In the process, I figured out how to change flash modes on my new camera - a completely different process from the last one.

The second image was a bit of a surprise. We hadn't realized it was still that cold at our favorite park for photography walks. Usually we see plenty of rabbits and birds there, but not so much this past week. On the other hand, we did see a pair of bald eagles. Unfortunately, they were still too far away for decent photographs - and I ran into a hazard of using auto-focus rather than manual: the camera focused on the branches just beneath the eagles, rather than the eagles themselves.

Still, I liked how this one turned out:

I'm going to throw in a third image too - an older one from Whytecliff Park:

Well, as 2016 comes to an end, I'd like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year with all the best wishes for the year to come!

My 10 favorite photos from 2016

In the last year I've gotten back into photography in a big way - finally I've started teaching myself how to use my camera on modes other than "automatic" after about ten years of promising myself I'd do so. I've also been getting out with the camera more regularly. As a result, I've had quite a few more photos to share.

Many of these I've shared here already in other posts, such as the various Saturday Snapshots posts I participate in. Other Saturday Snapshots posts I've done are made up of older photos that I've taken over the years but never processed into something I liked.

On to the photos:

1. Tofino Sunset 2:

The most spectacular sunset I saw at Tofino through two separate camping trips last year. The sheer range of color still amazes me.

2. Tofino Sunset:

This was taken earlier in the same day as the sunset above. Green Point Campground near Tofino is really a spectacular place!

3. Great Horned Owl:

This one was a real stroke of luck, as one of the other people on the path pointed the bird out to us. Said bird seemed more than happy to pose for the camera though after we spotted it.

4. Mushrooms:

You can't always stand, crouch or squat to get the photo you want. This one and all my other mushroom photos resulted in muddy knees and elbows as I tried to get the camera closer and closer to the ground for some different perspectives. However, it was definitely worth doing for this one!

5.  Twilight Mushroom:

For this one, I ended up using the flashlight on my phone as a secondary light-source as twilight was fast approaching. First time using the technique and I'm quite happy with how it worked out. No idea what kind of mushroom it was though, and this time I was able to keep my knees and elbows clean by sacrificing the jacket I'd been wearing by kneeling on it.

6.  Thistle:

A thistle that looks a bit like a firework. There's something about flowers on a dark background like this that I really like. I'm still trying to figure out how to get that effect consistently though - without simply imposing it in post-processing.

7. Warbler:

A flock of birds. a fruit tree and a convenient window. The three elements do sometimes combine to create a nice image, and this one was the best result I had. The consensus is that it's some kind of warbler.

8. Rose with Droplets:

One of the rarer times when I was deliberately attempting to set up an image and not just taking advantage of something already together - i.e. a garden flower and bees. I've been fascinated by photos of flowers with droplets of water and this was one of the photos from my first attempt at taking my own pictures.

9. Night Sky:

My first successful attempt at night-sky photography. This is definitely an area that I'm planning to practice more of, as I found it really enjoyable. Just need to find an area that's truly dark enough at night though I think.

10. Rabbit Portrait:

A fairly tame rabbit I was seeing regularly at Rathtrevor Provincial Park. A bit too willing to pose for my photographs if you know what I mean.

Saturday Snapshots - December 3, 2016

Saturday Snapshots is a meme hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. The rules of the game are:

To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky below. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Personally, I find that this is one of the most fun memes that I've participated in.

This week I didn't get the early jump on the game that I did last week. On the other hand, I have some new-to-the-blog images I found hiding in my collection during the week to share. With any luck, I might just have some really new images for next week as I'm looking forward to getting out and doing some photography over the next couple of weeks.

Anyway, here's the first photo:

I'm not sure where I took it, or what kind of flower it was. I do know that I took it in July of 2012. I've done a little bit of post-processing with the Google Nik collection - I had discovered this week that it is free.

The second photo needed a bit more post processing to make it into something I liked.

I know a little bit more about this one though. It's from July 2014, and I took it while we were on Newcastle Island - a nearby provincial park. I like herons, but this photo ended up being too dark and distant when I took it. This result is after some rather severe work in Photoshop and Nik.

I have no idea what I'll be posting next week. I'd like for there to be some snowy photos - but that hinges on going snowshoeing this week.

Saturday Snapshots - November 19, 2016

Saturday Snapshots is a meme hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. The rules of the game are:

To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky below. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Personally, I find that this is one of the most fun memes that I've participated in.

This week I have a new photo and an older photo to share. The new photo is one that I took at Cleveland Dam last week.

I didn't have my good camera with me, so this was taken with my phone-camera. After that, I admit that I had fun with post-processing, giving the image a vintage look. Anyway the image is of the river just after the dam spillway.

The second photo is an older photo that I found in my collection. I frequently enjoy going back through the photos I've taken and every now and again, I find one that perhaps I can use and had forgotten about.

 My husband is a shell collector, so I have a good supply of them to photograph. I just haven't done so all that often, but I found this one from a few years ago, although I don't know what kind of shell it is.

I have no idea what I'm going to be posting next week - new or old.

Saturday Snapshots - Nov. 12 2016

Saturday Snapshots is a meme hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. The rules of the game are:

To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky below. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Personally, I find that this is one of the most fun memes that I've participated in.

Anyway, my first photo for this week is a new one:

As with most of my other mushroom photos, I took this one at Rathrevor Beach. What makes it different from the other photos I took was the time of day. I took this one just as it was starting to get dark, so I began playing with using the flashlight feature on my phone to give some extra light. It worked well enough that the camera could use a reasonable shutter speed and maintain the focus. Definitely a trick I'm going to try to remember for the future. The only thing that got a bit tricky with this is only having one hand for the camera because I needed one hand for the flashlight. I probably looked pretty hilarious - kneeling on the ground with camera and flashlight, but I think that it's worth doing.

Here I've gone way, way back in time. According to the image details, this one was taken eight years ago, back in 2008!

Saturday Snapshots - Nov. 5th

Hosted each week over at West Metro Mommy Reads, this is what Saturday Snapshots is all about:

To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

Again I'm dipping into my past photos a bit this week. I have some new ones on the camera still, but haven't had time to look at them yet. Maybe next week or the week after when I'm finished my current projects.

I can't remember if I've posted these to All Booked Up already or not.

Anyway, the first one is "Meteor Shower", and if you look closely enough, you'll see a couple of meteor streaks.

The second - chosen randomly from my DeviantArt gallery is of some spun and unspun fiber from about four years ago.

More Phototgraphy

Over the Thanksgiving Weekend, I was back out at Rathtrevor park. Although I had hopes of seeing deer, the owl, rabbits or some interesting birds, my best photos ended up being of something completely different. Mushrooms.*

These were only two of the several varieties I saw over the course of that walk, and the two best photographs. I have to says I still think the dirty and wet knees and elbows I ended up with in my efforts to get these pictures were worth it.

I've also been playing with some more photomanipulation. I was inspired on this one by an article I read off of Facebook a couple of weeks ago. I thought it was also a Digital Photography School article, but can't seem to find it in their feed. At any rate, the article was about using different textures and opacity levels to create effects in photographs.

This is what I came up with:

I rather like the effect I got, and plan to play around with this style of image a bit more. I think though, that I need to come up with a collection of different photos suitable for use as textures, as right now I could only find two or three in my collection. Some possibilities that come to mind include different types of paper, or cloth or sand.



*Partly inspired by reading the article on photographing mushrooms from the Digital Photography School website: http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-photograph-mushrooms-toadstools-and-fungi/

Photography

This is one of those hobbies that seems to come and go for me. Of late though I've really been into it - and I've been having a fair bit of luck in the photos I've been able to get. Most of the time recently I've been taking my camera to Rathtrevor Provincial Park, which is moderately nearby.

Possibly one of the reasons I've jumped back into photography is that I discovered the ViewBug website and I now live in hope of one day winning one of their contests (reality says "not likely!").

Anyway, I've gotten a few photos that I'm really happy with.

This one's of a particularly tame rabbit that I see at the park nearly every time. I know they say not to approach or feed the animals, and I don't. This one though, tends to come up to me. Obviously other people do feed or otherwise try to attract the rabbits.

I think we got quite lucky to see this fellow! One of the other people walking in the park pointed it out to us, and the owl seemed to be quite happy to pose for me. This was the best of the photos I took of him.

To go on with the animal theme, I finally managed to get an in focus photo of a seagull in flight. It's just coming in for a landing here.

I've been admiring the various flower and droplet photos around, and got the chance to try and take some myself the other day. This was the best, and I'm quite happy with it, though I do want to try taking more of these photos with different flowers too.

I could keep going because I've been enjoying taking these photographs, but I think that four is enough for now. That doesn't mean though, that I won't have more photos to share in the future.

Green Point Sunsets

Last week my husband and I spent some time camping at Green Point in the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. He'd told me the scenery was going to be spectacular, and it was! Especially the sunsets - here are a couple of representative photos, linked over from my DeviantArt account.



Tofino Sunset 2 by Endaewen on DeviantArt


Tofino Sunset by Endaewen on DeviantArt

Camping at Green Point was a new experience for me. I'm more used to the Provincial campgrounds and the standards set there: don't leave your coolers out, any other forms of food, toiletries, soaps and the like, but your water jug, stove etc. are all fine to stay out for the duration of your trip.

At Green Point on the other hand, they run a bare campsite policy, and when they say bare, they mean bare. Your camp furniture is allowed (chairs, lanterns and tent), but nothing else. Everything else such as your water jug has to be stored in a hard-sided vehicle or trailer.

On the plus side of things, the vehicle-accessible campsites at Green Point are all powered - makes charging your phone etc a breeze - not to mention your laptop or camera batteries. I took mine so I could clear off my camera card at need, and I filled it on the first three days of the trip, and went through four camera batteries in about the same time.

On the other hand, both the Green Point Campground and Tofino have terrible data reception, although it seems as though it's actually better at Green Point. If you really need to check your e-mail though, in Tofino is a wonderful little coffee-shop called Tuff Beans. I highly recommend stopping in there for a hot chocolate to go with your WiFi. For Fish and Chips, try Big Daddy's Fish Fry, just down the road.

Also a plus: two individual camp cots with "nightstands" (detachable pockets on one side for glasses etc). With the addition of an inflatable mattress-pad and a foam pad, they made for the most comfortable camping nights I've had yet. And the "nightstands" turned out to be even more of a blessing than I thought.

Our tent leaked. Tofino gets an average of 202 rainy days a year, so we had plenty of chances to discover this fact. Tarping the tent fixed some of the problems, but I still found myself with a pool of water under the foam pad in my cot. Which is why I said the "nightstands" were a blessing. I was able to keep all electronics, as well as my books off the ground and away from the damp.

Even with all of that, I recommend camping at Green Point highly. We weren't lucky enough to see or hear any, but the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve is home to wolves, bears and cougar.

Ammonite Falls Adventure

Yesterday was a real adventure! More that I was expecting for sure. The plan was a nice family hike - under 10k long, with a couple of steep sections with ropes (or so we were warned) - and a picnic lunch at the falls. It all sounds great, then you realize that the day was one of the hottest so far this year - the truck thermometer was saying 33 degrees Celsius when we were on our way back from the park. Thankfully, most of the trail was well shaded - and we all brought plenty to drink as well as sunscreen.

Everything started out smoothly enough, except that all the hills were down on the outbound leg. Everyone knows what that means when you're returning along the same trail. Moderately easy, though I wasn't looking forward to coming back. I slow down a lot on uphill legs of a walk or hike.

Then we came to the first of the steep sections. Silly me. I'd envisioned something like big stairs with a rope acting as a railing. Nothing close at all. And the first of them was something that you could in theory pass through without needing the rope. I didn't try. I used the rope all the way down - wasn't going to be taking a chance. It was the next segment, to the bottom of the falls that was the real adventure though!

Ammonite Falls Trail.

I've never done something like this before, and I wasn't too sure how to go about it this time, but got plenty of coaching from the Ammonite Falls veterans in the group. It's pretty intimidating to go down a hill backwards so you can't really see where you're going, but that's really the only way to do it - and hang onto the rope good and tight!

The scenery at the bottom and the picnic lunch were worth it though. The falls were beautiful, and the pool looked like a wonderful swimming hole - I didn't do any swimming, but I'll admit to paddling my feet and sitting on the edge. The rocks though were pretty slippery, so I didn't keep that up for very long - and the water was pretty cold.

Ammonite Falls - the top section

Ammonite Falls - the bottom portion

If getting down the slope was fun, going back up the ropes was even more of a challenge! I'm just going to call it a full body workout and leave it at that - with the note that I'm paying for the hike today in stiff muscles.

Mud, Sweat, And Tears - Bear Grylls

Mud, Sweat, And Tears
Bear Grylls
William Morrow Publishing
Copyright: May 2012
978-0062124197

The amazon.com product description:

Bear Grylls has always sought the ultimate in adventure. Growing up on a remote island off of Britain's windswept coast, he was taught by his father to sail and climb at an early age. Inevitably, it wasn't long before the young explorer was sneaking out to lead all-night climbing expeditions.

As a teenager at Eton College, Bear found his identity and purpose through both mountaineering and martial arts. These passions led him into the foothills of the mighty Himalayas and to a karate grandmaster's remote training camp in Japan, an experience that soon helped him earn a second-degree black belt. Returning home, he embarked upon the notoriously grueling selection course for the British Special Forces to join the elite Special Air Service unit 21 SAS—a journey that would push him to the very limits of physical and mental endurance.

Then, disaster. Bear broke his back in three places in a horrific free-fall parachuting accident in Africa. It was touch and go whether he would walk again, according to doctors. However, only eighteen months later, a twenty three-year-old Bear became one of the youngest climbers to scale Mount Everest, the world's highest summit. But these were just the beginning of his many extraordinary adventures. . . .

Known and admired by millions as the star of Man vs. Wild, Bear Grylls has survived where few would dare to go. Now, for the first time, Bear tells the story of his action-packed life. Gripping, moving, and wildly exhilarating, Mud, Sweat, and Tears is a must-read for adrenaline junkies and armchair explorers alike.

This is the first of Bear Gryll's books that I've not enjoyed absolutely. Parts were really good - the parts about his youth and his family especially, but also the section on his testing, training and time in the SAS, but most of the book was focused on Bear's Everest expedition. O.K., now you've got to be saying that I'm nuts. I'm complaining about most of the book being about such an unusual and life-changing event. Why?

Simply put: it felt like duplication. The book Facing Up, which came out a few years ago was entirely about Bear's Everest expedition, so it's like I'd already read about half of Mud, Sweat, And Tears.

For the rest of the book, as I said, parts were great, but I guess I was just expecting something different. I wanted to know more about Man Vs. Wild, the T.V. show, as well as some of Bear's other adventures - some of which were shown in the photographic inserts. But those were barely mentioned in the text.

Still, it was well-written and engaging. As I said, I enjoyed learning more about Bear's family - both as a kid and now his family and children. I guess Mud, Sweat, and Tears just had a set of expectations around it that it didn't meet for me. Not my favourite, but still, I'm glad I read it.

Saturday Snapshots - May 12

Saturday Snapshots is the most fun non-book-related meme that I've found to date. This photography themed piece of fun (I look forward to it, sometimes planning out the photo I'm going to use days in advance) is hosted each week by Alyce of At Home With Books.

The idea is to post a photo that you or a family member/friend has taken. Only two caveats: 1. that it is taken by you or someone you know, and 2. that it be suitable for all-ages viewing.

This week I've been digging into the archives again, despite the great weather. I just didn't get a lot of photos, and the ones I did take are all still on the memory card.

Anyway, this photo is from one of my camping trips last year. We went down to the dock just around sunset one evening, and this was the result. At the time, I was quite happy with it. Now though, I'm noticing a few flaws. Although, I still really like the lighting of the shot. Maybe I'll be able to get a better version this year.

Saturday Snapshots - May 5th

Saturday Snapshots is  a fun little meme hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books where your post a photo taken by you or a friend or family member. The only caveat is that you not just take photos from anywhere on the internet and that it be appropriate for all ages to view.

This week's photo is one from my archives again. Despite my best intentions, I didn't get out to take any pictures this week, so I'm digging into my collection. Yet another sunset, but they're a fun thing to take, every one is different, and so often spectacular.

Saturday Snapshots - April 28

Saturday Snapshots is a fun little meme hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books each Saturday. The idea of the meme is to post a snapshot or photo you or a member of your family has taken. While I try to post photos taken in the previous week, this week I wasn't able to do that - the photos are all still on the camera right now - though there are a few that I really want to see.

This one was taken at the Ferry dock on Bowen Island a few weeks ago. Just a common Seagull, but I like taking photos of birds in flight.

Saturday Snapshots - April 7

Saturday Snapshots is hosted each week by Alyce of At Home With Books. It's my favourite of the non-book-related memes I've seen.

The idea is to post a photo or a snapshot you or a friend/family member has taken. It doesn't even need to have been taken in the last week - although I'm trying to do that now.

This one was taken last Monday:
Hummingbird at the feeder. Not sure what species though. I just feel lucky to have been able to get this one at all. I'd seen them zipping by (and heard them too), but never managed to get my camera up in time to catch them. I'd just given up and gone back to the door to go back inside and there it was!

Saturday Snapshots - March 24

Saturday Snapshots is hosted each week by Alyce of At Home With Books. The idea is to post a photo or snapshot you or a member of your family has taken. It doesn't even have to have been taken in the past week - although I'm really finding it fun to go out each week and see what I can take these days.

This one was taken yesterday/today. We were planning to see the sunset at the same place I'd taken last week's photo from, but thanks to a book-buying expedition I went on, we were going to miss it, so we stopped at Stanley Park instead (just got to the beach about five minutes before the actual sunset time). This was taken at Third Beach, with the 14-42 lens.

Saturday Snapshot - February 25

Saturday Snapshots is a fun non-book-related meme hosted each Saturday by Alyce of At Home With Books. I love this one as it makes for a really nice change from books. The idea is to post a snapshot or photo you or a friend or family member has taken. It doesn't even need to have been taken in the previous week!

In the last week or so, I've been out to Whytecliff Park a couple of times. The first time it was getting very close to sunset when I was able to get these photos of some of the local residents. I think it's the time of day/lighting that accounts for the quality of the photos unfortunately.

A Great Blue Heron, fishing. Taken with the camera on a tripod and using sunset mode rather than auto. Probably should have been playing with the camera in full manual mode instead.

A sunstar, I think. Either way, it was low tide out on the beach, not that that makes any difference for what this is.