Thursday, December 3, 2009

Easy east side ride Dec 3, 2009

For the full story go to my Facebook page here:


I expect over the coming months to use this blog more for texting rather than images as it is eating up too much space and i don't want to have to pay for more when there are free alternatives available.

Cheers

Dennis

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

A sunny start to the month Dec 1, 2009

Well after rain on 27 of the 30 days in November, December is starting off dry and cool - the long range forecast is for a continuation of this for the next week or so.


As long as we don't get a repeat of last winter bitter cold and snow I won't mind the current weather.


Headed out on the bike - over the Burrard Bridge and into Vanier Park where the first two images were taken - this "art" is part of the street art program in the City and this particular one is raising some concerns - not over the "work" but rather the location - Vanier Park is the premier kite-flying area for many of the downtown - west side folks and where this "work" is situated is right where the kites are usually flown and landed.


Concerns by local residents seem to be falling on deaf ears.




From there I proceed along the south side of the Creek - all the way to Science World - I was under the impression that the stretch from the Cambie Bridge to Science World which houses the Olympic village was to be closed - while the fencing is in place - the gates were opened and many people were using it.



At the east end of the Creek by Science World on lands owned mostly by Concord Pacific a number of temporary structures are being assembled - these will be used by vendor etc during the Games - if there is one plus about this area - it has been clean upped - gone are stacks of used crane and construction debris left over from other Concord Pacific projects.



Next it is into the International Village development - this is an area between Chinatown and False Creek that has been getting re-developed over the past few years.

One part of the project is Andy Livingstone Park - he was a long serving Parks Commissioner - I have to admit that I usually just ride or drive through the Park but once again taking my time I found a few hidden gems in this Park.


From the pedestrian overpass I saw this view and then it hit me - a microcosm of Vancouver's development - from the dome tower of the old Vancouver Sun building, the lookout at the top of the old Eatons/Sears/now SFU downtown campus building, the big hi-rise of the International Village and the brown tower that is the new Woodward's building which it is hoped will be the engine that drives the revitalization of that area.







It was a pleasant 12 km ride.

I now have a Facebook account and once I get used to using it I will probably use if for the longer photo essays and just use this as an introduction.
Let's try this for a link to Facebook:
Cheers
D

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Putting up the Christmas tree and decorations November 29, 2009

With Christmas approaching it was time to put up the lights, tree and decorations.

I brought a new taller tree this year so the challenge would be to put it together and then decorate it but there were are couple of challenges created.

My first attempt was actually last night when I took the tree out of the box and put it together - in previous years with a much smaller tree I basically just threw the lights and let them hang but that wouldn't work for this tree.

So off it was today to see if there might be a clip or something to mount LED lights on the tree - my first stop was Canadian Tire which has a good Xmas display and sure enough I found just what I was looking for and then some - I also spotted a mount for the bulbs that I have that are a lot better than the wire ones that I am currently using.

So its home to finish the job - I had at first put the tree which is 4.5" in height on top of a small table but it just didn't look right so it now sits free standing on the floor.

The new clips did the job - should have brought a third package so I could clip all of the lights - now that I know where to get them and there are lots of Canadian Tires stores I will do that during the week.

I also have a small one foot tree which is sitting on the window sill and looks good from the outside.


Checking to see if all the necessary items are in the storage box - yes they were.



The new tree in the box.

I saw this a few years ago at Ikea and like it - this year it is also going to sit on the window sill.


The tree and putting it together.


The finished project - didn't notice it when I was the picture but that's an airborne snow boarder on my TV .

After the tree was up it was time to catch the remainder of the Grey Cup game and as usual last minute theatrics came into play - Montreal - heavily favored - best record during the regular season by a wide margin - had been trailing by as much as two touchdowns for most of the game but had clawed back to within 2 points and tried and missed a field goal on the last play of the game - but wait - what is that yellow flag doing on the field and who's penalty is it - unbelievable as it could be it is against Saskatchewan - some how they had one too many men on the field and the replays clearly show it - Montreal gets a second chance and this time they make the field goal and win the game by one point.

Only in the CFL do you get this type of finish.

After supper - there a hockey game on but I didn't watch another Canuck loss to a rested first place team.

There is some hope on the weather front for the coming week - it looks like we are headed for a drier and cooler forecast.

Cheers

D