Monochrome Monday > Fiddler On the Run

Here's another image done for the Sarah Tradewell photoshoot last week. We set out to recreate this picture and used the same Enchanted Forest location (near the post office). I shot this on digital so there's a different tonality but the feel is there which is what I was going for.

Homebase for the Monochrome Maniacs is here

Les Amouruex

Today is our wedding anniversary so this post is for my darlin'. Back to Gabriola photos tomorrow.

Georgi

He's a trained sculptor turned bicycle designer. His handcycles allow people with disabilities to enjoy the freedom of self-propelled locomotion. His HPVs (human powered vehicles) are the fastest in the world. Meet Georgi Georgiev, yet another extraordinary Gabriolan.

He named his company, Varna Cycles, after his hometown in Bulgaria, and he's on a mission to raise awareness for the bicycle in all its many incarnations. Click around on the website, there's some amazing stuff to be discovered there, including video of Team Varna clocking an entry into the Guinness book. Pictured here is the Tempest HPV, which set two new world records just last month at the Michigan Speed Challenge.

Georgi is a genius. I'm just a photographer. But we have one thing in common: The belief that the bicycle is a much-needed antidote for global addiction to petroleum-based transportation.

Thanks to my pal Bruce Mason for making the introduction.

Skywatch Friday #37

If you live on a Gulf Island and want to get somewhere fast, you have one option: A float plane. This one is heading south, probably bound for Victoria. As you can imagine, the passengers have an amazing view.

Click here for the other Skywatchers from around the world.

And Speaking Of Young Musicians...

This stylin' fellow was strumming away at the Saturday market last weekend.

ABC Wednesday > F is for Fiddler

Sarah Tradewell is one of BC's bright and shining young music stars and she was on Gabriola yesterday doing some recording and hanging out with her family. There's a very cool story about how we got to know Sarah which you can read here. Our meeting was a direct result of these photos, posted by Benjamin Madison on his Victoria Daily Photo blog.

Check out her website to get a taste of her talent and if you're in this part of the world, I strongly suggest you go hear Sarah in person. Her fiddling will make your day.

Click here for ABC Wednesday global headquarters

The News From Back East

Way back east. Gabriola to Cape Breton = 46oo kilometers

Coming Up From Twin Beaches

You're invited to visit this blog to see the other Monochrome Maniacs

Sunday Signage > Baguette

Oven-fresh bread staying warm in the sun at the Saturday market. These baguettes are from the Slow Rise Bakery.

Meow!

There's a big art show going on today in conjunction with the Gabriola Theatre Festival. This striking piece is by Kimm Nightingale and Joke Mensink.

Coincidentally, we welcomed a new kitty into the Snapper household yesterday afternoon. She's a solid black cutie named Marley (yes, after Bob).

Skywatch Friday #36

Click here to see the other Skywatch Participants

The Tomatoes Are Coming

ABC Wednesday > E is for Equine Curiosity

I use a cracker box for my TTV contraption so maybe this mare thought she was going to get a little treat.

Click here to see the other ABC participants

Thomson and Thompson

The Roxy hosted a Tintin festival last weekend and along with the film component, there was also a wacky skit for the kids in which adult actors brought the animated characters to life. Here we have two lovely ladies as Thomson and Thompson, world's greatest detectives, in the process of solving the mystery du jour. Admission was by donation and all proceeds went to the Gabriola school library.

Monochrome Monday > Cedars

Best see this one enlarged

Visit the Monochrome Maniacs here

Sunday Signage > Accommodation

If squirrels had access to the internet...

Workshop Wall

Skywatch Friday #35

When you live in a scenic place, it's sometimes difficult to resist the temptation to take what I call tourist pictures a/k/a this-is-what-it-looked-like pictures. For me, it usually happens mid-week when I realize I have nada in the hopper for Friday's Skywatch slot and this week was no exception. I was picking blackberries down by Degnen Bay on Wednesday evening when the light started getting good. The camera was handy (as always) so I put it on a rock just inches above the water, triggered the self-timer and here ya go...

Click here to see the other Skywatch participants.

Lost and Found

To the owner of these eyeglasses: There're right where you left them yesterday afternoon, on the picnic table closest to the parking lot at Drumbeg Park

ABC Wednesday > D is for Dry

Mrs. Snapper noticed that Monday's image was "pretty busy for a Snapper photo" and I suppose she's right, though I do like the picture well enough (as does she). That said, here is a decidedly un-busy scene. I thought about waiting for a seagull but decided a bird would just clutter up the frame. I have a folder called "Haiku Pictures" and this one went there straight away.

Click here to see the other ABC participants

Circle of Fish

A little joke for musicians. Non-musicians click here

Monochrome Monday > Six Boats

Those clouds brought us some much needed rain and there's more in the forecast.

Visit the Monochrome Maniacs here

Sunday Signage > 390

This homeowner is a swimmer so her street number sign is a cresting ocean wave, hand-carved and painted by a local artisan of course.

Shades of '69

A hippie-style summer cottage gathering moss at the south end of the island

Skywatch Friday #34

Do you think this couple shared a kiss?

Click here for the other Skywatch participants

Tina's Hand

Tina's talent is pretty much boundless. Great singer, great musician. Oh yeah, great actress too (you should hear her Brooklyn accent). She's also a delight to work with. Check her out here

Number 28 in the Musician's Hands series

ABC Wednesday > C is for Cymbals

The grand entrance parade of the New Old Time Chautauqua Circus when they were here last month. The guy's face says it all.

Click here to see the other ABC participants

23

There are two kinds of beach houses on Gabriola: The newer ones are mostly bigger than they need to be and somewhat pretentious but the older ones are almost all modest cottages like Number 23. The simple ones are definitely my preference but even a McMansion would look good bathed in light like this.

Red Fife Wheat

This is being grown in an experimental patch at The Commons

Click here for the other Monochrome Maniacs

Sunday Signage > Slow 5

I don't think this old farm truck is going anywhere fast

Global Theme Day > Night

Another view of Nanaimo from Brickyard Beach, this time with a toenail moon for the global theme.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants