Napping Gnome

I spotted this fellow sleeping away the afternoon in the Otters field at The Commons

Skywatch Friday #15

Ominous clouds over Penty Avenue

The rest of the Skywatchers are here

Lost

Lost: one vehicle

When: Wednesday 28 January '09

Where: Taylor Bay Road at Malaspina

I'm waiting...

730-EVR

ABC Wednesday > B is for Bucky

We got a dusting of snow yesterday morning and just as the last few flakes were falling, this fine fellow dropped by. He and his pal are regular visitors and everyone in the neighbourhood has different names for them. We call them Bucky and Nubby and we tell them apart by the specifics of their antlers. With the does and fawns, it's much tougher to distinguish individuals. I sometimes wonder if I'll ever get jaded about seeing these magnificent animals up close on a daily basis...I doubt it.

The global ABC Wednesday page is here

Contemplation Station #2

Photo taken yesterday afternoon on a tiny swatch of public beach situated between two private properties at the south end near Drumbeg Park. That's an uninhabited island in the middle distance and way in the background, you can just make out some snow-capped peaks on the mainland. To revisit Contemplation Station #1, click here

Oddshots Monday > SCGC

The Oddshots folder is pretty skinny this week so you get a variation on a theme. Not all that odd but at least it makes a nice wallpaper for guitar people. SCGC stands for Santa Cruz Guitar Company.

Oddshots central is here and you might also want to visit Monochrome Maniacs

Sunday Signage > Cliff Speaks Out

Cliff Cornell is a young American who has been living and working on Gabriola for quite some time. Back in the states, he joined the Army to get an education and because it was his best opportunity for a steady paycheck with benefits. Before signing on the line, the recruiting officer assured him that his unit would never be deployed to Iraq but Uncle Sam broke that promise shortly after basic training and Cliff had to make a tough decision. He was morally opposed to the war so he left everyone and everything he knew and loved and headed north, landing first in Toronto and eventually settling on Gabriola.

Canada has a long history of granting safe haven to political refugees that goes back at least as far as the Underground Railroad. Sitting Bull led his people across the border after the Battle of the Little Bighorn and of course there were hundreds of conscientious objectors welcomed into Canada during the Viet Nam era. Unfortunately, the conservative Harper government has chosen to break with tradition and last week Cliff lost his legal battle to remain in BC and is now facing deportation. He's had a tremendous amount of support from the community and his co-workers and you can read about that here.

Cliff is a gentle soul and I can't imagine that the American penal system will be very kind to him. After petitions, litigation and community meetings on his behalf (today's photo), sadly all we can do now is keep him in our thoughts and prayers.

Blue Rays

Not only did the sun peek through yesterday, we had a glorious blue sky day. Looking for more of the same today.

Skywatch Friday #14

Half moon at Drumbeg Provincial Park.

Gabriolans will recognize this immediately as a file photograph. Why? We haven't seen clear skies in two weeks. Just fog, fog, and more fog. Maybe the sun will peek through today...

Skywatch Global Headquarters is here

42

My mother-in-law gave me a book about moss for Christmas. I have to admit that when I opened the package, I didn't know quite what to say but I was thinking "This is gonna be a yawner for sure". I could not have been more wrong. GATHERING MOSS by Robin Wall Kimmerer is a wonderful read and I learned more about moss than I ever knew there was to know and that was just in the first chapter. Ms. Kimmerer is not only a skilled naturalist, she's one heckuva writer. Perhaps it's her Potawatomi heritage but she has a gift for seeing the world with an acuity that most of us can only dream of and she translates that vision to the page in a most engaging way. Which is to say that she writes with her heart as much as with her intellect.

In Chapter Two, I learned that there are 22,000 species of moss worldwide. I'm guessing 21,000 of those are present on Gabriola. I'm kidding of course but this is one mossy island to be sure. I also learned that moss thrives in places where nothing else can, like smack dab in the middle of the number 4 screwed to a rock at the end of a driveway.

ABC Wednesday > A is for Agi Hall

It doesn't look like much in this snowy photo but Gabriola's Agricultural Hall is a hub of community activity, especially in summer when it's the home of the weekly farmers/crafts market. There's also a monthly folk music concert and various meetings and events throughout the year.

Go here for the rest of the ABC Wednesday images from around the world.

Transition '09

In less than an hour, the tyranny in Washington will be over and a new era will begin. Heady stuff indeed for all the world's citizens, not just Americans. A good source for online coverage is The Huffington Post.

Gabriolans followed the US election very closely and boy-o-boy are there ever a lot of Obama fans around here! We know of at least two all-day inauguration parties and everyone has been talking about this historic event.

The photo was actually made at the magazine rack of an independent bookstore in Port Angeles, WA but it's the best one I've got for today so here ya go.

Oddshots Monday > Negative Space

If you've ever done much marketing of photography, you know that editors and ADs often have use for very simple images with a lot of blank space over which they can lay text, logos, other images. etc. What does this picture have to do with Gabriola? Well, it's been darn foggy lately with visibility limited to the short range.

The rest of the Oddshots are over at Katney's Place

And it's also Monochrome Monday here

Sunday Signage > Do Not Block Access

Wooden Hands

This is a detail of a totem carving by local artist Rick Cranston. You can see it at Raspberry's Jazz Cafe in Folklife Village along with several of Rick's paintings. Great coffee there too.

Skywatch Friday #13

A Skywatch image left over from the Christmas snow storm

Tidepool at Malaspina Galleries

ABC Wednesday > Z is for Zero

The temp was hovering around zero (Celsius, 32F) when I made this image which explains the water droplets on the leaf and the ice all around it.

Home base for ABC Wednesday is here

Seagull Birdwatching

I was watching the seagull and he was watching the ducks. This went on for much longer than you'd expect.

Oddshots Monday > Buck

I find this image odd in a Bangkoknik kind of way. Unfortunately, he's taken down his blog.

The Oddshots host site is here

And Monochrome Monday HQ is here

Sunday Signage > Stop

Another foggy day on Gabriola but at least the snow is mostly gone.

1275

Leica M3, 50mm Summicron, Ilford XP2Super, 1/500s @ f2.0 to blur the background and exploit the bokeh.

Skywatch Friday #12

Click here to see the rest of the Skywatchers

Owl House

Hawk Owl's place

Leica M3, 50mm Summicron, IlfordXP2Super, 1/250s @ f2.8

Mercury M-100 Pickup

Ford produced Mercury pickup trucks in Canada from 1946-68. I'd never seen one til moving to Gabriola. You can find out more about them here. I'm not absolutely certain but I think this one is a 1965 model.

V8

I know there are some antique automobile buffs out there. Who knows the make, model and year of the vehicle bearing this V8 emblem? Answer tomorrow.

Oddshots Monday > Snowy Abstraction

See the rest of the Oddshots from around the world here

And it's Monochorome Monday here

Enjoy!

Sunday Signage > Open House

Call it a hunch but I somehow doubt this Open House was very well attended.

Steve's Stuff

Steve Dawson's gear set up stage left at The Roxy before last month's gig. That's a Weissenborn copy parked behind Steve's Carter pedal steel. Mr. Dawson and band were next door at Suzy's having a glass of wine and making out a set list. It was a great show. I bought the Telescope CD, all original pedal steel instrumentals, cool stuff. Photo made possible by the trusty Leica, 1/15s @ f2.0 using a beanbag on my knee for support.

Skywatch Friday #11

The rest of the Skywatchers are here