ProfileSinging in the RainPhotosBlogListsMore  |  Tools Help |
|
July 07 Travelling is a lot of fun! Because of the wonders of the internet I have met some wonderful people I wouldn't have otherwise even acknowledged if we passed on the street. One of these is a lovely lady, Janice, from south of our border. She is currently on a motorcycle road trip, recently passing through Seattle. Unfortunately it was cloudy and rainy (typical) and she didn't get to see the best of the city. A few months ago we made a trip on a sunny day, so I want to show the better side of the Emerald city.
     Ahhh holidays! I see that there has been a bit of a gap between my posts. I also now see that I must be on holidays once more because I have the leisure to post once again. I am liking this holiday stuff; warm weather, sunshine, enjoying fun activities and relaxing.
The last few weeks I have had the privilige of visitors. As a result we explored our region more then if we were left to our devices.
Earl poses in front of a show that he took us to in Vancouver.
We took in some fine arts,
 This is Jeff, posing with his work on display at the Green Revolution art show.
a little fine dining and sporting events,
 Here we take in some great pulled pork before we attend the Lions preseason game at Empire field.
some exercise with a walk in the woods, and then a drive to Steveston to explore what is coming off the fishing boats.
My cousin Tina then came for a visit and we spent an afternoon having fish and chips and exploring.
I am looking forward whatever comes next! May 25 The Hamster Experience Do you have a dreams of running on a wheel and not getting anywhere? Have fun eating cereal out of a really big bowl? Would you like to try drinking from a water tube? If you are in the French west coast town of Nantes you may want to book a night in the hamster hotel. Here you can get a room, or as the French call it, a "gites," to live like a hamter and do all these things and more. Your room features a bed in a cage loft, hamster head hats you can wear, but luckily also features human luxuries such as a microwave, and normal bathroom. You have to see it to believe it! While in France be sure to take a hamster holiday as this gentleman reporter from The Times experienced. If you need a laugh be sure to watch it.
If you are counting on a visit, be sure to book soon, it is a pretty popular spot and prices are going up.
May 23 Can't get enough PacMan You may be reading the last post and saying to yourself, "dang it, I missed playing Google PacMan!"
 Fear not, you can still download and play if you didn't get enough. Click for PacMan Download. May 22 Play with a google doodle Okay, so you remember playing PacMan once or so in your youth, and the game is today celebrating it's thirtieth birthday, so where do you get your nastolgia fix?
Simple, waca-waca your way over to Google Canada and you can play with today's Google doodle. It is a PacMan game that if you wait for a moment you can play with your keyboard. Good luck! May 19 Brand new 2012 Olympic mascots With only 799 days to go to the 2012 London games, their Olympic Committee has revealed the mascot for the Olympic and Paralympic games. Once again the organizers had children as advisors and chose mascots that are linked to virtual world of cyberspace and the ability to morph into different looks as the situation calls for it. Flashbacks to 1996 Atlanta, anyone?
You can check out Wenlock and Mandeville and watch a video of how they originated from the last two drops of steel from the construction of the Olympic stadium at their website, 2012 Olympic mascots. There you can become their friends, follow their newsfeed, look at pictures, learn about their histories and find other activities.
The comments on the official site seem to be cheerful and excited. In the media there's more mixed comments.
"What the heck are they?"
"Part CCTV camera, all cash cow."
and my favorite, "Faster, higher, stronger, tackier."
A comment on the ABC News website says,
"My first thought was scary, not stupid. Terrifying, really. I'm looking forward to stories of children running away screaming and crying at the sight of them."
Like a new kid in the classroom with an ugly cowlick, they may have to try really hard to make friends.
May 15 Yellow Bird and no rain today It has been a nice run of days with no rain and I have spent the time either working (it always seems to be sunny when I am at work) or working in our yard. I had to wait for the ground to dry out a bit before I planted my garden, even if the earth had warmed up enough for weeds to grow.
I now have the stiff joints to prove that under the ground there are seeds for potatoes, carrots, beets, beans, lettuce, spinach, radishes, zucchini and various other plants. I will have to wait at least a week before I see any results, but I am confident something will come up. Most of my seeds are fresh since a rat in my shed ate most of the others from last winter. He must have been hungry. From now on I keep the leftover seed in glass jars.
Today I did a little weeding around my sweet peas and then took the afternoon to lie on our patio swing and read while watching the birds come and have a splash in the bird bath. The usual crowd of robins and juncos came, and I had a little yellow birdie come as well.
 I believe this tiny little fellow might be yellow warbler, even though he wasn't singing for us, he sure had a good splash and sip. He had to wait for the bigger birds to leave before he could take his turn, and he was so small he had to use the lower level of the bird bath which is shallow. I love spring when we get plenty of migratory birds around. Glad I could provide this little fellow a place to spruce up for the ladies. April 17 Inukshuk basics A friend of mine from the USA loves the "little man" from the Vancouver Olympic logo.
 It is a Northern native symbol that the people use to mark the landscape to communicate to other people in the vast Canadian North. To the Inuit this shape means, "I was here." When rocks are piled to form different shapes, we learned that they have different meanings. Here is the display where we learned more about these!
Amazing Hamsters! The president of the United States gave a speech yesterday about their plans for the future in space travel. He spoke about the possibility of travel to the red planet, Mars.
"Early in the next decade, a set of crewed flights will test and prove the systems required for exploration beyond low Earth orbit. And by 2025, we expect new spacecraft designed for long journeys to allow us to begin the first-ever crewed missions beyond the Moon into deep space. So we’ll start -- we’ll start by sending astronauts to an asteroid for the first time in history. By the mid-2030s, I believe we can send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth. And a landing on Mars will follow. And I expect to be around to see it."
I am sorry, but I will have to break it to you, Mr President, a hamster will get there first. Chomik has been delayed, but this Polish "hamster" has plans to take a bite out of one of the moons of the red planet next year. Polish "hamster" goes to Phobos, a geologic digging device named "hamster" in Polish. God speed little ham!
This is an agility hamster video, probably a candidate for hamster astronaut. April 12 Tea time!
Last week I had a lovely afternoon when my friend, Maddy and her dog Belladog came over for tea. I don't believe I have a drop of English blood in me, but I do love tiny sandwhiches, pastries and berries with cream and chatting with friends. I have been to Victoria and had high tea at the Empress hotel and found some books at the Buchart gardens, so I had some good ideas. Iron Chef always writes out his menu, so I thought it would be a good start.
Menu for Tea --1-- Sparkling wine a la juice d'orange Fruites salade & assorted cheeses
--2-- Sweet berry tea Cucumber fingerlings Ginger carrot triangles Salmon pinwheels Blueberry scones Jam crumpets
--3-- Fruit tarts Sherry
Along with a boquet of fresh flowers, my grandmother's hand stitched spring table cloth and special china cups and dishes we had a lovely setting. It was just a shame that the party had to be indoors as the rain was really coming down outside! March 13 The games go on! The 28th of February saw the closing ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympic games in Vancouver. Less then two weeks ago most of Canada was cheering as the gold medal hockey game concluded with a magical ending for the home team.
 We were fortunate enough to attend several events during the games, including the opening and closing ceremonies, speed skating and men's semi final curling.
   Afterwards I have gone through a period of withdrawl from having three or more excellent world class events going on at the same time. The sense of joy that spread throughout the city is tremendous.
 There is even a group of people who have started a petition to make a holiday on February 28th to continue with the Olympic spirit and joy. Many in our nation are resigned that the Olympics for Vancouver are over. Well, perhaps they are, but starting yesterday we can look forward to 10 days of Paralympic games.
 I was fortunate to be able to attend part of the torch relay and the opening ceremonies. I have learned that the Paralympics are not just an afterthought, they are truly an embodiment of Olympic spirit. I have found the events very accessible, and the participants are real amateur athletes, they are doing it for the competition love of their sport.
 My favorite part of the opening ceremonies is when the athletes parade in. For these paralympic games I was thrilled to be close enough to the athletes to see their faces as they came onto the stage and break out into smiles at the crowd cheering them on. It was so exciting!
   Most of the events are being held in Whistler, so I hope to be able to watch them on television, even if they aren't live, like they were for the Olympic games. Congratulations to the Canadian sledge hockey team for their success in the first game of the round robin! And good luck to all the athletes, I hope that your experience in the games will be of a great time!
 March 06 Sur la pont de Port Coquitlam Today was the official opening of the Coast Meridian overpass in Port Coquitlam. The city put on a ceremony and party on the bridge span, including street hockey games featuring North vs South. Here is a picture of the bridge from the City of Port Coquitlam
 It was fabulous morning for the opening, the day was warm, the sky was perfectly clear and blue. People came in great numbers and were excited about the new commuting option that now unites our city that has been divided by almost 100 years by the CP rail yards. For residents to travel from one side of the city to the other they used to have only two choices, and traffic congestion has been a growing problem. I usually chose to park on the North side and walk through the underpass to get to businesses and events downtown. South sider residents we met today said they are looking forward to using the rec centres on the North side. The bridge also includes lanes for pedestrians and bicycles. Very thoughtful!
 It was a great opportunity to take a stroll from one side to the other before it officially opens to traffic on March 7th.
 There was an ribbon cutting, and then two life long resident grandmothers shook hands, exchanging preserves of blueberries that are grown on the North side with salmon which is from the Fraser river on the south side. Following that they had speeches from dignitaries, displays and street hockey games, including one official battle between kids from the North and South sides. They played to a tie, and many excited children afterwards proudly showed off their medals.
  We weren't the only ones interested in the celebration, a pair of eagles flew over us to check out what was going on. Maybe they wanted some of the complimentary Tim Hortons donuts, hot chocolate and coffee, or delicious San Remo Pizza.
  The situtation was unique for the bridge to be built. First they had to get permission to build across the CP rail yards and then push the bridge across without interrupting the trains. For engineer interested types you can get the details on the project design at the Port Coquitlam City website where you can learn about the bridge like cable stay design, and push launch method of construction.
March 02 A toast to those who can see the humourous side. For people who know me a bit, the general impression is that I am mostly serious, conservative and quiet. Thankfully my sweet husband tells me that I am deeply multifaceted and that I do have a sense of humour. So, for all those people who got on the radio to complain about how the Olympics ruined their February, I offer a link to the Funniest moments at the Vancouver games. And for the rest of us, I know that you will surely enjoy it as well. The music that the choose fits each instance perfectly, and I really liked the last three medal winning vignettes. Have fun! March 01 Fun in the city What a tremendous 17 days we have had in Vancouver! The 2010 Olympics came and went, so have all the athletes and guests and Vancouver is different because of the experience. I am convinced that the city has improved in spirit and in features. I had a tremendous opportunity to attend the closing ceremonies because of the generosity of my brother. Although I found the ideas of the closing of the Olympics sad, I knew the fun had to end sometime, the ceremonies made me feel much better.
 Because the gift of the tickets were completely last minute we had to leave our comfy couch during the big hockey game and found out about the overtime win as we were on our way. The eruption of joy from everyone was incredible! It was as if the whole city shouted for joy at once, and smiles were seen all around. One of the police officers said that their hands were sore from all the high fives they were doing.
 Inside the party continued, the seats we had were lovely, and the party was fantastic! We watched a replay of the final overtime period on the big screen and waited for everyone to arrive.
   We were then thrilled and blown away over the spectacle. What a way to say goodbye to all the wonderful people who came to share joy and happiness with Vancouver.
 February 22 Ice is nice On Saturday we had an adventure of a lifetime, we got to attend the speed skating at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and watch the competition for medals in women's 1500 meter and men's 1000 meter distances.
 It was a huge demand ticket and the scalpers in front of the venue were all begging for people to sell them extra tickets. We were meeting people from all over the world and having fun talking to them about the love of the Olympics. I was wearing my Mukmuk gear, so that was also a big hit with folks. He is a pretty popular mascot/sidekick!
 It was fascinating and exciting to watch the speed of the athletes. They seemed like they could skate tirelessly when we screamed and cheered.
 The crowd was very excited because of some very strong Canadians, Francois and Charles Hamelin were skating with Apolo Anton Ohno from the USA.
 Warm up starts. And the race is on.Things didn't end up how Canada hoped, but the Koreans were thrilled!
 There's a new record! The Korean skaters are super fast! The celebrations We had a great time. I tired out my voice from all the cheering we were doing, but I would gladly do it all over again!
 February 18 Sports on ice Imagine if you will a comfy break room at work, I am sitting on the couch closest to the television and the 2010 Vancouver winter Olympic games are on. That was the scene while I was alone, happily watching curling, when a few other people came into the room and remarked something like this, "Curling? Who watches that? Isn't there some hockey on?" I tried to explain that curling can be superior in entertainment over hockey, but my words fell on deaf ears. I guess I should have gotten Bowser and Blue in my corner to argue for me.
February 13 Living life live!
My interest in the Olympics began in the 1976 when I was a youngster. A teacher gave me an Olympic pin of Misha the bear, mascot of the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Although I wasn't inspired to be an athlete, I have been inspired and impressed at the tradition of fairness, friendly competition and peace amongst nations.
I respect the freedom of expression that is due to everyone, including those that think that we shouldn't spend money on celebrations when there is poor people in our community. I do not respect those that turn criminal and hurt others in their protesting actions. Shame on those that cover their faces and wield weapons of destruction.
Hosting the Olympics is like having a party at your house. Sure, we could have spent that money that we blew on cocktail shrimps and dip on the mundane day to day needs like instant noodles and laundry soap. But then life would be dragging and we couldn't share happy memories with our friends on special occaisions.
 Prior to the start of the ceremonies we admire the fantastic transformation toBC place. Note the flag at half mast in respect for the loss of the Georgian athlete who died during a Luge training run.
I can't number the people that I met yesterday as I went to Vancouver and shared my excitement of the Olympics. I talked to many locals and visitors alike. My husband and I attended the opening ceremonies, and to share our enthusiasm we painted our faces red and white. We encountered literally hundreds of smiles, dozens of compliments and were stopped and asked if we could pose for a picture over 20 times. The joy we felt was infectious. To me, that is what the Olympics are about, for after all smiles are free and I have a wish for everyone that we meet to take home smiles, peace and joy.
The host first nations and the totems that raise their arms to welcome the world.
 The great thing about being at an event is that you can look where the cameras aren't watching. Here is the seating for the athletes. For now they can watch like the rest of the audience but they will the stars over the next two weeks!
 What a terrific show! Everyone involved in the production should be proud of the great job that they did. It isn't easy to put on a live performance for millions of people. I had a blast!
February 02 It's Groundhog day again! Here is an unpdate on our friends the predicting groundhogs in the east. They have all seen their shadow and have concluded there will be 6 more weeks of winter.
It turns out their endangered cousins, whom I refered to in my last entry, the Vancouver Island marmots, are still all hibernating. According to the folks at The Vancouver Island Marmot Recovery Foundation the marmots didn't see their shadows because they are all still underground until May. Where they live in the high mountains there is still tons of snow, no food, and they are easily spotted by predators and Olympic athletes. Like many Vancouverites they are planning to stay indoors and watch the Olympics on television. February 01 Groundhog's big day Tomorrow is Groundhog day, and it is time for the cheeky rodent to make the prediction if there will be a long winter or a short one. Unfortunately, the closest groundhog for us in Canada is one in Ontario or another in Philadelphia. I heard a suggestion that I like for people on the west coast. Use a Vancouver island marmot instead of a groundhog. He would come out in the rain, have a look around and see no shadows, but still go back inside because he was getting wet.
 January 18 Hamster commercial campaign I love when commercials feature cute animals. Here's a site with some really cute hamster commercials! Enjoy.
Singing in the RainJust casting my thoughts into the pool of the world wide web.
|
I have a brand new guestbook as of May 2007! Thanks for visiting my blog. Please feel welcome to leave a nice, tasteful, comment. I know I get visitors from around the world so leave a country name too! Thanks!
A group of hamster related links for fun and information
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
