Getting There

Do we use road or rail? (Armstrong BC)

Ferry? (Kelowna BC)

Or personal transport? (Penticton) ( by the way, the sign close by reads "do not feed wildlife" )

There are some interesting places in the world where individuals have made a difference in how people travel to work, shops etc. There are a few in Canada even, Ottawa seems to be making good progress in bicycle lanes development. Copenhagen is very advanced in this department. But one of the most striking is in Bogota Columbia, where the Lord Mayor in 1998 helped by city planners made big progress by using central bus lanes, banning cars on Sundays in a large section of the city (population about three million), cutting down on pollution, and getting rid of traffic jams. On Sundays they all get their bikes out, go down to the squares, do exercises, and have lots of fun! There are 300Km of bike lanes. He was inspired by the arrangements in Curitiba Brazil. If you are interested, click on Bogota Traffic and Curitiba. I am afraid Calgary Alberta where I used to live still has a lot to learn about getting away from personal car traffic and its jams. They have opted for building expensive light rail transit but still have traffic jams. Vancouver BC too. The secret apparently lies in doing away with private cars and replacing them with rapid transit buses, and building a linear city with no downtown concentration of businesses.

Banning Footballs

Snow has arrived in Penticton

View from our computer room

Near our Ski Hill

Somehow things got out of hand in a Toronto schoolyard recently when a parent arriving to pick up her child was struck on the head by a soccer ball and had to be taken to hospital with a concussion. Maybe it was her head striking the ground that caused the concussion, who knows. The outcome: " all balls are banned in the schoolyard from now on." Interesting! When we were young at school our parents didn't provide us with soccer balls. They were too expensive. Anyway, the school was expected to provide them.Nobody ever got a concussion from a soccer ball. Here in Penticton, we have a fine school next door equipped with two soccer fields. They are hardly ever used for soccer. But the children are made to run around the whole field three times before lunch. They get their exercise. The folk in Toronto are all worried that the children won't get enough exercise now that balls have been banned. Weird World! Whatever will they ban next? They have already banned headstands, the Lord's Prayer, bullying, the list goes on and on.....

Costs

Snow on "them thar hills" ( Maybe you have to buy Kate Bush's "50 Words for Snow"?)

Slippery Roads Again

Icicles ? What are they about?

Our Favorite Restaurant is named " The Hooded Merganser"

Most people still spend a lot of time thinking about costs. For instance a headline in today's paper:- "The solar energy industry needs the electricity it produces to cost the same as electricity generated from fossil fuels." What about the costs of burning fossil fuels to the climate? Here is another header from today's paper:-" Major storms could submerge New York City in the next decade". Now that's a city of nine million people. That would cost a bit to replace.You connect the dots. Solar power versus fossil fuels. That's an unfair cost comparison to anyone with a grain of common sense. Look at the costs of digging out fossil fuels and moving them around safely. Solar power is free by comparison, and also almost infinite in supply. For another example, there is a small Danish Island that has no fossil fuels on it and is completely energy independent using wind power. The windmills pay for themselves in seven years.... Come on you guys stop spending your billions on pipelines and oil-tankers, and spend them on solar and wind and wave instead and save the planet for our grandchildren! It's a "No-Brainer" ! That was the phrase used by our PM about the "obvious" need for a pipeline to be built!

"Snow-Fall"

The Old Willow by Athens Creek

Snow-bound Rose-Hips in our Garden

Snow on leaves. A pattern for your next coffee mug, dining room wall, or pajamas?

Snow also falls just like leaves, so today's photos are about the combination. In Alberta I remember snow coming down first, then the leaves blowing down on top of the snow later. Here the snow is on top.

I read in today's paper that the British Medical Association is recommending a no-smoking law for drivers. I am recommending getting rid of drivers. That would be much safer. We would have fewer forest fires for sure. We already have computer-driven trains. I'm not sure how car-computers would deal with ice-patches on the road though. Black ice is an invisible scourge of roads at this time of the year, especially on the hills of Ecclesall Road in Sheffield. The new road engineers here insist on putting smoother black roads down for our summer convenience. In fine weather they are quieter and safer. But try driving at night in heavy rain, or in winter on ice. Life is all about compromises I suppose. As in a combination of snow and leaves.

Fall

Fall has another five weeks to go, but today snow has fallen on the unshed leaves. Pictures tomorrow. Today's pictures are from last Sunday. This is a short post because the long one I just wrote failed to publish. Here is a link for your Fall Garden. Enjoy!

Lakeshore Drive

"Fallen"

Dawn breaking, silent dock at municipal election time, Penticton

Blogs

Variety in colors

Oak leaves turning Red

Three Trees and a school

The House Next Door

The Tree Next Door has lost all its leaves

Every so often I hear some of our blogging community complaining about not having something to blog about, when the possible subjects are infinite in number. Just today I read three blogs, one was glorifying the noble quince, another was praising wasting time (something impossible for the unemployed ), and the last was edifying porridge. Google as you may know has already addressed this problem, fortunately maybe I haven't experienced it yet. Today's blog includes photos from yesterday's walk around our home, in gorgeous weather. I hear some heat records are being broken in UK yet again. Here it seems it is just normally progressing towards winter. We are being encouraged in the media to realize this and be aware that ice is about. We found icy sidewalks yesterday on our downtown peregrinations, and watched huge flocks of migrating birds on the lake. At one point some wild swans flew in and swam majestically towards the resident mallards, geese, and sea gulls, greeted them, then swam off to check out the marina....

Remembrance Sunday

Our Ellie and her husband Kelly. She was our supervisor in charge for today.

Veterans 2011 Athens Creek Lodge

I've never seen so much journalistic discussion about the poppy before! So much controversy to write about!  We just wear them over our hearts. End of problem. These are our photos for today. Hanne in charge of our service at the lodge, did a very good job: I played the piano; and the veterans had their photos taken. Only one was missing in action. She was a WW11 nurse. She was looked for and couldn't be found in time. Next year.....