Warming Up

Out of our front-window

Fire-Thorn Berries

Barbecue on the Deck Anyone?

View through the side-window

The weather forecasters here insist on reporting that the temperature is warming up. Ah! when it goes to plus 10 it will be slightly warmer, but not "warming up" to minus five! That number means the weather is COLD! Temperatures can't be warm or cold anyway. They are merely numbers. This week-end here is all about the weather. We are to have everything except hot sun and thunder. Snow, sleet, freezing rain, wet rain, and clouds.
Here are some photos from today. Only sixty days until the first day of Spring. Yeah!

Some interesting MVAs yesterday. At least they used to call them Motor Vehicle Accidents. Now they are called Crashes. One clever lady drove off the road down a hill and managed to roll her car six times before ending up at the bottom of the hill right- side up. Not much car left. No windows. But she was fine! She was rescued in a stretcher using ropes and pulleys....

Reality

Television Reality

Reflections of Reality

Is that duck Really Flying?

The Reality of Winter

Can you please take us out of here?

That is no Sea Monster is it? Really? ( Okanagan lake's "Ogopogo")

We as humans sometimes are able to create our own reality. The one we are comfortable with, or the one we escape to. That new house, that gorgeous garden; or that cruise ship, holiday coach tour, mountain climb, or faraway warm beach. Most others are not so lucky, usually poor people who struggle with the elements to survive. Then there is the imposed new reality, such as disaster, war, weather change, calamity. I sometimes have dreams of calamity, but when it gets unbearable, I just wake up. Last night for instance, the septic field flooded, erupted, then went on fire! In the modern world there seem to be more and more calamities, although it may be due to better reporting. The Japanese earthquake and tsunami tops the list for recent disasters. Sometimes one can only escape reality through the imagination, or by going to the movies, or by getting high on some drug. We hope you all are able to create your own ideal reality without interference from outside (or inside) forces!

A Salvo

Today's post is about how the English language messes with words. It represents a salvo of shots over the bows of sinking ships about the original Latin word "salvare" to save. How did it become "salve," an ointment to soothe wounds? Or a "salver," a tray for foods? A "salva" is a foreign word for a person testing foods for poison, so maybe that's how.

Winter near Armstrong

Late afternoon sun

Crawford Rd

Old Barn in Winter

It all started when I was reading about the salvaging of containers from the stricken cargo-ship breaking up off the East coast of New Zealand. The folk in this business are apparently called "salvors." Or even "salvers." I suppose there are some salvors getting ready to salvage ( or is it salve?) the Concordia cruise ship off Italy. Then finally there is another word "salvation". ( or is it "salivation" ?).
But that is another post....

Behaviour Patterns

I just realized that we as humans behave in patterns according to the group we belong to. For example a group of young people come together for a party, dance, take methamphetamine, get drunk, smash the place up, etc.
 Another example would be, the arrival of a two lane highway makes people go faster and overtake just to be ahead.

Schubert Rd

Minus 16 C

Melting again

Back Lane Walkway?

Usually they are younger people, the younger, the faster they go.
The other group behaviour has to do with language. Each group talks in a different way, using different vocabulary. Gangsters have their own dialect, and their own unique standards of behaviour involving guns, knives etc.
I have a grandson who blogs about kayaking, but he uses sport dialect which needs translating even though it is still English. I suppose ballroom dancers have their own lingo too. And cruise liner captains occasionally behave like little boys showing off . We live in a strange world in which most of us don't seem to be in touch with reality, prisoners of our own wild imaginations! We fail to take notice of regulations and rules, and even common sense at times. We hurry along from one important appointment to another in our own group bubble of distraction.
Another thing: what happened to professionalism? We all expect it when we trust our lives to others, on an airplane for instance! We know the pilot will stay awake of course. We expect at least truck drivers to respect school zones....I had better stop otherwise I will be accused of belonging to a group of humans called the older generation who are always complaining about the younger generation!

Interesting Blog

The Window

Snowy Field

Foggy Sun

Wacom Tablet Drawing

I have been reading about " The most important living British artist" i.e. David Hockney, and all the big important exhibitions upcoming in 2012. His paintings of trees and fields in East Yorkshire leave me a little cold however. This led me to another successful modern artist on this side of the Atlantic, called Elizabeth Peyton. Strange things happen on the internet, and lo and behold I found an interesting blog  called "The New Victorian Ruralist".  It has a post about her work. 
Then if you are really into modern art try Gordon Clyne's work. His website is exquisite to explore. Lots of fun if you like art! Enjoy!

Maritime disasters

Snow Patterns

Winter Mountain Ash

Continuing on the theme of cruise ships, I found that in 2010 as many as 15 million passengers went on cruises that year, so say at 3000 each that would be about five thousand cruises. I also concluded that if there is a problem, the bigger the ship, the greater the loss of life. The most famous disaster was the Titanic, where 1,523 lost their lives. The worst was in 1945 when the Wilhelm Gustloff went down and 9,300 were lost. In 1987, The Dona Paz went down losing 4,386. So the recent accident off Italy was pretty insignificant in comparison really! If you take a cruise this year then, make sure you know how to swim first!
I think I will just stay dry and photograph scenes on land....

Black and White

If only things were straightforward. Black or white. No gray zones.
There is a Canadian organization called "The Pembina Institute" that is concerned with promoting a sustainable and healthy planet. It is even supported financially by the Alberta Government, whose policy is to promote the Tar sands, which promote the opposite of a healthy planet.
People want clean air, but go on using diesel.
Enron want a few new pipelines for the transport of oil, at the same time as Shell leaks two million gallons of oil into the sea off Nigeria.
These are gray zones. where one does one thing, another does the opposite. One says it's safe, the other proves it's not.
Today's pictures illustrate Black and White. No gray zone picture! Sorry!

White: Snow in Armstrong

Black: Nigerian Oil Spill ( Courtesy of The Guardian)

Oh by the way, there are cruise ships around that have 5,200 aboard; 2,800 crew. Wouldn't they have fun evacuating those if they tipped over!