Ah, The Joy of Giggling Children

Awhile back we got new neighbours with a pre-school girl next door in our townhouse complex. Out of over 100 units, I’d guess at most a dozen have children, and those mostly teens.

As I work from home a lot I was a bit nervous, but dang it if hearing that little girl giggle doesn’t bring a grin to my face. The other day she had a playdate on their balcony with another little girl, and it was joyful.

Giggle on!

We have also seen the development of a bike gang in the complex--three or four kids in the 5-7 range who like to zoom around in circles. That’s prompted warning signs to go up to watch for children on the road.

All good, eh?

Ghost in the Mac Mini Machine

OK, that was weird. Just a few weeks after praising my 2012 Mac Mini’s longevity, it decided to not recognize the 27″ QHD Benq monitor attached via DisplayPort.

Multiple reboots and turning the monitor on and off did nothing. Disconnecting and reconnecting cables did nothing.

On a whim I connected my Dell Windows laptop to the monitor via HDMI 2.0, and it worked. Switched the monitor back to Display Port, and voila, suddenly the Mac was connected and displaying full 2560 X 1440 resolution.

I don’t use the Mini for work, mostly just NetFlix and for the occasional Mac app, but it’s nice to have it back.

Spectacular Aomori Sea of Japan Coast Marred by Plastics

One of my “nieces” (cousin’s daughter) is starting a project documenting all the plastics used in her life. That got me thinking about our trip to Japan last year when one day we went to the Sea of Japan coast in Aomori Prefecture.

The views were spectacular, but once you got up close, there were piles of plastic garbage strewn all over the beach. Much of the crap was not Japanese, but had floated in from other countries across the sea.

It occurred to me that I’d never posted these photos to my blog, so here they are. Shot in April 2019.

sea of japan aomori coast plastics

And then this. . .

Super Birding Day at Iona Beach near YVR

I spent about four hours rambling Iona Beach Regional Park near YVR today, part of the superb Metro Vancouver Regional Parks system.

First, welcome to the ‘hood. . . Not! Red-Winged Blackbird greeting committee. . .

blackbird corvid fight iona beach yvr

Next up, lots of tree swallows.

tree swallows iona beach yvr


Perhaps not the best spot to attempt a landing, damselfly!


Look Ma! No head!

And lots of waxwings. . .
waxwings iona beach yvr

A couple of hummers. . .
hummingbird iona beach yvr

And finishing off with an osprey. . .
osprey iona beach yvr

Streamkeeping, sustainability, community, business, photography, books, and animals, with occasional forays into social commentary. Text and Photos © Paul Cipywnyk