All posts by Paul Cipywnyk

Nature, Photography

Walking Deer Lake in Burnaby, BC

We get out to do a loop of Deer Lake at least once a month, and more often if possible. Though it was overcast, the light was lovely, and there were plenty of birds to see.

Deer Lake Burnaby BC

double-crested cormorant deer lake burnaby bc
Double-crested Cormorant

ring-nekced duck deer lake burnaby bc
Ring-necked Duck

bald eagle deer lake burnaby bc
Bald Eagle

There’s often a Bald Eagle in this tree at Deer Lake. While I usually try to get closer photos of birds, sometimes the true shot is from further away, including the surrounding habitat.

The area leading up to this perch has been designated as a protected wildlife area that people are not supposed to enter.

I like, and respect, that.
Nature, Photography

Eagle, Hawk, Heron ’n More at Fraser Foreshore Park in Burnaby

Lots to see at Fraser Foreshore Park in south Burnaby, BC, this morning. Was taking so many photos that I didn’t get home for lunch until nearly 2:00 pm!

Here are a few shots, may get to posting some waterfowl later. . .

Yawning Bald Eagle at Fraser Foreshore Park in Burnaby, BC
I am a fierce and mighty Bald Eagle, hear me roar! Or, in this case, silently yawn 🙂

red-tailed hawk fraser foreshore park burnaby bc
A Red-tailed Hawk preening. It was laid back for a hawk, letting me circle its perch several times angling for unimpeded shots through the brush and branches.

Steller's Jay Fraser Foreshore Park Burnaby bc
Steller’s Jay

great blue heron fraser foreshore park burnaby bc
Great Blue Heron on the prowl

robin eating worm fraser foreshore park burnaby bc
The late-morning Robin catches a worm : -)

Food, Society

Making Kutya for Ukrainian Christmas

With just the two of us this year I’m not making a traditional Ukrainian Christmas Eve supper of 12 meatless dishes.

But you cannot have Ukrainian Christmas without kutya — hard wheat berries toasted and simmered to the point that they’re still a tish crunchy, scalded & ground poppy seeds, chopped walnuts, and honey.

Yum!

kutya
Pets, Photography

Murko the Cat, My BFF

Murko, my BFF. . .
Murko the Cat my best friend ever

Got a Throwback Thursday tonight.

My beloved Murko the Cat, circa early 1970s.

Recently found a few home-developed and enlarged-in-a-bathroom darkroom black & whites in a trunk in the garage. (Most of my early photos were destroyed in a basement flood in the early 1980s . . . .)

Murko and I were bonded.

When I went into hospital for scoliosis surgery in my early teens and was away from home for over a month, my parents said he lost half his body weight in depression.

When I got home, he sat on my body cast 23/24 hours a day.

Never tell me cats show no love, eh?

BTW, “Murko” means “he who purrs” in Ukrainian.
Society

Russians, Demand Freedom and Democracy

Accountability.

Putin has long been failing in his efforts to “restore” the bloody glory of empire.

Why kill your neighbours, their children? Why bomb hospitals and schools?

The man is demented, but it’s so scary that so many Russians are still following his orders.

I am talking to you, Russian soldier. Why are you killing children?

Why are you bombing schools and hospitals? Why target the kids and the wounded with your missiles?

Have you no conscience?

Russian TV is still celebrating the invasion, no matter how many Russian lives, and Ukrainian lives, it has taken.

Mass delusion.

But. . .

There’s something in the wind. Dictators rarely get this freaked out.

The killer looks increasingly pasty, tired.

We appeal to all Russians of concscience, of love. . . Stop.

Refuse to fight, to continue this invasion.

Refute the madman.

Join Ukraine in democracy and freedom.