We were planning to go to the Squamish Days Loggers Sports Festival today, but the highway was so jammed that we bailed before the Second Narrows Bridge, and decided to go for a walk around Deer Lake instead.
Bees were sipping water from lilies
Double trouble. . .
Waxwing
We had a super time at the Powell Street Festival that celebrates Japanese art, culture, and food, at Oppenheimer Park in Vancouver, where Japantown used to be before the WWII-related internment forced Japanese out of their homes, schools, and businesses.
I took nearly 700 photographs, and here’s a sample until I get around to making a Flickr album.
My wife made this all-fruit “cake” for my birthday. Wow!
I took my daily walk early this morning to beat the heat, but it’s topped out around 25-26C this afternoon, much better than the last few days.
Lovely mini clouds today!
This Northern Flicker played peekaboo, constantly flitting about as if to prevent me from getting a clear shot :-).
Had a great time down in Steveston, BC, today, taking in the Richmond Maritime Festival.
Barely caught the spectacular moon early this morning just before it dropped below the horizon over the river at Fraser Foreshore Park in Burnaby, BC. Then I hung around for the sunrise.
Sunrise over the mouth of Byrne Creek
The City of Burnaby has declared a total fire ban in Burnaby Parks, including smoking. Yet on my Byrne Creek Ravine Park walks, I keep seeing butts on forest trails every day.
It’s tinder-dry out there folks.
Most of the butts in these photos (all taken in about a half-hour span today) are mixed in with extremely flammable material.
This Canada Goose came soaring over the treeline, appeared to misjudge its landing, and came in hard into Deer Lake in Burnaby, BC.
Or perhaps it didn’t mean to land in the water lilies, and had to churn to make it.
You can stare at a pool of water (see the last photo in this series), and see nothing. Then, suddenly, you spot one frog. And another, and another. . . Interesting how perception works. Once your brain gets the pattern, then you really see. . .
I think my AF-S 18-200 Nikkor is dying. The zoom ring is stiff and jumpy, and the lens doesn’t seem to focus tack sharp any longer.
I’ve had it for ten years, and it’s taken several hundred-thousand shots. It’s been dropped onto carpet, linoleum, and concrete, from heights varying from 2 – 6 feet.
It’s been out in +35 C dry deserts, +35 humid Asian countries, and -30 Canadian prairies. It’s been canoeing, it’s been fishing, it’s been camping, it’s been hiking, it’s been walking in the rain, and shuffling in the snow. . .
I had it in for repair and a tuneup after the six-foot drop about five years ago. I don’t know if it would be worth it to try another tuneup.
I’ll give the Nikon factory repair centre in Toronto a call next week, but I suspect I may be better off in the long run by getting a new lens.