Another cablecar picture

This one has better details I think.
 

Another Eagle

This had some digital zoom included, so it isn't the greatest, but it's big enough to see it better. It was a block or so away.
 

Vancouver Island from North Vancouver

Cable cars on Grouse Mountain

The hills today

Our first clear view of them in days.
 

No news is sometimes just no news....

I haven't been blogging quite as frequently lately, because the weather's been dull and miserable, and there hasn't been much to photograph, so I've been surfing the web, and waiting for things to improve. 

I watched an old movie in 13 parts on YouTube last night - 'At Long Last Love' with Burt Reynolds and Cybill Shepherd and the music of Cole Porter.
It wasn't given a very good rating by critics, mostly because the actors did their own singing and dancing, and if you've seen Burt Reynolds trying to be a singing and dancing man, you'll understand why. But all in all, they did a fairly good job of it, I thought. The music is good, and they seemed to be enjoying themselves, even if it didn't rate an Oscar.
 

That eagle came back

It doesn't fold its wings like others do.
 

The rain has stopped.....

But the clouds are still a bit low....
 

Vertical weather

Down here nearer sea level, it's raining this morning, but further up the hill that's snow. This isn't a great picture because it's looking through rain, fog, and snow. 

Signs of Spring

There are a few signs of the coming of Spring, even now.

Another Eagle

They don't seem quite as majestic when sitting in a treetop.
 

Spring is coming....

It won't be long now.....

It's slushing again.....

It's not exactly snowing, and it's not exactly raining - it's slushing again....
 

Saturn this morning....

Stellarium's view of Saturn this morning, with some of its satellites. I could enlarge it more, but then I wouldn't be able to get all those moons into the frame. It's a busy neighborhood out there.

Jupiter tonight....

Stellarium's view of Jupiter (below and to the right of the moon just now) and four of its larger satellites.
 

Tonight's Moon

This is courtesy of Stellarium, your own planetarium on your computer, and you can get yours right here.

I wish my camera would take a picture this sharp of it. This is a neat program and you really should check it out. 

January Sunset

A sudden storm comes over the hill

Things flying by.....

Our bad weather - it's already clearing over Vancouver Island....

A passing jet, heading to the airport in Richmond, above Georgia Strait...

A passing Bluejay, heading for some snacks next door.
 

Another day, another Eagle

This must be our month for Eagles....

Google's new spam filtering for Comments....

Are you missing some Comments on your blog? Have you checked this page? Or are you wondering how to find it?

Here's the page that explains the recent changes. You'll find it while you're getting signed in. And good luck with all this! (Never a dull moment at Google! They've never heard of the saying 'if it works, don't fix it!')
 

Just resting....

I was chatting about eagles with a friend in South Carolina this afternoon and when I looked out the window, this was sitting in a tree down the street. Sort of an odd way to sit, but it took off shortly after this, so it must be OK. 

Trans-Canada Parking Lot

This is the Trans-Canada Parking Lot, otherwise known as the Trans-Canada Highway, or locally as our Upper Levels Highway across North and West Vancouver. What we're looking at here is the bend at the west end of the bridge over the Capilano River, with everything stopped by gridlock. This is happening a lot more frequently lately. 
 

Baby, it's c-o-l-d outside..... Part Two

There's over fifty of those brick chimneys in that development across the street, and thankfully, most of the time, those fireplaces aren't burning those horrible sawdust-and-glue firelogs that stink up the air all over the neighborhood. Their main source of heat seems to be central heating using natural gas. Not great either, but light-years ahead of those firelogs.

I was trying to capture the delicate shades of pink in these clouds just before the sunrise this morning, but my camera didn't quite do it. So I used an editing program to 'help', but it still doesn't look exactly right.
This is closer than the camera alone did it, though.

Just an 'FYI'......

Today being the 2nd of January, this means that once again, I got everything that I wanted for Christmas - "the second of January". The Silly Season is now mercifully behind us for another 12 months, and it's 357 days until next Christmas. Now, that's what I call a real Christmas present!
 

Baby, it's c-o-l-d outside.....

It's actually below freezing (27F) here this morning, which doesn't happen often. And I have no idea what that gal is doing in front of the car.

And another year flew by.....

Everybody does retrospectives this time of year, remembering or reminding us of important events from the past twelve months, like as if we were out to lunch or on a tropical vacation, or maybe volunteering in Bunga-Bunga, or some other wretched place filled with poverty-stricken teary-eyed waifs who require our help just to maintain their tenuous grasp on life as we hope we will never know it......

To all those who insist on writing that guff about the recent past, I'd like to say "Get a life, you turkeys! - and good luck with your 'Creative Writing 101' test." I not only was here all year, I wasn't amused by most of it. And I'm even less enchanted by the interpretations of it offered by these self-styled pundits who think they're God's gift to the communications industry.

Being old and feeble and prone to frequent visits to the nearest bathroom, especially in the middle of the night like this, I go to bed early on New Year's Eve, and usually get woke up at midnight by all those extravagant fools who set off fireworks around the neighborhood, making it sound too much like World War Three has finally arrived in our peaceful little suburb. Not this year. I didn't hear a single blast. Not that I'm complaining, you understand. I think all that midnight madness at the start of a new year is just silly and wasteful. We howl about 'air quality', and then set off fireworks making enough smoke to hide half the community from the view of passing satellites. Are we stupid, or what? Maybe not, this year. And thanks for that. I enjoyed the pleasant change.


So, should I add to the retrospective trend with my own? Maybe just a very short one. This past year, thanks to the generosity of the Cancer Society, I received a treatment that seems to have cured my prostate cancer, and it was all done in about an hour, wasn't especially painful, and wasn't nearly as messy as a standard prostate biopsy.  It's called Brachytherapy, and it really works. If you're an older male you should learn more about it, in case it can help you too. Other than that, my year was rather uneventful, and at my age, that's just the way I like them. Happy New Year, Folks....