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Surging Wildly & Hopefully Towards 2019

- December 29, 2018

“Hope
Smiles from the threshold of the year to come, Whispering 'it will be happier'...”
― Alfred Lord Tennyson

Crashing waves topped with sudsy foam slapped the driftwood on a windy day.

The sky brooded but slivers of gold were starting to lift the curtain of gray.

The agitated water scattered tangles of seaweed onto the gritty floor and scrubbed the pebbles smooth. With the smog chased away, each deep breath exhilarated my mood. It's just a date on the calendar but as I walked the Crescent Beach shore, I pondered how everyone everywhere was likely ready for a good cleansing of the old year ... eager for new tomorrows with no mistakes or untidy scribbles in them yet.

Later, as December waned further, the wind surged from giddy and splattering to wildly churning in the coastal region. The White Rock Pier tore in half during a vicious storm. Walkers suddenly ran for their lives. One man was trapped on the wrong side of the collapse and needed help. Watch his dramatic rescue by helicopter HERE.

We went to look the next day when it was calm. A videographer stood on the broken piece of the pier (below) that had landed on the beach sand.

Apparently, the wind-battered boats docked at the end of the pier had been swept under the walkway splitting the boards apart during the storm.

The heritage walkway first constructed in 1914 has withstood many changes and events, including a fire, over the years. It will take awhile but it will be rebuilt.

Below is how it looked before the storm and, no doubt, will again because people are resilient and most often have enough hope in their hearts for several fresh starts.

See OUR WORLD to explore more sights from around the globe.

Still the kid I used to be

Visit Postcards From Penelope Puddle and Penelope Puddlisms: BC Life Is A Whale Of A Ride to view more West Coast scenes.

Because the state of our planet is the most pressing issue of our time, link up and learn about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report.

Bringing Nature's Majesty Indoors For Christmas

- December 08, 2018

TALL and straight, the tree stood in perfect symmetry adorned like a gorgeous guest who knows how to bring both warmth and glamour to a room. The artificial evergreen at a Vancouver home I visited recently is the prettiest I've seen yet this season.

The tradition evolved from pagan rituals into a modern day art form that once symbolized the re-birth of spring and nowadays everlasting life. Years build as do ornaments and memories of Christmases when real trees were the only option.

This trimmed tree cozies up a home but at its core emulates starry nights with its strings of light and seeks to replicate the majesty of nature. So if the season snuck up early and made you feel a bit weary, I hope it inspires you the way it did me.

See OUR WORLD to explore more sights from around the globe.

Still the kid I used to be

From Sea To Sky Kiteboarding

- November 30, 2018

When the world says, "Give up", Hope whispers, "Try it one more time." - Unknown

HUMANS alas are wingless but love to soar in whatever ways they can. At Crescent Beach, it's not unusual to see kiteboarders take to the skies in strong winds. Recently, a group of adventurers with boards strapped to their feet were a spectacular sight.

Bound to fabric wings, they bounced boldly and carefree across choppy waters. We onlookers were delighted when gusty winds yanked them up into acrobatic maneuvers.

One adventurer (below) had trouble getting started. Not everyone harnesses the power of wind easily on the first, second or third try. His attempts were awkward but I had no doubt he would take flight eventually. Inspired by his resolve, I wondered if I gave up on some goals prematurely. They say talents are gifts but perhaps persistence and interests are gifts. If you're interested, you keep trying and get better.

See OUR WORLD to explore more sights from around the globe.

Still the kid I used to be

White Rock And A Rainbow Of Comforts

- November 23, 2018

THE CROSSWALK looked airy, as if it was about to fly off into the morning light, during my recent visit to White Rock. Some balked at the special attention given to a group that adopted the rainbow symbolically as their own. The bright bands of colour had been vandalized but renewed, painting the small City undeterred and inclusive.

A row of stoic old trees stood nearby, rooted at the foot of the White Rock Elementary playground. Over the years, the trees have seen thousands of children grow away from the seasonal shady comforts of their branches and leaves.

Around the corner I was surprised the United Church, scheduled to be torn down, was still standing. The door was closed after being opened for decades, not only providing religious services but Christmas dinners and cold-weather shelter. I believe it will be replaced by a smaller church and apartments for seniors that might look like THIS.

Do you have a keepsake that travels with you? Mine is a tiny heart (below) that my ill dad sent me from a hospital to bring me comfort when I was a child. I memorialized it with a picture, entwining my trinket to the church's door handle, imagining the endless hands that touched the latch in hardship and in happiness. The portal will change into something unfamiliar, perhaps, but the goodwill, like my father's gift, will last.

See OUR WORLD to explore more sights from around the globe.

Still the kid I used to be

Night Walk To Kwomais Park

- November 16, 2018

"I love the silent hour of night. For blissful dreams may then arise." - Anne Brontë

I GRABBED my warm coat and boots and headed out the door to Kwomais Park in the early morning dark. The air was fresh after a heavy rainfall. A sprinkling of porch lights guided me along the way. Do you love to wrap yourself in the blanket of night the way I do sometimes? At the park's guard rail overlooking Boundary Bay, the moon or glow from some bulb hung like a balloon without strings in a sky too black even for stars.

I heard the crunching of other feet. A lone jogger hidden by a hoodie rushed past me.

Exposed by the flash of my camera, an unexpected white plastic chair (above) ...

and a familiar damp bench lurked behind the veil of night.

In the deep void, empty of all traffic noise, the enchantment of faintly rustling leaves melded with the distant calls of gulls and eagles stirring, preparing for a new day.

Later, in the fullness of light ... an entirely different mood and view.

See OUR WORLD to explore more sights from around the globe.

Still the kid I used to be

Worn But Not Broken

- November 11, 2018

"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear." - Dr. King, Jr.

POPPIES are everywhere this Remembrance Day. It's time to reflect and be humbled by the service of others on behalf of us all. Have you wrongly taken democracy for granted the way I have in my little corner of the world? Worn out Lady Liberty (below) reminded me it took voting and activism from my good neighbours to the South recently to keep authoritarianism at bay. I'm grateful for the checks and balances.

See OUR WORLD to explore more sights from around the globe.

Still the kid I used to be

Facing Our Fears?

- October 27, 2018

HALLOWEEN decorations abound this time of the year ... the more ghoulish the better. I prefer images that soothe the soul so this fascination with representations of death and horror puzzles me, especially when true misery is everywhere. Perhaps because we so rarely discuss our own inevitable demise it's a way to stare down our fears.

It was unnerving to see severed feet dangling from a tree (below). It reminded me that we are literally bombing one another to oblivion, for real, in some parts of the world. But then I thought ... hey, what I'm seeing here is pure plastic.

I don't dare to stay scared for long. I'd rather focus on the best of the season when people get wildly creative decorating front yards and fences ... and themselves.

Way back in 2011, my husband and I searched for costumes and tried on masks to get into the Halloween spirit. You can check out my pictures of that day HERE.

See OUR WORLD to explore more sights from around the globe.

Still the kid I used to be

Striking The Right Tone In A Cosmic Composition

- October 21, 2018

THE UNIVERSE floated above and around us ... vast, eerie, lonely, lovely, angelic, orderly ... at times as sparkling as a sprinkling of fairy dust. It also was destructive, relentless and restless, churning furiously within its unfathomable creative chaos.

Planets and gaseous clouds fumed, formed, faded and vanished at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre in Vancouver that celebrated its 50th anniversary this past Friday. Since I couldn't take pictures during the visuals I took pictures of pictures (the two above) while waiting to get into the Planetarium Star Theatre.

Once inside I was enthralled not only by what I was seeing but by what I was hearing. The cosmos danced to the original music score written specifically for the occasion by Thomas Beckman, accompanied by the Borealis String Quartet and two others.

The composer of “Life in the Universe” says he was "inspired by the unique character of the planets in our solar system and the wonders of our Universe". I was inspired by Beckman's ability to channel rhythms through musical instruments that mimicked the beating heart of deep space, from awakening and sleepy to fluttering and bombastic.

When the show was over and we drifted into the museum I took out my camera wishing I could fly like the man above ... or below.

But, no, I could only marvel at how cleverly humankind designed its flying machinery.

Marvel, too, at monstrous gadgets surely imagined in nightmarish dreams about space.

Even the lighting fixture in the lobby (pictured below) looked like it could fly.

It seemed grasping ... a multi-tentacled sea creature or starfish in the sky.

It was fully dark when we left the building. I took a parting picture of the crab fountain spouting water amid colourful lights. It felt good to head home on a rainless night.

H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, Vancouver, BC

I expected easy traveling on the freeway ... easier than the trip into Vancouver (below) at "rush" hour when cars, buses and trucks crawled and came to a lengthy stall due to multiple lanes squeezing into one at the tunnel. Depending on time of day, a trip to Mars can seem ridiculously more doable ... and the Milky Way more inviting.

Go to OUR WORLD to discover more fascinating places from around the globe.

Visit Postcards From Penelope Puddle and Penelope Puddlisms: BC Life Is A Whale Of A Ride to view more South West Coast scenes in British Columbia.

Because the state of our planet is the most pressing issue of our time, link up and learn about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report.