“It’s About Favourites Today"

One of my favourite pictures I ever took was the above picture of Tony on the slipway at Bauline  Newfoundland in his boat just preparing and adjusting gear before we set off. It was just one of those isolated transcendent moments when all things seemed aligned. I’m not feeling much of that way today.

This is one of my favourites I never took. It is a shot of me paddling in the Tickle of Conception Bay with Bell Island to the left and Portugal Cove to the right. This is my best profile by the way. I asked Gerard to take this shot one day and with a bit of cropping his work was art to me. A couple of cool shots, a couple of cool guys, on a couple of different days, in a couple of nice boats doing what has become a mainstay I think in both our lives and that of our friends. 

So as spring nears and my schedule seems to be getting busy I am looking forward to getting on the water with friends………. Whenever that may be. The whales are on their way here now, the birds are gearing up I’m sure for their flight to our ecological reserves around the island and there is that hint of seasonal change. Hopefully some overnighters this year and more of them to try and stretch those longer days even longer.

“Dreamin’ Again"

Well I certainly had my eyes to the heavens last evening trying to get a glimpse of the Milky Way.

This time of year in the Northern Hemisphere the drink to satiate the celestial palette is somewhat, watered down. The summer months allow us to view the nucleus of the Milky Way. That dramatic part who’s density in stars is so captivating and encompassing across the sky that it is hard to miss whether you know what you are looking at or not. In the winter months in the Northern Hemisphere we see the tails of the spirals of the outer reaches of the milky broth. It is our alignment thus. It is still awe inspiring to me to see clusters of stars in the sky and pay at the very least, acknowledgement to our ancestry. I mean after all,  we were part of some star at one time. Perhaps when the big bang was just a twinkle in………………… something/someone’s eye.

This was shot last evening during a hike in Butterpot Park at about 2230h. What a beautiful night to be star gazing.

"Snowshoeing"

Well you can call it walking on frozen water, I guess, but no matter how you cut it, snowshoeing is a blast.

I may be like some but I don't like myself in pictures. Just the way it is! For all the good weather we had up to the end of January we've more than made up for it with recent storms and snow falls. I figure if I can't paddle in it right now I might as well walk on it. LAst weekend I was on call so I decided to do a bit of snowshoeing with some photo shooting. Went to Seal Cove where this shot is taken, on to the Holyrood Golf Course and then up to Butterpot Park for some fading light snowshoeing and some quick jaunts in between if I saw something to snap a pic of.

I was lugging quite a bit of gear to see how I would hold up in the deep stuff and faired far better than I would have thought. You can see part of my trail to the left as I hiked around this stream that rolls down from a hilltop. I drove to the top and crawled under a water conduit and stomped my way to the bottom and back up. Got my heart rate going!! 

Maybe kayaking this weekend with Tony and the bye's.

"Old Eclipse"

My plastic Perception Eclipse in sunnier days. This boat feels like freighter now compared to my Nordkapp. 

I was looking through some old shots and couldn't help but think on the fun I had in this boat. So many stories locked up in such a small picture. I kind of liked the perspective on this one and the sun reflecting off the water. Sliding down the face of a wave at the beginning of spring and once again I am reminded that it  is only 2 months away. Now that is hard to wrap your head around considering the weather outside with the current storm sweeping the east coast of North America. That's why you need to keep a good kayaking library as you never know when you might just need that extra boost to get you through cold, snowy and sometimes dreary days. 

"Japanese Black Tailed Gull"

Today I pay homage to my kayak's name sake -The Gull! There's a new kid in town. His name is Black Tailed Gull. 

He came to St. John's arriving at our harbour bubble, (that is another story) in the month of December. He hasn't left. He is quite rare and is causing quite a stir locally. He has  very distinctive red markings on his beak and is quite a sight. Apparently this gull has a cry like a cat which I've yet to hear. The red markings I've read on the bill are for their young. They tap on these quite visible spots to signal the mother to regurgitate so they can feed. Oh yummy yum!

I shot these photos at Quidi Vidi Lake in St. John's where he likes to reside periodically, as the locals like to feed the birds of this area. He is quite distinguished looking.

Long live the Black Tail and safe trips in my Nordkapp named Gullfeather.

"Vertical Sculling Roll and Back Deck Roll"

You just have to like the tunes to this one...or not. The music is from the Glover Point Drifters a Blue Grass Band out of Victoria British Columbia. I saw them at a folk festival one year when I lived in BC and they were an excellent group. Got to listen to them Jam afterwards at their trailer. They were forced from the stage as a intense thunder and lightening storm was rolling in during their outdoor performance in Dawson Creek BC. It was kind of funny because they kept playing right off the stage as the lightening was firing in the background and continued to play in a huddle down in front of the stage as the thunder pounded.

This was after a couple of attempts at the vertical roll. We and a couple others had a bit of fun playing with this roll. The flotation property of the Superior Paddle is amazing. The back deck roll I got in the pool last year. 

"Rolling Along"

I had a couple sessions at the pool lately. I've been trying some rolls that are new to me. Focusing on some Greenland style ones with mixed success. It has been enjoyable though.

Of course if you are practising rolling you tend to spend as much time under water as you do above. Just thought I'd say hello from under water at the Aquarena in ST. John's. I took a bunch of video and the underwater component looks great however in the above water component there is always a water droplet in the centre of the frame. So when I do edit some of my rolls for the site you'll have to excuse the H2O drops. I had the camera on deck in the bow and it was out of reach for wiping the droplet off. Some of the rolls I was trying needed the sticky pod camera attachment almost a paddle length away.

"Rafting Up"

Now I can't say enough about this little informality on the water. Now sure it is nice being out there in our own space and finding our individual zen on the water and well hey it can probably even be found in groups. However, "rafting-up" while sometimes essential during trips to make sure everyone is on the same boat so to speak, (or not) is also essential in other ways. Certainly as a stabilizing platform should you need one in times of trouble (boat repair, first aid administration, rescues to name a few) or just simply bad weather like a squall you may have to link together to ride out. 

But there is no better or probably no less enjoyable reason other than to stretch the legs, relax and shoot the s&%t. Sit back, recline, read a mag, have a drink check out the scenery and just simply be in the zen of "rafting up"!

Now Gerard here is introducing a more lounging pose, looking comfortable, relaxed and most certainly engaging while sharing his enthusiasm for being nothing other than on the water in a kayak. Ya gotta like that. I do. Not bad for January 1st, 2011 in St. John's Newfoundland at the exit to The Gut at Quidi Vidi. 

"Weather Or Not..."

Just now the weather in St. John's is frightful. Glad I was able to hit the pool last evening and after a dinner at a friend's I didn't thing I would make it. An Iranian and an Italian dish for the meal was simply exquisite and the wine delicious. Some of the guys I knew this morning were getting together for a short jaunt but I didn't make it.  This photo is not from today but epitomizes what the current conditions are outside. This is Tony and Dean getting ready to wash off in some fresh water at St. Philip's. "ya just gotta make hay when the....."

"Atlantic Paddle Symposium"

A much looked forward to event by myself for a few reasons. Ihaven't paddled with  many of the club members in awhile. I look forward to paying my dues there...hopefully! Looking forward mostly to the Greenland attention and course offerings of Maligiaq Johnsen Padilla, Greenland born and the only person to win 4 Greenland National Kayaking Championships. My personal interst but there is much more for not only sea kayakers but whitewater as well.

Atlantic Paddle Symposium In Newfoundland May 20th-23rd, 2011

The above link will give you all the information on who is coming, how to get here, where to stay and registration information. It is in a very beautiful part of Newfoundland in Glovertown and area. Definitely a place on the ocean where a river runs through it. What more could you ask for for white water and ocean paddling to accomodate all levels.

Although this is more course oriented you can be rest assured that there will be break off paddles in both the white water and sea kayaking crowds. I really like the logo as it incorporates both canoing and kayaking . I forgot to mention negligently that canoing is also included so I think there will be something for everyone. I am sure there will even be a bon-fire or two.

I've never been to a paddling symposium in the east. So it should be a real treat. Gonna have to shine up some of those old dings in Gullfeather and get her spiffy for the trip.

If some fellow bloggers were intersted in showing up before hand for some pre symposium paddling in my "backyard" (area around St. John's) so to speak, I wouldn't be adverse to billeting a few stragglers for a few days. If you have never been to Newfoundland you won't be disappointed when you come.

There are some excellent paddlers in this province and some excellent paddlers from out of province making their way here, maybe this is your year to be here. OOOps , I forgot to mention, the icebergs are around at that time too, but you probably wouldn't be interested in those!!

"St. John's Fireworks"

Happy New Year once again. Our fireworks were delayed New Year's eve because of technical difficulties so they held them the next evening at 7 pm in strong snow squalls. I personally didn't thick it would work.

They came out not bad considering I was gonna pack it in because of the snow melting on my camera. Glad I didn't though.

They were held in the center of town over a lake called Quid Vidi Lake. It would be Quidi Vidi Gut where we had our New Year's day paddle earlier in the day. Pictures from that I will post later. HAd a busy day yesterday and to top it all off I got called in to work for three hours. Go figure!

"The Aged"; "Yesterday"

Well once again I am reflecting on the passage of time and as we seep into another year I am diminished on the grander time scale of geological time but able to look back on those critters, they had no concern nor concept of time or New Years.

Trilobites first appeared 526 million years ago. They became extinct 250 million years ago but not before some 17,000 species of them flourished through that time period. The fossilised remains of one I found on the shores of Lake Huron when I was there this fall is obvious in the lower left of the section of rock above. There are other bio forms fossilised as well but the section of the Trilobite with the visible pygidium (tail shield) in the central end section of the fossil is clearly visible. The remains in this section is about 1/3 of the total size and the range in size of these organisms was extensive from 1mm to 72 cm.

Some were filter feeders, others predators and scavengers that trolled over the sea bed feeding on plankton.  Living varied lifestyles like many of us today. I was saddened after watching a movie entitled "Yesterday" about a couple in a poor farming area not too far from Johannesburg who developed AIDS. The name of the young woman who contracted the virus from her husband was called Yesterday. It went on to show the dramatic death death of her husband while her little girl was growing up and readying for her first school day. The scenery was amazing. I had a brother die of aids in the early 80's (they slid food under the door of your hospital room back then, no one new much about it) so I could relate to their situation and very accurate depiction of the disease.

So I saw my fossil of the Trilobite on my desk and thought of "Yesterday" figuratively and literally and thought hard on the passage of time, of bugs and viruses big and small and how we all fit in our world, then and now.

So Happy New Year Tim you are missed. Happy belated New Year "Trilobite" no one probably felt the inclination to ever do that and to all those more fortunate to be around and hopefully less fossilised, today, tonight and tomorrow, Happy New Year to you too.

Herein lies my last post of 2010.



"What? No Snow? St. John's, NL""

This shot was taken on December 28th, 2010 on Signal Hill in St. John's NL. The temp was 5 degrees celsius. Go figure. We are breaking records hand over fists here this year. Well it certainly is the warmest any old timer can remember and maybe even back to the late 1800's. The island is not totally without snow as there is some in the central and western locals of the province. We are without, having had about 2cm accumulation all winter. Rain on the other hand. We've had so much of that the animals are starting to look at each other kinda funny...........like deja-vu????

Probably may not see this again or that often but then again, maybe St. John's is the new south...??????

Cabot Tower on Signal Hill has a sign post with big city names like Montreal, Dublin, London, etc. with distances to these locals and the ironic thing about it is that they all have the snow and we don't. It may not only be the times that are a changin' ." Our New Years DAy paddle on Saturday should be a nice treat and a welcomed change from previous cold and precipitation filled years. I bet when it comes , it comes with a vengeance...the weather that is. Nine days straight of sheet rain from a Nor'easter with gale force winds could be a tell-tale sign?????



"Logy Bay, Newfoundland"

Hidden Dance

"Lunar Eclipse, Winter Solstice"

The eclipse in 2010 is the first total Lunar eclipse in three years, since Feb. 2008.

It is the second Lunar Eclipse in 2010 as we had a partial one om June 26th.

 The eclipse was the first Lunar Eclipse to occur on the same day of The Northern Winter Solstice since 1638, and only the 2nd in the Common Era. You think I would have caught it?

"I see the Bad Moon on the left...."

Vive La lune....

The Silver Dollar in the sky....

Oceanography Centre

Well I did stay up until two thirty in the morning but the cloud cover was heavy from my vantage point. However, I took yesterday afternoon off, basically because it was sunny and I wanted to take some pictures, and headed down to Logy Bay near the Oceanography Centre and snapped a few shots. I did manage to get the moon rising over the horizn at days end. This would be the same moon rising to eclipse on our Winter Solstice. So though I failed to get it in eclipse mode I did get it in moon-rise mode on Dec 20th, 2010.

"Seakayaker"

I don't remember a lot most days but I do remember when Dean first got into paddling. He took and he continues to take it like most of us who paddle....serious. I was soon to see his passion for it evolve. Soon his skills became very evident and as I saw him working with Brian some nights on his rolls and later doing re-entry and rolls in the open ocean at St. Phillips you just get the kayaking feeling and the flood of memories ever so sweet that takes you back to your own accomplishments in a kayak.

There were days when we were out there and we wondered where everyone else was. How could they pass up this day on the water?

There were days like this when watching the  ocean wash from cliffs edge kept you in a space you couldn't get out of if you tried. I was talking to Sean about this the other day how it happens when you are on the water and you some how forget about everything else going on in your mind and you lapse into just being in the moment(s) of kayaking and it seems always as the shoreline approaches at the end of the paddle that you become acutely aware that you were in this kayak trance for the length of your paddle, and only reawaken to the thoughts that were in your head at the beginning of the paddle when you know you will soon be getting out of your boat. That is when I miss my kayak most. I just have a feeling Dean was in his own space in this shot.

There are always those days we are happy to share it with others who have perhaps similar thoughts to the craft of kayaking and the understanding that each has his own kayaking aura which is as individual as it is enveloping those around you. When you kayak with a group for a while I guess you just feel when they are paddling on their own, but with you, and you always enjoy when you come together to share something you may have just experienced on the water and then have the ability to gracefully ease off own your own accord again. This happens throughout the paddle with different and sometimes all paddlers each coming together in different circumstances, chatting for a bit, exchanging laughter or insights then slipping off again to ones own aura. I love that.

Mistaken Point Newfoundland

A true trooper and welcomed company Agnes and Eric drove the ways down the South Shore. Agnes always willing to lend a hand. That damn tripod anyway. lol

 

565 million year old fossils. I thought I'd add some contrast.

I wanted to show some contrast.  So I put the iPone from Nov.21st, 2010 next to a 565 million year old fossil at Mistaken Point. Where we were, to where we are. I Started thinking ..........man we've come a long way,   and then I remembered the recent catalogue from UNICEF on our lounge table at work asking for donations of not money for people in Africa (the very rock this most likely came from) but goats, wells, huts, seeds etc. and realised we really may not have travelled that far at all! Ironically enough the writing under the map on the iPhone reads Bigdeal, not by design of course, it really is though I think.

Mistaken Point in the distance is becoming a tourist attraction on the south coast of NL. 800 and some visitors a year. It is remote. Land and Sea, a CBC program, recently did a take on it. We were actually standing on the rock as it was being viewed across NL on TV. It was afterall Nov. 21st with a -5 Celsius chill and cold western wind that day.

Precambrian rock from Avaloniam Terrane, some of the oldest rock in the world and when you see it you are mesmerised by it's presence. Sutured into it's new home from another early continent it was part of but retaining it's geological information and fossils.

Some very old fossils here. This may be a spindle as these are the most plentiful.

More to see and amazing that they were discovered in such an isolated spot in the late 1960's by a Memorial University Geologist. Tony was too young then I think. Sorry buddy had to get a dig in. Excuse the pun....I'll just stop now.

Tony I believe I would have loved to have made this trip with you as you are the geologist quite literally of our kayaking group. I would have learned so much. I had to read instead. I like that too. I wanted to show some dimension to the fossils still preserved on the rock and display how vulnerable and sensitive they must be to the environment and visitors. You have to remove footwear to step on the rock. We did this even in -5. I later found out that the elevation of the small fossil parts may not be due to the biota but to the compression of the organism over time and subsequent small eruptions from underneath. No matter, you still get an excellent view of these original organisms from so long ago. Some of the biota found here is particular to Newfoundland and never before identified.



"Eugenie"

A nice colorful hike through the forest alonfg rivers edge. In northern Ontario.

"Meaford Ontario and Toronto"

Toronto always delights......ya gotta like this billboard!

I was walking down Yonge Street in Toronto behind this lady who looked up at this billboard and started laughing. Not to strange to see people laughing on Yonge Street for no apparant reason but I looked to see what she found so amusing. Nice legs I thought.......

After a few secs gauking like a perv at the billboard legs a small waft of wind blew and lifted what was a piece of fabric over the billboard lady's butt (which was supposed to be her skirt, I'm sure you figured that out lol) and revealed her ..well undergarments and shapely behind. Nothing to do with kayaking I know but I thought this was ingenius marketing at least for those of us that keep our heads in the clouds .....sometimes. Nice I thought even if it is a bit up in the air!

Toronto skyline.

My first time in the CN Tower and I decided to go to the highest observation deck which is the Space Pod. 1465 feet about the ground. I decided to cross the barrier and lie on the outer window of the CN Tower on top of Toronto. I didn't think I'd be doing that  going up there.

The city of Toronto from the CN Tower. Which now stands for Canada's National Tower.

I visited a friend in Meaford Ontario and took tons of photos. Here are a few falls shots. Needless to say my feet were wet for the whole trip, now this can be similar to kayaking! These are called Walters Falls I think.

Walters Falls

Not sure of these falls name but they look out to the Niagara Escarpment which runs down to Rochester New York. It is this mass of rock the the Niagara Falls flow s over, hence the name. I have more shots of the valleys and the canyons of the area and some can be seen at http://www.gullfeather.com/  if you are so inclined. Snow fell the evening of the 5th of November so the following Staurday had a nice dusting for photos. Did lots of hikes and enjoyed the beautiful wilderness in this beautiful part of Canada.

"Beautiful Autumn"

Autumn Art

On A trail not far from home. Smetimes out of focus ain't so bad,

Greater Yellowlegs Sandpiper and Northern Pintail sahring the waters. We as kayakers are use to that.

Greater Yellowlegs Sandpiper for a water stroll.

Standing in the ripples. I went for a walk with the dogs yesterday after work as the sun was going down. It produced some fun shots considering they were a pain in the as% to have around while attempting any shot. Note to self...no dogs on photo shoots. It was their walk though so I wasn't too concerned with quality, just wanted to catch some fall.