Sun No More

Sun No More
Originally uploaded by thnkfst.

We got rain today!

We have had about 4 mm this entire month which normally produces 39mm. I'm not complaining either way. The rest of the week should clear up. I can't complain because I'm off until Monday starting tomorrow.

Time for a few more photos I suppose. My biggest delima is deciding which photo of "geometry" to enter into our local Vancouver Photography group contest. The biggest trick is finding spherical shapes in my landscape photos.

Early Morning

Early Morning
Originally uploaded by thnkfst.

And so it was this way for me. I went for a photography outting today and met some great people.

As well, I signed up for an 8 session photography course just down the street here. It should be really informative for sure!

In other news, I've been really blogged out lately. I've put too much effort into being on the Internet and I'm definitely experiencing burn out. I'm trying to keep low key as much as possible but I just can't keep up with all 10,254 sites I visit daily. I knew this would happen one day anyhow. Can't there be an easier way to do it? I want to be in too many places at once...

So If I'm quieter, you will know why. But I'll really try to visit your website if you comment. (of course except for those who keep their identities hidden.)

It's definitely an early night for me.

Awe Inspiring Views

Now For Saturday's Photo Hunt 23 - Theme Blue


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Ok - tonight's sunset was just too good to pass by.
It was very blue and pink. So there it is my favorite color in the night sky

Awe Inspiring Views
Originally uploaded by thnkfst.

Abstract Views

Abstract Views
Originally uploaded by thnkfst.

Ok - I'm up for another feast today. Yeah it's friday!!!

Appetizer
If you could have a free subscription to any magazine, which one would you like to have?

LOL - photography, Photoshop tips or some type of Travel Magazine. Like someone couldn't guess that one coming.

Soup - Describe your living room (furnishings, colors, etc.).
Boring - Brown couch, white walls, tv, beautiful views.

Salad - What does the shape of a circle make you think of?
Photography through my eyes.

Main Course - Name 3 things in your life that you consider to be absolute necessities.
Camera, Computer, "C"husband - well I going for my 3 C's...

Dessert - What was the last really funny movie you watched?
LOL - I don't know, it's been way way too long!

The Sunset

The Sunset
Originally uploaded by thnkfst.

This past month has treated us so well here in Vancouver. Well I guess the lack of rain during the summer months is such a great site when you have sunsets like this. I'm not sure why I don't remember the winter sunsets. My guess is that I'm too busy working since the sun goes down so early.

I've been noticing that I have to turn on the lights in the mornings again. It's odd especially with skylights overhead. I've also been hearing about the incredible sealife in the ocean around here. Kayaking seems to be what I'm envying, but have yet to try. A few starfish have shown up in my face with great beauty. Sorry I didn't photograph them however.

I guess I've been lucky to turn out quite a few photographs lately. I know I'm going to have to shift my time into other things. The wait time for immigration is at 8 months for the first stage. I'm nearing 7 months on the 26th. So maybe another month will hold better news? I estimate at this rate maybe Jan 26th will be a good news date? It's also my mom's birthday...

As with many of you, I haven't been blogging much. Just not into it right now and how can you blame me with such awesome weather!

Check out more of my photos here . Photo from Ambleside, West Vancouver Sunset. Sunday August 20th.

Waving Flags

Waving Flags
Originally uploaded by thnkfst.

A thing of beauty it is. On Sunday evening, P and I took a walk to Ambleside with my camera in tow. I was hoping to see some beautiful colors in the sky since there were clouds around.

I'm actually wishing we stayed a bit longer because the sites kept on getting better as the sun went down. As we walked back to the car, I took this photo from the sailing club.

I just love the flags and was envisioning this photo for a week already. I'm so happy I finally had the ability to take the photo at the right time.

We've been really lucky to be blessed with such great weather.

Here's another link to check out:

http://www.westvancouver.net/

If you'd like to learn about the flags, then check out this link which Mar provided us.

FLAGS

The Daily Train

The Daily Train
Originally uploaded by thnkfst.

On Friday I had ended up at the beach with mr. Twist and the girls. Twist and I headed for the dog park but they now don't allow dogs on any other part of the park. It's quite a feat figuring this out when you need to walk past something on how one might accomplish this with a dog in tow.

As we were getting ready to leave, the train came on by and I managed to get two shots of it coming directly at me. This was the best of the two shots.

Tonight we also went down there for the wonderful Ambleside walk to the pier. We watched the sunset and I took a bunch of photos. The sky was really pink and full of beautiful clouds. I'm really glad P is so patient while I snap away.

This train has lots of history to it also. In the late 1800's I believe this train did not go too far north yet. The people who lived in West Vancouver were hoping for the day they could take the train somewhere. And imagine how happy they were when that day finally came.

These days, the train still carries goods throughout Canada using the same tracks.

The Bully Stick

Edw. G Robinson aka The Bully Stick Series #1
Originally uploaded by MyRidgebacks.

I know many of you are suckers for funny photos and cute pet pics. I just couldn't pass this one up.

Isn't he cute!!! Well he belongs to a friend on Flickr. She submitted Mr. Rhett for a photo contest at Pet Magazine and is in the top 15.

If you like the photo, please do her a favor and vote for him. You can vote once a day. He might just end up winning this contest.

Go here to vote: he's a few down on the page

Holding onto Youth

Now For Saturday's Photo Hunt 22 - Theme Youth


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Although I'd like to think my husband and I hold onto our youth in our daily silliness and gags, I was thinking I should post something dear to me of younger years. This is my little man who was the most adorable 2 year old on the planet back in 2002 in Switzerland. He's since become a big brother to two other siblings.

The above photo is the related to the post before
where if you were to look to the right, that would be your view.

And Lastly, me at age 4.

If you are interested - I made it to the front page of Flickr today.
I'm not sure it will last but if you read this post on the date posted, you might see it.
Just look for my pic below.

Lakeside Beauty

Lakeside Beauty
Originally uploaded by thnkfst.

I'll create some suspense here. Post to follow when I get time and find the link I've been searching for!

I'm trying to figure out where this hike actually was, but my problem is that I remember the general area and that is all. The best place to figure out hikes and such are from SwissGeo.ch Let me tell you this site is incredible.

For now, I'm guessing this place must have been around Vionnaz or Vouvrey to Miex which is right behind Bouveret on the Lac Leman.

Here are the links in case the maps dont work.

http://www.swissgeo.ch/

I'll have to post more later as I'm off to the beach. I know such a hard life!

*** UPDATE *** With a little bit of help from my friends at Flickr, my photo made it to the top 10 for August 18th. As well, if you are lucky, you can find me on the front page of Explore.

I was also wrong about the location of the photo - It's Lake Tannay. I'll have to check it out tomorrow on a map.

Ambleside Morning

Ambleside Morning
Originally uploaded by thnkfst.

I had some great luck yesterday. Part of me is being very sarcastic when I say that but part of me isn't. The luck I had to view such a great morning yesterday was just heavenly. The other luck is just a bunch of scratches from a scared cat who clearly needs his shots so he can wander outside!

Ok - this photo is for Ginnie. I wanted her to melt at this site.

Mr. Twist and I went for a walk in the dog park yesterday morning. I decided to bring along my camera in my backpack just in case. Well the clouds and the color of the sky were just incredible.

After our walk, I went to the edge of the dog park and snapped away. This is just one of the lovely pics which turned out. Mr. Twist was on cloud nine and let me shoot away thankfully.

Mr. Twist on the other hand, also made me laugh so much. He keeps insisting that he walk me and even if we take the leash off, I must hold onto it. What's even more funny is that he'd rather communicate with people instead of all those weird dogs who only seem to bark at him when he wags his entire rear end to say hi.

I guess I'd be a convert too if dogs treated me that way. Above all, he's become demanding lately. We must play ball all day long. And well if I don't, he just looks at me as if I'm insane or something. I guess I'm insane or something because I refuse to spend my time amusing him the entire day!

Oh the life of a dog. And look at the views mr. twist enjoyed too.

For those of you who are curious. This shot was taken at Ambleside beach which is located in West Vancouver, on the North Shore. Ambleside has a great waterfront walk which I can only estimate must be close to 5km or more.

brunnen lake

brunnen lake
Originally uploaded by thnkfst.

On the weekends, I used to walk with the dogs to this point. Of course this only happened during the fall and winter months because this beautiful inlet is used as a campground in the summer months.

It's complete paradise especially when you get blue colors like these. From this vantage point, you can see the part of the Rigi Mountains and around the bend is Lucern.

Hope the summer weather is coming back for everyone.

A Top Lausanne

A Top Lausanne
Originally uploaded by thnkfst.

I was going through a few of my older photos in flickr which I have totally neglected and found this one. I love it. I took it last year with my new camera when we were high above the city. This was one of the days which wasn't too hazy for the summer.

Just Busy

I don't think being busy is a bad thing, but that's what I've been up to lately. I've actually swam again in a chlorinated pool. Yes, an amazing feat for sure. I'm probably going again today too.
What's the world coming to???

In other news, I finally went to my first photography group meet up. I enjoyed it a lot and took a few photos along with chatting and meeting the members of our group. I'm looking forward to the next meeting along with starting a few projects. My first goal is to get some of my photos to print. That's what I'm working on currently along with trying to post a few more photos and feed my flickr addiction.

Hope all of you are enjoying the outdoors and that moon. There has been a great meteor showing as of late. August 12th was the best viewing for the Perseid. We were out late last night and I even saw 2 meteors while driving back home. That's all from me here.

Our beautiful city here after Sunset last Saturday evening, August 5th.

Is That Funny?

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Not really sure if I'd call this funny,
but my here's a few of my brother trying to be funny with a camera man
at Queen Elizabeth Park. Camera man is choking him.

And my brother and dad being funny after the close of the ski lifts.
What's funnier is that I still have to double take to make sure I know who is who.
They look oddly alike there. Like as in the same person almost.

1. Now wishing I could have posted a friends photo of them being funny visiting the Tower of Pisa.
2. Pic of a little girl smiling while I'm taking a pic of the no pooping here in France.
3. Pic of cuteness in his father's shoes but frustrated because he can't get them off.
4. My father on the toilet, being as funny as he is above. He's faking it though!
   

But I just couldn't do those...sorry

Roll Back The Times

glacier hike
Originally uploaded by thnkfst.

If I recall correctly, one year ago today would have been the day we chose to drive down to Nyon from our Lausanne Hostel to take the boat over to Yvoire. Just thinking about our incredible lunch makes my mouth water. (I guess I'm 1 day off, but what does that matter.)

This photo was taken with my tiny Fuji camera on a very easy Glacier hike on the Valais with little Max and his cousin along with their Grandparents. They are avid hikers and in incredible shape to say the least. We even took along the stroller for this event since the trail was that child friendly.

When you've got 2 munchkins under 3 years old, this sort of thing does come in handy.

Someone in the flickr group posted a comment on this photo. That's when I realized I sort of liked it a lot too. So I'm posting it for all to view of course.

Busy times today. We are doing a spring cleaning session along with many other chores. I guess it fits in perfectly with the not so sought after weather outside. So I'm back to that right away.

Sunset

Sunset
Originally uploaded by thnkfst.

When I woke up this morning, I wanted to see this. What I got was far from that.

I'm already starting to miss the summer months as they start to get shorter each day. I guess I'm one to be affected by something like this. I don't like short days and long nights. For some reason my eyes don't work well with night. It makes me tired and I hibernate too much. I think it has to do with my eye color which is just sensitive to dark colors. It's also why I can't sleep once the sun is up.

I can say that I finally got my first good night shot completed. I'm still dealing with dust and that is really pissing me off. It's never ending I guess. I've got more time today, so I'm hoping to have another try at it.

Moon Rise

Moon Rise
Originally uploaded by thnkfst.

I just remembered that it was one year ago we landed at Zurich Airport for our vacation in Switzerland. It was P's first visit and mine, the first time back in almost a year.

We visited friends and did a lot of moving from one city to the next. We both didn't have much time off so it was all we could fit into 9 days of travels, about 10 or 11 counting the flight back and forth.

Our first day was spent sleep walking and seeing Zurich. We both wanted to stay awake but were knackered beyond recognition. The only thing that kept me going was my need to take photos with my new camera.

Since we are on the subject of photography, I thought I'd share with you a great new lesson I was pointed to. It's about Geometry of composition.

After my evening reading, I landed upon some exciting news. There's a new Nikon coming out. The Camera is a Nikon D80 10 meg pixel and will basically be the upgrade to the D70. Here's a great detailed look at this new camera.

Sure enough, Ken Rockwell always has good stuff on his site. I've found a good photoshop tutorial on his site too.

Day at the Beach

Day at the Beach
Originally uploaded by thnkfst.

Here is another photo of some of the views from last week. I really love the blue colors from this day. It's the city of Vancouver in the background there.

The Swimming went really well. Thanks for all of you for asking. I only lasted about 45 mins and my muscles were a bit crazy afterwards. It's actually been about a year since I was last in the water.

I am going to try to go to the weekly "lengths" at our closest rec center. I'm not sure how it will keep going. Or I can go at 6:30am for the masters program.

Any takers to come with me? haha.

Patriotic Street

Patriotic Street
Originally uploaded by lido_6006.

Found this in my travels this morning, well only virtually from a friend on flickr. Found it appropriate for sure. This was painted on a street in Neuchatel which is in the french speaking area of Switzerland.

I've been busy working on making more memory on my computer and my photos on my days off here. We've also gone hiking and photo hunting.

AND - We went swimming! We might go again today on our civic holiday. Can you believe it's been nearly a year since I've touched that chlorine nightmare. (Can you tell I prefer fresh or salt water systems??)

I've been making plans to go more often but would like to do that once I finally get my immigration completed.

Which Note Is That?

Oh I'm loving this theme.

Now For Saturday's Photo Hunt 20 - Theme Money


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(click photo to view large)

If you are new to my blog, then you'll have trouble guessing where this is from. But if you are a regular visitor, you'll know this is a Swiss Note. I actually happened to have this 20CHF in my wallet, pulled it out and created what I think is a pretty cool macro shot because I love the colors and the look.

My Own Two Feet

For those of you waiting and waiting for me to tell you more, I've finally gotten more than a second to put up at least one more photo. I haven't been inside for hours on end this week as all of you know. We've been leaving the north shore daily to head to the famous beaches of Vancouver.

Well actually that's not really what we have been doing but that's what I've been doing. I've been doing mounds of walking, sun shining brightly all around me, and using my time to photograph on my own two feet.

Although I have been down at the beach, I haven't been swimming. Why not you ask? ah, I guess 14 years of swimming does that to me. It was my job at some point and there hasn't been any fun in it for me like many other people. I guess all of those 14 years combine to more than a lifetime spent down there. I've just rung out the fun in it I suppose.

But I have been able to photograph other people doing it. Works for me at least. I'm enjoying the scenery as I absolutely love walking and people watching. I'm probably becoming more and more like my mom every day (just a watcher).

I've taken a long walk to do a short photo tour of Granville Island
(the 3 hour tour type).

I've actually been day dreaming about swimming at kits pool and getting back into swimming. I think it would be fun at times but then I remember how much I hate making up my own workouts and just don't want to do the 6am routine, that I stop with my ideas. Well my itch is coming back. I'm not sure what more it will take, but I want that push to start swimming again.

I did walk past a few Swiss tourists on bikes who stopped to tell a joke. I never understood how all Swiss find Swiss German jokes funny. Or daydreaming of my days in day camp with clad yellow and blue shirted kids.

I guess all this traveling, walking and sun has tired me out more than I can imagine. I'm just fine but I need a day to sleep in. I'm hoping I'll actually be in the mood to do just that. And I'm hoping to get more photos up on my flickr stream. We will have to see but...

I'm looking forward to our 3 day weekend. It's a civic holiday in BC.
Translation: A day not to work.

Stay Tuned

This is just a teaser photo of where I have been all week.



Kit's beach pool (100m long I think)

It's been fun but busy and a different schedule.
Will hopefully have a few great photos up by tomorrow morning....

**update**

Sorry guys, I didn't have enough time to upload the photos. Life's hard when you're out in the sun. I should be able to upload more pics tonight.

Swiss National Day

Augustiner-Gasse
Originally uploaded by Toni_V.

Today marks the celebration of Swiss National Day. The tradition to celebrate the National Day on August 1st began in 1891.

A radio broadcast by the President of the Swiss Confederation is usually listened to by many Swiss. Communal celebrations are the fun part and usually include some sort of cultural life. Sometimes you will find a concert or choire, gymnastic presentations, and the community singing the national anthem. All fun stuff to watch.

I'm told the best celebration takes place at the Rhine falls near Schaffhausen. Fireworks, beautiful lights and lots of people are part of this fun. I've been to Rhine falls a few times but never on August 1st.

The photo pictured is from my friend Tony. He's done a great job of capturing the flags in the cobble stone streets of Zurich.