Blogging

Shortly after I came out to British Columbia in early 2006 I had a case of severely high blood pressure. It wouldn't have been fair to an employer for me to work for them until I got my health situation sorted out. I was on medications to lower the blood pressure and it took until early 2007 to find the cause. I finally went to a naturopath who found that a microscopic parasite was the cause for all this.

While getting my health in order, I took up blogging to share my photography. This way I wasn't wasting time and others got to enjoy the photos, not just me and those close to me.

In May of this year I had a mini-stroke cause again by severely high blood pressure. I may end up gong to the naturopath again since the specialist and other MDs can't seem to find the cause. This has only been a problem out here. Before that in Ontario, the blood pressure was only marginally high, not severely high like in BC.

Knowledge is good because being forewarned is forearmed!

All that said, enjoy this blog and all the photos I share with you.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

snowstorm of November 2006

Back in November 2006 there was a snowstorm that started on the 20th and continued through the weekend. That was my first year in British Columbia's lower mainland after moving out here from southwestern Ontario. When the snow stopped falling, I took a series of photos which you see here. Back east this sort of thing is normal, so the snow can be moved and cleared within 2 - 3 days and in a lot less time if its a minor snowfall.

I did some research on the internet afterward and found that this sort of thing was normal about 50 years ago. People here have been lulled into a false sense of acceptence by higher than normal temperatures and the lack of snow. So with the lack of equipment to move the snow, side streets remained snowbound for over a week. The parking lot where I lived was never ploughed and the management left it for nature to melt the snow. Such scenes were common in the area.

I was living in north Surrey with 104th Avenue and 148th Street being the main intersection nearby. That's where this series of photos was taken after the snow stopped falling. I'll let the images speak for themselves.








I allowed a blogger friend in San Francisco to post the you see photo above. This was before I started blogging myself in February 2007. There first few photos show a rather dull looking landscape but the mood changes once the sun makes an appearance where it shines through a break in the cloud cover to the south. So are we ready to handle such a storm if it happens during the winter olympics? I rather doubt it but we'll see. Enjoy the photos and feel free to comment! - V.




Friday, December 18, 2009

first snow

Over the weekend (Dec 12 - 13) we had the first snow here in New Westminster, well, snow that stayed for a bit. Its all been washed away by the rain that came during the week but here are a few photos that were taken during a walk late in the afternoon Sunday before it got dark. The walk took me over to Queens Park and then back home. As you can tell, the kids take no proding to get out to enjoy the new snow! There are a few photos of scenes in the park and then the Christmas lights and other interesting features at a condo complex across from the park. I'll let the photos speak for themselves, so enjoy! - V.