Man on a couch by Jesse Rubin ~ in VanDusen Garden

It was a hot long weekend Sunday. Stifling perhaps. From the Okanagan through to the Sunshine Coast it has been a long dry spell of sun and heat, and on this day temperatures in MetroVancouver would again approach 30 degrees.




On this Sunday morning we enjoyed a coffee at VanDusen Garden, as is often our custom on a Sunday morning. We then walked through the garden seeking out the coolness of shade wherever we found it.









The colours were bright and bold in the sunshine, almost too brilliant to be taken as real.

Some of us found shade along the paths, others donned straw hats and discovered the coolness of the lawn.




Still another lone soul gave in to the heat, threw a blanket on a park bench and went to sleep.

Or so it seemed.


The Man on a Couch is actually a 45 cm sculpture by Jesse Rubin and was one of many featured at the 7th Annual Show and Sale by the Sculptors' Society of BC .

Photos by Jim Murray. Copyright 2014.

Summer heat and summer blooms

The past few weeks on the left coast have been exceedingly hot, at least by our standards. Temperatures, "near the water" as the forecast always says, approach thirty on most days, sometimes more, and nights, especially in second floor apartments facing west, have been difficult. We complain, and will again when the cold winds and rain come.







The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot.
- Natalie Babbit






When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not.
- Georgia O'Keefe

There is nothing you can see that is not a flower. There is nothing you can think that is not the moon.
-Matsuo Basho

Photos by Jim Murray. Copyright 2014.

Crows at lunch

Some people have no sense. A young boy doesn't eat the sandwich ordered at our nearby golf club and his parents let him order a different one, which he also leaves unfinished.

Most of us take our plates in to the kitchen, to assist the often busy and short staffed crew in the club house restaurant. But not these people.

We watched as the crows arrived just as the family of four departed. The crows looked over at us and sensing no rivalry for the food, began to help themselves.

It was a feast, until Sherry couldn't take anymore of it, and took the dishes in herself and the crows gave us the cold shoulder.

As for the crows in our tree, it would appear the nest was attacked by a raccoon some weeks ago. Perhaps a hawk might have been involved as we saw one lurking about. In any event, we haven't seen the crow family for weeks, and never did see the fledglings, if indeed they ever reached that stage.

Sometimes it isn't easy being a crow.

Photos by Jim Murray. Copyright 2014.

The long light of the summer sun and the cool of a summer breeze

The heat of these recent summer days has been exhausting. In the furnace of the late afternoon we seek out water and shade and sometimes drift asleep on the cool and slightly damp grass.

Summer breeze, 
makes me feel fine,

Blowing through the jasmine 
in my mind.

See the paper 
laying on the sidewalk,

A little music 
from the house next door...

A gentle respite comes, sometimes, in the cool of the evening and a gentle breeze. The long light at sunset is soft and rich and the shadows linger, the colours fading quickly as the sun disappears.

Feel the arms that reach out 
to hold me,

In the evening 
when the day is through.

Summer breeze, 
makes me feel fine, 

Blowing through 
the jasmine in my mind.

Lyrics by Jim Seals & Dash Crofts (1972)
Photos by Jim Murray. Copyright 2014.

Smoke test at KPU Richmond

Fridays during the summer can be quiet at the Richmond Campus of KPU. Extremely quiet.

On this particular Friday, July 25, the atrium was to be filled with smoke as part of a smoke evacuation test as one of the final parts to the six million dollar refurbishment of the campus.








A small crowd gathered, including architects, engineers, consultants of course, the general contractor and KPU's own Facilities Services. For a moment it seemed oddly like waiting for contact in Close Encounters of the Third Kind; waiting for something to happen.








The Fire Marshal was on hand, ready to put out a blaze with a fire extinguisher, or quite possibly to start one with the tank of propane beside her.












At the appointed hour, a non-toxic artificial smoke was ignited by a trained professional, thus replicating the smoke of an actual fire. The smoke would trigger the automatic opening of exhaust louvers and start the roof-top exhaust fans.

The thick cloud lasted only moments and the louvers and fans started exactly as designed. The sunlight streaming through the skylights created interesting patterns and colours in the haze.

At the end of it all, no students or faculty were harmed during the test. Only one lone bookstore guy appeared to have been overcome by the excitement.

Photos by Jim Murray. Copyright 2014.