Tempus Fugit

Latin (tem-pu̇s-ˈfü-git): Time Flies

Posts

  • Winter Walk

    BirchWell, it seems to have happened suddenly, it’s winter. We’ve had a little snow, and the temperatures have dropped enough that we’re feeling the chill of the season.

    We took a late afternoon walk at St. Vital Park just as the sun was going down. There were very few people around this normally popular weekend destination. Could it be the coolness of the day? 

    It seems strange that we’re complaining about how cold it is at -12°C and in a few months, we’ll think this is a warm and balmy day and spring must just be around the corner. Unfortunately, at this point, it’s going to get worse before it gets better.  

     

  • Getting Closer

    Richmond, BC, Canada 11/10/2011 6:25 Arrival Scan
    Seattle, WA, United States 11/10/2011 5:35 Departure Scan
    11/10/2011 4:17 Arrival Scan
    Ontario, CA, United States 11/10/2011 1:58 Departure Scan
    Ontario, CA, United States 11/09/2011 21:00 Arrival Scan
    Anchorage, AK, United States 11/09/2011 15:09 Departure Scan
    11/09/2011 10:14 Arrival Scan
    Narita, Japan 11/09/2011 21:48 Departure Scan
    11/09/2011 19:59 Arrival Scan
    Shanghai, China 11/09/2011 16:17 Departure Scan
    Shanghai, China 11/08/2011 23:49 Export Scan
    Shanghai, China 11/07/2011 21:26 Departure Scan
    11/07/2011 19:41 Origin Scan
    China 11/07/2011 6:54 Order Processed: Ready for UPS

  • Temperature

    I thought I’d planned well for the trip as far as what temperatures we’d experience but I think I payed too much attention to the daytime highs and ignored the overnight lows and the effects of altitude. Night time temperatures can be a little important when your camping in a tent trailer.

    At the Loveland Pass (11,000ft) we experienced snow and thankfully were not camping there. But, later in the day beside the Colorado
    River near Arches National Park (~6,000ft) the overnight lows were in the 3° range.

    Tonight at Bryce National Park the campground office has a sign requesting that you disconnect your waterline as the overnight low is expected to be -3°C.

    Right now I’m by the cosy camp fire. Could be some snuggling for warmth later.

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  • You know you in Moab when…

    Every other person you see is wearing spandex.

    It’s OK to have a Hummer

    The grocery store dedicates a whole aisle to energy bars.

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  • 1 to 21

    All in one day we went from a rainy morning to 1° with snow at 11,000 ft to 21° and a sunny afternoon to sitting around a camp fire in t-shirts at 9pm. What a day!

    We’ve crossed the Rockies, seen the Colorado National Monument and driven Scenic Route 128 along the Colorado River into Moab Utah. The scenery has been breath taking.

    The most common phrase heard today was “Oh My!” followed by “Look at that!”.

    Sleeping under the stars tonight.

  • Posting frequency

    Not that my blog posts have any frequency or pattern at the best of times but, for the next week or two I might be a little more frequent as we’re on a road trip in the south western USA.

    The order might be a little jumbled as well as the upload is dependent on sporadic wi-fi availability. Hey, our campground doesn’t even have running water, unless you count the Colorado River.

  • Bicycle Lanes – Blessing or a Curse?

    Bicycle LaneBike lanes have been showing up around Winnipeg, especially the downtown area over the last couple of year. Until recently, even though a couple of these lanes have been on my normal commuting route, I’ve not given them too much thought. Nice to have, but I was a little indifferent.

    Then the city created a dedicates lane on Assiniboine Ave. which caused a lot of controversy and in my opinion was a waste of money. Assiniboine was a low traffic street in the first place and bicycling on it was no problem.

    Then one day a few weeks ago a bike lane shows up on St. Mary Ave.! Initially, this seems like a great thing, in fact just the day before I rode up the middle of two lanes of traffic and thought to my self “that was a little crazy”. And then there it was, my own dedicated lane, and for a day or two things were good.

    Then things changed. St Mary has parking in the curb lane before 9am and lots of drivers cruise up the curb lane, encounter a parked car, and lane change with no regard to the bike lane or the bicyclist in the lane, that would be me! To top it off they frequently rounded the parked cars and then crossed over the bike lane again with no regard for the cyclist, to make a right hand turn onto a one way street.

    I don’t think that bike lanes really help the cyclist all that much and I’d just as soon not have the false sense of security. Cycling on the road with cars, it’s always be ready for the unexpected.

  • Closing

    It seems like such a short time ago that we were opening the cottage for the season and here we are, putting it to bed for the winter. Hardly seems right when we’re enjoying a breezy +25° on the deck. I’ve put some of the boats away and Shirley has done some packing and year-end cleaning. We’re hoping to get another run in the kayaks tomorrow morning before putting them away. After that we’ll shut down the water and call it a season. It has been one of the best summers weather wise in many years and we enjoyed a considerable amount of time on Lake of the Woods. Thanks for the memories.

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  • Dog Beach

    Dog Beach

    I was on a hike with Shirley and some friends on the Tunnel Island trails which is a beautiful hiking area between Keewatin and Kenora. The trails are well used, especially by folks walking their dogs. It’s been a while since we’ve been out on the trails, and now they are very well signed with directions, distances, and including a full trail head route map. A short distance into the trail and we come across the sign makers sense of humor. It’s interesting that most of the dogs we encountered on our hike were off leash, which seems to be the main benefit of bringing your dog here, given the fact that the trails are virtually downtown, yet surprisingly remote after only hiking few minutes from the parking area.

    This shot was an excellent opportunity to try out my 1/3 owned, new Canon EFS 10-22mm lens. I like the way the wide angle puts the sign in the foreground while still showing the full expanse of this section of the Winnipeg River system as it leaves Lake of the Woods. (Full size photo)

  • Traffic

    Two Way Traffic

    This struck me as a little strange. Perhaps it’s the result of too many law suits, but do we really need to be warned that there may be “two-way traffic” on a door to the Mens Room? Seemed a little self evident to me. What do you think?