Vancouver Aquarium

sea anemones, urchins, starfish, glorious sea baubles.

It was a typical Vancouver day on our first adventure together, wet, windy and gray. Apart from being soggy we were very excited to be setting off. So far our method for handling wet weather was to sloosh around in one pair of shoes and wear our others while they dried out that day!
North we went (this time), when we left the built up area the wind cut through like a cutting thing. We zigzagged through Stanley Park, spotted squirrels (cool!), vainly trying to capture them on camera, and took shots of one glorious tree still in Autumnal bloom. I continuously learnt more about my camera and experimented (I can't Wait! till go on another camera expedition).

top- beluga whales, calf and mummy. left- kiddies framing giant octopus, they only live a couple years and have a diameter of several meters.

When we got inside we shed our layers in relief only to find out the big exhibitions were outside. So we made our way to the door pulling clothes back on but because we'd worked up a sweat on the walk the wind found its way through us and chilled our skin; which was very bad for sick mum.

top- cool frog in a big tank with heaps of tadpoles and frogs, all these pictures are from the same display. left- Devfrog. right- busy tadpoles.

We saw the otter show, which was very cool, learnt all sorts of interesting things like they have no fat at all but live in freezing temperatures so they keep warm with the most luxurious fur in the world. Its soft, long and dense causing them to be brought to the edge of extinction by us of course. In fact their fur was what opened the trade to the Asian market, it was bought at a high price and coveted by the nobility.

left- tree frog. right- salamander

We saw very curious dolphins, 1 swam on his back round and round, the other kept popping out of the water to give me the eye. The Beluga whales were worth seeing, you could see them on the surface and also go underground to a big viewing window. I captured 1 on film singing for a few minutes :). When we got to the underground tunnel which was heated and mum curled up on a seat immovably. No questioning or suggestioning swayed her so I acquiesced to her will and led the kids off to the next exhibit.

top- sea snake, they were perfectly still waiting for dinner to swim by (you can see the perfect reflection of my camera lens ;)). left- sand eels (I think?) pretending to be drifting, floating sea anemones. right- party hat crab.

We soon found the giant octopus which was held in much anticipation! No amount of photographing could capture it though, in its dark highly reflective habitat :(, but we were blessed that the extremely shy creature was in fact in full view!

this was the opening display to the jellyfish exhibit, those colours are pretty close to as is.

We saw all sorts of fish, my favourite were these truly gorgeous ones, their eyes practically glowed, stingrays, starfish, urchins, turtles, seahorses, sea spiders (ick), sea snakes, sharks etc! And Jellyfish! Oh sublime, what is it about jellyfish.. they're graceful, cute, delicate, glowing, squishy! they're my favourite sea creature.


i'm not sure they need any description :) maybe if i knew anything about them i could ;p. there were tiny speedy ones, medium pulsing ones, glorious gliding daddy ones. click for a bigger picture, truly the delicate details of these creatures are perfect.

There were 4 eyed fish, they had 2 bubble eyes that cruised around, checking out the surface and on the side of those they had eyes that were immediately below those eyes, just under the water surface, wacky! We saw small alligators and snakes and tarantulas (it seems Canadians have a tarantula fetish - every where we went it seemed they had their token one), cockroaches (ick ick) and an anaconda - super cool! We saw the snake show and Blythe told them all about our snakes to which the snake show girls gasped and ewwed (which I thought was pretty funny, 'hallo, snake show?!').

top left- emerald tree boa, beautiful colour. top right- marmosets. bottom left- lone snoozey sloth Blythe spotted way up in a corner very hard to see. bottom right- those noisy amazonian birds and Blythe!

It got hotter and hotter as we entered the bowels of the place and got to the rain forest section. Here there were all sorts of bright birds; 2 very noisy birds who Blythe imitated, who they imitated, who Blythe imitated (you get the picture). I angled for a good shot of some red birds and got shat on! Fortunately it was easy to clean off but the first thing I thought of was 'cool some action to write in my blog' lol. There were fast marmosets who kindly posed.

left- contrast outline of lionfish and coral. right- a rare mumfish. bottom- my favourite glowy eyed fish :)

We worked our way back out and ran into mum, we'd been a good 1-2 hrs, it was perfect timing as she'd been panicking because she'd moved and thought we may have not been able to find her. She'd warmed up and felt a lot better so we excitedly took her back through everything all over again :), like the important shat point :p and then all went to see the frog section. I was in frog photo heaven but it was getting late and no food and kids don't mix well.

left- poison dart frog who kept hiding, was kinda cute :). top- toadlookalike frog, might have been a burrowing one. bottom- sneaky hiding frog :), he was taken at the extreme end of my zoom and them cropped and zoomed on the computer.

So foot sore and soggy we plodded back, stumbled across squirrel feeding time, counted 20 squirrels scampering for their lives with Devlin chasing and screaming blue curry; had sushi for dinner.

The LandSea Tour called us and said the ferries had been cancelled due to high winds - we were going to go to Vancouver Island the next day. So we prayed about it and the ferries were running again in the morning but the tour still didn't run lol. Fortunately we weren't on a fine time line and it was just as well because mum got to rest up again.

The kids and I returned to our rambles, walked, got rained on, ate something ;), went home (truth is my journal was back written and I don't remember, naughty me!).

Next blog: Vancouver Island!

Canada, arrival

So, you know that Canada blog I was talking about...? Well, I've actually got to a point where I can post something, yay me!
Firstly, this will be a progressive 'publication' I'll update blogs as I photo edit. Annnnd I need to prepare you now that although I took hundreds!! of photos we were on moving transport most of the time and they're mostly blurry or reflected (aw :( ). But that's probably good news because it means you'll truly see only the best of the photos ;) and wont be showered in them.

Canada
This was actually taken At Jasper, further into the trip, but its a good way to start.


In the beginning... :) there was much discussion and decision making (indecision) on when to visit my brother and sister in law in Canada and take the kids, mostly it revolved around the kids' ages and appropriateness. They were 7.5 and 5 yrs when we went and although they didn't really appreciate the whole 'different country'ness and hugeness of it all it was an awesome experience for us all.

We flew from Brisbane to Sydney then straight to Vancouver, adjusted our watches 3-4 hrs forward then taxied to the hotel; mum had been sick the whole way and the flight knocked her. So she spend most of the first week in bed!
On our flight we had an obnoxious man kicked off in Honolulu, which took 6 hours during which we had to stay in our seats; I watched the movies 'Adam' 'Julie & Julia' 'Benjamin Button'.

The Canadians sure love their coffee; when we arrived at the airport one Canadian said to another "mm, smells like home" (starbucks was the first and last shop everywhere we went). The hotels (throughout Canada) had very limited amenities (glasses, mugs, sugar, tea if you're lucky, coffee and ground coffee and a perculator, no jugs/kettles!). There are 200 Starbucks' in Vancouver, one literally on every corner. I saw 2 on diagonally opposing corners and another 1 block away.

We stayed here:

The first day, the kids and I went for a wander around downtown, caught sight of an all you can eat sushi sign and didn't need to be told twice, we hadn't actually eaten in 24 hours. We got our monies worth there, but yeesh food + tips in Canada is expensive!!

Our amble revealed mostly asian restaurants and bubble tea houses. We took a side street tangent where I bought stamps and postcards and then to safeway for supplies.


The next day mum stayed in bed again so we went back down the street and took a left, got rained on (if I don't mention rain, its not because it wasn't there, but because it was always there in mist, moisture or drip form) and we tried our raincoats on. You know those handy temporary plastic bag ponchos you can get? Don't bother! We ate a Ukrainian lunch and reached the end of the road. I'd somehow thought I was going south, turns out it was north, and after a few hours made our circular way back to the hotel, but it was a genuine Vancouverian experience :).

These sculptures are self portraits of a Chinese artist in various stages of hilarity. When China had the olympics, Canada built them a log cabin and so in reciprication, China gifted these hilarious statues for Canada's Olympics. Each year Vancouver moves its public art around and auctions off some; speculation indicated the Chinese men would cost a fortune.


I was hoping to find the Visitor's Info Center (but I was going in the wrong direction) and asked in a Starbucks, they didn't know of it. So I asked where Burard Street was (Borard? Boorard? Boerard?) and after some minutes of head shaking I spelt it. "Ohh, BoorRad" (damn I thought I was speaking English! :P) and got directions.


The next day we went to the aquarium and with our Norths and Souths in the right spot this time bravely set off through wind and rain (of course).


Next blog: the aquarium :).

Medicinal Beauty

I spent all day photo editing after I decided to spend the day cleaning, and went on to practice a bit of bridge and then I decided there was no more procrastinating left to do so sat here and followed my thought processes for a bit.

I had a thought, and a shock, and an idea maybe.

I have wondered if I have difficulty producing ceratonine as I am a person of extremes and addicted to things that produce happy hormones just to feel normal. I reflected on my happy afterglow, the effect of producing beautiful resulting photos with my measly photoshopping tools and made the connection that every time I produce something beautiful and satisfying I feel proud, content and fulfilled. As if the act of creation is my calling and the greatest gift - to myself. Therefore, I think, it produces ceratonine without having to eat chocolate or watch comedies! no wonder it's fulfilling :).


This took me on to wonder if I am creative because of its effect!!? Medicinal Beauty and beauty for the sake of a happy existence...

Sounds a bit unnecessarily deep :), but it does explain why every time I have a deadline/housework/pressure I turn to something creative to inspire/motivate/procrastinate/make me happy.

Now if only I can turn my art to profit and hire a housekeeper!! ;D


images from Canada:

1. jellyfish at the Vancouver Aquarium
2. branches and roofline at Butchart Gardens
3. Blythe reading at my brother's place
   

Taking Life off Hold

Ever have the feeling you bounce between one pileup of tasks to the next without actually making a difference?

Since getting back from Canada and plunging straight into Christmas and family catchup (ignoring the fact I had 5 kid free days which seemed to disappear into a foggy internet browsing mist) and then friend catchup and internet catchup, my pileups have taken on mold monster proportions physically and even more so mentally.

Whilst putting off my duties in my best procrastinating style, I read half of "blogging for bliss" and perused some blogs and got a general gist of blogs and the variety thereof and found my initial overview of the blogosphere to be the same as my pretense of a life. Ha, what? Well, it seems that people that blog with their picture perfect photos of quaint houses and manicured lifestyles that inspire the creative and mothering world are impossible to aspire to. I can't even be the mum I want to be without being the mum the world thinks I should be.

So came conclusion crunch time: Stop Putting off Life until Everything is Perfect!
Ok, so I can't be that person, well, just be myself! And since there can't be many people out there with as messed up a life as me lol, I may just have a unique blog after all!!
I'm sorry, I'm not going to fall into line and offer you little peepholes into my perfect (cough) world, I've decided why not take you with me on my journey to achieve the life I want? No delicacy here, I'll show you my monster mountains and together we'll go through them and onto the other side. Maybe by taking my life off hold and just 'doing' is all it will take to actually achieve anything...

So even if 'you' are just my mythical comfort blanket :), I'll pretend you're really there and one day you just may be; after all I have to have something worth reading here (and hopefully inspiring too) for you to be here!!

And thank you :).

imgs: 1st is my study which shall be tidied, filed, sorted, dusted and readied this month ;).
2nd are my calanders which I put up today and spent an hour filling in all the birthdays, events, school holidays etc, yay me! Its here so you can see my first step of productivity :).

Fyebear, a beginning

So, this is a test; a blog test, a test of testiness.

Why blog? Because I'm bored, and lonely and I'd like to open the doors to potential this year! My Potential! Start some sort of employment, achieve some goals, improve my person, make friends... :).

Why Fyebear? Well, the humble beginnings of fye could be a long rambling story, as is my want, but for my Very First Post I will spare you ;). Basically it comes from WoW (world of warcraft) which I started playing with my husband (as I do to spend time with him), 4 years ago and being the naive fledgling newbie I wanted a strong name - Fire - that was coyly representative of me - red hair and temper - so Fyer was born (or rather a human paladin was created :P). This was affectionately shortened to Fye by my ingame friends and when I left WoW and explored other games I needed a name. Thus I took Fye with me, it wasn't as embarrassingly teen as a misspelt fire and it reminded me of my friends with fondness.
Bear on the other hand has been around since I was named from birth! or almost.. My name is Amanda Clare and so my brother thought he could tag me Panda Bear, which is adorable and sweet right up unto, oh I don't know, 20 years ago! My husband was my brothers best friend and since he set up all my initial internet forays the bear has stuck! I have so many variations of bear they clutter the pixilated corners.
Did I say I'd keep it short? :P

So, fyebear.. why not, its not exactly descriptive but apparently its me :).

When to blog? Good question! Whenever the mood arises would be my guess. I have two personalities, one is organised, likes lists, is punctiliously punctuated and fastidious; the other is careless, happy go lucky, impulsive and creative.. they don't really get along, in fact they really annoy each other. So to combat this I plan, make lists, organise and then I disregard them all and hope for the best! lol

What to blog!!! Yeah... this is a big one, really. When I set out to Canada in mid November 2009 I took a journal and wrote the first half of my trip, diligently jotted down my every meal and variations of the theme "its raining again, we're cold and soggy and lost, but determinedly walking around and looking at things!", bought a book 'Blogging for Bliss' and dreamt up the Canada blog I would do! Naturally, as is already explained due to my personality, it hasn't happened. Why? Well actually, the photos didn't come out and I bored myself with my own journal :D. But my first paragraph on why to blog still stands. I've done enough thinking and I'd like to give it a go; in fact I'm thinking and hoping it will turn out to be my life line somewhat this year as I attempt to 'have a go' at making an arty business.

The wrap. I'm guessing this is the sort of page that starts with 'dear diary' and embarrasses you when you read it 10 years later if in fact you do read it again ;), but we have to have a beginning somewhere, and where better to spew my random head fluff then here to countless strangers lol.
Thank you for reading (mum lol!); my goal this week is to clean up my study in preparation for some amazing craft/art work to produce to show you :) - and survive the school holidays!