There have been times, where I have walked into Canadian woodsy embrace of an old growth forest and drunk in its timelessness. Past and future collapsed into the present amongst ferns, fallen brittle trees and well-trodden paths with fragile, exposed roots. Lighthouse Park. West Vancouver, B.C. 2022. By J .Chong Lighthouse Park, West Vancouver: Tree…
Tag: Vancouver
Christmas Crystal Memories to Hold
With covid restrictions still falling like blanket globally, Christmas holidays become bright lights in a string of long nights and winter days. “Tree of Life” stained glass art windows at Christ Church Cathedral, downtown Vancouver BC 2020. By Musqueam artist, Susan Point from Alert Bay, BC. Imagery of trees supporting salmon, a symbol of northwest…
Mist and Brightness: Beaver Lake, Stanley Park
On another post-rainy day, we cycled over to Beaver Lake, tucked in Vancouver’s Stanley Park. Once you bike or better yet, saunter down a short, hard packed fine gravel path through the woods, you’ll reach messy mini-wetland of Beaver Lake. It’s not particularily scenic spot since you’re surrounded by old growth trees and rotting logs…
Beauty Long for Now
This spring I just won’t be able to immerse in cherry blossom splendour in Vancouver. So these lovely blossom sprays and boughs are memories for me, and maybe for many of you, tissue paper living dreams. Nevertheless, join me with lightness in heart of spring and living. Cherry umbrella arcs Pink flush warms o’er skies…
Bird Miracles in our Neighbourhood
Miraculously we were at the right time and place, to spot a rare and incredible Mandarin duck at Burnaby Lake Park in Metro Vancouver this past winter. I’m pretty sure, this is the same creature that rocked excitement to near local stardom in the news over 3 years ago. The flamboyant duck plumage marked its…
Unveiling Vancouver Temperate Rainforests
Kind of embarrassing –after moving to Vancouver over 18 years ago, we finally visited 2 local municipal parks with temperate rainforests, for our first time a few months ago. For many years, I biked right by Pacific Spirit Regional Park near the University of British Columbia. Park edge was sometimes within a metre from the…
Outdoor Art Adds a Different City Heartbeat
If you need a break from the city’s fast pace and crowds while in the midst of its heartbeat, outdoor art can be a wonderful antidote to slow you down. Or indoor art in public places, such as the stained glass of Mount Rundle below, taken inside St. Paul’s Church, in downtown Banff. Not every…
Social Bonding Over Food
Before covid-19 hit the brakes hard globally on health and our social lives, the last social meal I had with several people was the last day in February. At lunch, I hung out over sizzling stone bowls of bimbap with egg, at a popular Korean restaurant with 3 other employees from another department. In fact,…
Nature as Solace During Uncertain Times
Over the past few decades, I’ve been lucky to live within a 5 min. walk or if further away, a bike ride to very large parks and escape to Nature’s calming presence. Even in urban parks, I can very quickly immerse in the leafy stillness, sunshine, twittering birdsongs, rustling swaths of wild grass and bush,…
Daily Life Lessons During Covid-19 Pandemic
For some folks, a global plague highlights a lot what they took for granted since this past March. Or confirmed what one knew or decided long ago: Mask-Wearing for Hours is Hot I mean kind of sweaty. My double-sided, non-medical cloth mask is hot to wear for several hours at room temperature. When reading a…
Cherry Blossom Bouquets, Sharing Obsession
Cherry blossom bouquets Bounce-sway in warm breeze, Spring pink petals fall. Writing a blog post with photos about cherry blossom season, is an act of memory and hope for me. Every time. A thrust forward into the near future with happy expectations of pink bursting-birth all over Vancouver. And Nature delivers every spring. You’re never…
Bald Eagle in Wilderness, Our Neighbourhood – Brackendale Eagles Provincial Park and Vancouver
Jack once told me, he saw a bald eagle fly high by the window of our highrise condo building. The soaring bird was at eye level. That’s very high –over 20 stories high. If you are patient, while biking, jogging or walking slowly around the shoreline in Vancouver, a bald eagle might be soaring ahead or perched…
Magnolia and Cherry Blossom Cascades
I’ve always look forward to the annual spring burst of cherry tree blossoms in Vancouver. A cascade of delicate pink, sometimes white blossoms, sweeps across the city, in waves, for a month. Usually during the latter part of March into April. While cherry trees are busting out, larger petals of magnolia flowering trees are breaking…
That Train in My Canadian Cycling Horizon
Every few weeks when I’m cycling, a major train pops up on the horizon with dinging bell, 1 or 2 red locomotive engines, pulling a serpentine string of cargo train loads and tanks. The train is either the Canadian National Railway or the Canadian Pacific Railway. Like any cyclist, I just hope the frickin’ train is…
Canadian Contrasts or Ignorance: 3 Cities, 3 Solitudes
It’s harder than it appears: distillating facts and personal musings on the major cities where I’ve lived, worked and cycled so far. Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary are big and jostle for world stage, as Canada’s world-class city. Several sword points to note: Vancouver in my infographic, refers to City of Vancouver. Not 20 other suburban cities around which…
Salmon Art Leaps Into Pacific West Coast Imagination
Salmon is king in Vancouver –in local cuisine and in art. After a few days wandering in the city or anywhere along the coast of British Columbia, you are bound to stumble across salmon swishing through water or jumping up in sculpture, murals or mosaics. Salmon iconography is in Salish coastal Indian art, outdoor contemporary…
Cycling and Searching for Sublime Seafood Chowder
I had my first dreamy seafood chowder, when I was in a bad mood. It was a clam chowder that placated me, over twenty years ago near the start of my longest ever bike-camping trip over 1,000 km. long in the Canadian east coast Maritime provinces. I was fuming desperately after only cycling 40 km….
More than Just Dragons- Art on Chinese-Canadian Experience
Don’t get me wrong: I love dragons. A dragon pops up often enough: whenever there is a celebration or poster flogging a Canadian Chinatown event or something involving Chinese-Canadian history or culture. I love the dragon for its aesthetic drawing power –in parades, dance, paintings, textiles, rugs, sculpture and jewellery. Dragons in Canada- Convenient Icon? However, I…
Look into Canada’s Soul: Part I. Freaking Out Over Vast Time, Distance and Climatic Toughness
The more I travel across Canada and after living, in 3 different regions (Ontario, Pacific Coast in British Columbia and Alberta in Prairie heartland), the more I think I’m creeping closer into the heart of Canada’s soul. It’s been an amazing journey. It’s a huge effort to figure out Canada at ground level: its myriad…
Rising with Community Gardens: Three Cities
Vancouver’s Sole Foods: Bringing Back Dignity and Purpose to Emptiness Last year, a large dreary parking lot in downtown Vancouver was transformed with rows of bright green vegetables under the shadow of B.C. Stadium, elevated light rail viaduct and condo towers. It didn’t take long for rich green leaves to unfurl and cover part of the…
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