This was taken during the Wide Mouth Mason show held at the Molson Canadian Hockey House between periods of the Gold Medal Olympic Hockey game of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games! Amazing band, amazing show, unbelievable game!
For more pics of the concert, visit the Set on Flickr!
One of my favourite things to photograph in the fall: mushrooms!
For more fall and mushroom shots, please visit the Set on Flickr.
This photo was taken on Vancouver Island, in Cowichan Bay just after Christmas last year. It was a gorgeous day, but COLD!
For more images, visit the Set on Flickr.
Cyndi Lauper played at the 100th Anniversary of the PNE this year promoting her recent Grammy nominated blues album, Memphis Blues. Of course she included several of the old favourites as well, including True Colors and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Awesome show, and amazing to see one of the great musical artists from my earlier years!
For more images from Cyndi Lauper’s PNE appearance, please visit the Set on Flickr!
The Canadian Paralympic Sledge Hockey Team warming up for the Bronze Medal game at the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games!
For more images, please visit the Set on Flickr!
September 15, 2010 (Ottawa) – September 18th marks the first-ever Sports Day in Canada and the Canadian Paralympic Committee and its members are proud to invite Canadians to experience first-hand various Paralympic sports during hands-on sport demonstrations in Ottawa (ON) and Richmond (BC). With only 3% of people with disabilities physically active, this event will bring attention to the importance of sport in the lives of all Canadians, especially those with a physical disability. In partnership with many sports organizations, Canadians of all ages and abilities will have the unique opportunity to get active and join Paralympians in a wide variety of Paralympic sports while celebrating this national landmark event – Sports Day in Canada – and raising the awareness of the benefits of participating in sport.
On September 18th, the public is invited to experience goalball, para-athletics, wheelchair basketball and many other sports alongside Canada’s Paralympians!
In addition, other sport representatives will be onsite to provide instruction to Canadians of all ages and abilities to experience Paralympic sports.
WHERE: Richmond Oval; 6111 River Road, Richmond, BC V7C 0A2
WHEN: September 18, from 11am to 2pm
COST: It’s FREE!
WHO? MEET WITH:
· 5-time Gold medalist in alpine skiing, Lauren Woolstencroft
· Athletics athlete, Andrea Holmes
· Wheelchair Basketball players, Richard Peters, Marnie Abbot-Peters and Robert Hedges
· Wheelchair Curling players, Chris Daw and Darryl Neighbour
· Boccia player, Alison Kabush
· Wheelchair Tennis player, Sarah Hunter
· Nordic skier, Lou Gibson
As the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees compete against the McMaster Marauders in an exciting homecoming game, Paralympians from athletics, wheelchair basketball, sledge hockey, and many more sports will be on site, demonstrating their sports and teaching Canadians how to play!
WHERE:Lansdowne Park; 1015 Bank St, Ottawa ON, K1S 3W7
WHEN:September 18, from 12 to 4pm
COST: Group tickets are available at a rate of $4 if ordered in advance, or can be purchased on site at a rate of $4 (children) or $12 (adults). To order your tickets, contact Jessica Damery at jdamery@uottawa.ca
WHO? MEET WITH:
· Sledge Hockey players Jean Labonté, Shawn Matheson, Todd Nicholson and Hervé Lord
· Nordic skiers Alexei Novikov and Margarita Gorbounova
· Athletics athletes Jacques Bouchard and Leah Robinson
· Goalball player Amy Kneebone
Sports Day in Canada is a national celebration of sport, from grassroots to high-performance levels, in communities across Canada. Sports Day in Canada caps off a week of thousands of local sporting events and activities, open houses and try-it days showcasing sport at all levels, and includes a special television broadcast on CBC Sports.
Sports Day in Canada is presented by CBC Sports, ParticipACTION and True Sport and is guided by a committee of national sporting organizations including the Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC).
To learn more or to search for events in your community, visit www.cbc.ca/sports/sportsday/
(Source: Canadian Paralympic Committee)
For my dad’s birthday this year, rather than have a big party, my dad wanted to spend some quality time with the family. With this request in mind, my mom drove down the beautiful Cowichan Bay, on Vancouver Island and booked a whale watching tour with Ocean Ecoventures.
We arrived at the storefront location, which doubles as an art gallery, and were provided with full-body, wind proof, Helly Hansen flotation suits for the day’s adventure. It was the first really hot day of the summer so the need for the suits didn’t seem to make sense, but once we were out and speeding across the water I was grateful to have it.
Once suited up, we made our way down to the zodiac was moored and were given a quick but detailed safety lesson for the trip by Simon Pidcock, owner/operator of Ocean Ecoventures. Before taking off, he took this group shot!
We barely left the harbour when we caught our first glimpse of ocean wildlife. A harbour seal swam by about twenty feet from the boat!
After about a 45 minute boat ride (with gorgeous B.C. views), we arrived to an area where the orcas tend to hang out and play around. Simon told us of all kinds of interesting facts, behaviours and statistics about the whales. He was very knowledgeable and much of the information was astounding!
Whales were not the only wildlife we saw on the trip. After watching and following the orcas for a couple of hours, we headed back to Cowichan Bay. He took us into a kelp bed, where he showed us that kelp is amazingly strong, and that it has an unbelievable growth rate, as well as many benefits to the ocean and its’ creatures. We even took a kelp leaf out of the water and ate it. Yep, it’s edible!
Other creatures we came across were several bald eagles as well as a bald eagle nest, a couple of ospreys and their nest of young, and of course a lot of seals hanging out on the logs.
All in all we had an AMAZING experience! Unreal photographic opportunities! And we were lucky with phenomenal weather!
If you are planning a trip to Vancouver Island and are looking for a fun adventure in the Cowichan Valley, an Ocean Ecoventures Whale Watching tour with Simon Pidcock should definitely be on your itinerary!
A few tips for your trip:
For more information about Ocean Ecoventures, visit their website, and follow them on Twitter and Facebook. And be sure to check out some of Simon’s beautiful whale photography on Flickr.
Ocean Ecoventures Whale Watching is located at:
1721 Cowichan Bay Road, Cowichan Bay
Vancouver Island, British Columbia
Local – 250 748 3800
Toll Free – 1 866 748 5333
The Tinhorn Creek Winery had a very cool event last night, at the CBC building on Georgia Street in Vancouver.
Think speed dating… only instead of talking to a random stranger, you are tasting random wines, hidden in paper bags and trying to guess what it is that you are drinking! At the end of the evening, the bottles were revealed by wine maker Sandra Oldfield, and those who guess correctly were entered in a draw for prizes.
The event was called: Wine Tasting With a Social Twist. As in social media twist! There were big-screen tv’s posting current tweets about the event for all to see and respond to. Very cool!
A big thank you to Rebecca Bolwitt of Miss604.com for the opportunity to attend this event via the tickets I won on her blog! And thank you to Sandra Oldfield of Tinhorn Creek Winery for making such delicious wine!
Awesome event! Awesome people! AWESOME WINE!!!
(More photos of the event on Flickr!)
I am excited to be photographing a charity event for the Jewels for a Cause at the Hollyburn Country Club in West Vancouver on May 27th!
Jewels for A Cause was started by Teri-Ann Donaldson and Jennifer Rainnie eight years ago with a mission to bring our community together for a mutual cause to enhance the lives of women and children. It began as a very grass roots way for friends to get together, drink wine, buy jewelry and donate the proceeds to charity. The event has grown each year and has now become a very large gathering with over a dozen jewelers and artists showcasing their work. Last year approximately 200 women attended the event and they raised $5,000 for the year’s charity of choice – KidSport – in honor of Wendy Ladner-Beaudry.
KidSport helps provide support to children in order to remove financial barriers that prevent them from playing organized sport. For more information, please visit www.kidsportcanada.ca.
In addition to KidSport, Jewels for a Cause has also supported the BC Cancer Foundation, Make A Wish Foundation, YMCA Camp Elphastone, on the Sunshine Coast and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada. These ladies have always felt strongly about donating their profit each year to a charity which supports or aids women and or children.
The event will be sponsored by Barefoot Wine, has an entry fee of $10, payable by cash or cheque (there will be an ATM machine available but sorry, no credit), and will be held at:
Hollyburn Country Club
950 Cross Creek Road
West Vancouver
So please come join us for a great cause next Thursday night, May 27th at 7pm, enjoy a glass of wine and buy some jewelry by these amazing artists, and support a good cause!
[mappress]Right from my check in experience at the Vancouver airport (YVR), I was very impressed by China Airlines and their efforts to accommodate my seat request for my 13 hours flight from YVR to Taipei (TPE) Taiwan. My seat was decent to begin with, 9A by the window fairly close to the front of the Airbus 330-300, but the clerk at the desk said he could probably do better for me and find a similar seat with an empty one beside me as the flight was only at 70% capacity. He would let me know at the gate if he was able to make the change. And SUCCESS! I ended up in 12K, a window seat on the opposite side, with the whole row to myself! YES!
The flight was smooth for the most part, a few bumps and fasten seat belt warnings along the way, but nothing major. The food was… well… it was airline food… But surprisingly, I was able to sleep away about 7 hours of the flight… Almost like a time machine deleting these hours from the flight time! 🙂
The landing at Taipei was smooth. There was an attendant waiting there to help passengers find their next gate. So after a short train ride and a bit of a walk, I found Gate 1A, complete with drunk-airport-crazy-lady and all!
When I first arrived at the gate, drunk-airport-crazy-lady was passed out at the end of the people mover (you know, those escalators that don’t actually escalate? they are just flat people movers)… Then I decided to find myself a snack and some tea, and when I passed her for the second time, she was awake and ranting at everyone who passed her. Then she stumbled her way to my gate, and caused a bit of a ridiculous scene. Yelling, screaming and waving her arms like a crazy person. (ah-hem, straight jacket please!) The airport crew then moved her to a separate area in hopes, I think, to calm her down… But lemme tell ya, I sure hoped she wouldn’t end up on my 5-hour flight from Taipei to Denpasar!
Honestly, I’d be surprised if they let her on a plane at all…. but no security had shown up yet, so who knew…? If this was Vancouver, they would have tackled, pepper sprayed, tazed and handcuffed her by now! (ok, ok, bad joke… but still… the point is that this would never be acceptable airport behaviour at YVR…)
Anyway, now I have some dude sitting behind me in the waiting area and a China Airlines worker, who claimed to be the purser for our flight, hijacked his guitar and played Eric Clapton tunes flawlessly! Loved it!
Hehe, if the rest of my trip is this interesting, I think the next month will be an amazing one!
I later ended up talking to said “dude” with guitar (who ended up being from Vancouver Island) and he was telling me how he got upgraded to business class on his flight from Miami to Taipei and how great that was. I was pretty happy having an empty seat beside me, but I had to agree that a 13 hour flight in business class would have kicked ass!
So, that’s it for the first leg of my 30-hour travel adventure. Stay tuned for Part II in my next post about the flight from Taipei to Denpasar…
