Fish Out Of Water

AN INVITATION to join friends on a sailboat to tour local coastal waters was very much welcome. My husband and I were delighted at the chance to head out from False Creek in Vancouver into perfect sailing weather.

The moderate breeze had pushed out the smoggy curtain of pollution that settled over Greater Vancouver due to the many forest fires raging primarily in BC's interior regions over summer. The blue sky was back and there was a nice balance of cloud, sun and wind rippling shadow and light onto the ocean. (The sun spot made me think of the solar eclipse to come the following week.)

It was fun to glide under, rather than drive over, the Burrard Bridge as we traveled the relatively short distance towards Horseshoe Bay.

Vessels of all sizes were out that day, including the "pirate" ship (above) packed with tourists.

One boat seemed packed with everything except people. You'd have to do a bit of digging to find a captain who surely was buried under there somewhere.

The many freighters were lumbering giants amid smaller leisure craft.

Very much "fish out of water" when it comes to sailing, our only job was to enjoy the view.

The younger guests did some "fishing" while on board.

We all admired Lighthouse Park, a hiking spot, looking pretty from a distance.

As we drifted by the beautiful scenery our friends, the crew, were busy adjusting sails and looking after the important details of running a ship.

It looks like smooth sailing from afar but it takes work to achieve that carefree feeling.

A food fest concluded our journey. You'd have thought we discovered gold when we spotted an artistic miracle in a "rare" kernel of corn.

The smiley face expressed our own ear-to-ear grins during much of that day.

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Copyright by Penelope Puddlisms

Crescent Suns Over Crescent Beach

Today's much talked about Solar Eclipse was partial (at 80%) in my southwest corner of British Columbia. It reached its peak at Crescent Beach by around 10:20 this morning when we discovered even a partial sunlight of 20 percent went a long way to keep the day bright. It never got dark and the awesome effects of a crescent sun, resulting from the moon's shadow, were visible only with special glasses ... unless you were looking at the ground and benches.

Not only the bench but shadowy fingers were littered with crescent reflections.

I didn't look but pointed my camera in the sun's direction ...

risking the health of my camera taking the shot above without proper lenses.

Mostly, it was fun to walk on the tiny scatterings of moon shapes everywhere.

Sometimes a multitude of crescents, bunched up together, made the flat sandy walkway look like a bumpy trail of clouds gathering on a stormy day.

Someone brought a sunflower umbrella in honour of the occasion.

Although such grand events in the sky come along only once in a while, there's plenty of daily wonder beneath our feet to keep the young and young at heart busy and enthralled. I'm guessing the kids (below) missed the entire show because they were building their own spectacular event.

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Copyright by Penelope Puddlisms