vancouver strikes again - summer in the city

I am in Vancouver.

Family matters, of a joyful variety.

I have been so busy that I have not had time to bore you with my letterpress workshop in London, or tell you about my new storytelling ventures at Dungeness, involving Tracey and Emmeline, two corrugated metal dolls. More of them later.

For now I just have time to throw some images at you.

Vancouver is a great city for cone hunters and people who like decorated metal street cabinets.

I am not going to show you those either. You can catch up with them on my instagram account.

I am also not going to bore you with my A to Z of Vancouver in pictures. It is going well, but I do need a whale...

Last night I strolled the streets with the words 'summer in the city' as my brief. I did not allow myself to take any photos that didn't meet the brief.

I tried to capture the greenery alongside the skyscrapers and apartment blocks.

The pink/purple tower merits another visit

Flowering blossom  on a city tree

light and airy

cables and tower blocks

leafy side streets

and just as I was heading home

water lilies © Caroline Fraser

I walked over a bridge and looked down into the water

water lilies © Caroline Fraser

beautiful colours and shapes

water lilies © Caroline Fraser

everything a girl in the city could need.

water lilies © Caroline Fraser

sand in my eyes and wind in my hair - a summer storm rolls in at Camber Sands

dark clouds on the horizon

Last night I was home alone at Camber Sands on the hottest day of the year.

The TV was broken  ( thanks to 4G ) and I was internet free, so after a swim in the sea and a lie on the sand in the sun followed by  a shower and some food, the night was still young.

What to do?

Some grey clouds appeared at my window on what had been a cloudless day.

I decided to investigate with my camera, as the beach at sundown can be beautiful.

In the car park grey clouds appeared overhead and I climbed the dunes to see what was on offer.

From the top the colours were more reminiscent of the Hebrides and little people played on.

I sat down on a clump of marram grass and said hello to the flying ants. They persuaded me that I needed to go lower, down onto the beach.

Add caption

Some different clouds started appearing in the sky.

A family played on.

The clouds got bigger and bolder.

storm clouds arriving

I spent ages trying to capture a streak of lightening. I captured just one of the many flashes and streaks that hit the water.

lightening at Camber Sands

        

Suddenly it became clear that the clouds were moving really fast, and the seagulls were screeching as a strong wind came up.

There was a roaring noise and everyone started running towards the dunes.

time to run

As I ran up the dunes I wished that the sand blowing around me was not a problem for my camera, which had to be quickly put away.

I could barely see; there was sand in my ears, eyes and face whipping over the dunes towards the car park, and providing what one man happily advised me was a free exfoliation service. It hurt!

As I reached the top and over to the safety of the car park I saw the black clouds heading over Camber.

Storm clouds over camber Sands

I ran home and waited for the rain………

The moral of this story?

If you don't go out you won't get the pictures!

Thank you 4G.

thinking positively ; the art of coping with an english 'summer'

fly tipped window panes at Hawkwood carpark © Caroline Fraser 2012

The image above was taken on my walk today; I have discarded my crutches and plaster, thanks to a kind consultant surgeon who agreed with me that the minor injuries unit had gone for overkill in treating my cracked bone. I am now wearing 'sensible shoes' and avoiding vigorous walking and tennis.

After 48 hours of getting around on these crutches, with sore shoulders and hands I had mastered the art of wheely chair mobility and had felt like a new woman scooting around my kitchen , with a cup of tea in my hand, not spilling it.

the key to sanity

Note the incredibly useful bag hanging on the back for keys, phone, glasses and anything else that I thought I might need. I had crawled on my hands and knees down the stairs with this chair and my crutches, so determined was I to be more mobile. So for those of you who think you might need to be in a non weight bearing plaster, I recommend you get rid of all carpets, as you will be immobile any other way.

So delighted was I with this advance in technology that I tidied the chest of drawers in the kitchen; not before time. I found a few oddities that had been there for a long, long time.

If you know what these are for, please let me know...............

Actually, on second thoughts please don't. I have thrown them away and would hate to find out that I shouldn't have.

 All this an hour before I got the phone call that allowed me to attack my plaster cast with scissors and free myself from 6 weeks of misery.

So today I took a gentle stroll by the stream and through the mud. I didn't take a camera because I couldn't for a minute think that the grey drizzly weather would be conducive to photography. I did have my phone with me, and experimented with taking videos of the wind and the grasses. The quality is very poor and really nothing happens at all except that some drops of rain fall, the wind blows and the calls of a crow and a peacock are heard near the end, just when you are probably getting really really bored. Do not try to view large; all you will see is fuzz. 

I can't recommend an iphone 3G for video production; every time the wind blows there is an tremendous distortion, and since it was the sound of the wind that I was trying to capture, I was not happy with my results. next time I will try my proper camera.

I came home, hosed down the dog, and made myself a lovely strong cup of tea with a teabag from my new tin.

my dog looks a lot like this 

I have rediscovered the joy of just being outside, whatever the weather, listening to nature.