Double Birthdays, Two Cakes

This is Jasmine & Varya's birthday dinner at Bo Kong, a really good vegetarian Chinese restaurant on Main Street in Vancouver. Those are two birthday cakes on the table. That is Varya on the right & she is my housemate here in Kitsilano. Sitting next to her is her beau Bill. Jasmine lives in the BC interior &, together with her partner, gave me the 40 little Indian painted paper umbrellas that opened our show the Amazing Umbrella Experience.

Diane Garceau & David Yates

These are two of the five dancers that I am working with at present. They will be dancing in a group piece with five people & five umbrellas as well as in a duet that they mostly choreographed themselves, using me for artistic direction. This performance will take place at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts in deep Burnaby on April 3rd at 2pm for those of you who might want to attend. It is a pay as you can event & is showcasing the three community dance groups in Vancouver. The two pieces I am directing are for the Roundhouse Community Dancers.

Would You Go Out With This Guy?

His name might have been Felix & I met him at a wonderful dance party thrown by my friend Denise Galay & her fiance Andrew to celebrate their up-coming wedding. We were invited to come as a wedding character. Felix was composed & performed by Sharon Bayley, a very talented Vancouver stiltwalker, performer & wood-working teacher.

The View That Draws Me

This is the view that draws me, as frequently as I can manage, to walk to the beach from my house. It is where I gasp in awe & give my deepest gratitude to the universe for allowing me to be, here, at this moment.

These Are Not The Mountains!

This is a giant log that has sat on the beach at the bottom of Trafalgar Street as long as I have lived in Vancouver. At high tide it is in the water, but is so huge that it does not move, just erodes in place in this beautiful way.

What do you suppose this is?

Walking to the park I noticed this cleverly designed & painstakingly executed item. It took me a few minutes to figure out what it was. At first I thought that I was looking at an elaborate wooden drainpipe, keeping the balcony from flooding on drippy Vancouver days, watering the ferns uncurling at the bottom. Then I realized that I was looking at a catwalk. Now I don't mean the kind of a catwalk that sickly women are paid big bucks to slouch & swing down in an attempt to sell clothing by looking as bored as only possible. No, I am referring to the path that the happy feline that lives up there uses in the middle of a sunny afternoon to exit the house for purposes of a piss & prowl, or perhaps to discover a bird's nest that needs haunting or a tied-up dog that needs taunting. Lucky Kitsilano cat.

From Where the Cat Lives

From where the cat lives, it is but a short prowl to this beach, crossing only 2 streets. From my home this shore is a five minute walk. Painted in the right place, I appreciate graffiti. I'm not sure what the cat thinks.

Arco Iris

This photo was taken by my daughter Kefi tonight just before sunset in Vancouver. It rained most of the day today & then, just before sunset, the sun broke through low on the horizon & gave us this huge, full rainbow. I was waiting at a bus stop, enjoying the rainbow but caught without my camera. When I got home this photo was waiting for me in my email inbasket. Thank you Kefi.

Vancouver Lunchtime

It was so warm & smelled so good today, that I packed up a lunch, took my camera & walked the 5 blocks to the beach. There I was treated to a breath-taking panorama of the stunning city in which I am fortunate to live. Sitting on a log, facing north, I started shooting on my left &, panning east, finally reached downtown Vancouver. I am so grateful to live here.

Lunch with a View

Panning Left to Right

That is West Vancouver across the water.

Stanley Park & Downtown Vancouver's West End

A Close-Up of Downtown

I spread crumbs for the crows on the rocks

Graffiti on My Bus Route

I know there is a message here somewhere. It starts with a six.

Under the ramp onto the Granville St. Bridge - a Zero

I get it, 604, Vancouver's Area Code

Senor de la Tierra

Senor de la Tierra is a spectacular play that was being performed when I was last in San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas, Mexico, Nov.-Dec. 2004. Here are three photos I was able to take between the time I figured out how to turn off the flash on the camera & when the battery ran out.

Senor de la Tierra is the story of the artist who painted the breath-taking Mayan murals discovered at the Bonampak archeological site in Chiapas. This performance verily transports one in time & fills one with a sense of wonder.

A Gift to Och

Yulma Serrano & Ivan Ramirez

Sunrise March 4th

I woke up at 6:30am & this is what the sky looked like. It was so amazing I grabbed my camera & took this picture before going back to sleep for an hour & then I marched forth.

My Window on the World

This is my window. Inside you can see inhabitants of my tropical jungle. The next shot is the front of the building I live in. This morning when I left home the sun was full, the sky was blue & my street was emblazoned with the many colors of blooming cherry trees. The rest of the pictures are various versions of ornamental cherries on my street.

This one blooming is a plum. The rest are cherries.

Cherry Pink

Cherries Create a Path to the Mountains

Two Nests in the Same Cherry Tree

Japanese Quince in Bloom