Oranges (and Red?)

Well, it's a beautiful Sunday here in Vancouver, but I'm looking back just a bit to Friday, and to a hodge-podge of oranges (with some reds) to share with Orange You Glad It's Friday.  They were all spotted over the past week!  Thank you, Maria, for hosting!

This orange bike.. 

led us to a delightful encounter with artist and adventurer, Sherri Hodder.

She was sitting by one of our favourite ponds along Coal Harbour.  No orange in this photo, but Sherri's jacket, headband and bike fill the bill.  Her interpretation of these bullrushes..

began as you see below, and a few days later,

led to a wonderful work that is still in progress. I really love this representation of a corner of our world as seen through Sherri's eyes.

I think it was the same day we met Sherri that I heard the the last bit of an interview on CBC news with Norman Doidge, an author who has been doing some interesting research on the brain.  A couple of days later, I HAD to have his two latest books.  I'm reserving judgement until I finish reading at least one of them, but expect updates as to my thoughts :) We don't have a wireless internet connection so when I want to add books to our Kindle, we make the two-minute walk to Urban Fare grocery store.  Bill came with me and with Orange You Glad It's Friday in mind, I took a few photos, this one of Urban Fare's window from the outside,

and then a few from inside.

Their Lunar Year decorations were up, 

and one of my former students (thank you, Jeremy!) wrote to me, "This year is extra special year of "Blue Sheep" (乙未年), so you should have extra good fortune + fun this year!"  

In fact, though the sheep/goat is called blue, there sure were a lot of opportunities to capture the colour orange, and I thought my dear Bill and Black Jack were beautifully framed here.

A few days ago, on one of our walks, we came across this cyclist.  He is visiting from France, and was working so very hard to ride his bikes up this rock.  Yes, I know, not exactly your normal tourist activity, but what struck me was his perseverance, his talent, his energy, and his ability to conquer frustration.  (You may be wondering about the colour orange, but I promise, there is some to come.)

Over and over again, 

he tried, and failed, to make the ascent.  This, in fact, was after one of his failed attempts.  He made it part way, and sort of walked the bike up, but that wasn't his goal.

Bill asked him many questions, and as so often happens in situations like this, they engaged in a fascinating conversation.  

Black Jack wasn't quite..

so impressed :)

While they talked, I discovered orange that I would have completely missed,

had we not taken the time to look carefully..

at his bike.

I love these shots and I loved the encounter.  The young man will be here for another couple of months before he returns home to France.  I hope we meet up again.  He hadn't achieved his goal as we finally got back on our bikes, but Bill looked back and sure enough, just as we rode off, he did make it up that rock and that made us really happy.  Bravo to him! 

We rode on to a little pond and waterfall where we often stop, and this little tiny blossom caught my eye.  Isn't it lovely?

Some dogs were playing by the waterfall.  I have some fun shots that i want to share with Eileen's Saturday's Critters (yes, I'm late again), but in the mean time, check out the competition for this orange ball.

In fact, this Lab ended up all on his own with three balls to choose from while the other two took off on a merry chase.

Yes, you guessed it.  The orange ball won the day!  (To be continued next post)

This cat lives on our street.  Black Jack finds him to be.. 

a most fascinating neighbour, so we have to curb her enthusiasm..

just a little.

These blossoms were just opening as we bid the cat a good day, and continued our walk..

to the path along False Creek.  This lady in her orange outfit was impossible to resist.

Later that evening (Thursday), we rode our bikes to International Village to see the movie, A Most Violent Year.  The theatre is inside quite a large mall and there were Lunar New Year celebrations going on there as well.

And once again, many opportunities to capture oranges (or reds?).

I took a few quick shots,

always fascinated with the brightness..

and the textures..

that seem to go hand in hand..

with this holiday.  I do wish my very best for a wonderful 2015 to everyone celebrating!

Loved this tapestry, 

and as we rode up the escalator to the theatre, took this last shot looking down.  The movie?  Not a relaxing watch at all!  New York in 1981 was in the midst of some very ugly challenges. That said, it is a beautifully acted drama and an intriguing study of a moral code among criminals that gave me much food for thought.  I did have to look away a few times, but overall, I do recommend it if you are a movie and history buff and willing to endure some implied violence and rough language.

These last photos are from a concert that we attended on Friday evening.  We have followed the career of cellist, Marian Hasselberg for a few years now, and my admiration for her grows stronger with every performance.  The concert was titled RED, but I thought..

many of my photos could be argued to have orange content :)  Marina performed an entire program of contemporary Canadian music with double-bass player, Mark Haney.  This photo came from their last piece, composed by Mark and titled "Then We Saw Red."

My 300 mm lens was all wrong, but what I was trying to capture here were the musicians as well as the dance-form animations behind them.  Here is a quote from Mark's site about that wonderful piece: "Then We Saw Red" [is] for cello and double bass with delay pedals; this piece was composed to accompany the test footage Norman MacLaren show for his iconic "Pas De Deux", which will be projected.

I love this shot of Marina, 

and also this one, as the composers and musicians share some congratulations at the end.

Many, many thanks for stopping by.  Until next time!