Looking Up and Down and over Fences too.

It's a combined post today for two fun memes, Good Fences (thank you, TexWisGirl) and Look Up, Look Down (thank you, Debbie).

This is one I saved out of many shots posted last Sunday about a Circle of Skillz event that raised money for Cancer research.  Sadly, these fences have to go up in the West End of Vancouver at this time of year because of huge numbers of people attending summer events.  Otherwise, the flowers would be trampled. 

The next seven shots were also saved ones.  They show three fences in Stanley Park, this one near the tree that we "climbed" (just so the climbers at the end of this post know they have some competition :) last week.  With only the big lens working, I had to take this in three stages, one to include the tree,  

one to include the beautiful stone work under the railing, 

and one to show the archway with flowers. 

This fence is only steps away from the first one shown.  I love the workmanship..

though I guess it is mainly just there for appearances and to act as a bit of a divider.

This fence is in the totem pole area.  I couldn't get near it, as it has been sort of fenced off :)

to force tourists to keep their distance.  I tried to show the interesting details in the carvings along the side of it, but most were covered by greenery. 

"Look up, Look down" becomes the dominant theme for the rest of the post, so if fences are your main motivation for checking out this post, perhaps you will want to stop reading at this point.  On the other hand, it will be hard to resist these wonderful feet, don't you think?  Bill looked admiringly down at Jennifer's feet yesterday.  She and her husband own Harrison's Galleries where we drink lattés and do crosswords almost every day and feel as at home as we do at home.  She agreed to have the photo taken though she wasn't so sure about Bill's assessment of her feet.  The photo is dark, but she liked it that way.  She has three boys, one just graduated from high school, and I might add that she is the youngest, funnest gallery owner you could ever want to meet.  I think her feet express that beautifully!

Jennifer always finds time to talk with us, and yesterday, she told me this "English Bay Seawall" watercolour.. 

and this oil-on-board painting of Chuck Berry are both by Chris Dahl.  Every time I go to the gallery, I come away with a new thought or idea or inspiration. 

We left the gallery and rode our bikes to Jericho Beach after that.  Hm.. I guess that could be sort of fence :)

I looked up at this Canada Goose,

and across the pond at this King Fisher.  They spend a lot of time looking down,

but this one suddenly took off through the grass and didn't return.

In my search to hopefully locate the King Fisher again, I suddenly looked down to see the strangest sight.  

Bill, standing just a few feet to my right, was also looking down.  His view of Mrs. Mallard was equally interesting.  

It occurs to me that Black Jack spends an enormous amount of time looking either up or down.  The perspective of a little dog is something I think about.  One thing for sure, she loves the advantage Bill's height gives her.

There were a kazillion small birds, but all either too far away or hidden by foliage.  This "looking down" photo is the only one I've kept to give you an idea of our view.

I love the twists and curves in the branches here,

and the background to this pigeon, here.

Though we stayed quite a while, and though bird watching is often spectacular at Jericho, it was another sight that really caught our attention yesterday.

Competitive tree climbers were practicing for a competitive event that is coming up soon.

Neither Bill nor I had ever seen anything quite like this. 

My big lens doesn't give you the perspective of just how incredibly high they climbed..

but it does give you something of a feel for the skills necessary to get to the top of..

gigantic trees.

You can learn about upcoming events..

and even arrange to take tree-climbing lessons yourself..

by going to the Climbing Arborist web site.

One thing for sure, we looked..

a lo-o-ong way up..

and these climbers looked..

a lo-o-ong way down.

They were really friendly,

and Bill and I left feeling we had learned something new.. 

and met some great.. 

people too.  Now, if only I had taken notes so that I could tell you their names.  

Sadly, I didn't do that, but a visit to their web site will be well worth your while.

Here's the link one more time, and while you are checking out links, don't forget TexWis and her Good Fences meme and Debbie's Look up, Look Down memes.  Happy Thursday, everyone.  Thanks so much for stopping by!