Hello on a good Blue Monday

Well, Smiling Sally's Blue Monday has come around again, right on schedule, and that's a good thing :)  Many thanks to her for encouraging all of us to celebrate one of my very favourite colours.  

I saved a few photos from our visit to Queen Elizabeth Park last week.  The ground had turned blue under..

 this Hydrangea bush, and I thought that I had never seen a sight quite like it.

 I'm not sure of the name of these..

 but I'm pretty sure this flower, reported by Bill (in his blue hat) to have little aroma,

 is Blue Thistle.

I'm wondering if this one, taken just a couple of days ago at Olympic Village Park, might be Great Blue Lobelia, but as always, any corrections or suggestions are welcome.

As for yesterday's adventures, we put our bikes on the aquabus again, heading over to Granville Island to enjoy this busker with blue accents in his instrument and an old-world folk style that was very pleasing. 

 The seagulls had a good view of potential food scraps from this blue awning..

 that happened to have blue safety-netting in the background.

I couldn't resist taking a photo of this gentleman walking away from us.  What do you suppose might be his favourite colour?

 We biked from the aquabus terminal..

passed the Crystal Ark, its blue walls peeking from..

behind the willow trees.

This photo shows you the two aquabus styles.  Only the larger one accommodates bikes.  

We stopped by the pond where the seagulls congregate at bath time.  I sat on a bench behind these trees, gazing over False Creek and waiting for Bill to lock up the bikes.  He took a bit longer than expected so I decided to track him down and found a very happy camper.  He had met a young man with a one-gear bike with high handlebars and big tires.  Bill asked him a few questions about his bike, and before he knew it, the fellow said, "Why don't you take it for a ride?"  When I found them, he had finished his ride, but he was so exhilarated, I had to ask him to recreate the moment for my camera.

I'm not sure which one of us was happier :)

Later that day, we talked again about biking and Bill's youth came flooding back.  He remembered the freedom of riding no hands, braking controlled by pedals..

and body weight guiding the bike in the right direction.  

I sensed a touch of envy and a touch of, "You go, fella.." in both the jogger..

and the young man sitting on the bench.  That adventure was the highlight of my day,  and I'd say of Bill's as well.  My thanks goes out to the young man who took time to talk and was willing to trust a stranger with his bike.

Before getting back on our own bikes, we took a few minutes to watch the seagulls bathing.  If you've been wondering about the colour blue, there's a fellow with one (?) blue stocking in the first cycling photo and Bill's hat will fit the bill :) for the other ones.  Oh.. and yes, I do realize he's not wearing his helmet but sometimes, you just gotta' go for the right image :)
But, getting back to the seagulls, I noticed a ring of blue around them..

as they splashed and scrubbed..

and even in the photo below, there are blue bits near the top right.

I loved their reflections..

and watched this one..

until s/he was satisfied that every single feather was squeaky clean.

I tried a reflection shot with focus done manually..

before we left the pond.  The range of colours was rich and tiny bits of blue showed up too.

I went outside around 10:00 p.m. or so to record the super moon.  The stadium roof.. 

was lit up in blue (how did they know about Smiling Sally?)..

and the moon was impressive, although not a spec of blue appeared in it, and the very term "super moon" is more social media than science-based phenomena.  There is another one expected on September 9th, and as this article says, though the super aspect is pretty much an illusion, "... go out and enjoy the moon anyway.  It's still a wonderful thing."  That's it for today.  Thanks for visiting.  Do take a moment to stop by Sally's meme and don't forget to do something that's just for you..  something fun..  something that will make your pulse quicken.  Maybe you could even take a picture and tell me all about it.  I'd love that!