Blues (and pinks and oranges) on Monday

There is tragedy in the news today, as there is every day, but it is striking particularly deep as I ponder senseless deaths after a day and a night of terror in a café in Sydney, Australia.  My heart goes out to the victims and their loved ones.  I am grateful that the majority of hostages survived, though I know their lives are forever changed by the experience.

All the more reason to hold our dear ones close and remind them as often as we can how much we love them.  And, all the more reason to extend a hand in respectful friendship to those whose lives touch ours.  I can think of no other way to make a difference.  As sad as I felt about the events of the siege, the hash tag "I'll ride with you" spreading throughout Sydney was an encouraging response to assure support for those wearing religious attire and perhaps fearing a backlash.

Celebrating a colour, as Smiling Sally does in her Blue Monday meme is one way we can find a common thread with people we would otherwise never know.  Every avenue of communication opened is cause for hope.  I didn't make the deadline for posts this week, but thank you, Sally, for inspiring my blue-themed photos here.

I saved this photo of a tree at the Festival of Trees (see previous post), visited on Saturday. 

I loved the rich hues of its blue ribbons outlined in gold .

When we left the festival, Bill pointed out a little blue in the sky.  In the photo, it is very faint, 

but the light brought out blue shades and reflections in the high-rises.

Across the street, we saw a huge (blue) ad at Vancouver's Art Gallery.  The Forbidden City is an exhibit I'd like to see.  We have until January 11th.  Another small way we can come to understand our world and the history of its inhabitants a little bit better.  

I have enjoyed the tiles in the fountain outside the gallery before, but hadn't looked..

at them for a while. They are still very beautiful, though in need of some maintenance, as you will see if you look around the edges in the above photo.

The next day (Sunday), there were still some pale blues in the sky as we rode our bikes to English Bay, though the sun was already casting a pink glow in the latish afternoon.

I noticed that these ducks sat in the midst of some blue swirls and loved the glistening beads of water under the bill of the one on the left.

Muted, powdery blues brushed across a pink base as the sun slipped behind the mountains.

Black Jack loves this spot (okay, truthfully, she loves pretty much everywhere she goes) and expects Bill to take her along the rocky shore.

Below is the Aquabus waiting area and a ferry coming in.  You can see under the Burrard Bridge at the top of the photo.  A dog is making its way down to False Creek.

I love these ferries with their reasonable fares, frequent service and friendly staff.

This one headed into English Bay and then over to Maritime Museum in Vanier Park.

I leave the blue theme here, but will return to it for the last two photos. The sky's glow,

a happy dog with a magnificent white-tipped tail,

running towards me..

with an "ain't life grand?" expression,

and Bill's explorations with Black Jack past a recently erected..

mystery-art-piece were all providing lots of photography fun.

Bill had to save Black Jack from herself..

a couple of times, but she took it well :)

As soon as he put her down, 

she was once more dragging him back.. 

to the rocks.

We were finally able to distract her from the "hunt" for some great run-time along the beach.

She was close to flying at times, 

ears askew but focus otherwise pretty straight ahead.

My gaze took in the Vanier Park view.. 

and fell on the eagle nest across the water.  Then, I spotted a teeny-tiny eagle..

near the top of the right side of the tree. 

I should have used my 500 mm lens for this but there wasn't time.  I'm guessing this may have been a juvenile, perhaps born this past summer.

We left the beach and rode to Harrison Galleries after this. These last two blue-related photos are of H.M.Saffer's paintings.  This one is called Forest Magic ll.  The blue is actually bluer in person :)

This one is called Venice lll.  The detail in his work reflects what I imagine to be hours and hours of work.  A musician, an economist, a chef..  his biography is almost as fascinating to me as his paintings.  My camera seemed to pick up the bright shades first, but this still gives quite a good idea, I think, of the blues between the oranges.  That's it for today.  Many thanks for stopping by!