A Collection of Daily Wisdom by Dennis Sylvester Hurd since September 2003.

Merry

Christmas!

If there's anyone on the planet still wishing for a Google Mail account, I'd be pleased to send an invitation as a gift. I've got a dozen, so just drop me a line with the request.



I thought this deserved a picture too. You've got to give 'em some sort of an award. While, some TV channels are showing reruns of silly kid's programs, CityTV has four complete hours of a burning log. During the 6:00 to 10:00 am log show, there's instrumental Christmas music too. Occasionally, a poker does come along and it stirs things up a bit. I really didn't need all four hours as a background to open my presents though.

Labels: Christmas, Google

I don't own a snow shovel.

While watching the news last night, we saw people skidding all over the roads and camping in airport lounges. That was happening to the poor slobs who live back east. So, this is the time when Vancouverites get all puffed up and snotty about the fact they could've gone golfing.

The sun was bright during the morning of the 23rd. In the late afternoon, I brought along my camera when heading up to the library. Click the photo to see an enlarged copy. This is Tipperary Park near the New Westminster City Hall. In the past, this blog has had previous photos of my closest park.

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Of course, there's a lot of snow if one wishes to drive 100 kilometers.

North

East

But right here next to the water ... well there's a 1 in 10 chance of having
snow on the ground on Christmas day, but it just ain't gonna happen this year.

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Labels: camera, Christmas, flora and fauna, New Westminster, weather

Posted by: Dennis S Hurd / 8:03 AM 0 comments

I do not maintain a Christmas card list. It seems plain silly to have to visit a postal outlet in this day and age. Furthermore, in an apparent attempt to ensure that people give up on them completely, Canada Post is raising rates effective January 17.

Everything else seems to have an e-version, so why not Christmas cards? I will admit it's a bit difficult to hang this as part of the festive, yuletide decor.

Please click the small screen shot to load a new web page. This will act as this year's Christmas card. I took the background photo when we caught a bus to visit Calgary, AB last December. The snow on the Rocky Mountains is real, yet the falling flakes were added electronically. If you open the page, and are not running the Firefox browser, you'll discover what I mean.

P.S. Apologies are offered to those who generally receive our Christmas CD. I did cobble together some at the last minute but never sent them off.

Labels: Alberta, Christmas

The weather here is seldom as wintery as the latitude would suggest but a fireplace is one fixture that does fit right in with the season.



The whole hearth thing is a quaint, cultural concoction. Closer to home, Madison Avenue and Hallmark surely did a fine job of brainwashing, didn't they? Sleigh bells and snowmen? The majority of places and people in the world do not fit into the traditional Chistmas motif to which some aspire. Excuse me while I go to deck the halls . . .

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

Let's say that, by now, you've had your fill of colored lights, cutesy reindeer, and warm glowing fireplaces. Well, then do I have a DVD for you! It's black and white, raw, and uncompromising. How powerful and disquieting even after all these years! It made me quite uncomfortable.

I was just seven years old when this first hit the silver screen. Needless to say, I can hardly remember talk of it. Yet its title is lore and it is an absolute necessity for film buffs to view. You'll either love it or really hate it.

Labels: movies, stars

When I've time off, I find myself able to catch up on my interest in classic film. I'm still in a bit of an Alfred Hitchcock phase.

I watched, Rope and the DVD quality is great! The characters, now dead, seem so real that I am sure I'll be able to meet them at the mall later this week. Or perhaps they're in a highrise in Vancouver's West End?

This was Hitchcock's first colour film and I really don't know how I can describe its appearance. 'Delicious' - - - is the closest adjective I can think of. (This might come from my years teaching English as a foreign language.) Special care was taken to orchestrate the overall colour composition of each frame unlike later films which seem to leave it to the fate of reality.

Actually, the most unusual thing about the film is the fact that such as small number of shots were taken.

Labels: movies

I have had a large picture sitting in my web directory for at least five years. It goes mostly unseen as the only link is from a seldom-viewed page. I can provide access so you needn't rent a small plane.

You can simply click the small picture to see an aerial photograph of British Columbia's Lower Mainland. A new browser window will open but the 396 K (1024 X 768) picture may take a few moments to load. You'll probably need to scroll around to see the complete view! Downtown Vancouver is at the top, center section of the image. The Fraser River runs along the bottom of the photo. You will find the New Westminster Quay on the lower, left-hand side, this apartment near the bottom center, and the edge of the SkyTrain Bridge on the lower right.

Labels: Fraser River, New Westminster, Quay, transit

I had a message in response to yesterday's letter to my father. Although there were a number of differences between 1986 and the present time, it commented on the size of my waistline. Thanks for your two cents, Don! I thought I'd try to see what I looked like when I wore size-34 pants. Here's a scanned image from Taif at the same time as that letter:

Labels: Don, Saudi Arabia