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

In the city of Vancouver, the chance of having a white Christmas is about one in ten. Blogging about the weather is not a hell of a lot more exciting than talking about it. However at least, it gives an opportunity to say something to neighbours on the elevator. Commenting on the weather can even be an ice-breaker with strangers. This is probably more the case in Canada than in places where the weather doesn't vary.

I grew up with memories of snow whereas Jay did not. I cannot remember the very first time I touched snow but Jay can. When we were working in Bahrain we went for a winter trip to Turkey in January of 1990. On that trip I returned to the States for three weeks while Jay stayed in Istanbul. On my way back, we spent an extra week and made use of several free air tickets to Ankara. This picture would have been the very first place Jay had seen snow on the ground.



His second close encounter with the white stuff was also in Turkey. It was a nice, cheap get-a-way from the Gulf. We went several more times from Dubai. The next trip took place in 1995. We traveled quite extensively in Turkey by taking public buses on that trip. I remember staying in a hotel in Bursa. It was really hot in the room as they made use of natural hot springs to heat the place. The picture above could have been taken on top of the mountain at the Uludağ National Park. We didn't ski but rode up on cable cars and walked around the peak.

Now snow is only special if it stays on the ground for about an hour. Any more than that and it loses its appeal!

Labels: Q4_2008, Turkey, weather

We went to Turkey on several occasions. When living in Bahrain it was a close destination served by both Gulf Air and Turkish Airlines.

My video clip of a family making flat bread is on YouTube. It was taken from the back balcony of a little, family-owned guesthouse in the city of Pamukkale. That is not a place known for it bread-making. Rather, it is famous because of the limestone hot springs. Still being able to witness real people is as much of a reason for travel as the sites one visits, don't you think?

I held off mashing-up my first YouTube clip until earlier this spring, and I'm no less hesitant today. I like the idea of my eJournal and images being able to stand alone. I'm old enough to know that things come and go. Broken links to important material will be the scourge of future historians! Alas, most of the kids actually involved in Web 2.0 are probably young enough to still have that mistaken feeling of invincibility.

Labels: camcorder, Q3_2007, Turkey, YouTube

At some point, I know I'll get off this current Flickr kick. I can run through hobbies quickly. For example, I once went on and on for days about GPSing when I first got one of the little gadgets. I don't think I've switched mine on for months now!

Still, I find the combination of a scanner and Flickr very seductive. I realize that I'm building a database of personal pictures. The order of uploading doesn't matter because the beauty is all in the tags. I'll fly off into a tangent about how tags differ from a hierarchical system in some future blog.

In the evening yesterday, I reached into the photo suitcase for just three photos. I figure if I can manage a few per day, then over time, it will all add up. That is the type of thing that financial experts try to impress upon us. You know, if you didn't buy that Starbuck's Mocha Double Double and banked the money, over the course of fifteen years you would have saved enough for your child's Harvard education. Or something like that.



When I was working in Bahrain, I once travelled to the U.S. on Turkish Air. Jay travelled with me as far as Turkey. When I changed planes he stayed there and discovered Istanbul for the first time. When flying back, I stopped too. We spent a week in Istanbul and Ankara before going back to the tiny island in the Gulf.

I love old photos. This picture is of two guys who ran the guest house we stayed at near the St. Sophia. We were drinking apple-flavoured tea. Jay will remember who they were as he remembers everything! I'll have to ask him what their names were.

Labels: Flickr, Q4_2005, scanned, Turkey

I don't know why this winter in BC's Lower Mainland is so different. Some of the snow that fell on January 6th is still on the ground and the temperature's been hovering around the freezing mark for DAYS!

Yesterday, the sky was blue and the sun was reflecting on the white stuff. I neglected to bring my camera to class and missed some great potential photos on the way home. Therefore, for this entry, I thought it was time to raid my picture suitcase for something to scan. Staying on topic, I found this snap taken at Goreme National Park in Turkey.

We went to Turkey on three separate vacations as it was a quick trip from the Middle East and cheap too. I believe this picture was taken during travels in January 1995.

Labels: Q1_2005, scanned, Turkey