Sunday, October 6, 2013

In Search for Fall Colour, gave up and went to the Beach

Here on the Pacific Coast we do not get the colours that other parts of the Country experience.  We do not get the vibrant reds of the turning leaves


We have many tree lined streets near us and here is an example.  I live in the heart of the City and it is a major undertaking to get out to the open road so I thought I would drive around town to find some colour for you


Finally I manage to find a teeny bit of colour


and every so often you find a larger splash of colour


Nope,   only green here under the weeping willow tree


You are not allowed to feed the ducks, but that does not stop some . . .



they must be hungry as they are fighting for the scraps


Oh Oh, look over there,  some yellow amongst the green


The fir trees are beginning to look like skeletons


and this lily pond is looking a bit cold in the shadow of the setting sun.   Earlier I went to the beach.  It was nearly deserted


It appears that they are setting up for a wedding here and because I had my camera with me, I was asked if I was the photographer.    Didn't make sense to me as I left my shoes in the car


Lots of brown, fallen leaves


I am not alone in a desire to walk barefooted in the sand


During the summer,  Jericho Beach is one of our busiest beaches in the area.  You are able to see the city in the background, on the horizon.   Today there are only a handful of people here and it was easy to find parking


I spent a couple of hours here just relaxing and enjoying a day of freedom





18 comments:

  1. It's nice that you found a little bit of fall color to share, I really liked that one yellow tree amongst all that green, it's much like that here too.

    It looks cold on that beach but your video made my heart ache just a little with homesickness when I was watching you walk along the waters edge .. I do miss the beach.

    Those windsurfers looked like they were working hard for not a lot of joy ... not much wind around that day then? :)

    Thanks for sharing Bob.

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    1. Brenda:

      I was just thinking that most of you do not have easy access to any beach. Especially a beach with long stretches of Sand. There is something soothing about hearing the waves rush onto the shore and then there is the smell of the salt water, the barking of the seagulls. We are so lucky to be surrounded by water here in Vancouver that we just take it as being normal. Not much wind that day, the waters were fairly calm

      The day started a bit drizzly but later it started to clear up and then the sun's warmth could be felt. There is nothing so liberating as shedding your shoes for a couple of hours.

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  2. Bob, your videos are so good. They make me want to invest in a decent camera for video and some editing software.

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    1. David:

      Your words are so flattering . . . I could do better if I wanted to set up a tripod but I like to "hand Hold" my camera. It's less intrusive and easier. I do have a dedicated video camcorder but I only use it if I need the long Zoom but when I use it I generally attach it to a mono-pod. I use it when I record musicians. I do have video on my youtube channel tagged "TM55" (I think)

      Maybe I should save my comments instead for a short blog post and offer my opinions

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  3. Bob, both of us post "Weeping Willow" on the same day....one might believe that we're involved with horticulture in some meaningful way. I agree with David about your videos. My hunch is that by next riding season I will have spent some money regardless of my quest for downsizing.

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    1. Coop:

      great minds must think alike. I don't imagine there are many Weeping Willows in WI ? but I am probably wrong. As mentioned to David above, I could take more care and use a tripod, it would make a big difference when panning.

      I usually render in 720p as only the more expensive laptops have the 1080p display and I choose a lower bitrate to reduce file size. Bitrate is to resolution as Megapixel is to jpgs. I generally only choose cameras which can produce MTS files, or Sony calls them MT2 as they wish to be different. The codec is more space efficient and the colours are more vibrant than H.264 but requires more computing power to render. I use an i7 4 core laptop with a 2 gig video card, and windows 7, 64 bit.

      perhaps more can be revealed on a future blog post if anyone is interested

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  4. You managed to find a few bits of color Bob.

    Corvallis is the same. It seems only the maples have some color in them right now. The bits of red we do see are pretty though.

    Put your shoes back on. Seeing your bare feet in the cold sand is making my feet cold. :-)

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    1. Trobairitz:

      Not much colour here. Even north to Merritt there are only Yellows, not much red. For red you have to drive to Leavenworth, WA which we did one year.

      Every year I have to walk in the sand at the end of the barefoot season. My feet get dirty and even though I wash them many times a day I can't get the imbedded dirt out of my skin. Sand is an abrasive so I find that if I just walk down at the beach for a few hours it gets them clean and smooth.

      It is not really that cold or maybe I am used to it. There is nothing like the freedom of walking along the shore of the beach, feeling and hearing the sounds of the waves rushing to shore. Wearing shoes wouldn't feel the same

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  5. Nice bits of color, especially the lone yellow-orange tree in amongst the stubborn ones that are insisting that Summer is still here.

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    1. Richard:

      that's the word I was looking for "stubborn". Most of our Maples haven't turned yet. Have to wait for our first frost, then perhaps I can get a bit more colour. That lone tree makes me think of Charlie Brown's christmas tree, still hanging in there

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  6. Deciduous trees are not really native along the west coast. I really like the photos of the lone red tree.

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    1. Steve:

      Having seen the bright colours of the trees from other bloggers in the East, I wanted to show our lack of colour. Not much to see around here except for a few isolated clumps of yellow and a bit of fading reds.

      Part 2 of Road Pickle seems to be a more relaxed way to live. Less pressure to ride and also more time to absorb where you are. Being in the same place for a few weeks may make it easier for people to find and meet up with you

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  7. Not too bad, Bob. Better than what we get here, where leaves just turn brown and fall off. Well, I will continue looking, too.
    However, I really enjoyed your video, thank you. It makes my homesickness to BC somewhat bearable.

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    1. Sonja:

      Most of the time our leaves just turn brown and fall off too. It's just that we have some Maple Trees mixed in with our evergreens which give a splash of colour.

      I didn't bring my Canon otherwise I could have gotten a bit closer as I have longer lenses . I can't imagine living somewhere without the ocean nearby. We don't realize what a special place this is as we consider it normal. It's not until you move away that you realize what you miss.

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  8. Well heck, isn't the Canadian flag sporting that big Maple Leaf? None of those trees in your area? What about further north perhaps.....I bet the Sea to Sky Highway might have fall colors perhaps?

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    1. Dom:

      here in BC we do not get the colour of Fall like in the East. We only have a few maple around town and in the Chilcotin we have lots of Birch which only turn yellow. Most of our trees stay green all year or brown when the leaves die and drop off. Most of our Maple trees are in Ontario or Quebec, they are famous for maple syrup

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  9. It doesn't even look too cold except I suppose it must be as you went by car.

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    1. Mr Conchscooter:

      NO it's not too cold to ride. I can ride down to about 38°F but I had to wear full riding gear all summer and even in the 100°F heat of Wyoming, S Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and had heat all the way to Portland ME. Then on my way home along I-80 and I-50 I had the heat of CO, UT, NV and CA so I was just tired of having to wear full riding gear all the time.

      Now I am just relaxing wearing my summer outfit before winter arrives. It was only 4°c this morning but I had to go to a meeting so I didn't ride my bike either. If I lived in KW it would have been a no-brainer . . .

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