12x12: August

I failed and did not make the full twelve shots in August because I thought my roll I started in July was 36 exposures but it was only 24. But here are the six I did get.

Jeff and I drive up to Quesnel every year for his dad's birthday, and this year I even drove some! Nearly two hours, from Williams Lake all the way to Quesnel. These photos are from Skihist, a provincial park we usually stop at for a picnic lunch because the view is incredible and also because good restaurants are few and far between.



Jason, an internet friend/pen pal from Chicago came for a visit. I showed him a couple of good beer and food places and we also drove up to the lookout at Cypress to get a view of the city. Unfortunately the weather wasn't ideal, but the rain & fog created a pretty cool landscape nonetheless.

12x12: May

CedarCreek Winery. Visited quite a few new wineries this year; some excellent, some not very good.


Chris & Jesse outside Summerhill. Who needs wine when you have kids' toys?

This is so west coast: their wine is organic, and aged in a pyramid because they believe the sacred geometry has an effect on it. Their wines WERE delicious, so who am I to say?


Tantalus Winery & Kristina.

Went to two disappointing wineries in a row and debated skipping the last and just calling it a day, but luckily we persevered and it turned out to be one of the best.


Bench Market in Penticton.

12x12: February

At Amanda's in Robert's Creek. She laughed when she saw me taking pictures of these socks; some of them have been there since the summer, when they got so covered in burrs & dirt during some adventure that she hasn't been able to get them clean.

February first — those are some keen cherry blossoms!

Amanda admiring the blossoms; Ian getting some love from the cat.


Amanda remembered that this was my favourite mug to use when she lived at Flatland, so she gave me my morning coffee in it without me even asking.




The front window at Amanda's; the marina in Gibsons, on my way to the ferry home.

It's hard to tell, but this is Natalie at her baby shower. I lost a bunch of photos on this roll due to distractedly opening the camera without winding the film back first, which is why I'm forced to share all these ones with light leaks. Some turned out nice, others were... a little disappointing. But those are the risks of film — I'm just glad I didn't wreck the whole roll.

12x12: January

My aim is to shoot 24 film exposures per month, and share the best twelve of them. Here are January's, though they were all taken on the 31st, when I went to the Sunshine Coast to visit Amanda. Click on any of the photos to view larger.

On the ferry.


Amanda's yard in Roberts Creek.

I don't know if this is true for the other cabins on the property as well, but the tub & shower at Amanda's are outside. For most of the year, solar panels heat the water for the shower, but in the winter there's not enough energy so there is no hot water running out of the tap. She keeps a pot of water on top of the fire for washing dishes, and in the winter warms her bath using the fire pit below it (the tub is built into a slab of rock, and two large rocks can be moved to cover the opening to keep the heat of the fire in). We heated the bathtub while we cooked & ate dinner (using the fire to roast some vegetables wrapped in foil), and put our towels to warm on top of the stove. I also discovered I'm actually pretty good at chopping firewood! I admit I was apprehensive about the idea of having an outdoor bath in the winter, but sitting in the warm tub out under the stars with a cool glass of beer was actually fantastic.




Various spots in Sechelt, where we went for groceries. The buses don't run very often, so while we waited I filled my coat pockets with nice rocks at the beach and we watched the sun set.

18 October 13

14 October 13

Went outside to check what was still doing ok in the garden, and later Sarah had a few people over to see photos & hear stories from her Nepal trip. Afterwards everyone else went to Tap & Barrel but I was in a weird mood where I felt lonely at home but didn't want to go out. Jeff came home and we had dinner together and watched Breaking Bad.

03 October 13

Misty morning and the first Canucks game of the season. We lost.

25 September 13

I asked Jeff if he wanted to meet me for sushi on the Drive and he said sure, so after dropping off some things at the library I headed to the Storm Crow to have a beer while I waited for him. It's a good thing I had a book, because he didn't get there until after 7 — apparently he was taking apart his car to try and fix the leak in the trunk and had trouble getting it back together. So instead of sushi we just stayed there and had soup & burgers.

22 September 13

The National & Frightened Rabbit show at the PNE Amphitheatre happened, and all day it was raining so much and I had anxiety about going to this outdoor concert. (seriously, who schedules this shit for late September?) But it only rained for about half an hour in the middle of the show, and I had a rain poncho on so it was ok, just cold. The show was amazing — both bands were. It was actually lovely the way the sound carries there, so I can see why they chose it over, say, the PNE Forum. I can't decide whether the most amazing part (that wasn't music) was when Matt crowdsurfed and then said he is always reluctant to do it because of how ticklish he is, or when he took the microphone with him mid-song to go over to the beer stand and pour himself a beer.

I went with Jeff and Val and Tamara, and Tams brought us all a piece of cake because she's the best. Also it was super cool to be able to walk home from a show for once. It only took like 10 minutes!

20 August 13

Spent the day at California Adventure, which felt less crowded than the Magic Kingdom the day before. Plus there were more options for older people (both the Matterhorn and Big Thunder Mountain were closed at the other park) and the food is better.
We separated for dinner — Ken & Mom and I had small plates at a wine bar, and the others left the park to go for burgers. We watched the moon rise and after the sun went down we went to stake out our spot for World of Colour. They'd definitely changed some things since I saw it two years ago, and it was amazing. I just wish people would put their videocameras down for a minute and actually enjoy the thing, you know?
See more photos from this day here.

16 August 13

Got my head shaved, checked out some tide pools, ate tacos, played drinking games, admired the sunset.

09 August 13

It was a long drive to Quesnel, but we got an early start and brought our own lunch (which we ate in beautiful Skihist Provincial Park, as seen above). Thus we made excellent time, even with taking all our usual stops. We met Tony & Joanne downtown for Greek food, and before going to the hotel (where we drank wine and watched tv in our underwear) we went down to the footbridge to take some photos of the Fraser, which can be seen here.