december 22

A festive view of the East End rail yards, on a clear, cold evening.

december 17

My little christmas tree looked so cute in all the snow tonight.

december 12

Another view from my office - a (rare) December sunset.

december 3

I wandered through 1000 Parker St at this year's Culture Crawl, and was inspired all over again to pull out my camera - even if it was just the point n shoot.

november 27

My favourite from a photo shoot this past weekend, I caught this moment while the rest of the family were getting ready for the formal shots.

november 11

I'm a big fan of the free stitching software I downloaded. It does all the work for you. I love that.

november 10

By the time we got around to buying a pumpkin for Halloween, they were all sold out.

No problem - we just carved some of the tiny ones instead. Perfect for tealights.

Boo!

november 9

Lougheed Highway under construction on a foggy November morning

november 5

On one of the last perfect fall days, I went for a walk along the Alouette River in Maple Ridge.

october 22

This is the view from my desk. I saw this fellow yesterday dangling from the building across the way yesterday, swaying to and fro on a single line and harness, washing windows with just a bucket and squeegee.

october 21

East-side autumn: brilliant fall leaves on Grant St, just east of Nanaimo.

september 28

autumn on Denman Street

september 22

A perfect fall day in my Eastside garden.

september 18

Starting again, with a stitched panorama of Coal Harbour from Stanley Park, taken on a particularly gorgeous early September evening.

may 4

Our nightly sunset view from Ben's verandah

may 3

Panther was gruff when we first met him, but once we won him over, he had the sweetest temperament - and quite a charming smile.

may 2

Bela was the blonde bombshell of the litter.

may 1

At the end of the April photos, I was going to switch back from Sulawesi to home - but I just couldn't resist another little visit with my Indonesian pups.

Ginger, the littlest one, tagged along one afternoon as I wandered the gardens.

april 30

Ben's verandah view, daytime.

april 29

The night view from Benja's verandah.

Coconut trees sway under drifting clouds and a million stars; Tasik Ria shines bright as Manado twinkles in the distance.

april 28

Another colourful boat tucked away on the beach at Bunaken.

april 27

Mt Klabat, north of Manado, drifting in clouds.

april 26

Bunaken village, when you approach from Manado, has a spectacular backdrop. The Christian church stands out against the volcano on Manado Tua island, just beyond Bunaken.

april 25

We spent a few days on Bunaken Island, which has spectacular diving. As much as I liked the diving, I liked the boats even more. Wooden boats painted bright green and blue, speeding across clear turquoise water.

april 24

The way almost everyone gets around in Manado is by Microlet. Hundreds of tiny blue vans troll along set routes, horns and kickin' sound systems blaring, picking up and dropping off passengers at will (good luck getting the driver to hear your "stop, please!")

Microlets are privately owned, and most are personalized to some degree. Decals adorn rear windows and windshields alike, and I made a game of capturing the different slogans.

Manado is primarily Christian, with a church for every 300 people, so most decals slogans are unabashedly religious: Holy Spirit, Katholik Boys, Nazareth, Halleluyah, Blessings, Gloria, God is Love, Blessed Child.

Edgier microlets sported sayings like Stoner, Bad Boys, Destroyer Team, No Fear, Hanter (?), Forever Young, and my personal favourite - Blaze of Glory.

april 23

I'm not sure what this flower was, but there were lots growing in the garden. I love how lush and vibrant tropical flowers are.

april 22

"Camboja" closeup - this one with the macro option on the Digital Elph.

april 21

Luscious orange blossoms looked good enough to eat.

april 20

Maya's garden had the most exquisite tropical flowers. This one is called "Camboja" (like Cambodia) in the local Manadoese dialect. I shot this with my close-up filters, just as the sun came back out after a torrential downpour.

april 19

Crates of palm wine in Tomohon market, Minahasa.

My favourite Sulawesi drink is made with a strong distilled version of the palm wine, called Cap Tikus (Chap Teekoos - I'm told it means "Kiss from a Mouse").

Pour some Cap Tikus over ice, squeeze in lots of fresh lime (there are wonderful orange-green limes in North Sulawesi), and mix with lots of palm sugar - a Minahasan Margarita!

It's a little like drinking Mezcal, in Mexico. No worm - but you get that little extra kick.

april 18

ikan merah

(bahasa Indonesia for red fish)

april 17

Small boats buy fish from the big boats, and ferry them back to the market.

april 16

In the harbour at Manado, near the market at 5:30 am.

april 15

Rice and kecap manis (soy sauce).

There are dozens of varieties of rice for sale, and prices vary widely.

The price of rice has tripled since January. The black rice is 14,000 rupiah per kg - about 80 cents per pound.

april 14

He's laughing because I pointed at the peppers, pointed at myself, and mimed that they made me cry.

Hot peppers are a staple in every Indonesian dish we tried - including the breakfast porridge. They make habaneros look like candy. These ones nearly burnt a hole right through my eyes.

april 13

Thousands and thousands of small dried fish.

april 12

These adorable little girls were thrilled to see their photo.

april 11

I didn't expect to find potatoes in a market in Indonesia.

april 10

I wasn't sure how my camera would be received in the market. I needn't have worried. Unfailingly, as soon as I pulled it out, vendors animatedly volunteered friends and neighbours for a "potret".

This rather dignified flower-seller was quietly pleased as he prepared himself for a pose.

april 9

Playing cards at the market. Thousands of rupiah were passed around after this hand.

april 8

Market stalls are mostly all lit by dim flourescent lights. It makes hand-held shooting tricky, but not impossible if you hold your breath. It also makes for some very cool light quality.

april 7

Beauty products at Tanawangko market, Sulawesi

april 6

When you get tired of all those pesky bugs and rats, the local market has a few options to deal with them.

april 5

Some Sulawesi bugs are made of pure gold.

april 4

Who needs guard dogs when you have a spider the size of a dinner plate living at the bottom of the driveway?

I wish I had something to show the scale of how big this guy really is, but I truly am too wimpy to get my hand that close to the biggest spider I've ever seen.

april 3

Geckos - or "cicaks" [chee-chucks] - are everywhere after dark. Every night, 20 or 30 geckos gathered on the walls and ceilings of the terrace, feasting on jungle bugs.

I caught this little fella scooting across our bedroom floor one afternoon. He was barely the size of my finger.

april 2

The jungle was the loudest place I've ever been. Crickets like this little green fella chirped incessantly.

april 1

Bugs in Sulawesi are big and a little scary.

This is a Logong. He hung out for quite some time on my filter, making the rounds on the edge.

Those things on the end of his legs look to be rather sharp claws. I never did quite get up the nerve to let him crawl onto my hand, although I did pet his horns a little bit.