Bulbs
Cris and I planted bulbs in the garden 5 or 6 years ago. The daffodils continue to come up in droves, but this year only one tulip bloomed. I remember reading that tulips don’t last for more than a few years, but we had a pretty good run with them.
I have been keeping an eye on the tulip which initially bloomed about 2 weeks ago. I think the weather conditions this year have been almost perfect for the longevity of all of our flowers. About a week ago I noticed that one petal of our tulip started dropping and today it looked as if it was ready to fall off. It offered a perfect view of the important reproductive bits. I was never good at science in school, but the two words “stamen and pistil” come to mind. Am I even close?
Stanley Park
It is grey and cool here today but the past three days have been sunny and pleasant. I’m just as happy with the grey as with the sun. Yesterday we walked around the perimeter of Stanley Park. The water in English Bay was clear and calm and loads of people were out enjoying the day.
Vancouver reminds me of San Francisco with all the water and bridges. / This morning I am going to meet up with Pia Massie whom I met through Kickstarter. Check out her project here. It is really interesting. She lives here and will give me a quick tour of the waterfront.
Crow
Cris and I are in Vancouver. She is here for the AERA conference and I am just tagging along. This is a most remarkable city. I am happy that there are lots of crows about. They seem to have displaced the usual pigeons that often dominate cities. There is water everywhere and lots of seagulls but it is the crows that are the most fun to watch. / The weather has been lovely; lots of sun and in the mid to upper 50s which is perfect for walking in Stanely Park.
I was in London a month ago and the magnolia trees were just starting to bloom. Now they are at the same stage here in Vancouver. Everything is popping out. Flowers are everywhere in the city and I am overwhelmed with how beautiful this place is.
Spring in Bishop’s Park London
Peter and I are off to the Cottage for the match between Fulham and Swansea. He’ll be talking to supporters about his project and we’ll see the game. We will walk through Bishop’s park again to get to the ground. It is a bit rainy this morning and not quite as nice as on Thursday when I took this shot. Spring has come a bit early here this year and the trees are really coming out. Can anyone tell me to what tree these buds belong?
Staff Boat
This is a silly photograph, but I like it because it is the only time I have ever taken a shot of the sky where a seagull and an airplane appear to be the same size. (Lower right corner, but maybe it’s too hard to see on a computer monitor. Oh well.)
Milk Cap
One day when I was in college, I was standing in front of the mailboxes in Ferncliff Hall and dropped a penny. It landed on its edge between my feet and stayed that way. I thought it was really cool and decided to leave it there. I walked by several hours later and it was still in the same place in spite of all the people who had walked by. I thought of it as a good omen; something unusual that I was a part of, and I remember that day as being especially nice. A similar thing happened with an aspirin a few years later and I began to pay attention to the correlation between dropping something that stayed on its edge and having a happy and productive day. Over all these years it has maybe happened 20 or so times with various objects, and I always feel elated. Yesterday morning as I was making tea for Cris and me, I took the cap off the milk and dropped it. It turned out to be a very nice day.
Fox and Herald
I am back home, and will post some UK images over the next few days. It is a bit odd to put up photos after I have returned; I usually have internet connections as I travel. For various reasons on this trip I wasn’t able to get online very much, and when I did, WordPress didn’t seem to want to take the uploaded photos. / John and I were walking back from the pub late one night and this fox was just wandering around the street. It walked into a front garden and the resident cat wasn’t very happy about his visit. John says he sees foxes all the time in the neighborhood and that they are not bothered much by people.
This sweet little Triumph Herald was parked just down the road from where I saw the fox. It has a really nice set of Minilite wheels and some kind of custom exhaust. I always liked these cars. My parent’s friend Polly Seeley had one in Meadville and I distinctly remember her driving up to our house on Cullum Street with the top down.
Cows
I left the house early this morning to drive up to Maine to visit my brother for a few days. The morning light was lovely and when I saw these cows, I pulled over to take a few shots.
Milkweed?
When I was a kid, we called this milkweed. When I googled it, this is what I found. I have always liked it, and I remember taking the pods apart and blowing the white bits into the wind. / Cris skyped from Gaza this morning. She and Kate had absolutely no trouble getting through the border crossing, got settled into their hotel, then went to the university for a few hours of work.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
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