Tiptoe Through the Tulips

Load up bikes
drive to Mt.Vernon
ride west
through
fields and fields
of tulips
red
yellow
tulip heads dancing
in the breeze
cycle to LaConner
lunch with the seagulls
back through the fields
home again



More info about the Skagit Tulip Festival: http://www.tulipfestival.org/

Diva, Kayaking ... and Ducks

Diva really wants
to go kayaking
so maybe one day
she will

Today was windy
and cold
and the water
was choppy

but

there were the ducks

so I went
duck hunting
in my kayak

forty years

forty years
since we met
teenagers
a life time ago

through the years
traveling
university
starting careers
building a house
having our kids
Kyle
Scott
a basement full of Polliwogs
and a few puddles
along the path

stepping over
and stepping up
enjoying this life
with family
and friends

and here we are
still having --

fun !


happy anniversary

The Art of Cycling

Jeannette, Francien, Judi and I 

started up the hill 

at Myrta Hayes pottery studio, 

cycled along Alderside Road 

to Gay Torlay's amazing studio, 

headed up the hill to Tammi Pilon's, 

and followed the creek to Maggie White's. 

La Mercante made a delicious lunch 

and then we explored 

around Queen's Street Square, 

visited Alison Philpott 

at Sheila Francis' renovated heritage office, 

and smelled the flowers at Vivio. 

We found Mr.Glenn Atkinson 

at the Perry Roe building, 

stopped in at the old City Hall gallery, 

the little yellow garage studio 

of Martha Melmetis 

and the saw the Spirit Bear sculptures 

of Ross Agro. 

In time for tea and scones 

at The Muse, 

we enjoyed a Korean concert. 

Over the new bridge, 

a stop at the Electronic Arts 

and back to our cars at the Rec Centre.

Port Moody is now the City of the Art of Cycling.

© Colleen MacDonald 2006

A Stellar Visit (Sea Lion . . . that is!)

At the Steller Sea Lion Open Ocean Research Project in Port Moody, Emily Hicks stood right up close to a 200 kg sea lion, watched it stick out its tongue, roll over, and stand tall on the weight scale. After each activity, she rewarded the sea lion with a fish.



Vance Mercer, a researcher and trainer enthusiastically explained that these three enormous sea lions are the first in the world being trained in the open water. Before they were allowed to swim free, Vance and his team had to first earn their trust so they would return to the boat. “We need them to trust us so they will come back. This trust is developed over a long time.” He spends eight hours a day with the sea lions, during training sessions and then socializing and strengthening their bond. The sea lions jump out of their pen and come to him when he calls their names – Sitka, Boni and Hazy.



The sea lions needed to learn how to swim around boats and jump on and off their transport vessel, the ‘Steller Shuttle.’ They are fitted with a harness and a tracking device so the trainers can follow their movements away from the boat. The trainers run 2-3 open ocean sessions, usually in the mornings – to research and reinforce trained behaviours.



The sea lion breathes in a respiratory dome that measures its oxygen consumption, dives to a target light deep in the ocean, then returns to the surface and breathes under the dome so the scientists can measure the amount of carbon dioxide that built up in the lungs during the dive. This allows them to calculate the energy used during the dive.

Set up by the University of British Columbia and the Vancouver Aquarium, the project aims to understand the energy requirements of sea lions in the wild in order to better manage the dwindling populations of Stellar sea lions on the north Pacific coast.


info from http://www.vanaqua.org/aquanew/fullnews.php?id=1728

© Colleen MacDonald 2006