Some days . . .

I don't always take photos at work, not my main job, but some times a day turns interesting.

I was ahead of things on Wednesday and went down to the river to see if there were any bald eagles about on Wednesday. Sure enough I saw a juvenile near the Vedder Bridge tearing apart a salmon. I tried to take a photo but it took off. I saw where it went and I went after it. Took a bunch of shots that would otherwise have been cool, but because it was a young and mottled sort of looking bird, not so much. And then an adult came cruising in and while the focus on the white-headed eagle isn't totally sharp, I though this was a cool shot because the screeching juvenile's beak is pretty sharp.

After this I headed back to the office. I drove all the way back and approached the left turn on to Trethewey when I saw sirens in the rearview mirror. Four cop cars when flying past me and, well, I carried on to see where they were going all while calling the office to hear what was happening on the scanner.

Turns out another sketchy building in the sketchy section of downtown Chilliwack caught fire. Lots of people, some of which might have had jobs, all of which had animals were out on the streets. The reunion between one woman and her dog not captured here was a great shot but I just missed it. Well, I got it, but focus was soft. So many "almost" shots in this job . . .

Then later I got a text from someone I know about a "photo-op" and I followed up. We rarely go below zero in Chilliwack let alone enough below to freeze up a slough this solid. Sure enough a few hockey players were enthusiastically playing hockey on the Gravel Slough off Camp River Road. Best of all was when I heard two of the three guys saying to the third that he should probably go since it was 3:55. And I thought the slough off to the east might have been less sturdily frozen but this young guy took off and skated and skated and skated. A very cool and rare image here in the Fraser Valley.

from the air

I took a helicopter trip to the north end of Harrison Lake recently to get a tour of a few "run-of-river" Independent Power Projects. I put "run-of-river" in quotations marks because they are in no way run-of-river. The water is diverted to a pipe, which is run under ground for between one and four kilometres to a power station after which it is connected back with the stream.

The projects are lauded by the provincial Liberal government who love IPPs because of the "I". Independent, i.e. private, i.e. not public. The Libs want everything to be privatized and power is a fabulous first step.

The projects are slammed by critics that say, well, lots. The run-of-river B.S. is a start, but there have also been many criticisms of illegal bridge-building and road-making and begging of forgiveness. Privatizing power is another knock on this program as profits in the hands of shareholders naturally ends up as a taxpayers' expense. The fact that Cloudworks—the company behind these six projects and four more they will easily get government support to create—invited up some of us local media means that they think seeing them first hand would force us to give our heads a shake and say, "Golly, how could we criticize this!"

Brilliant idea and it probably worked. And on the other hand, to those opposed to the projects I would ask, "What's your plan for electricity?" If you live in a yurt, kill and gather your own food, then good on you. For the rest of us who enjoy lights and stoves and clean laundry I say, change the routine or pick the lesser of many evils.

Anyway, enough pontificating, these are three pics we didn't run in the paper from that flight. One is of a jet boat cruising into the Harrison River on the flight to the IPPs. One is of a waterfall at the base of what is left of Trethewey Creek before it meets up with the water diverted for the IPP. And the other is just a view of Harrison Mills.

pjh

Soaring Sto:lo

I was at the opening of the Sto:lo Resource Centre in Chilliwack today and had a tour of what is a very cool building, LEED gold certified and because of their climate-controlled rooms is (or will have?) class A museum status.

We ignore the First Nations history of our region, province and country too frequently, but a facility like this has the potential of really educating the clueless among us about the culture and traditions of those people that were here hundreds of years before us.

I particularly love how historically worked up we all get about anything that happened or relates to the 19th century. In other words, 200 years ago at the most.

Sto:lo archeologist Dave Schaepe couldn't show me, but told me about, a cedar-weaved basket they have in water, in the refrigerator that is 1,800 years old.

Repeat: 1,800 years old.

Talk about being here first.

Fish on

OK, likely going to have too many fish and fishing photos up here since I/we am/are constantly walking down on the Rotary Trail on the Vedder River and right now the anglers are pulling 'em out like crazy.

I feel like this fish is trying to tell me something: "help me" or maybe "not again!"

pjh

Out-takes from Saturday shooting

We take turns shooting on Saturdays since, well, lots of stuff happens on the weekend. It was my turn Oct. 2 and there was tons going on: Joanne speaking at the breastfeeding challenge, men's rugby, kids football, fire hall open house, WHL tailgate party with bands, a pet blessing and then hockey.

I think I shot over 1,000 pics, which is really embarrassing actually because it sounds like I just woke up and put my finger on the shutter all over town.

Here are a few shots that didn't make it into the paper.

Needless to say, this one was from the world breastfeeding challenge. This guy was one of four men there (including me) and was a little too excited to show off his baby's classy T-shirt.



Now the pet blessing is one of the more odd annual events in Chilliwack. Some people take it a little too seriously, but I suppose it's all good Jesus-filled fun.

Here we can see a number of attendees singing a hymn (or whatever they sing in church).



Rugby is always good to shoot as it is outside, full of easily predictable action and I can get close.

And watching a rugby match up close and personal makes it clear these guys are tougher than any hockey or football players.

But not all of them necessarily have the most athletic physiques.








Anglers have made the move from the Fraser River now that the sockeye run is past over to the Vedder/Chilliwack as the coho and . . . whatever else are running. I took a few pics of fish coming out of the water then I saw this guy and his tattoo.

There appears to be at least a couple of letters hidden by his shirt sleeve. So fill in the blank "__ite Pride"

Maybe he's a stoneworker and it says "Granite Pride"?

pjh

Photo of the moment: Focus and blur

The Semoya Dance Group — some local Sto:lo traditional dancers — perform on the red carpet at the gala opening of the new Chilliwack Cultural Centre last Saturday.

I had a moment where I decided there was something about this photo and the circumstances that surrounded its taking that told a story of some type: our white, Western culture all dressed up gazing at the blurred, unclear First Nations culture; or maybe something worse, the traditional, ceremonial dance ignored by some of "us" in the photo and observed by others as a zoo-like spectacle worthy of picture-taking (yours truly included).

But it's really just a picture of native dancers expressing their culture in front of a non-native cultural centre.

Photo of the moment

I'm taking photos nearly every day but this one isn't new.

This will be the photo of the "moment" from now on rather than the "week" since I'll likely post photos more or less frequently than every seven days. (Or should I redefine the week?)



And this is not a recent pic. I took this on March 19 on Granville Street in Vancouver while the Paralympics were on.

Nothing particularly Olympic about this photo but there is something here that tells the story of the Vancouver in my mind: an office building with a snowy mountain in the background, a cyclist in full form, and a busker doing his thing while some watch and others don't.

Photo of the week

Time to revive this blog with a photo or two a week from my walks with Nadège, from random sights and scenes (and signs) around Chilliwack and beyond, and even maybe one or two from work that doesn't make it to print. I feel I often get otherwise interesting but journalistically useless photos sometimes and this seems like a good place to dump 'em.



This is from an abandoned building on the old CFB Chilliwack. The full sign says CME Military Museum, but is long vacant. The new museum is about 100 metres away on the site.

pjh

F&ck Loblaws

The accident was horrific as seven high school students and the wife of the driver were killed in New Brunswick two years ago.

But the nightmare that killed eight people wasn't enough for Loblaws executives who decided to sue the driver of the bus because the nightmare accident happened to involve a Loblaws truck.

"Atlantic Wholesalers and Loblaws, divisions of the parent Ontario-based company Loblaw, were seeking $40,667.86 in damages. In addition, they wanted $847.50 for cleaning up, which included emptying fuel tanks and towing the transport truck from the crash site."

On Dec. 22 they filed the statement of claim against Wayne Lord and Bathurst Van Inc. but had second thoughts when they realized, hmm, not so cool.

But I don't think the company should get off the hook so easily and I've sent corporate an e-mail and will not go to our local Superstore any time soon. At least that's the plan.

I admit, boycotts are tedious and difficult, but Loblaws needs a kick in the shins at the least.