Category Archives: Art Inspiring

Friday, 04 September, 2015 –

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Friday, September 4th, 2015 -( 19˚C / 66˚F with “Scattered Clouds” @ 12:45 pm )- on Mike Piazza’s Birthday.

[ No, I’m not a baseball groupie, I’m a Virgo with silly memory retention on a lot of birthdays. -shrug- ]

Woman at a table enjoying a beautiful view of the St John River.

This is the view from the deck at the Lighthouse on the Green as of September 4th, 2015.

We recently sent a link from here to a restaurant mentioned way back when we began this blog. Then, looking at what we had started and noticing that we hadn’t posted much lately, with the possibility that we hadn’t posted anything at all since a storm named ‘Arthur’ had ravaged the area, in what? July of 2014? – um, we’ve been thinkin’ – that maybe we should take this blog/service a little more seriously.

Another view of the river from the deck.

I found it remarkable that when I was sitting there, looking out at the river, my imagination zoomed in and ‘cropped-out’ a lot of details this photo included. I was paying attention to the river and a little bit of green on both banks, with the hills to the north in the background. That rates a, “Hmmmm -” -jim-

We made two trips downtown today. Early in the day we paid a visit to Service Canada which is east of the Green where tourists can be treated by ‘Redcoats’ marching around with period rifles and listen to the re-enactors firing off loud volleys with ‘blank shots’. Most of the times I’ve heard anyone fire an old cap and ball flintlock type rifle it’s sounded like a cap pistol. Lately I’ve been shocked by how loud they can be when several at once are fired off by re-enactors in a semi-enclosed area. The Lighthouse on the Green is also across the street, east of the green, directly behind the Service Canada building. There’s at least one other building in between.

In the early evening we went back to enjoy ice cream and take in the view. The Lighthouse on the Green will close for the season at 6 pm on next Monday, Labour Day. We think that’s a shame. But we’ve never asked anybody if the cooks, waiters and waitresses are comprised solely of students from area schools – and we never pried into whether or not they might make enough money to justify opening earlier in the season – They now open for business after school is out for the summer – or close a bit later in the autumn.

Closeup of sculpted fish spitting streams of water into a fountain.

We thought this fountain had a very European feel to it. This is a closeup.

I should take more notes about where I shoot photographs – yes, I can go back and note where various photos that I’ve published here were taken, and then edit this later, for now this is “Somewhere on the North side of Queen Street in Fredericton.”

Fountain in Fredericton

This is the same fountain as above, with most of it visible. If I wanted to be a bit more professional here I would go back and reshoot this photo earlier in the afternoon, or wait for a cloudy day when the contrast between sunlight and shadow wouldn’t be so obvious.

Cathi looking at the fountain.

And here we have ‘my favourite spouse’ looking at the fountain with the play of sunlight and shadow in the background.

— I never thought of myself as any sort of Chamber of Commerce spokes person or as the eyes and ears of any Tourist Bureau. And frankly, the voice in my head as I sub-verbalize while composing the text here, being careful to keep this friendly and positive, scares me a little. I don’t like believing I can be ‘annoyingly optimistic’ or sound like I’ve just had my brain dipped in some kind of warm syrup, or taken a course in ‘mindless advocacy’.

— Fredericton attracts artists and thinkers. There are also politicians here, the provincial government and legislature hangs out in buildings on Queen Street. I haven’t posted any photos of Fredericton’s homeless citizens. I haven’t taken any photos of Fredericton’s homeless citizens. Last year there was a minor confrontation between young women high school students and the local school board. A local blogger accused one local policeman of going a bit farther than he should and taking himself a bit too seriously and possibly exceeding his authority and/or crossing a line between professionalism and ‘pushing people around without just cause’.

— So, not everyone in Fredericton is 100% angelic. And I can still love the place while exercising my poetic license and laughing to myself about the grammar police who would find this paragraph quite annoying. The Anal-Retentive among the grammar police have taken lately to looking down their noses at anyone who begins a sentence with the word ‘so’. And they would probably rather shoot me on sight than let me get away with beginning a sentence with ‘And’.  – insert winking faced sticker here –

~~~~~ Jim

 

 

Movie Theatres In Fredericton (& X-Men – Days Of Future Past)

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Wednesday, 09 July, 2014. 2:33 am (insanely early in the morning, or late at night?)

There is only one “Cineplex Cinemas” in Fredericton. It’s in the Regent Mall. I’m not sure whether there are 10 theatres inside the ‘Cineplex’, or maybe the #10 is their address inside the mall?

Anyway, I went there for I think the third time I went to a cinema in Fredericton last evening. I went to see “X-Men / Days of Future Past” and I’m glad that I got to see it before it goes away.

On Tuesdays you can see a movie for $5.00 cdn (five Canadian dollars plus tax comes out to more like $6.99 Cdn$) That’s pretty good. If you come in for a late show (this one started at 10:40 pm, the only time they’re showing this movie lately) There’s a sign at the ticket desk saying “Box Office is Closed. You can get your tickets at an atm or at the refreshment counter. 4 ATM terminals and they were all busy, so I went to the refreshment counter. Yes you can pay there (sigh of relief). The young woman who waited on me was trying to do too many things at once (not her fault) and didn’t press the right space on her screen at the right time or the right pressure, I stared at a blank screen on the card reader for almost a full minute before I asked for her help. She was friendly and courteous and explained what had happened and pushed the right button or space at the right pressure. I had to pull my debit card out and re-insert it, but we got through the process and everything was fine and I got to the theatre inside the complex in time to miss a few seconds of previews which didn’t bother me at all.

The movie, The X-Men / Days of Future Past, was better than I’d expected. I think I started reading X-Men Comic books when they were ten or fifteen cents each. And thought it would be really cool to have laser beam eyes. I’m not the most critical movie goer. And I’m more than a little bit critical about Formulaic Adrenaline Rush plots. But I like this genre. And they did a good job. And the message the movie left me with was hopeful (hopeful for the future of the human race).

I doubt that the statements I just made would spoil anything for anyone. I left the theatre thinking about my science fiction / fantasy novels (which I haven’t finished writing) – thinking I should finish them and publish them somewhere,  even if I just publish them for free on the web somewhere. I think I have a positive message here and I think I can deliver it in a positive manner without boring any adrenaline junkies to death.

Besides, two of my favourite Canadian Actresses (Ellen Page and Anna Paquin) were on the screen. (Anna wasn’t there for more than a cameo, but Ellen played a major part in this movie’s plot. Our ‘Tiny Canadian’ who, as Kitty Pryde, can walk through walls, has developed into quite a powerful character in the X-Men world, she can send people’s consciousness back through time, in this case to try to undo a web of events that is killing not just mutants, but anyone who might have a mutant baby in a very dark future. This movie’s plot moves too quickly to give the Actress a chance to show off her real talent, but, if the ‘real world’ doesn’t implode in the next few months, or years, the not all that bright people who make decisions in Hollywood  just might get something right and knock us out.) ((Don’t tell her I said that, she’s a Pisces and Pisces-es are stereotypically afraid that people who matter to them might expect too much from them. Of course, no generality is ever true in all cases…))

Yeah, so there is a theatre complex in Fredericton, and it shows movies for $5.00 + tax on Tuesdays, and I would recommend the movie I saw. (I don’t know if the 3-D theatres are that inepensive on Tuesdays, probably not….) (but they do have one or two 3-D capable theatres inside the complex).

~~~Yay~~

~~~~~Jim

The Snow (finally) Went Away – On Mothers’ Day

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Thursday, May 15, 2014. 10˚C / 50˚F @ 8:00 am.

Photo of yard with stone retaining wall, trees, a bit of snow and a deer.

This was taken on Monday, May 5th, The snow near the stone wall there was the last bit to hang on. (There is a deer in the photo, can you spot it between the white birch on the far left and the first pine tree from the left side?)

The last traces of snow in our yard finally melted on Mothers’ Day (Sunday, May 11th).

 

Several Deer in a line atop a small hill.

Committee Meeting, May 5th, 2014

I think I’ve spotted little nubs of antlers on a couple heads as these guys continue to come around looking for oats and bread and decent foraging stuff.

~~~~~Jim

Minor (?) Flooding on the Saint John River at Fredericton

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Wednesday, 16 April, 2014. It was +2˚C / +37˚F @ 6:45 this morning.

We had some precipitation. Started out mostly rain with streaks of white here and there. At around 10:00 am we had what looked like a determined snow storm taking place. By 11:00 am the precipitation had pretty much blown away.

At about noon, I went to the boat launch area in the park at the south end of Gibson Street and shot the following (I hope the video loads in here okay).

Seagulls, flooded park, walking trail, snow, cars on the road.

Flooded Park, Fredericton, Northside, at the foot of Gibson Street. April 16th, 2014.

Nope, the video did not load. This is a still from the video.

~~~~~Jim

Wicked Weather – Hungry Deer

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Sunday, March 30th, 2014.

Snow, Ice Pellets, Freezing Rain all day.

But…

Deer eating a piece of bread.

Hungry Deer come this close to get something to eat. Photo by Cathi Harris.

The above photo was shot through a porch window and a screen at a little after 6:30 pm. The nearest deer, the one grabbing something to eat, was about 10 feet from the woman with the camera.

For most of my life, the best view of wild deer was something like the next photo here:

Evergreens with deer behind them.

You have to look closely to see the deer through the trees. Photo by Cathi Harris.

The day we closed on our house on the north side we were greeted by a deer casually munching on a neighbour’s tree across the street, ‘in broad daylight’ at about 8:30 am.

We’ve heard reports that this year’s ‘extended winter’ has hurt the province’s deer herds.

Maybe that almost explains why we’ve seen so many deer so close to our window, looking for food, hungry enough to throw caution to the winds?

Window showing deer outside.

You can see how foggy the window was and how close the deer actually came to the porch. They got jumpy when we moved and the chair creaked. Photo by Cathi Harris.

The above is a shot of the deer searching for food last night, and includes our porch window and window sill, with a salt lamp a photo, a jar and a couple other things.

One thing we’ve noticed this winter, is that a very white deer comes around with this herd. There is also a partially white deer that one neighbour believes might be the child of the all white deer. We have had a heck of a time trying to get a decent photo of the white deer, who blends in too nicely with snowy backgrounds. And, the deer rarely come around in groups larger than four individuals at a time. We have had hints that more of them might be lurking back in the trees. Prey animals need to be cautious to survive, but look at this:

Several deer walking atop a slight ridge in the snow.

The white deer is closer and easier to photograph than ever before. Orange and white lights in the photo are indoor lights reflected in the porch window. Photo by Cathi Harris.

A larger portion of the herd came out in the freezing rain and ice pellets this evening than I’ve ever seen.

 

Deer under the branches of an evergreen.

This photo shows quite a few deer clustered beneath a tree during a freezing rain event. Photo by Cathi Harris.

Like I said, more of the herd was visible tonight than ever before.

And I should finish with one more photo, all photos taken by Cathi Harris.

Deer under tree and on the ridge.

The odd lights in the photo are reflections in the porch window. Photo by Cathi Harris.

We’ve come to appreciate this herd of deer and often jump for our cameras when they’re near. After a tough day of digging our snow blower out of an inch of ice in the shed, and fighting snow and ice to clear the driveway more than once, This view of the deer was a welcome highlight.

—Even if we’re supposed to get more freezing rain, ice pellets and snow tomorrow.

~~~~~ Jim

National Novel Writing Month

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November 2nd, 2013:

November is NaNoWriMo month.

Press Start
Graphic Link to NaNoWriMo Start Page.

I might not get a lot of blogging done if I’ll be chugging out at least 1600 words a day for all of November writing a nano-novel.

But then again it’s taken me 2 & 1/2 hours per night to write almost 2,500 words per night.

& because this is happening while Mercury is Retrograde, I didn’t start a brand spankin new novel, I picked one up I’d started a couple years ago and continued on with it. So far so good, the test will come on November 10th when mercury stops and then begins to move forward again, lets see if this novel can hold my interest when that happens.

 

~~~~~Jim

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First Nations Presence in Fredericton to Protect Everybody’s Water and Land

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Wednesday, 30 October, 2013.

First Nations Teepees and Long House near the Provincial Legislature Buildings.

New Brunswick‘s First Nations People want you to know they’re not here to protest or cause any trouble. They’re here because they’re committed to protecting Mother Earth and everybody’s drinking water. Fracking hurts everybody.

We saw them carry their sacred fire across the walking bridge, we saw them set up their traditional long house near the New Brunswick Provincial Legislature building. But we haven’t seen much of them in the nightly news since.

The people who believe they’ve been told they represent us and have the power to make decisions for us want the First Nations to go away and let them rape the province for fun and profit.

Nobody in power wants to remember that the current Conservative Provincial Government was elected because the previous government did not comply with New Brunswick’s citizens’ wishes.

Mother Earth is not happy.

Believe me, you do not want to be an enemy of Mother Earth.

& According to Pastor Lindsey Williams in his book “The Energy Non-Crisis“, Oil companies are pumping enough natural gas back into the ground in Alaska to ‘Light up the whole East Coast of the USA Free for the next 3 years‘. Why? Because they want to keep the price of oil and gas way above what it should be. Go watch the Movies “Gasland” and “Gasland II”. Don’t wait until your kitchen sink bursts into flame to realize we’re being sold a line of…. [doo doo] by greedy men who would be really happy if they could kill most of us off so they’d be better able to enslave the survivors. (Oops, sorry, I went political on you.)

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Early Morning Fog

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Thursday, 24 October, 2013.

Fog on the water near Sunrise.

You can see a layer of fog clinging to the St John River here, looking South / West from the junction of Gibson Street and Union Street. (taken with a Samsung Galaxy III ‘Smart Phone’)

Cars slowly crossing bridge in Early Morning Traffic.

This is a line of cars backed up in the right hand lane, southbound, on the Westmorland Bridge.

Clouds and fog in Fredericton

This photograph was taken at ten minutes to 8 on the south side of the river, heading into the sunrise.

The above two photographs aren’t quite identical, you might have to look closely to notice the fog on the river above.

My life partner (can’t get used to calling her my ‘wife’) is still discovering new things to love about Fredericton, almost every day. Scenery that natives would take for granted appears magically spectacular to both of us. I’ve lived near beaches before and driving near beaches and some rivers, like this one, you can see that it’s never quite the same scene twice.

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Finally got a decent photo of the footbridge

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Monday, 21 October, 2013.

Footbridge, backlighted by early morning sunlight.

The lighting was just right to get a decent photograph of the footbridge (which used to be a railroad bridge) in Fredericton.

I took the above with my usual Olympus digital camera. (Which I bought for half price at a Shoppers Drug Mart as a Boxing Day Special.) This was at about 8:30 this morning (I get to appreciate our changing scenery in different lighting as I’ve been driving my favourite person back and forth to work while our second vehicle is awaiting parts at one of our two local Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep dealers.)

South side of Fredericton beyond St John River.

This is a bit to the right of the bridge, looking at the Down Town section of Fredericton, where the light was almost as friendly as it was to the bridge.

One thing I’ve noticed in the last couple days, is some white ‘stripes’ on the river, parallel to the south shore. I have no idea what might cause that, but it is intriguing. (And no, you can’t see those here.)