Fish Sandwich Capital of the World

Pic found here.
In Manitoba, we used to make fun of neighboring town, Neepawa, for their Lily Festival, and all the "Lily Capital of the World" signs - but I think Bay Port tops Neepawa!
Bay Port Fish Sandwich Festival

Beban Park Cross Race

Well, I'm only one week late...

The pics are at Flickr.
(For the people that keep saying "I read your blog, but didn't couldn't find any pictures (translated as: "I scrolled down the post and didn't see any pics, and can't be bothered with reading), you have to click on the link to see them)

Last Saturday's race was a great day. The weather was very nice, and we had no rain all day. We rode in jerseys (jersies?), but needed more layers while standing around.
Amy and I arrived a little late, both needing to pee, but having little time to pre-ride the course, so we thought we'd multi-task and ride the course, and stop at the bathroom when we got there. We got lost as the course hadn't been completely marked out. A gentleman pointed us in the right direction, and we went the wrong way around the BMX track, and again got lost, so only did about half the course.
The course was great. It started on a rough road, then did a bit of weaving about on a field, through some trees, around the BMX track, grass, steep "run-up", steep "downhill", off camber grassy bit, up some steps, grass, rough road, spiral "sand pit" (horse ring), grass/puddles/mud, hurdles and grass.
Amy and I rode in the beginner race. I was second, until the second corner where I didn't know which way to go, so braked and followed the others. There was an "interesting" moment on the first lap at the ramp at the beginning of the BMX track:
Me (behind Amy): "Are you going to ride this, Amy?"
Amy: "I don't know."
Me: "We're right behind you."
Amy starts to ride up the slope (with no room to pass) - and stops. I hit her back tire. Someone runs into the back of me. The person behind her stops and gets off. The person behind him shouts "Isn't this ridable?"

Unfortunately, Amy got a flat on the second lap. I didn't realize this, and was stood at the finish line for quite a while waiting for her to finish.
Dave and Derek rode the intermediate race, and were joined by Sean on his first cross race. Dave did really well (though I'm not sure where he placed), Derek broke his chain, and Sean rode the whole race with a smile.


Trevor rode the expert class, and also flatted, and ran the course from the BMX track to the sandpit. Dave rode a second race in the expert class, this time in Everti kit. He looked knackered, but finished.

I can't really remember much else. I should've written this earlier.
However, everyone had heaps of fun throughout the series, and I think Norm and Wendy did an excellent job with organizing the whole thing.
As Amy would say, "GOOD WORK!"

Three of my favourite pictures were ones I took of the reflections in Derek's and Trevor's glasses. It occurred to me afterwards while going through the photos that it would have been soooo cool to have a group of riders reflected in Derek's mud-splattered glasses (in the photo at the top).

Christmas Cactus

In the summer Ed took a cutting from his Christmas Cactus for me.
It started to flower this week.

My Day Off

It was my day off today.
First I went to the police station to report Walkabout Jake.
Then I went to pay my rent.
Then I went to Superstore to get something to put in the kitchen.
Then I went to the bike shop.
Then I went to see Hilary (she wasn't home).
Then I went to see Amy at work.

This one is called the "Siemens Vibe" (seriously, click to enlarge):And it comes in leopard print or blue:Pretending to be busy:
Then I was bored for the rest of the day because I'd (stupidly) left my mountain bike at the bike shop to get a new cassette.
I was going to go to Nanaimo to take Mum her birthday present today on my mountain bike, but the brakes were squealing, and the (new) chain was skipping on the (old) cassette. Dale said the cones in the rear hub were loose and the rear derailleur was bent. A couple of weeks ago I had new brake pads, new chain, and the bottom bracket fixed, which came to $90. Today came to $100. The new bike is getting further away, when it's supposed to be getting closer.
About the new bike - the fun of getting a new bike is going through web reviews, forms, spec sheets and the like, until you decide ona bike. My choices are, as Brian informs me:
2008 Specialized Dolce demo bike with a triple and Sora components (Daisy)
2008 Specialized Dolce with a triple and Sora components, in black with pink flowers and swirls
2008 Specialized Dolce Elite with a triple and Tiagra components, in blue with light blue flowers and swirly writing.

This happened when I bougt Jake. My bike had been stolen and I needed a replacement. The only bikes the shop could get were a Norco CCX and a Kona Jake. And I never liked Jake.
They are the only bikes they've got that will fit me, and Brian says they won't be getting the 09's in for at least two months. Other shops have had them for a month now. I think they've got too many Dolces that they won't be able to get rid of. I'm not buying one.

Warning: Getting Bicycle Tire Stuck in Tracks May Cause Loss Of Hands And Feet

Warning: Getting Bicycle Tire Stuck in Tracks May Cause Loss Of Hands And Feet
Originally uploaded by sea turtle

I love funny road signs.

Jake went for a ride

... on his own while I was at work, and hasn't come back yet. Maybe he was angry about all this talk of replacing him. Maybe now that he's been in the dirt, he's angry about being back on errand running and road duty.

Maybe he got stolen. NAH! Who'd do a thing like that?

Anyway, I need a new bike, but can't really afford one, so I'm probably going to get some cheap wheels for my mountain bike and stick some slicks on. Either 26" wheels, or 700c rims on disc hubs. With cassette and rotors I'd end up at $300 if I did it as cheaply as possible. Is it worth it? If I got 700c wheels I could use them when I get a cross bike (ie. never), but I'd have to have Dale build them up, so they'd be more expensive.
Should I just get a new bike? There is probably a decent bike in my size on clearance still hanging around somewhere. But on top of the cost of the bike is ALL THE LITTLE THING THAT YOU THINK ARE CHEAP - pedals, saddle, tires, saddle bag, tube, multitool, pump, blinky lights, bottle cages, and I've probably forgotten something. Oh yeah, my lightset was on there. That's $300 whether I go new bike or not.

So, minimum costs (approx):
New bike:
Bike: $1200, saddle: $50, tires: $80, pedals: $60, bag: $20, tube and patch kit: $10, multitool: $30, pump: $30, blinkies: $40, cages: $20
That's $1540 (before tax), and I'd probably want a shorter stem and narrower, short reach bars too. I'm looking at $2k with light set.

New wheelset:
XT disc hubs: $120, CXP22 rims: $80, spokes and labour: ?, tires: $80, tube: $10, cassette (x2 since the one on the bike is toast): $80
$370 + spokes and labour + lights = $700

All of this will probably cost more from the bike shop too.
Rent's due by the end of the month, and the only food in my kitchen is packet noodles, 3 crust slices of bread (not quite sure how I got three), milk, broccoli, a packet of Hobnobs, and a strangely shaped potato that I can't eat until I've taken a photo of.

Not really!
Well, that is all I've got in my kitchen (though I forgot about the freezer - there's some frozen vegetables in there, and something that looks like either chicken strips or breaded fish), but only because I end up walking around Superstore and getting to the till with a basket containing a bunch of bananas, raspberry herbal tea and my helmet, and not 'cause I haven't got any money. I've got the money for a new bike, but that would drop my balance below the "magic number", that I like to keep it above.

But I'm too young to have a balance above $1k.
CAAD9 or Allez?

PS - I forgot fenders. The bike shop charged me $60 last time.

Riding with Hilary and Daisy

More pictures at Flickr.

Hilary and I went for a ride to the top of Mount Tzouhalem this afternoon. The weather was perfect, and we had a really good ride.
I really like riding with Hilary, as we ride at the same pace, so neither of us feels like she's holding the other up or anything. And we're as crazy as each other, so it's always a good laugh (have you got it out of your head yet? "Give peace a chance!").
There we loads of cars in the parking lot, and we met several riders and hikers on the trails. We met Bill and Dave (not Hilary's Dave, a different one) at the top of Tea Cup as we were riding up (and they were heading down), and I met Gail in the parking lot, who I haven't seen in ages.
We rode up the usual way, to the leaning log and carried on, but took a wrong turn and tried to ride up Willy's new trail. Then up the fire road to do Field of Dreams, and all the way to the top, where I discovered Hilary is an undercover bird watcher (when she spotted a very rare, speckled, purple breasted, triple winged, green horned eagle) . We looped around back to the fire road, and rode Field of Dreams in the other direction, then the usual Little Dipper, Why, School's Out, Tea Cup, Resurrection, and back up to do Resurrection for some kids.

Distance: 13 km (exactly)
Time: 3 hr (exactly)

More Night Photos

While I was walking (yes, you heard right - more to come on that one) home from work yesterday in the pouring rain, I kept noticing things that looked cool in the night rain, so I put my camera in a Ziploc bag with holes poked for the lens and viewfinder, and went for a walk (it pains me to write that word).
Some more here.

Wednesday's Ride

Yesterday (Wednesday) was a lovely day, weather wise, which is peculiar, as Wednesday is my day off. Except of course, that it wasn't, as I've got Saturday off this week instead (for the cross race at Beban Park, silly!)
I went for a ride at about 7:30pm. I haven't been out on my own much at all in the last few weeks. For a couple of weeks I didn't have a light, but I've had no excuse since then. I thought I'd been discouraged by the cold and rain, but have I? I don't go riding in the rain at night in the winter, as once you get wet it's just too cold, but I don't mind the cold when it's dry (though I could have done with another layer last night!). I think it's Jake. Since I rode the frickin' daisy demo bike, I've realized just how bad Jake is. No matter how well lubed the chain is, there's always a squeak coming from it. Amy's cross bike was so much smoother and faster, and I rode it with knobby tires, and it's way too big. And it's not just that Jake is critically ill and too big, but I have a feeling that, even when new, the ride was terrible. It's a good job I've not got any fillings, as I'm sure they'd be gone by now. I expected the daisy to have a rougher ride because of the skinny tires, but it was so much smoother. It's the frame too, I guess, and Jake has a cheap aluminium frame, built for durability, and it's got a ridiculously heavy and unforgiving steal fork. I swear it must have been designed as a dirt jump fork. It even looks like a BMX fork. And no amount of fiddling has allowed me shift into the big ring since it came back from the bike shop.
So I need a new bike. Not news, I know. I've been complaining about Jake for about 4 months now. I can't afford a new bike yet, probably not until the new year, but I know that once I've got the money I won't be able to decide on a bike. Trawling manufacturer websites, magazine reviews and forums is the fun bit. But it doesn't really help. I'm pretty much limited to Specialized and Cannondale. The bike shop sells Kona, Norco, Specialized and Cannondale.
I don't want a Norco. Their bikes appear heavy and cheaply made. I'm sure their freeride and dirt jump bikes are fine, but Norco road bikes? No thanks. They don't make anything that fits the bill anyway. The CRD 2 is the only Alu road bike they make, and it's got a Shimano 4500 group set.

Kona? Again, a mountain bike company that is trying to "branch out". I've never been keen on Kona. They do seem well specced for the price though. The "Zing" is $1300 CAD, and has a 105 group set, and Mavic Askiums. All the "bits" are cheap and unbranded (or branded "Kona"), but so what. It's probably on the big side, and I don't care for the paint scheme, but the same goes for the Norco.

I wouldn't buy a Cannondale mountain bike. I don't see anything wrong with their road bikes though. I read a comment on a forum about Cannondale's being famous for their poor ride quality, but only the one - he/she is probably a brand snob. So, a Synapse 5 is $1200 US, with a 105 group set, with Shimano RS-10 wheels, which are, apparently, a bit noodley. The CAAD9 5 is $1700 with a similar spec.
The Specialized stuff seems more pricey, but not by much. The Allez Sport is $1300 US, with 105 and CPX22 rims on specialized hubs, which should be very durable, but very heavy. Strangely though, the equivalent "women's" bikes are more expensive, with the Dolce Comp having the same spec, but costing $1650 US. That's a lot of money for a smaller bike with an uglier paint scheme.

Yes, I did notice the Dolce has carbon stays, but for me that's a disadvantage. Cannondale's "feminine" bikes cost the same as their male equivalents. But why buy a girl's bike when I'm going to end up changing the bars and stem anyway? The daisy was probably a touch too small, so a 515-520 mm top tube with the same size bars and stem would be fine, right? And no "floral patterns" (to quote Brian).
I feel obliged to buy from the shop (rather than pick one up from, say, Oak Bay Bikes in Victoria, where everything's cheaper and they have a much bigger selection). I'm always in there picking Brian's brain (that's an anagram!), and Dale's does loads of stuff for me. I wouldn't mind at all paying for labour for stuff I need doing on a bike bought somewhere else, but I'd feel ... disloyal. But it's Will's bike shop, not Brian's or Dale's or Derek's or Matt's, and I've no loyalty towards Will.
When I mentioned a new bike last Sunday, Glenda immediately said I should get an Everti. If I had the budget for a $1600 frame, that would be the only frame worth considering (I even checked Kurt's website, and they do the Odyssey cross frame stock in my size!). Titanium would be perfect: durable, excellent ride quality, long life, light weight, sexy ...

Anyway, back to my Wednesday ride. I rode along Richard's trail, Westholm Road (I think), back towards Crofton. The main intention of this ride was to take photos of the Crofton Mill, so I pulled over and got my tripod and camera out, only to realize i couldn't put the two together as I'd forgotten the quick release bracket. While I was stood there an alarm started to go off. A couple of trucks pulled up to a hopper with the flashing red light on top. They just stood around, so I rode on, only having been able to get crap, grainy, underexposed pictures at a high ISO. I passed a fire engine coming in the opposite direction. A guy in a soft-topped muscle car (it was dark - I couldn't tel which one) with licence plate "LOVE BG" sped past me, only to brake in font of me and pull over 5m in front of me. Why couldn't he pull over behind me? It's not like he didn't see the fire engine coming? (That's the one thing that bothers me most about the whole drivers verses riders thing - drivers passing on the left and turning right immediately in front. Honestly, it can't be more that a 3 second wait at most. It's dangerous too, especially in the rain when I can't stop.) When I rode past the fire station in Crofton, I saw about 5 men in their fire-fighting kit, ready to go out if they got called.
I did get a bit cold with two layers on my body. It's very chilly at night now, and it's a challenge to keep my fingers from freezing. Jake felt heavy up the hills, and I was still spinning going down them. I never put my light on full beam - I didn't go fast enough to warrant it.

Distance: 34.3 km
Time: 1:44 (slow poke!)

Haha

Originally uploaded by Wallula Junction

I wonder if the person who put the sign on there intended it to be funny?

Riding Sunday

Sundays are the best riding days. Everybody's off work, and I usually get invited on at least one ride.
Today there was a cyclocross ride in the morning, which was arranged by Kurt. When I got to Coffee on the Moon, Kevin, Mike, Derek and Glenda were there. We waited, but noone else showed up. Kevin phoned Kurt - he was sick and not coming. Davee and Trevor were supposed to be coming, but nothing. No Amy either. I wasn't going to go, being the only slow person, but Glenda assured me that she was slow.
We headed off - then decided we should go the other way. We rode up Jubilee Street and along Cowichan Lake Road. We set off behind Prevost on some fire roads, with a bit of wide single track, heading towards the Chemainus River. We headed east for a while, then Glenda and I headed back and took a north fork to Chemainus River Provincial Park (I think), then retraced our steps (erm... pedals?) back.


I got home at about 12:30, and switched bikes, had a cup of tea, and then rode to Brian and Julia's as I'd been invited to ride on Maple Mountain that afternoon. Michel and Julia stayed with Eric, Ellie and Mallory, while Brad, Patricia, Bill, Brian and I went for a ride. The trails start in Brad's and Patricia's back yard (literally). We rode some singletrack around the bottom of the mountain, and had a really good ride. I broke my chain, which Brian fixed exceptionally fast (thanks, Brian!). Maple mountain doesn't get much traffic, so the trails are pretty rough, and very rocky and have some pretty steep climbs, so we ended up doing quite a bit of hiking, which really made my legs ache. I'm not used to walking! My legs would get tired while walking/pushing, and feel fine as soon as I got back on the bike. It was really nice to ride some of the trails there though.
Pics at Flickr

Good Rides!

Distance: 32.3 km
Time: 2:11

Distance: 8.7 km
Time: 2:30

Sunny Day

Today the sun is nice and bright and the sky is blue, not one cloud. That ticks me off.
Sunday was miserable, when I was off work. Monday was like today - perfect weather, but I didn't realize because I was at work in a triangle of dust and old air, without a window. I was off work Tuesday, which was horribe, but I put on my waterproof pants and went out to take some photos, but they seem to be "corrupted" and unreadable. Wednesday was horrible, and I was off work. I wanted to ride to Victoria, but it was pouring down on and off all day, and I ended up getting nothing done all day. I'm working today, and it's lovely.
I'm not impressed.

I'm sure it's somebody else's day off.
I'm sure he/she will be spending the day inside watching TV.

Electronic Banking Conspiracy Theory

I love Wikipedia. I don't take everything on there as truth, because it's editable (and written) by the public. I love the links though.
Sometime about two days ago I read something online that I wasn't familiar with, so opened up a new tab in my browser and copied and pasted it into my Wikipedia search bar. I don't remember what it was, but in any Wikipedia article are links to every other name, place, event, or whatever, that's mentioned. When I come across anything I want to read about, I right click on it, and click "Open in new tab". Of course, this is recursive - for each page opened, I will open several more pages while reading it.
I never close my browser (and if I do have to close it I save the tab list, so I can pick up where I left off when re-opening it), so here I am several days later with 32 tabs open (not at all uncommon), 18 of which are Wikipedia pages. I've got everything here from "Ku Klux Klan", "Exploding Whales", "Harold Shipman", "Pixar", and "List of Conspiracy Theories".

I love conspiracy theories. (I loved The Matrix, but that's another post). In high school I wrote a paper about the "Paul is Dead" theory. A friend and I came up with some crazy ones, including one about Princess Diana not being dead at all, but living on an hidden island in the middle of a lake in Manchester. There are some lesser known ones like Watchtower XVII, Tril, cheating by Deep Blue, AIDS being artificial, and the common ones, such as the JFK assassination, Global Warming, September 11th Attacks, Peak Oil, Area 51, faked moon landings and the New World Order.

The Electronic Banking Conspiracy theory is an extension of the New World Order, in which a group of people are planning to "take over the world", and control all world affairs by controlling banking. They plan to make money entirely virtual (all just numbers stored electronically, and assumingly volatiley), and then shut the electricity off. Apparently this process began with the Renaissance.
There are several criticisms of this theory. I mean you'd think they could come up with a quicker way. Seven hundred years is a lot of waiting. Seriously though, what's to stop a bank "loosing" our numbers. I've read Google has eight-times redundancy. Do banks keep good backups? Where (geographically) is the data stored? What if someone found out the server locations and destroyed them? What now?

Has anyone made a movie about this?

More Mountain Biking

... with Julia after work on Thursday 6th (and 13th) and with JuliaBrianMicheleColin and Christine on Sunday afternoon (the pics are blue because I forgot to reset the white balance on the camera).

On Thursday (6th) it had been raining and was very foggy. I had left my light at Amy's, so Brian ws v ery kind and leant me one. We rode up the fire road, and came down Little Dipper, Why Be a Roadie and School's Out, by which time my battery was running low, so thought it best we come down the road. Thanks for coming (and lending me a light, and for giving me a ride) Julia!

On Sunday afternoon we rode up M1 (I think) and Why Be a Roadie, then down Show Time, Fluid and Resurection, then Brian and I rode up Lower De-Analyzer, M1, the Old M/L, then did Cake Walk, Why Be a Roadie, School's Out, Toxic Tea Cup and Resurection.

On Thursday (13th) I borrowed a light again, and Julia and I rode up the fire road to the middle of Show Time, then wound our way down the singletrack.

This post is late because I must have hit "Save Draft" instead of "Publish Post", so it didn't get posted.

First Impressions

I went on a ride with Julia on Monday. We rode along Bell McKinnon and back along Richard's trail. Julia was saying that she thinks I'm a creative person, and that she didn't expect me to be, since my job really isn't.

"What do you do?" is one of them questions that follows "Is that an Australian accent?" and the conversation that proceeds. I suppose people ask that question (I ask it too) to make polite conversation. It's not personal, and it tells you a lot about a person.
Or does it? A job is something you do to make money. Knowing what a person does tells you approximately how much money they make. Whether they like their job or not probably has more to do with the people they work with/for.
When people hear the word "computer" or "tech" they think of geeks with greasy hair and thick glasses sat in front of desks in their parents' basements. Or do they just think boring? Compututers are boring - to people that aren't into them, just like listening to anyone jabber on about something you're not into is boring. But computer stuff seems to be different. I suppose one reason is that computers are ONLY about the technical details. I suppose if you're into computers, you are a person with technical aptitudes. Highschool computer science class was probably where "technical aptitude" (or more evidently, the lack of it) became aparent. Anyone can pass any course at the highschool level in the Canadian school system. If you're less inteligent or your brain isn't geared towards the subject, you will have to put in more time, but it's comletely doable. The line between intelligent and less intelligent was wiggly, and blurred by lazy ones and those who wanted to be clever. Effort and intelligence made up the marks, but not in computer science.
It became evident at the introduction of loop structures. With enough help, studying and practise, everyone made it through the IF statement, but people either got loops or they didn't. Computer science isn't something you can learn, no matter how much you practice and study. It isn't about the syntax, it was all about logic. Those with the logic will tell you computer science classes are the fly courses, guarenteed A's. Those without will tell you they were the hardest courses they ever took, and no doubt never got recurssion. The concept of calling a routine from within itself was baffling, and no amount of diagrams scribbled on the overhead projector or analogies would help. Of those that got it, half wondered why they'd never though of doing that before, the other half already had and not realized it. I was one of these - I'd used recurssion a year before to traverse a file structure without thinking about it.
But I don't get the artsy stuff. I can't see what makes something a work of art, while something else that I like just as much is just "good", or maybe not even that. In photography class I understood the ryule of thirds and can successfully put it in to practiise, and focal points, and silver rectangles, but they're just the technicalities. The reason the Mona Lisa is a work of art cannot be a compostition rule, or technical ability. Is it philosophy? Psycology? Isn't everything psycology?
I don't get it. I can't learn it. I don't get art - I'm technical (is it possible to be both?). So, does that mean I'm not creative?
Creative [adj.] - marked by the ability to create
As first year engineers we were required to get a C or above in Engineering Design. This course was a favourite. We worked in "teams" (as the word group implied several indivividuals making a unit, which was somehow not as good as a team) to complete various design tasks. The first was to design on paper a fense post remover, and then move around the room commenting on other teams' design. Each week's 3 hour class had a different open-ended problem to solve, from reducing the risk/effect of forest fires to designing an elevator controller on a bread board. The last project of the term was the "egg mover" project. A raw egg was placed on the floor by the prof, and without touching the egg, we had to get it over a "hurdle" (about like the ones in cyclocross), and we got more points for the closer it came to rest on the circle on the ground 2 meters the other side on the plank. There were catapults, fabric slings attached to the ceiling, robotic vehicles, leaky water counterweights, mouse trap cars that hit bumpers that moved scissors that cut strings that released pendullums, and in the briefing someone asked about the use of corrosive acid. It was like a giant game of Mouse Trap. During this last class, a group of art students passed through (no idea what they were doing on that side of campus), and gave us sideways looks in their Calvin Klein jeans and low cut shirts. They were cool - we had acne.
Coolness impedes creativity.
Why is creativity associated with art?

Distance: 21.9 km
Time: 1:08

They're all good rides

... aren't they? Well, nearly all - I've had one or two bad ones, but none I regret going on (note to self: write post about this).

I was going to title this post "Good Ride".
I went mountain biking with Julia and Patricia yesterday on "The Tzou". It was raining on and off all morning, and windy, but was really nice up on the mountain. Them trees really do provide shelter.
It started raining as soon as we got back to the "water tower" (which isn't there any more, Patricia). I rode along the trail that goes off from the far end of the parking lot (where Dead Balls ends up) to the Providence Farm trail. It's really cool riding along on a carpet of massive yellow leaves, but they cover up all the roots and rocks, so you've got no idea what you're riding on. The roots are getting slippery with this rain, as Julia demonstrated, and I got splattered up with mud. I started the ride with a jacket over my jersey, but soon took it off, and didn't get cold.

It was "Double Cross" this weekend. Trevor, Dave, Derek and Amy went, but I had to work Saturday, and had no way of getting up there on Sunday, so I'm a bit jelous of them, but I got a cool mountain ridfe instead, so there (is there a smiley for sticking out a tongue?)!

With Patricia and Julia:
Distance: 6.8 km, Time: 1:28

Down to Providence Farm:
Distance: 3.7 km, Time: 31 mins (took a wrong turn and had to walk down some steep slick rock covered in slimey leaves!)

Hallowe'en

More pics at Flikr.
I got my tripod on Thursday. Couldn't be better timing, so I went out straight after work to take photos. My batteries ran out 10 minutes later. I went home for fresh ones, and picked up where I left off. I saw loads of policemen - one stopped to ask me what I was up to.
I ended up at Hilary's, and consequently didn't get home until about 11:30. After taking photos of Ben, I followed her around with my camera while she was working. Because it was dark, I had the camera on the tripod, and was doing exposures between 1/20 and 6 second exposures using the two second timer to eliminate movement from pressing the "shutter" (what are we supposed to call it?) button. You'd think this would be fine for taking pictures of mugs, but it's "interesting" when they're being packed up for the next day's market. Spot the difference:
Hilary and I had an interesting conversation about Hallowe'en. She hates it. I do in principle. Just another excuse for retailers to sell us stuff. Decorations, costumes, candy, orange clothing, pencils with pumpkins on the end, cakes with orange food colouring in and plastic spiders on top. Bah, Humbug? I get the dressing up. I think that's fun. Although Hallowe'en wasn't a big deal in England (but kind of got merged into Guy Faulk's Night) we got dressed up for the village fete and gala in the summer and rode on floats in the parade. The way I remember it though, was that your mum always came up with the costume. There were no store-bought pumpkin outfits. You decided what you wanted to be: "the tin man from the Wizard of Oz", "a sea anemone", "Noddy", "a Viking", "a starfish", or in my case: "an alien", and your mum had to fabricate a costume from card board, old tights, tin foil, and net curtains. For my alien I had a green sweatsuit, tinsel wig, and suspended from each arm were three stockings, stuffed, with bands of fake fur left over from a lion costume or something, to imitate multiple sets of arms. I'm not sure what the wig was for. The other time of year for dressing up was the Christmas nativity, which saw everyone in bed sheet tunics and tea towels on their heads because, apparently, that is what people from Nazareth wore. There were variations on this costume: shepherds would get canes if they were considered well enough behaved, Mary would wear a blue bed sheet with a white tea towel, wise men would get a curtain (usually 70's style) for a robe, a self-made cardboard crown with sequins and glitter on, and a tea bag tin covered in foil. Sometimes bed sheet tunics would be replaced with dressing gowns (house coats for you Canadians) if the main hall was a bit drafty. The angels would have silver tinsel halos and white frocks, some with wings. The costume my mum made that got used as an all purpose angel/fairy/snowflake costume has lace curtain wings that were attached to the underside of the arms and the body, which was fine until I had to put my arms vertically above my head for the snowflake dance in Babushka on year.
The only reason (that I can see) for buying a costume off the shelf is for "cuteness", and laziness. Where's the fun and creativity in that?
Why can't everyone make costumes, get dressed up, mess around and have a party without the consumerism?

I Met Ben

... last night at Hilary's.
Hilary and Dave picked up Ben from a family in Cobble Hill about a week ago. Amy and Sean have Ben's sister, Zoe, who I haven't yet met. There are eight weeks old.

More pics on Flikr. The pictures look funny because he's got his eyes closed. It was dark though, so the only way I could get a non-blurry photo is of him asleep.