Boxing Day

Boxing Day is a stat holiday in BC so most people have the day off. It's also the day when stores holds massive Boxing Day Sales which is actually one of the busiest shopping days of the year in Canada.

I grew up in a family that poo-poo'ed the idea of going shopping the day after being spoiled by Christmas loot, so I've never been one to go shopping on Boxing Day. And having once worked in retail on Boxing Day many moons ago, I can't think of any greater hell. I mean, the malls and stores are often crazier on Boxing Day than they are before Christmas - no thanks!

Today we just chilled out at home, eating tourtière and drinking eggnog coffee while playing around with our new toys. I received a new macro lens for Christmas, and so, with the eery fog taking over the city this late afternoon, I had to snap a few preliminary pics! Just testing the waters....

Vancouver under fog

Vancouver under fog, originally uploaded by John Biehler.

Oh blog, I've neglected you so! It's because it's December. It's because I'm working against the clock at work on some major projects (with tight deadlines) and when I get home I'm exhausted or I'm out at some Christmas function or roaming Robson Street or Richmond Centre Christmas shopping. Or I'm at Section 3 or at an all-nighter Guitar Hero party with friends. Usually it's a combination of all 6.

Regardless, I had to share John Biehler's photo of the fog over Vancouver this morning. It was taken from my favourite Vancouver lookout at Cypress Mountain. Just drive your car half way up along Cypress Bowl Rd...

... or live vicariously through Google Street View!


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6:30am this morning

I was just sent this photo (if you know the photographer, please let me know). It was taken at 6:30am this morning from Cypress Mountain overlooking downtown Vancouver. Pretty amazing stuff.

Kits in the fog

It was yet another foggy day in Vancouver. I snapped this photo while passing by Kitsilano Beach Park. The water is right behind the trees, but of course, it's been obscured.

Foghorns

Well, well, well... just heard my first foghorn echoing around downtown!

Fog

This past week, literally for days on end, we've been encased in a perpetual thick fog... very unusual. But it's not just Vancouver, it's the entire Lower Mainland and many parts of the province, such as Kamloops and the Okanagan Valley - we're all hiding beneath this great big carpet of low-lying cloud. You'd think we were trying to emulate San Francisco or something!





I quite like the fog, mind you, so I'm not complaining. It makes everything atmospheric, moody, if not ethereal. And there's a certain quality it adds to the air, making it almost earthy and lush.

I visited my parents and sister out in Steveston last night. As I sat at the kitchen table eating a late dinner, I could hear the fog horns from the boat traffic on the nearby Fraser River, and I realized that it had been at least 5 years since I had last heard fog horns. They're a deep, resonating, and timeless sound. I forgot how much I missed the comfort of listening to distant fog horns at night as I lay in bed falling asleep.

I also quite like my weather widget's terminology when it comes to our foggy days: