Thursday, December 23, 2010

Sky Over The Serpentine River

Merry Xmass and Happy Holidays!
I love British Columbia's sky, the clouds can say so much and help make daydreaming an inspirational experience. I walk a lot, and walks to me are not only phisical activity, but more so a meditative, spiritual adventure. My best walks are in areas not much advertised and popular, hidden places with hidden beauties are the most exciting. My favorite outdoor activity is looking for such places.
The Serpentine River is a lazy quiet river that seams to appear out of nowhere through the fields of rural Lower Mainland, south of Surrey. You can easily drive by not giving it a second look, not even the first.

But there is the catch. You got to stop and look. You got to feel it and walk it. The quiet lazy water is hardly moving. It radiates peace. I can feel it's energy, so soothing. It reminds me on the rivers in Panonian Plains in the Serbian north.

Of course, Nikkie is always happy to explore.

The little unassuming park is nestled somewhere between Surrey and White Rock, in an undefined area of fields where most drivers never look around or even bother to stop.

Some fishing enthusiast and walkers in the area obviously know about it, but the place is extremely quiet, a heaven for meditation and slow spiritual excercise.

The sky was the only thing that was giving the passion to the undisturbed waters. Or, maybe the river was mirroring her own hidden passions?

A little island, lovingly shaped by the force of meditation? There is no water movement, how can the shape be so artistic?

A friend was telling me about Saskatchewan and how borring it is there in comparison to the BC nature. I would love to see that because I think it could be as dramatic as BC with a picture like this!

To me this is a diferent kind of spectacular! It's sublime, refined, not-in-your-face, yet as powerful as it can be!

I'm carying so many songs in my head and my hart walking through the spaces like this. I feel humbled, and not worthy of even giving it a try to put into a melody. No melody can match the Nature's Harmony...

At the moments like this I wish I can go back in time when life was so much slower, take my palette, paints, and my guitar and spend hours and hours breathing and capturing the beauty...

I can't but think of Flaman's masters of the Renessainse. There is something of that time captured in the spirit of this place...


... Inhale...


... Exhale...

... Sing...

... And like so many times before, the nature never stops surprising you here in BC. In one hour of our walk the sky changed from gray to happy.

The Sun started to peak through the clouds, but only just a little, only slow, in perfect unison with the scenery...

Nikkie is posing :"Look at me!"


The dry grass is starting to wake up. The dull yellow is becoming alive again! Like an ouverture to a crescendo!

The many little pockets of overflown water are showing up here and there...

It's actually 6 feet deep!


And then - the finale! I can't get enough of the texture of grass here. It always reminds me on a perfect arrangement around a strong melody!

It feels like another day has started after we turned around a corner...

Bright and happy, brilliant, alive!

There is something so special about West Coast colours...

The clouds are becoming cheerful, giving in to the power of light...

I will be quiet...

I bow...


... and Nikkie is pooped. Mike is giving her the clean up before she jumps onto the back seat and crashes! Enough of this philosophical crap. I need to sleep!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Magic After The First Snow




Well, the snow was there for the night and a bit of the next day. Nikkie had fun. But that was it. One more good thing about Vancouver is the snow never stays long, and there is never much of it...
 My neighborhood before I got home from work that night...

The night was quiet...

In the morning it started melting and soon it was all gone.

By noon there was no trace of it...
The next day was sunny again. Those days are something to experiance. It's simply magic. You got to experiance it to understand it. After the gloomy rainy days, or snowy like that night and the next day...

The sun is just so much brighter and clearer!

The clouds in contrast are more dramatic and picturesque...

 Love inhaling it all. Visually too...


Nikkie is always more playfull on days like this...


The colours so hidden under the grayness come alive in full force!

And Nikkie can't stop exploring...


There is so much passion in the least expected places...

The dramatic clouds always give me the needed boost of creativity...

Ahhh....

Even the discharging station comes alive!

I can't get enough of the winter green, reds and the blue gray skies!