A beach, blossoming trees, a sunny day - what more could anyone ask? Really.

Isn't it sad when the landscaping budget runs out too soon?

It doesn't snow here in Vancouver all that often, so I've got to get the shots in while I can.

Ah, Vancouver. Two inches of snow and it's.....yes!.....a Snow Day! School's closed! Of course, this doesn't have that large an impact on me, given that I'm not actually teaching this term. Damn!

You know what movie just keeps getting better every time you watch it? "Lost in Translation". Three times, now (gad - maybe four!), and it's been better every time. And, trust me, it started out pretty darn good the first time.

Plato's view of an oak tree.

It strikes me that the most exciting phase of the current U.S. presidential race is going to prove to be the choosing of Hill or Barack. Once that's done, the actual election of a new U.S. president will be a foregone conclusion - whichever one of them wins the Democrat's nomination will get it. There's no way the Republican candidate, whoever that may prove to be, will win, right? Right?

On the "movies to see" front, go see "Persepolis". Great little movie. An excellent corrective to the usual vision of Iran. Yes, its government is totally nuts (kinda like you-know-who), but the average citizen isn't. They went from having a murderous, fascist dictator in control (helped out by, again, you-know-who) to having murderous fascist clerics in control. Iranians had really hoped to get rid of the dictator and set up a reasonable state, but, well, you know how these crazy "revolution" things can get out of hand. Remember the French revolution? Or the Russian? Neither of those went quite as planned, either.

Back in the Red Hill Creek valley, where I used to hike as a kid. Funny how fascinating snow can be when you don't see it very often. Not that that's a bad thing, mind you.

Winter came to town over the weekend. And then it left again. Which is O.K. by me. Snow on the north shore mountains is a beautiful thing to see. And even to visit. In my neighbourhood? Uh-uh. It's a cold, wet pain in the butt. Give me rain any day.