macro and goats

i got a macro lens off ebay last week. i haven't got a chance to play around with it too much but i did get a few pictures of the dog chewing a ball:

and what i'm 99% sure is the exoskeleton of a huntsman spider:

i took a couple shots of the spider (which was in a plant pot in the backyard) and sat down to have a smoothie nearby. when i got up to take more pictures it was gone. i'm pretty sure the wind blew it somewhere (i had moved the pot into the middle of the yard just before i sat down and there were gusts of wind blowing around). i couldn't find it anywhere though (i knew it wasn't the actual spider and if it was, it was definitely dead cuz i tapped it with a stick at one point and it just tipped forward in it's position).

goats seem to be following me everywhere. i went for a bike ride to the collingwood childrens' farm with a couple friends and their dog yesterday afternoon. this is robert:

i wish i'd been able to get a shot of silas (my friends' dog) meeting robert but i missed it.

more molting

when i was looking at my spider exoskeleton pictures i remembered i had these pictures from the nite before i left for canada.
i wish i had something in the photo to compare size to but cockroaches gross me out so taking pictures was almost a little too much for me, no way was i gonna hold an object near him (he was on the side of a shelf in the laundry) to show his size and risk him running away (zac got him in a container after we stared at him and photographed him and then he was relocated across the street).

it was a pretty big cockroach to start with (the dark exoskeleton) and it was HUGE coming out of it (hard to believe it actually all fit in there). i don't know if it's new outside shrinks down at all as it darkens (?) but if it doesn't, it would be the biggest cockroach i've ever seen (and i've seen some really big ones).

yong green

we went back to yong green food again yesterday. they've changed a bit the menu since i was there last (not long after they opened). zac went there for lunch one day while i was in canada and really liked it.
the food was really good and the service is great but the atmosphere needs some work. the music kinda sounded at bit like "cats in heat" as zac put it. it didn't really bother us much (i think i preferred it over the pop music that was playing last time) but the couple next to us got up and left 2 minutes after they sat down and we're pretty sure it was the music that got to them. when they turned on the much needed fan at the back of the restaurant where we were sitting it was cooled the area nicely but the fan made the light above us sway and trying to eat with light and shadows going over our food was annoying for a couple minutes until we could ignore it.
the food was good though. really good. i got the rawsange and was impressed. zac got the korean bbq (that's what he got last time i went but he couldn't remember). i like the sauce on the korean bbq. last time zac was there he got a green smoothie which he said was really nice. i wanted to try one yesterday but i was a bit too full so it'll have to wait until next time.

vegan nacho cheese and cashew everthing

so many things you can make with cashews!

i just made an amazing nacho cheese (and ate the quesadilla i made with some of it before i remembered that i was gonna take a photo). i printed out this recipe ages ago and found it in my big book of random recipes shoved together (one day i will get plastic sleeves for them or make holes in the paper and maybe even get some dividers to help sort them).

i usually make this queso but i've eaten it so much that i'm ready for a change for a while. the cheese i made now would also make a good dip for veggies or crackers.

i also came across a good recipe for homemade larabars (basically equal parts raw cashews and dates blended up with whatever other seeds etc. that you wanna add in) that i'm gonna try out this weekend after i finish the vegan energy balls i made the other day:

i based these balls off of this recipe but omitted the coconut, threw in some sunflower seeds, flax seed, chia seeds,walnuts and rolled them in a mixture of ground flax and chia seeds.
i also wanna try making cashew whipping cream (not sure what i wanna put it on, maybe raw sundaes or just eat it by the spoonful if it's good).

victoria and northwards

the sea wall in victoria:

snow on the mountains by port alberni:

one of the coombs goats (they live on the roof of the buildings in summer-- they're covered in grass but this time they were in a large area out back with a cliff and a house with a bridge over the cliff)

he kept looking at me like this:

duncan's claim to fame: world's largest hockey stick and puck

scenes around victoria

fountain in front of the legislative buildings:

totem (i wish i could remember what the plaque said it was for-- this is why i need to photograph the plaque too i can never remember the info about the things i take pictures of):
another totem:

the harbour with some ominous looking clouds (fortunately the rain held off til i was on the bus home):

spring time in canada

there were tulips and daffodils everywhere!

and baby goats! these guys were at the beacon hill children's farm. i wasn't gonna go in because i didn't really like the idea of small children mauling little animals but when i looked in the fence it was all very nice and the goats were coming up to children who were patting or brushing them and they were sooooo cute so i ended up going in and not being able to drag myself away until all the baby goats were put away for the evening.

on easter sunday the local tv station (which i guess couldn't find anything worth broadcasting) put on a few hours of these baby goats (and their moms). it was a 45 minute loop of the goats playing in their yard that kept repeating over and over (and i watched a good part of it over and over cuz they are sooooooo cute and i had nothing else to do since my easter tofurkey dogs weren't gonna take the whole day to cook like the "small" turkey my mom was working on).

drift wood

after spending ages petting the baby goats i walked down to the water and back around to downtown. these are a few of the beach shots:

the museum

some of my favourite parts of the museum (me and my brother spent most of the time seeing who could get the best low light, no flash photos).
the mammoth was always my brother's absolute favourite part of the museum as a kid. it's pretty cool:

more scenes around victoria and salt spring

legislative buildings in victoria:

the harbour as seen from the second or third floor of the museum:

salt spring island ferry terminal (the place with the amazing raw chocolate was the first street on the right when you get off the ferry just past the "hippy" clothing shop):

the tiny black speck in the water near the middle of the photo below is a whale we saw from the salt spring ferry. we saw more than the fin but all i got on camera was the fin.

swartz bay (victoria) ferry terminal with coastal celebration docked (the new ferry-- i took it back to vancouver. it has a great outdoor area on the top passenger deck)

around vancouver

i had 2 full days to wander around vancouver. the first day i decided not to bring my camera because it was supposed to rain. turned out that the only time it rained was twice for a few minutes while i was on public transport. the next day i brought my camera and it rained all afternoon. i did manage to get a couple shots before the rain came.

the olympic torch looking kinda ugly and plastic (in the background is a green roof with grasses and soon native plants growing on it):

the bottom of the torch is either being made into a water area or glass/something to look like water. they're keeping the torch and it will be lit for special community events starting with canada day, july 1 this year.

a clever way to hide ugly construction during the olympics:

from the sea bus in north van heading to the city to get the sky train to the airport (of course there was blue sky on my last day but the wind was strong and icy cold):

tops of buildings and huge mountains as seen from the tarmac at the airport:

from the plane

these were a few of the pictures i took on the vancouver-LA part of the flight (i had an isle seat for the long-haul flight otherwise i would have got some great sunrise pictures near sydney).
i love how huge the mountains are in the back compared to the city (downtown vancouver is in the middle, just in front of the water in front of the mountains. the airport is the green patch near the front right): farmland patterns somewhere around central california:

weird snow pattern around northern california:the little red arrow is pointing to the hollywood sign in LA:

close up of the hollywood sign: