Tag: sunset

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Be The Best.

Father’s Day – y2

Can’t believe it was a year ago today that Max took me to the newly opened Empire Field for a BC Lions preseason game.  What a great day.  Here’s a link to that post.

I talked with my Dad this evening and it’s great to hear his voice strong and stronger.  He wrote a famous list called 70 things to do now that I’m 70.  He’s doing so well I’m expecting an 80 things to do now that I’m 80 very soon.

He inspired a certain Max to write a 20 things to do now that I’m 20 just weeks ago.

Very cool.

Today I had a long talk with one of my sons.  We talked about life now and life in the future.  We shared some laughs about the past…silly stories and stuff that makes our family what it is.  As always we shared how much we care for each other…things that don’t change…NO MATTER WHAT.

I did the same with Max and we were able to share a great bike ride and play some basketball too.

Pretty cool all around.

Rock your week.

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Be The Best.

Sunsets in a different place.

You know I love sunrises and especially sunsets.

This is a bit of a different one.  This is taken with a lousy Blackberry phone, but I loved the sun screaming across the field and shining on a wall.

The field is a cemetery and the wall is Chris’ wall.  Dogwood #41.

Every time we go to the cemetery it is a special moment for lack of a better word.

We get that Chris’ spirit doesn’t live there.

But that being said, it’s becoming a very cool place to connect with Chris and all the love, emotions, hopes, desires, proud moments, sad moments, lost future, and hope of a future to come.

Here’s a little peek at that world.

View from Chris' wall looking out across the cemetery field at the setting sun.
View of Chris' wall with his white rose (from his Mom) and paper marker as we await his brass name plate. Love the sun hitting the wall in the latter part of the day.
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Be The Best.

If you like sunsets, you’re in luck.

I can’t tell you how many sunsets I took in last year through the months of April, May, June, July and August.

They were like medicine for me.  Whether it was the feeling of the closing of a day is the reminder of a new one to come, the powerful display of dark and light with the clouds or simply getting a little glimpse of life beyond this earth and a connection with Chris.  All of those and more.

As we all know our Vancouver weather doesn’t provide us with too many great sunsets between Oct and March and so Ingrid and I set off to find some.

If sunsets bore you, close your browser now!  If you like em, here’s a few that happened this past week…so they’re ‘fresh’!

PS You can click on each pic to see a larger view. Feel free to use or share.

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Be The Best.

Nature, naturally.

These past two weekends have both involved trips to Vernon to see Dad and Mom.

One of the side benefits is driving through some of the most beautiful country in the world…even if I’m a little biased.

This weekend was extra special in that Ingrid and I were able to take in a little time with friends as well.

Whenever we were out with Max and Chris in nature, we’d like to remind them of how small we are compared to the mountains, lakes and oceans.  It was a good chance to gain perspective and think about those things that were bigger than us.

This weekend as I looked again at the rolling hills and mountains and lakes, I was reminded at how small I am in the scheme of things and that the amazing art is rarely just created by happen chance.  Usually there is an Artist involved.

Some of the most interesting pieces of art and music are ones where I listen over and over again or view time and time again, only to find something new…something different.

Perhaps that is part of the painting of our lives.   We have yet to see all that is in the work.

Interior British Columbia - Sept 2010
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Be The Best.

Those sunsets.

Those sunsets still get me.

I can’t see one without thinking about Chris.

Whether it’s the sun streaming through the clouds or punching out that silver lining or just glowing as it nears the mountains or horizon, I love it.

These pics were taken during an evening of friends and fun (thanks Melody and Drake!).

The sun will set.

The sun will rise.

And more decisions will be made.

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Be The Best.

Thinking Time

Last week when it was really hot (for a couple of days) I sat outside in the evenings and fine tuned some music I had been working on.  As you might know by now I love music and the arts and am in a multi-year ‘instrumental electronica’ phase.  Whenever I play something for Ingrid that is more purely piano based she says THAT is the music she likes and we have a friendly ‘discussion’ about music and how I am going to (or not) dominate the European club scene in my 50’s…(I’m giving myself another 6 years to break out at some German or Dutch club) (No, Mom, I’m not being serious).

Joking aside, I’ve put this track called ’30 degrees’ together with some pictures I used a couple of weeks back as background to Love Shines for AC’s Mission concert.

In any event, with a few changes, here are a whole pile of sunset pics with some of my more mellow music which I’ll dedicate to my long-suffering wife who has heard every rendition of drum machine and syncopated beat layered with 14 synthesizers for years!

For me this little movie is 3 minutes of thinking time and trying not to do anything else.

Am I promising no more sunset blogs this year?  Probably not.  I’m as addicted to those things as much as instrumental electronica music right now!  Don’t worry Ingrid, I usually evolve music styles every 10 or 15 years…

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Be The Best.

I vow this is the last sunset blog….this week.

7:55pm June 16, 2010

Not sure what the complete fascination is, but I can’t stop taking pictures of sunsets this week.  The curiosity with sunsets doesn’t end at home.   Whenever we’ve been fortunate enough to get to Hawaii, watching the sun set was high on my priority list.

This week, it really has been incredible how you have that contrast of the dark clouds and the brilliant sun on a daily basis.  Maybe one of these weeks we’ll actually have a little sustained summer weather…but I digress..

Last night after writing the blog, I spent a little time catching up on some Facebook messages.  I am truly inspired and strengthened with all of the support.

This is a journey and journeys rarely track in a straight line.  I guess that is some of the comfort in the sunset.  There is a predictability with it.  There are websites that track the exact time each day the sun will do it’s thing.

You know the sun will rise and set…what you don’t know are the colours, cloud formations and the overall picture that will form each night.  Predictability and the unknown.  Maybe that’s the draw.  It’s the predictability and the unknown that are creating the most amazing pictures.  Interesting.

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Be The Best.

What is this…sunset week?

Langley sunset. June 15, 2010.

Really…I wasn’t looking for a sunset theme this week, but that is how it’s working out.

The colours here remind me of the colours of the rainbows we saw at some amazing times just after Chris’ passing.

Rainbows are mentioned as far back as the story of Noah and his ark and the promise of hope after the biblical account of a great flood.

Those rainbows in the days following Chris’ passing helped remind us that we were not being forgotten.  There was one very difficult day that the lacrosse team was doing a tribute for Chris.  It was amazingly wonderful and difficult at the same time.  It was stormy and raining heavily, but the hint of sun was on the horizon.  I thought we might see a rainbow, but didn’t.  We got to the arena parking lot and as I backed into the parking spot we saw a huge bright rainbow that must have been behind us.  I called my nephew Steve and told him as we had shared some of these stories and in the couple of moments we were on the phone the rainbow faded and was gone.

Like many other things I’ve written about, I realize that it rains a lot in Vancouver and a mix of sun and rain leads to rainbows!  That is a scientific fact.  It was just incredibly cool to see this ancient symbol of hope showing up at unexplained times and places in those first few weeks.

If you think this is interesting, wait for the eagle story in the next few days…!

This new normal thing ain’t easy or all that fun.  That being said, we know the sun will set each night which means just one thing.  The sun will rise again!  (ok, if I get too much more philosophical I think I may go see Dr. Phil…)

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Be The Best.

Surfing the sunset.

The blog earlier this week about silver linings on the clouds made me take a closer look at other cloud pictures I had.  You’ll see a bunch of pics from the intense sky this week as well as a bunch of sunset pics from one of our favourite places…Hawaii.  In one or two of the images you’ll see a very small lone figure surfing at sunset.  I was thinking about surfers riding the edge of the wave and then Chris riding the edge of the clouds along that silver lining.  Hey, they say you are allowed to stare at the clouds and see things, right?  Hope you enjoy.  (you can watch in HD)