Easy as the breeze

I haven't checked to see if the previous post mentioned the weather...it probably did, I tend to like to chat about it.

Anyway, it has gotten weird again. Last night about 11PM, another thunder storm, but not like any normal one, this storm was incredible! First I noticed that there were some flashes outside, then the storm started to go crazy. Lightning went non-stop, flash after flash, with almost no spaces in between! The thunder sounded like a constant drum roll, vibrating the entire building around me.

So, what does one do when faced with a storm like this? Get out the camera and tripod. =)

I snapped off about 50 or so photos, anywhere from 4 to 10 seconds each, some with the zoom lens, and some with wide angle. I got some pretty cool shots out of it! (posted on flickr, go look)

I got to bed late, about 1AM, then woke up before my alarm about 6AM when the thunder started up again! The drive into work was rough, lightning, rain, thunder wind. LOTS of wind. Another thing about the storm was that all the cars were covered with mud after wards. Not on the wheel wells, but all over. The rain was carrying lots of find dust from the Sahara Dessert that blew up over the Mediterranean Sea, which then covered everything in mud. It also has been blowing all over the place today, with really strong winds that made some of the smaller planes seem to just hang in one spot, making slow progress and also dust everywhere! You could see it in the air, a sort of smoky haze. I noticed it mostly on my laptop (which has a black surface) which was covered with a fine powder by the end of the day at work.

I am still hoping for sunshine, the heat was here though, 29C with a huge amount of humidity. I do really want to get into the pool soon!

If the sun don't shine

Crazy crazy weather!

Yesterday we had a storm that would give the Prairies a run for their money. Thunder, lightning, rain blowing sideways...very impressive!

I stood by the door to the deck watching the lightning strike down and the rain go sideways for a while, glad that I wasn't out in it. Finally, sat down to surf the web for it bit when the entire room light up with this intense blue-white light, a tremendous BOOM shattered my ears and the strange sensation of static crawled all over my body. Lightning had struck just outside my apartment! It scared the crap out of me since I am not used to having them strike so close.

I took a look around outside, hoping to see where it hit but I couldn't see any smoldering relics of past burning anywhere in sight. Not surprisingly, there were complaints at the front desk of Internet outages, electrical problems, etc.

Luckily, as is usual in Aix, the weather is now back to sunny and warm. Only 23C, which is still deathly cold for most French living here, but nice enough to have people in the pool.

W00t! 200th post!

Wow, 200 posts. Didn't think that I would have ever had that much to say.

So it was a busy two weeks in Vancouver, running around seeing the people that I needed to see, getting taxes done, selling my soul to the Snap-on guy, and eating lots of sushi. The time went by really fast, hardly had time to see Marc and Julie and I was staying at their place!

The best result of my coming back to Vancouver for a visit was my new camera. Nikon D300 baby! What an instrument this is! It has me excited about taking photos again, and I have already fired off about 800 or more in the first three weeks owning it! I actually just got in from a short bike ride (have the bike working again, sort of...at least I can get into all the gears again, even if it misses one down-shifting) where I was out taking photos of fields of poppy's. I can see the fields from my apartment, all brilliant red, so I grabbed the camera and went to find them. Between sneezes (allergies again), I managed to get 55 photos taken of the fields. I just wish the sun was out a bit more to help with the lighting. It hasn't been the nicest weather this week.

It looks like my brother Allen will be able to come and visit me in July for about 10 days! I am really excited by this, since I will be able to show him around a bit. He probably won't have many chances in the future to travel to Europe, so I need to make sure that he sees lots and has a great time.

I am supposed to go to Paris with my friend Audrey in a few weekends, but I haven't seen her since I got back. I think that I could have a lot of fun there, specially with the new camera. Audrey wants to shop, but she also wants to show me around a bit, and since she knows the place really well, it will make it even more fun to avoid all the touristy bits. Now I just need to get a hold of her!

I also am supposed to see Alex, Leanne and the kids some time soon. Alex suggested the weekend of June 21st, but I will be working. Maybe the previous weekend to that.

So many things to do, and not enough time!