January 20, 2014

Chasing the Light along the Mighty Fraser

When the sun is shining, January can be a beautiful month around here. The skeletal trees open up the landscape instead of filling it in as they do so lushly in the warmer months. This past Saturday, my daughters and I went to do some shopping in the mid-sized city which is about a twenty minute drive from our town if you go via the freeway, about twenty-five minutes if you go by the pretty old country road. My older daughter is learning to drive, so we went by the old country road, had a successful day in the city and then came home the same way. We were crossing the railroad tracks just before the roundabout which takes us over the bridge to our little town, when I made a mental note to come back sometime soon and take some photos in the area. The very next afternoon, my younger daughter and I took our cameras - she got a shiny new red one for Christmas - and set off to catch the light in the later part of the day. We drove back over the bridge, through the roundabout, across the tracks and then found a place to park. Then, walking back up the road to the train tracks we started our little adventure. We had to wait for a train to pass. Several of the cars were skillfully decorated with grafitti art:


Once the train had passed we ventured down the track a little, but not too far because the sides were dense with brambles. If another train came we would have to jump into them. No, thank-you.



A beautiful, unobstructed-by-wires view of Mt. Cheam across someone's backyard was one of my objectives for going down the tracks. It's a wonderful feeling knowing we were way up on the top of that mountain just this past summer.


I was sidetracked by this scene and the collection of old tin washtubs hanging on a shed in the backyard. I began to take a photo of it when a friendly man and his dog called out to me, hoping I was not an employee from the city finding fault with his property or something like that. I assured him I was just admiring his washtubs and I hoped he did not mind. His wife and baby came across the property to greet us as well. We introduced ourselves and had a great little chat, but we had to cut it short if we were going to keep on chasing the last light of the day. 


We left the tracks just before we saw another train coming along in the distance. We walked back to the car and noticed this modern house behind some hedges near where we had parked. The house was quite a contrast to the century old one with the washtubs. My daughter liked the green door. I wished I could tresspass and see the house from the front, but no. Walking down the railroad tracks was enough law-breaking for one afternoon, for the pair of us anyway.



We got back in the car and drove down a side road towards the river. We found these mirrored views along the way.




We parked again down by the Fraser River and walked across the hard-packed silt to the water, the sun laying streaks across the ground and gilding the bridge in the distance.


This bridge across the Fraser was built in the late 1950's. Before that, people were transported across by a ferry on cables which stretched from shore to shore. Earlier in the century, travellers could take a trip down the river to New Westminster on a paddlewheeled ship, making stops in other riverside communities along the way.


Back toward the West, the sun was hanging lower and lower in the sky.


And in the meantime, my daughter was finding a subject to capture with her camera. I captured her.



Then, I turned my attention to her subject, a bald eagle far up in a tree.


It was time to go home, but we had a delivery to make first. After we made it, I took some photos in a hazelnut plantation, while my daughter video'd a squirrel jumping around looking for last year's nuts. The light was falling fast and the effect was gloomy in the grove of trees.


We got back in the car for the short drive home. "We sure live in a beautiful place," remarked my daughter. I agreed. All of the scenery we had enjoyed on our little light-chasing adventure was within just eight kilometers of our house.

In our twenty years as a family, we have lived in five places. In each of them we have found 'our' spots, the places we felt at home. In all of them we found mountains and water. In all of them we found light, even if we had to chase it sometimes.

"There's no place like home," said the girl in the new red shoes.

Please click on the photos if you would like to seem them enlarged. Wishing you a good, light-filled week!

13 comments:

  1. What stunning scenery for you to walk in. Thank you for taking me along. I know what you mean about chasing the light. What time is the sun setting for you at present?
    The sun is shining now. I must get out into it.

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    1. I was very happy to take you along, Lucille :) The sun is setting at 4:45 today, so the days are gradually lengthening. Hooray!

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    2. It sets at 4.30 for us today. It is just beginning to make a difference I must concede.

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  2. Hullo you,
    Thanks for sharing your wee tale of what looks like a grand afternoon adventure for the pair of you. I always start your photo blogs by clicking into the shots and running through them before joining you for the accompanying words. The light was stunning and I understand why you wanted to chase it down while doing what needed done.
    I particularly like the shot across to the mountains sans wires {they're a modern curse} and the reflections shots are great too, but my favourite has to be the light in that shot along the river to the hills in the distance. I can almost taste the air in that shot. Great stuff.
    Did you take them all or were some of them your daughters?

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    1. Thanks, Al. I'm very glad you enjoyed the photos. When I uploaded them I made them all extra large but had to reduce the horizontal ones to just large as they extended out to the sidebar. So, it's great that we can click on them and see them all the same size, as you did. I took all the photos here. Katie got some great shots of the eagle because she has a more powerful zoom on hers. I hope she will put them on FB.

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  3. you had quite the adventure...i love walking the tracks...it can def be scary if the train is coming though...ha...funny on the man that thought you might be with the city and i am glad that it got more hospitable after that...smiles...the mountain...wow...beautiful....i like that round window on the mod house....

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    1. I thought the bubble window was a cool sort of mod version of the washtub :)

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  4. Truly beautiful pictures Rebecca. YOU DO live in a wonderful place. Your daughter will appreciate it even more through the lens of her new camera! LOVE her red sneakers! A touch of personality there.

    The washtub lined outbuilding caught my eye as well. So charming.

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    1. Thanks, Jill. I also took a photo of a faded red barn for you, but it didn't make the 'cut'. I knew you would like the shoes!

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  5. What a great way to spend some quality time with the daughter/shutterbug! Beautiful photos, I can't believe how calm the waters are. And I really like that house with the round window (and green door) and am curious about other angles and the inside. Thanks for taking us along!

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    1. As much as I love old things, I do have a healthy respect for modern design. I really liked the look of that house, too!

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  6. How special your day was... you and the girl with the new red shoes!
    Your pictures and story captions show me how beautiful your surroundings are. There is so much "free stuff" to take advantage of; right in our own back yards, as they say. :)

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    1. Yes, we had a great couple of hours in the sunshine! My boys, who both live in Vancouver now, have recently 'discovered' how beautiful it is here - in the place they thought was pretty lame just a couple of years ago :)

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