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I’m on my way to NYC this weekend for some parties, events and general fun. I’m taking the bus and we crossed at the Rainbow bridge in Niagara Falls. It was the second time in a week that I crossed here.

I crossed on Sunday with some friends to visit the American falls. Europeans seem to have a more difficult time crossing that Canadians. On Sunday an Italian friend had a bit of delay; tonight it was some French that experienced a delay. I got through without any hassle.

Sagarmatha

Sagarmatha, the Nepali name for Mount Everest, the ‘goddess of the sky’ has its peak at 8,848 metres (29,029 feet) – some airplanes normally fly at this altitude. If you stacked Blackcomb mountain (1609 m vertical) on top of Mont Blanc , you would get the approximate height of Everest.

I’ve always enjoyed the sight of and being on mountains, however, I’ve never really had a desire to climb them. I’m more apt to take gondolas to the top and ski down them. The first documented attempt to climb Everest was made in 1924 by British mountaineers George Mallory and Andrew Irving, however, they never returned. It was only recently in 1999 that Mallory’s body was discovered; however, they never found his camera and therefore no proof that they had made it to the peak. Irving’s body has yet to be found.

The two books pictured above are from two different angles. Touching My Father’s Soul by Jamling Tenzing Norgay (whose father Tenzing Norgay was one of the first to reach the peak with Sir Edmund Hillary on May 29, 1953), is a personal account of his lifelong desire to climb the mountain. Into Thin Air is the account by Jon Krakauer, a mountaineer and writer who was on assignment for Outside magazine. Both climbed Eveverst in 1996 and returned to write their books about it.

The events that unfolded on the mountain in 1996 were particularly notable because 12 people perished on the mountain – both inexperienced and seasoned climbers. Their deaths were likely the result of poor judgment or just plain bad luck. Both books tell the same story, but from different angles and both are enjoyable to read in their own way.

The only mountain that I’ve ever climbed is Mont Blanc in France in the fall of 2005 – and I only climbed to mid-station in summer attire. I took a gondola to the peak, the Aguille du Midi, which listed the altitude at 3842 m (12,602 ft). This is the highest elevation that I have been at while standing on land. Basecamp of Everest is listed at 5380 m – I’ve been considering trekking to here as some of my friends have done – they’ve all returned with amazing stories and beautiful images. A friend recently suggested that I put myself in more danger by skiing down mountains than by climbing up them. I’ll think about this further.

At mid station (approximate altitude: 2000 m) on Mont Blanc in 2005.

Warm

Summer is definitely here. I’m not sure the temperature has risen over 30c yet in Toronto this summer but that will come soon enough. Sunday afternoon/evening in Alexandra Park swimming pool.

Numbers

It was actually the first thing that I purchased on eBay to give it a try. But I ended up with a paint by number set that I would not ever paint. I enjoyed them as a kid, but do not have the time nor patience to do one now. After several months with the paint by number set kicking around, I got the idea to enlarge it and hang it on my wall as art. I found that many people did not know what it was when they looked at it. Some thought it was a topographic map.

I made some others and matched some pencil crayons instead of paint so people that visit could fill in the spaces themselves. It has been by my door since 2001 and the result is interesting. Some did not know the meaning of the numbers – on the canvas or on the pencils and used any colour anywhere – hence the blue fur.

Some do not consider this art; but what is art really? According to the wiki page, Leonardo da Vinci might have invented paint by numbers but a fellow from a paint company commercialized it in the 1950s. It is probably considered pop or folk art; the Smithsonian had a PBN exhibit in 2001.

It had developed into quite a fad. Perhaps art wasn’t getting to the masses in that time. Older PBN sets feature works by famous artists whereas newer ones are generic paintings – animals, landscapes, clowns (eek!), etc. When I was bidding for my PBN set, I bid on some others, such as an unpainted da Vinci. In the end it went for over US$200 – which was a lot in 2001!

This PBN will be complete in a few weeks and be returned to its original place over my couch. I wonder what I will fill the space by the door with next.

My PBN set from Flickr. Click on the larger image to advance to the next one.

Remains

When one of the passages in the beginning of the book reads, “Although I have no idea how I shall usefully fill the remainder of my life…”; one knows this is going to be a depressing book. It is about two people that were seemingly well suited for each other – possibly in love – and were subsequently separated for a long period of time. When circumstances change, they correspond and arrange to meet after their long absence. They have an opportunity to continue their relationship at a later point in their lives.

I saw the film, of the same title, several years ago because it features one of my favorite actors, Emma Thompson. Plus I like period pieces which Emma Thompson does well in. However, this isn’t really a period piece because it’s set in a time before world war II and afterwards.

When I saw this book at a Bookcrossing event I had to read it. After reading it, I have to say that both the book and film are equally great. Sometimes the story does not translate, but both are complementary to each other. I will watch the film again in the near future.

When I was reading it and even knowing the ending I was still a bit affected by this book. It may have put me in a bit of a state. I’ll have to read something lighthearted or funny next.

Fireworks

I watched fireworks twice this week – once on Canada Day and the second time last night. I can’t remember what they were like on Canada Day, because it was quite crowded and I was more interested in talking with friends.

I got an invitation last night to watch them at the National Yacht Club and took up the offer. It was a nice place to watch because there were no crowds and it was nice and dark as well to watch and photograph.

The rest of the set from the evening. Click on the larger image to advance to the next one.

Newmindspace

“Interactive public art, creative cultural interventions and urban bliss dissemination” is how Newmindspace describe themselves. It’s basically taking what we did at home when we were children and making it public as adults. It’s okay to be silly, creative and be yourself in public. If one isn’t too uptight, their events are quite fun. It is almost mainstream as their most recent event, the Bubble Battle was part of the Luminato festival in Toronto. It was followed by an after party in a large tent at Harbourfront that lasted until 4am. In addition to the Newmindspace events at Harbourfront there were other performers such as face painters, fire eaters and poi or fire spinners. My Flickr set from the day. Click on the large image to advance to the next image.

Rain

I’m up late tonight watching the rain fall. A cyclist whizzing by as I get some shelter from the rain on my walk tonight.

Promotion

When I travel abroad or meet visitors in Canada and we decide to trade personal contact information, more often than not, I receive a pre-printed card with their personal contact information on it. I experienced this first hand when I was in India at an international conference a few years ago. I received many cards from people that I met, however, I was reduced to giving out my contact information on scraps of paper.

It seems that everyone, but Canadians and possibly Americans give more importance to business cards rather than cards with personal contact information on them. I’ve always had business cards, however, when it came to friends and acquantances, I’ve always felt uncomfortable giving out my business cards.

At the raw food potlucks, people were always giving me their contact information and asking me to contact them with the website, email and event details. I met so many people and had so many pieces of paper with emails and phone numbers, I inevitably forgot to do so on many occasions. I finally did get cards for the potlucks several years ago and it made my life much easier. I thought about getting personal cards again when I first purchased a paid Flickr account because there was a Moo card promotion but thought about it more when I saw Gail’s cards last month.

Today I unboxed my new Moo cards; they contain a photo (taken by me) on one side and my personal contact information on the other side. Simple. They are a nice compact size and are more interesting than the usual 3.5 x 2 inch business card format that are one design. I had them printed with 20 different images and was entranced by them for about 10 minutes after I opened them.

23

Saturday was a long and busy day that that started before dawn at 5:00am and ended the following morning close to the same time. I managed to pack in five events and lots of food into 23 hours. What I did:

• I watched sunrise from the roof of my building with Stef;
• attended the taping of the CBC radio program GO! at the Glenn Gould studio;
• I went to the baseball game with Paul;
• I attended the Slideluck Potshow event as part of the Contact Photography Festival; and
• drank sangria at Gail’s

There was food between and during each of these events. A long but fun day.

My set from Flickr, starting with the sunrise. Click on the larger image to advance to the next image.