The moon was a perfect cradle last night with a bright venus directly to the right of it.  The Australians rave about their good star gazing but we can sure rival them some nights!

While walking around Deer Lake last Saturday and looking for signs of spring,  I took this photo of a tree which has budded out.  I think it might be some kind of willow.

With our snow fall last week, I found some snowdrops in the snow. 

Unfortunately, another neighbourhood lawn which was a mass of wild blooming pale pink and blue crocus did not photograph well in the snow.  

Another sunny day!  Whatever happened to our rain?

The  bright star in the southwest that I thought was the planet Jupiter is actually Venus.  Last night it was huge and tonight should be brighter yet. It is supposed to be at its most brilliant on February 19.  If we have skies as clear as last night, it should be quite a show.

With our good weather yesterday, I went for my first bike ride this year. Some of the trails near my place still have snow along the sides but the sun was warm enough so that is was still quite pleasant.  This year I plan to move from the flats to a few hills, but not just yet, ... soon though.  I will have many new places to explore.   Here are some of the many places to bike in the Lower Mainland:

 http://www.hellobc.com/en-CA/SightsActivitiesEvents/AirLandActivities/Cycling/Vancouver.htm?media=cpc&referrer=google-adwords&CMP=KNC-NA&HBX_PK=cycling%20vancouver&HBX_OU=50&gclid=CN2tnZvb55gCFSMSagod_Bqy1A

My favorite of course because it is flat, is Stanley Park - before the height of tourist season,

http://www.hellobc.com/en-CA/HelloBCBlogs/BritishColumbia.htm?LOCID=646&CATID=105&CT=1&FXMID=%7C2%7C1%7C

   

I think I might be, in fact I know I am, a middlebrow.  I just learned that term from Susan Jacoby's The Age of American Unreason.   I find it mildly insulting.   

The word middlebrow was coined by Virginia Woolf - here is the lowdown:

Virginia Woolf on Middlebrow

Virginia Woolf explicitly articulated her derision of the middlebrow in an un-posted letter-to-the-editor of the New Statesman about a review of a book of hers that omitted the word highbrow. That letter was posthumously published in the essay collection The Death of the Moth in 1942.^[2]

Virginia Woolf distinguishes middlebrows as petty purveyors of highbrow cultures for their own shallow benefit. Rather than selecting books for their intrinsic value, middlebrows select and read what they are told is best. Middlebrows are concerned with how what they do makes them appear, unlike highbrows, the avant-garde men and women who act according to their indelible commitment to beauty, value, art, form, and integrity. Woolf said, “We highbrows read what we like and do what we like and praise what we like”. Likewise, a lowbrow is devoted to a singular interest, a person “of thoroughbred vitality who rides his body in pursuit of a living at a gallop across life”; and, therefore, are equally worthy of reverence, as they, too, are living for what they intrinsically know as valuable.

Middlebrows, instead, are “betwixt and between”, which Woolf classifies as “in pursuit of no single object, neither Art itself nor life itself, but both mixed indistinguishably, and rather nastily, with money, fame, power, or prestige”. Their value system rewards quick gains through literature already designated as ‘Classic’ and ‘Great’, never of their own choosing, because “to buy living art requires living taste”. The middlebrow are meretricious — which is much less demanding than authenticity.

It is noteworthy that while Woolf criticizes those members of the middlebrow, she wrote for middlebrow publications, such as The New York Herald Tribune Books section. Her literature has been classified as middlebrow, easily-accessible, and feminized — the very threat she claimed would provoke her to “take pen and stab him, dead” for such a label. Middlebrow audiences finance the works of the highbrow, and most artists must appeal to the wide audience for success...

Getting back to the Jacoby book, she obviously considers herself to be a highbrow.   She has the same ideas as Ayn Rand, that only intellectuals are capable of ruling the world.  

Jacoby has set out to prove that America's demise is due to past anti-rationalism and anti-intellectualism movements brought on by fundamentalist religion, a fear of too much education, and today by the influence of infotainment (I wonder if this includes blogging) and sound bites.

Anyway, I will continue slogging through this book.  

Oh, the perils of multi-tasking!  The newspaper today reports that a 65 year old woman in Sudbury, Ontario ran over herself.   She got into her van, started it and put it into reverse; at the same time as she reached for an ice scraper, she opened her door to attempt to adjust her seat and fell from the vehicle.  As the van continued in reverse into a snowbank, she was struck by the door and knocked under the van where the wheel ran over her head.  Luckily, she was not seriously hurt! 

Here are a couple of photos circulating via email of a Saskatchewan snow storm on January 26th:  

I am sooooo glad to be living in a now snow-free Vancouver!

I went on my second walk with the Meet-up Group on Sunday.  This time we went from Commercial Avenue westward on the Central Valley Greenway Trail to Science World and on to Granville Island along False Creek. It would be nice to have more path markers and even a few mile posts as we lost the trail a couple of times.  

This is some of our group walking just past Science World near the new Olympic Village.

It was a beautiful sunny day.  (I had had my lunch on my deck in a T-shirt.)  So, I wore jeans and a light jacket.  Unfortunately, as we got near the water, there was a cold wind blowing - I think they call it a sou'wester, and by the time we reached Granville Island, I was frozen to the core. 

After a bite to eat at Granville market, we took the Aqua Bus to Hornby Street and walked another almost two miles to the Stadium Sky Train station.  I certainly logged my 10,000 plus steps yesterday!  

Our next walk starts from Granville Island and continues westward towards Jericho Beach.  If we go a little further, we will have effectively walked Vancouver from its eastern boundary to its western boundary.  

Here is a link to the Greenvalley Trail website:

http://vancouver.ca/ENGSVCS/streets/greenways/city/cvg_sections.htm

For some reason, this link is not working.  If you copy the link and paste it in the address field at the top of your screen and remove www.blogger.com, it should come up.  

 

Is former president George W. Bush really this stupid?  Here are some his quotes:
'The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country.'
- George W. Bush

'If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.' 
- George W. Bush

'One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.'
-George W. Bush


'I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future.'
- George W. Bush

'The future will be better tomorrow.'
- George W. Bush

'We're going to have the best educated American people in the world.'
- George W. Bush

'I stand by all the misstatements that I've made.'
- George W Bush

'We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to  Europe . We are a part of Europe'
- George W. Bush

'Public speaking is very easy.'
- George W. Bush

'A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls.'
 - George W. Bush

'I have opinions of my own --strong opinions-- but I don't always agree with them.'
 -George Bush

'We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.'
- George W. Bush

'For NASA, space is still a high priority.'
-George W. Bush

'Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children.' 
-George W. Bush

'It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.'
- George W. Bush

While he admits he was just an average student, he did get a BA from Yale and an MBA from Harvard. I thought these schools had high standards.  And, he was Governor of Texas and worked in business.  It takes some speaking ability and a few smarts to do that.   He also defeated Al Gore who is a very intelligent person.  How could he possibly have said things like this?   

Isn't this democratic process of voting supposed to produce the best of the best candidates for high positions.  I can't remember if it was the electoral college or the popular vote that tipped the balance in favour of Bush but either way, the people in both areas should be predominantly level-headed, common sense folk who want the best candidate elected.  What went wrong?  How did such an apparent 'dud' get elected?

I am currently reading a book by Susan Jacoby called The Age of American Unreason.   Maybe it will give me some answers.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,

And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.

Shakespeare

Strange fits of passion have I known

And I will dare to tell,

But in the Lover's ear alone,

What once to me befel.

When she I loved looked every day

Fresh as a rose in June,

I to her cottage bent my way, 

Beneath an evening moon.

Wordsworth

Yesterday, there were snowdrops in bloom in the West End.  If and when I ever have a garden again, I will plant snow drops in and around purple heather (the kind which is now in bloom).  They look spectacular together.  

Valentines Day wouldn't be complete without my favourite stanza by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach when feeling out of sight

For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of everyday's

Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise

I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seem to lose

With my lost saints - I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life! - and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.