A Sunny, September Sunday

Our apartment building is slightly to the right of center in the photo above.  The Fraser River is across Columba Street and the railway tracks in downtown New Westminster, BC.

It was a sunny September Saturday, defined by clear blue skies and ample sunshine. Jay and I walked down Fourth Street and crossed the parkade to access the Westminster Pier Park extension. Historically, active railway lines and heavy industry cut the downtown core off from the Fraser River. Reclaiming this waterfront into a public park has completely transformed the area. The space around the two towers, alongside the esplanade connection, makes walking to the Quay a delight. Although the eastern section was lost to a devastating pier fire on September 13, 2020, the active park space remains a major asset. Our building, along with all of downtown New Westminster, is a better place because of this development, which has undoubtedly had a positive impact on local property values. We finished our loop by taking the original stairs over the tracks near Hyack Square. From there, it was an easy SkyTrain connection to return to the apartment.

Here are some additional pictures from today's walk.

From Industrial Scars to Pier Park: Our Riverfront's Redemption

Stepping through Westminster Pier Park this morning from the far edge of downtown, it’s almost comical to recall what greeted us when we moved to New Westminster in 1996. Back then, civic planning apparently meant paving over old industrial wreckage and declaring it "waterfront parking." People bravely parked cars atop vast stretches of black asphalt perched precariously over rotting creosote pilings, inhaled the faint bouquet of decades-old hydrocarbons, and tried not to think about the murky depths of the Fraser below.  Large sections were fenced off completely and left to decay.

A century earlier, the real estate wasn't quiet parking but rather a sensory assault of Victorian capitalism. Commercial canning along the river took off in the 1870s after Alexander Ewen and his syndicate proved British consumers would eagerly devour Fraser River sockeye shipped halfway across the globe in one-pound tins. By 1876, Ewen built directly on the New West waterfront, and by the 1890s the pier footprint was packed with four separate canneries operating cheek-by-jowl with feed mills and creameries. Thousands of tons of salmon, predominantly prized sockeye, alongside chinook, coho, and chum, were steam-cooked in iron retorts, sealed, and stamped for export.  Machine shops blithely swept oily metal shavings straight through floor-holes into the river.

The Great Fire of 1898 leveled the cannery district, eventually making way for Pacific Coast Terminals and decades of heavy shipping before the whole mess surrendered to neglect and asphalt. Today, post-remediation, the contrast is night and day: native grasses, timber boardwalks, and festival lawns where cannery entrails and commuter sedans used to roast in the sun. It took New West about 130 years to figure out that the riverfront is far better suited for humans with ice cream than tin cans and rusty mufflers, but we got there eventually.

West Coast, Best Coast

A morning stroll down Carnarvon Street took in the Salvation Army Thrift Store along the route.  It served as the anchor of my loop that eventually crossed the tracks and returned along the riverfront past the Pier West towers. I checked out the newly opened park facilities and plaza space installed at their base. 

This stretch of late summer reminds one precisely why living in British Columbia remains so agreeable. A persistent breeze finally swept up the Fraser today, evicting the grey haze of wildfire smoke that had settled over the river basin for less than two days and restoring proper visibility to the landscape.  Life in this corner of the province becomes effortlessly appealing when the weather behaves, and the upcoming forecast offers every reason to lean into it. With mostly sunny conditions stretching well into next week, daytime highs holding steady between 22°C and 26°C, and comfortable overnight lows around 11°C to 15°C, the calendar naturally fills itself. 

Whether mapping out extended afternoon walks, filling the days with outdoor errands, or simply lingering near the river, the immediate stretch ahead promises ideal conditions for an active agenda. Ultimately, turning a routine neighborhood walk into a smoke-free loop along the riverfront proves that when a favorable wind clears the air, life is perfectly fine. 

Our City Opens Up More Waterfront

After years of construction dust right outside our front door, the westward extension of Westminster Pier Park officially opened yesterday. The city and Bosa replaced that bleak old surface parking lot with two acres of proper green space, capping the underground parkade and seamlessly connecting Pier Park straight through to the Quayside Esplanade at last.

It is a well-designed stretch of riverfront. Beyond the open lawns and new trees, there is a central festival plaza with splash jets, a shaded stage, and a striking Coast Salish art installation titled Ebb and Flow. They even managed to squeeze in an outdoor gym, ping pong tables, and a dedicated dog relief area.

The community turned out this afternoon. Families milled around a food truck, kids invaded the water jets, and a few brave souls tested out a cold plunge setup by the boardwalk. The formal speeches and ribbon cutting wrapped up around 19:00, leaving live acoustic music to drift over the Fraser as the sun dipped. It is a genuine, long-overdue upgrade to our city's connection to the Fraser River.

Audio-Sourced: Westminster Pier Park Walk

On a morning walk down Fourth Street toward Columbia Street, I tested my pocket-sized Sony voice recorder as a portable audio notepad. Holding the small recorder in front of me like a phone worked reasonably well to avoid looking like I was talking to myself, which felt like a practical test for public social etiquette once AI glasses become common. Early in the walk, I found the pause button, allowing me to stop recording during quiet intervals rather than letting the file run continuously. Because of this, a walk that lasted over half an hour yielded just eight and a half minutes of audio.  Here's an excerpt:

"I'm stopping to spy on the many, many bees that are in the lavender. There's an area walking up to the pedestrian overpass that has a whole little hillside of lavender, and oh my god, there must be hundreds of honeybees flying around gathering some. They really like lavender. I heard tell that it's going to be 27 degrees today. Maybe it is. It's marvelous."

My route brought me to the newly finished western expansion of Westminster Pier Park under clear blue skies. The expanded waterfront area is quite open, offering clear views of the Fraser River, tiered wooden seating, new turf, and a spray park framed by red posts. A raised concrete pedestal near the front provides a space for talks or performances, situated far enough from the residential towers to keep noise down. I also noted ongoing work on public restrooms and a small dog relief park with a fake fire hydrant. Along the way, I dictated a few practical notes, including parkade surface work in my building and my place as 21st in line for an afternoon sofa delivery.

Back in the apartment, processing the raw audio through my AI collaborator, Ajith, proved just how formidable this setup is. The speech-to-text pipeline cleaned up background noise, respected the deliberate pauses, and accurately transcribed every observation. Having Ajith immediately synthesize and co-author this entry directly from those dictated thoughts completes the loop entirely. In the middle of 2026, Ajith is far more than a software utility; he has become a seamless, powerful extension of my own intellectual reach and daily creative process.

Beeing Industrious or Not

Yesterday down at Westminster Pier Park, I spent some time watching the bees on the purple coneflowers. Against the backdrop of the Fraser River, these bright pink flowers were in their prime, acting as busy landing pads in the July heat. The bumblebees were out in full force; watching a single bee, heavy with pollen, crawl over the stiff, spiked center of a flower is a masterclass in quiet productivity.

Today, Jay and I headed uptown to Walmart, though the errand felt a bit redundant with our upcoming departure. We board the Celebrity Solstice this Sunday for a week-long cruise, so our minds are already focused on packing rather than picking up household items. However, the bags remain in the closet at the moment.  There might have been a certain satisfaction in getting the final chores out of the way before we head out to sea. Watching the local wildlife work so tirelessly is a reminder of how very different it must be to have no choice in completing one's schedule.

Reclaiming the Waterfront

A Walk Through the Westward Expansion

With Jay over at the Bonsor Recreation Gym in Burnaby this morning, I headed down to the river around 10:30, phone in hand, to see how the city is doing with clawing back our waterfront from its old, creosote-soaked industrial past. The new westward expansion is finally hooking up the old pier park with the River Market; standing right under those massive Bosa towers, it is a funny contrast, seeing all that looming glass sitting right next to a fresh public greenway.

I wandered through Phase 1, which has been open to everyone since May. The city has crammed all sorts of things into these little "outdoor rooms," including a shiny new fitness circuit, ping-pong tables, and some nice, tiered wooden decks. 

Past the art, a chain-link still fences off Phase 2 and lets one know they are not quite finished. Peeking through the wire, I watched the crew working on the new concrete seating plinth and performance stage, which is a multi-tiered setup meant for casual river-watching or live acts once they finally open the central plaza. The rest of it, the spray park, the stage, and the dog zone, is all taking shape behind the barricades. Even the big play tower by the Sixth Street overpass is still locked tight while they hook up the plumbing for the new washrooms. Still, watching them work under the warm morning sun, you can tell the whole boardwalk is finally coming together.

Public Space Along the Riverfront

 

The Westminster Pier Park Extension will not be completed and officially opened until July.  There appears to be quite a bit more work to do.  However, a partial section opened this week. From our balcony, we could see people walking through the center area, but Jay and I didn't go to take a look until today.  

The land was 'donated' by the recently completed Pier West development.  It consists of two matching residential towers that stand 43 and 53 stories.  This land is adjacent to the existing riverfront park.  The two buildings block a chuck of my view down the Fraser River but the new amenities in our downtown neighbourhood definitely increase the livability of the whole area.  

As well as regular outside gym equipment I saw the outdoor table tennis installations.  When the landscaping is complete, the whole project will be quite nice and only around 500 meters from my living room sofa.

 

May the 4th Be With You

For the photo above, I was standing by the Fourth Street entrance to the New Westminster downtown Parkade.  Columbia Street, two heritage buildings, and the underground tunnel of the SkyTrain stood between me and our apartment tower.  (There is another, slightly shorter tower in our complex beyond the right side of the image.)

I shot this on my way to Westminster Pier Park. 

I continued across the parkade towards stairs and a public elevator.  These photos were taken in Westminster Pier Park along the mighty Fraser River.  It seems that our preview of summer has lasted past the weekend.  

It was clear with a high temperature of 26C.  In order words, it felt like perfect conditions.  Yet, unfortunately because of a mild winter and miniscule snow pack, we are already under Level 2 drought conditions.  It will apparently be a dry summer.  I am hoping that the wildfire season somehow remains muted, or, at very least, the prevailing winds blow the smoke eastward rather than into the Lower Mainland.

Saving the Ordinary

 

Ah, there is an ebb and flow in my eJournal narrative! Some entries are written while on an amazing journey while others, such as ths one, include just a few, ordinary photos. I do tend to snap photos a lot. It's become a habit and one I value. I appreciate the treasure of ordinary things I have captured during my life. 

The image above was taken as I walked through Pier Park on my way to the other end of downtown. I was passing the children's playground that sits under the pedestrian passage over rail tracks. 

The one below was snapped as I saw the newest sign along the busy construction of the Pier Park extention. Between and near the eastern side of the two, brand new 45 and 55 storey residental highrises, donated land will become a useful addition to my city's riverfront. It looks like the revised opening date will come this July.  I saw lots of workers cutting lumber, piles of landscaping dirt, and even saplings ready for their new home.

 

Lastly, I saved an image while in sittig in our condo's hot tub in our swimming pool area. The weather was cool outside but the inside water wasn't.

Across the Road and in Our Apartment

The weather continues to be wonderful, especially for October in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.  Often times, we can be overcast and dreary by now.  This fall, we've actually had quite a run of clear, dry days.

The sun was downright inviting!  I had to take a morning walk through Westminster Pier Park as it's just across busy Columbia and Front Streets from our apartment.  I took a closer look at the guys working in the park extension at the west end of the existing park

There was a lot of activity.  It will be exciting to return in the spring and see things after they're pretty much completed with new landscaping.

From Westminster Pier Park, I could look back towards our apartment building.  The park's trees are getting taller each year!  Today I started to learn how my apartment will be getting a dash more intelligence through Google Home.

This afternoon, I noticed that the search bar within the Google Home app was switched on.  It will become a way in which complex automations will be created.  I set the app manually, to turn on a few lights exactly at sunset if someone is present in the apartment.  

Google Home is smart enough to know the sunset time in New Westminster each day.  So this practice routine will trigger two minutes earlier each evening during the upcoming week.  Today the glorious sun you can see in the photos above will slip below the horizon at 6:38 pm.

Reconnecting to the Fraser

Downtown New Westminster is finally getting back access to some of the Waterfront.  For years, the construction of the two high-rise buildings prevented access between Pier Park and the New Westminster Quay.

Even though the large towers block much of our view down the Fraser River, we always supported the construction.  When we arrived in the city in 1996, the area was a parking lot on the site of former canneries.  It was ugly and derelect.

The Pier West development will help make downtown a better place.  The hundreds of new residents will ensure better business environment and generate new opportunities.  The developer has even provided the city with additional park space.

Not all of the amenities are complete, but the path towards the front of the buildings was opened on June 30th.  For the first time today, I walked and saw where there will be future park benches and places to relax.  What a great new area to enjoy a view of the river!

I'm happy that over the remainder of the year, the city of New Westminster will continue to complete the park space.  It will make our summers even more enjoyable!

My Chance at Being a Star!

I first read about the tiny DJI Neo drone when we were in South Africa in February. I ran to buy one in Cape Town. However, I didn't learn to use it and only experimented enough to know that I got a product that wasn't defective. Fast forward a couple of months, and I hadn't taken it out of the box much. Granted, until today, the weather has been pretty crappy in British Columbia.

I walked down to Westminster Pier Park across the road and over by the river. This morning, I finally learned some of the simple automatic modes. It can follow, it can do a dronie, rocket, or circle without user intervention. 

This drone is going to be a blast and will be useful because it doesn't require any set up. Its tiny size is a bonus as it can literally slide into my pocket. I can even launch and land the device on the palm of my hand.  All the saved video clips are contained within the drone. To edit, I wireless downloaded to my phone and into a video editing app called, LightCut. Finally, I let the software select a minute's worth of scenes and put it to public-domain music.

WARNING: If you don't want to waste a minute of your life that you'll never get back, you should probably go somewhere else right away.

 

Geese Know How to Travel Light

We've noticed that high-altitude Canadian geese are neither assembling nor flying overhead in southerly formations any longer. Additionally, much of the foliage has been knocked off deciduous trees by recent torrential rains and high winds.  Lastly, it's getting colder.  During today's clear-weather respite, jackets were required when venturing outdoors.

 

Yup, it'll soon be time to move on.  The preparations are just about set and have gone exceedingly smoothly.  It won't be long before our winter with time in the Middle East, east Africa, Indian Ocean islands, and South Africa.

Change of Pace

I usually walk uptown on Wednesdays for exercise but I didn't today. 

Our family doctor works in a clinic just across the street, so first I went to the office to get a print-out of a blood test lab requisition for Monday. I had consulted with Dr. Huang on the phone. Although the request should be available right on the lab's computers, I still don't mind carrying a paper version as backup. 

I brought it back up to the apartment and, then walked down Columbia street toward the other end of downtown. 

 

Although I haven't really lost inches around my waist, I know that eventually my weight loss will force me into smaller pants. Call it 'aiming for a goal'. I picked up some unworn-looking pants at the Thrift Shop. I already have a pair of jeans that are two inches too small around the waist. When we get back in the spring, I'm pretty sure most of the trousers I'm presently wearing are going to be a bit too baggy. 

I was a Boy Scout. I'm always prepared! 

I crossed the tracks and returned to the apartment by walking through Pier Park along the edge of the Fraser River.  Our apartment is in the taller building with the green balconies towards the right side of the following picture.