A Walk in the Sunshine

Unlike what the weather forecasts were suggesting, it turned out to be a beautiful Sunday.  This is the the middle of our long, Victoria Day weekend.  Tomorrow will be a day off for most folks who still work.

We needed to run uptown but detoured for a small walk in our city's main park. It's always a pleasure. Queen's Park is essentially New Westminster's green lung, an absolute necessity when you are living within a dense urban grid. The city had the foresight to set aside these 75 acres back in 1887, and thankfully, they have resisted the urge to pave it over since. It is not just a passive patch of old-growth timber; it is a heavily utilized piece of civic infrastructure. Between the extensive network of walking trails, the historic Queen's Park Arena, the athletic fields, and the tennis courts, it is constantly in motion. They even maintain a spray park to manage the summer crowds and a dedicated rose garden when you just need to step away from the noise. It is a strictly functional mix of preserved nature and active utility, sitting right in our backyard.

I love the foresight of the citizens of my city a century and a half ago.  We took a look at the Rose Garden, but I didn't take any pictures as we only spotted a few buds.  The area will erupt into a blaze of hues next month.  Further along, we took a look at the area behind a fence where the local bee association keeps their hives.  Many of the small workers were out scouting down flowers to pollinate.  Lastly, we walked on a small pedestrian bridge across a busy highway that used to lead to the Fraser River and old Pattullo bridge,  Now the traffic flows across the new stal̕əw̓asəm Bridge (also known as the Riverview Bridge).

I love my city for its small, intimate size and the close proximity to the things we require.

My Car and I Recharged

I hadn't charged my EV since September 27th.  In that amount of time, we'd surely done a lot of errands, even travelling from New Westminster to Richmond and back for Thanksgiving.  So, I'd let it get down to only 39% of a full charge.

Unless on a trip, I generally top up my battery to around 80%.  That is a good amount to be able to get in some distance but prevents the slower charging time and stress on the chemistry from there to 100%.

I drove to Queen's Park which has the closest DC charging in town.  Often, I put in some electricity when we're getting groceries at our Superstore in Coquitlam.  During the last couple of weekends, all four of those BC Hydro fast chargers were busy as we arrived.

That's another reason why I was down to only around a third of a full battery.

Queen's Park is really great location to plug in.  It takes me just a couple of minutes to drive there, and, more importantly, there are always interesting things to walk around and see. At 10:30 am, the weather wasn't great and felt a bit cold.  I went in the municipal arena and noticed that the Vancouver Fire Department Hockey Team was practicing.  

Further along, quite a number of mothers were with young ones.  One mother had taken her child to an adjacent area.  I went to inform her that I had just seen a pair of crows steal some cookies and perhaps a small plastic toy from her unaccompanied stroller!

I was at Queen's Park for more than forty minutes in order for the Kona to get back up to an 85% charge.  EVs tend to take a little longer in colder temperatures.  However, that was a perfect amount of time to see a lot of different things and it provided me a bit of needed relaxation too.  I now have a chemical potential to travel a couple of hundred more kilometers for about $11 CAD (> $8 USD).

Two Parks and Blue Sky

I switched to having iced coffee this afternoon. It is that type of day.  

 

In Canada, we're in the middle of an extra-long, long weekend. Canada Day isn't until Tuesday, so I get the feeling a lot of people started on Friday and are taking off Monday too.

   

I don't have a problem relating to that.  I haven't put in a full day's work since October of 2014. I'm having an especially-extra-long, long weekend for like ... forever!  You'll find no apologizes given here.

Jay and I still have a little jet lag from our recent month away.  We find ourselves waking up far too early in the mornings.  Our schedule was a tad better as we slept all the way until 5:45 today!  That meant around 9:30 am we were thinking of how to spend a little time in the fantastic weather we would later enjoy.

We ended up just taking a short drive to visit several New Westminster parks. First, we looked at the Brunette River from Hume Park. It forms part of the city's border with Coquitlam.  As it's not on a path for our usual errands, we seldom stop.  Interestingly, we saw that the city has set aside some of the former grassy front area for reforesting.  There should be some more focus on access to the river.  Only one small path lined with scratchy blackberries brambles led to it.

We drove home via Cariboo Drive, by the new Aquatic Center, and stopped at Queen's Park just up the hill from us.  It's been the city's premier park since 1859.  Lots of people got the same idea.  I could hardly find a place to park Kimchi, my little Hyundai EV.

I thought I'd found a small niche until I got out and saw the 'No Parking' sign on a 3-meter high pole, half hidden in the branches.  We drove to another area and a proper space.  It may have been free because of the sign indicating that 'fly balls' may land there and therefore the city assumes no responsibilities.  However, no softball game was on near the field.

We did notice the wee Salmonbellies tots playing Lacrosse in the arena. 

Summer is the best time of year to enjoy living in this part of British Columbia in Canada.  And we do.

Photos of Three Odd Things

Most everybody has a camera with them these days. I use my phone camera exclusively but there are still times when I forget to take a picture although the device is right in my pocket.  Here are a few recent things, that did prompt me to pull it out.

   

On Saturday, at the Canadian Superstore in Coquitlam, we always get a shopping cart from the closest covered outside storage area. The one above was the next in line. It appeared to the the only one with unique, racing handles. It didn't help navigate in the slightest.

Below, you can see a pile of snow today that I took in Queen's Park. I knew it wasn't. Before the winter season, preparations for the ice rink, always produce a few snow piles like this. A park guest was walking a large black lab that just loved it. I watched him sniff and dig. 

On the bottom is a picture of some berries. I also took this today as I was getting in a walk as exercise. I had the car plugged into the DC fast chargers for one hour today! I never usually let my EV get that low. It turned out well as I wanted to get in an hour of brisk walking. I'd never noticed berries quite so purple before.  I looked it up and the purple fruit is a bush called an American Beautyberries (Callicarpa americana).  I read they're not harmful but aren't very flavourful.

 

Getting Some Exercise While Charging the Car

I thought I might as well kill two birds with one stone this morning. 

I wanted to do some walking to get my heart rate up. I have been trying to get in three or four hours a week of walking in moderate and vigorous zones. I now enjoy spending a few minutes in peak too. In addition, my car had charge of just 66%.  So, it made perfect sense to drive up to Queen's Park.

   

I sort of thought it might take one hour to walk around the circumference of the park. I knew that my car would get to my usual charge of 80-85% in less than a half hour on the DC fast chargers. Still I decided to give it a try and let the car get more of a charge than I usually put in. When driving around town and taking short trips, the maximum isn't necessary and might actually be a tiny bit stressful on an EV battery that isn't traveling far.

   

I'd never tried to walk on the path I did today. My goal is to keep in Fitbit's Active Zone for about a hour per day. Surprisingly, I found it only took 36 minutes to complete that path! My car had reached 90% of a full charge. Hum, and I hadn't completed my whole hour. 

Then, I remember that it could still get a bit of exercise if I let my car reach its maximum at the slower Level 2 chargers at our City Hall. That building is only a 10-minute walk up a very steep hill from our apartment. So, I parked, plugged, and walked down the hill. One hour later, I got a notification my car was fully charged.

   

I got in another few minutes of hard exercise when walking up to collect my EV.

Queen's Park Neighborhood in New Westminster

I have begun exercising again by walking uptown on a regular basis.  I enjoy my various routes and find seeing real streets preferable to the inside of a gym.  I enjoy saying, "Good morning," to other folks out for a walk and seeing the children and pets accompanying them.

The arrow on the image from Google Earth shows the building in which we live.  This is in the area called downtown New Westminster.  The front door of our apartment building is at an elevation of about 120 ft about the river.   

The circle on the image is the Queen's Park neighborhood and is referred to as uptown.  This area is a primary location I walk for exercise.  Much of the land in the red circle is between 250 and 350 feet above the river.  So, a stroll through sought-after homes on the heritage streets is quite a physical workout for me.  There are many historic houses from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  It also boasts a lot of mature green spaces.  Queen's Park, itself, is 75-acres and to the right-side of the red circle.

Today, I walked up Third Street and returned primarily via Fourth Street.  I generally like to take a walk of one hour.  I was quick today and I had to add a bit of extra walking near our building on Carnarvon Street.  The whole trip took me 56 minutes.  I walked a little over four kilometers and burned 575 calories.

Here are a six randomly-selected houses that I passed along my way today.

The Rose Garden in Queen's Park

 

I laugh at photographers who take pictures of flowers. Clearly, the real thing is preferred to a two dimensional representation.  Additionally, one in a garden has the bonus of smelling nice. 

Look what I did today though.  I suppose an attempt at documenting beauty is a worthy action after all.

 

More Scenes from the Filling Station

It'd been a couple of weeks since I charged my car.  I knew that I could squeeze in about $6 worth of power to get the battery back up a bit over 80%.  I also knew that it'd take around a half hour to do so.  So, I gladly spent the time on a little walk in Queen's Park.  Today, I took a much different path and it took the exact amount of time needed.  It was a bit chilly but beautiful nevertheless.

The Centennial Totem Pole in My City

This totem pole stands proudly in New Westminster, BC's main city park. It was carved in 1967 for Canada's Centennial by Kwakwaka’wakw artists, Lloyd Wadhams Sr. and Bob Whonnock. It stands 24 feet tall next to the city's Centennial Lodge. The artwork was originally commissioned by a newspaper of the time along with three others for the cities of Coquitlam, Surrey, and Burnaby.

Last year, at the age of 56 years old, New Westminster’s totem pole was restored by Lloyd Wadhams Jr., the son of one of the original carvers. The restoration work aimed to preserve the cultural and artistic integrity of the pole, ensuring it continues to be a lasting memorial and tourist attraction.  When walking past the area this morning, it shone so brightly in the morning sun, I felt the urge to capture this image of it.

Scenic Charging

 

I plugged in my car at the DC fast chargers in Queen's Park this morning. It is the first time I've done so since getting back from winter. I charged once since our return while we were getting groceries at the Coquitlam Canadian Superstore. However, I drove to the park today because I like using those. It's in an ideal place to spend a half hour.

I walked out to the pedestrian overpass. It was not a very exciting view of the Pattullo Bridge replacement.  So I walked to the other side and the opposite direction.  The result is a zoomed photo of Vancouver's North Shore mountains and the Lions.  Also, I strolled in the Queen's Park rose garden, but of course it was entirely cut back at this time of year.  It's hard to believe the plants will become amazingly prolific in a few months.  

Getting the EV topped up was a half an hour well spent.

 

Pretty Day to Charge the EV

My EV's battery was quite low.  We fly away for the winter on Tuesday. I will leave my Hyundai Kona at around an 80% charge.  This is the fifth winter I'm leaving the car for four or five of our coolest months.  The car is parked in the unheated underground space of our condo building.  The most I've ever seen the gauge drop was 2% during our extended absences.  The car automatically keeps a small, normal-type, accessory car battery topped up from the large EV one.  Power loss is negligible when the car is switched off.

Rather than rushing around at the last minute, I wanted to get it topped up because it was sitting at around 44%.  The weather in New Westminster was -1C this morning.  I thought it might take a while to put in approximately 30 kWh of DC power.

Yet, what a great morning to walk around Queen's Park!  Our city's changing stations have become quite popular for quick charging.  I sort of lucked out and didn't have to wait.  In the nearly 40 minutes it took, I was able to see quite a lot of beautiful scenery.

The 'snow bank' was really just old surfacing from the municipal ice rink.  With today's temperature in the single digits, it wasn't melting very quickly.

My EV Charging Story Today

It'd been quite a while since I last plugged in the car.  Even though several weeks had passed, I still had around 53% of my battery left.  But, when I saw that it was sunny, I drove up to Queen's Park to plug into the quick DC chargers.   I generally charge to around 81% on quick chargers.  That took an unusual 35 minutes today as the weather is getting a bit cooler and lower temperatures can add to charging times!  I really enjoyed my walk though.  My car gets green power, and I get healthy exercise.

As I was driving away, I thought we might go on a trip tomorrow.  Humm.  The weather forecast shows a nice sunny break tomorrow.  I am not sure if I've ever completely charged this two-year-old battery, ever!  Why not fill it up, so to speak?

So when driving past New Westminster City Hall, I pulled in at Level 2 (240v) chargers.  That is only several blocks from the apartment but on a very steep hill.  The maximum time limit for charging at that location is two hours.  I walked down the hill and went for a swim at home.  I still have another hour left.  By then, my Hyundai Kona's battery should be completely full.  Today's total cost will be less than $US 7.50 for around 240 km of electricity.  A bonus is I got in some exercise too!

Getting Toward the End of September

 

We decided to drive uptown. First, we stopped in Queen's Park. It was a beautiful day for a little walk.  The banana tree didn't produce fruit this year but it looked healthy.

 

We noticed the rose garden was closed for a private function. They were setting up for a small wedding at around 11:45 am

  

After around twenty minutes we walked back to unplug the car.  Its battery was already at 82%.  The charging stations are near the skate park.  Finally, we went to the uptown mall and picked up a few things.