An Accidental Hooligan

I am not exactly a devoted follower of the FIFA World Cup; in fact, my knowledge of the tournament is exceptionally limited. However, a completely pragmatic decision to spend my final, unexchangeable dirhams at the Casablanca airport last week has inadvertently turned me into a partisan football supporter.

 

I purchased this branded bucket hat strictly as a financial transaction to avoid dragging useless currency back to New Westminster. Yet, serendipity has intervened. Tonight, Morocco faces the Netherlands in the knockout stage. If my newly adopted Atlas Lions manage to win, their next opponent will be Canada.

It seems that a simple airport impulse buy has left me entirely prepared to sit on the balcony and face a profound crisis of national loyalty over a sport I rarely watch. The true winner of this tournament might just be my effort to avoid foreign exchange fees.

The Shifting Skyline from the Royal City

It is fascinating to look out from our vantage point in New Westminster and realize how much the landscape has evolved since Jay and I first settled here. My lone photo of the day captures a reality that would have been unrecognizable a decade or two ago. Where there is now a dense phalanx of glass and steel stretching toward the clouds, there used to be open air and a clear line of sight.

Back then, the horizon belonged to Mt. Baker down in Washington State. Its snowy peak was a constant, majestic companion to our morning coffee. Today, those towers have claimed that particular piece of the sky, effectively editing the volcano out of our daily view.

It’s not a point of sadness, though; rather, it's just the natural rhythm of urban development in a corner of the world that refuses to stand still. We’re watching a massive demographic shift in real-time. Just across the water, Surrey is growing at such a clip that it is projected to surpass the population of Vancouver proper in the very near future.

New Westminster remains our home base, but the view is certainly getting more crowded. It’s a bit like watching a child grow up; you don't always notice the height increase day-to-day until you look at an old photograph and realize the world looks entirely different.

Mark the Calendar!

This eJournal functions to document personal stuff. The image today proves the weather has made a bit of a temporary change. Although the nights still get cold, this is the second day in a row when the temperature surpassed 20°C. The weather forecasters do expect it will cool off a bit later in the week. However, it was warm enough for me to wear shorts.

Although I'm able to expose my legs most of the year, since returning home a month ago, trousers have been the rule. So, this marks a memorable day in 2026.  It is not very important in the large scheme of things, but surely a suitable occasion for a slow news day!

   

Lemongrass Harvesting

Jay cleaned the balcony pots this morning. He uses a lot of lemongrass in his cooking though it's often used in Thai and southeast Asian food too. 

Generally, he goes out to cut directly from the clump and uses fresh pieces. He cut it back today and will use it dried next summer. If the winter isn't too severe, it will regrow in the spring. Some winters here the roots die completely.

It's Been a Great Run of Good Weather

This photo was at taken from our balcony at 7:08 this morning.

 

The days have been extraordinarily clear and sunny lately.  I appreciate the nice weather as October can get pretty dreary some years.  

Last year, we didn't leave for the winter until the second week of November and I was more than ready to go somewhere I could see the sun!  This year, we will be in Sri Lanka on November 1st.  It takes a while to travel to the other side of the earth and we actually leave Vancouver two days before that!

So it is a pleasure having such a run of great weather.  This morning there was an interesting cloud but it continued on its way eastward.  The sky today has been predominantly sunny.  Yet, tonight's low may be 5°C so it definitely is time to start packing. 

$C\; so\; it\; is\; time\; to\; start\; packing.$

Hollyhock Identification and Balcony Gardening

 

We'd been wondering about something on our balcony.  I took several pictures and uploaded them to Ajith, my AI, using the Google Gemini app on my phone.  I asked by voice:  Can you identify this plant? It started growing in a balcony plant pot but we didn't add it. It doesn't seem to flower.

My name is Ajith.

Leaf Shape and Texture: The leaves are large, with a somewhat rounded or shallowly-lobed shape and a distinctly rough, wrinkly (rugose) texture, which is classic for hollyhocks.
No Flowers: This is the biggest clue! Hollyhocks are typically biennials. This means they spend their first year growing a strong root system and a low clump of leaves (like what you have now). In their second year, they shoot up a tall spike that produces those beautiful, iconic flowers. So, the fact that it hasn't flowered is perfectly normal for a first-year plant.
The "Volunteer" Factor: It's very common for hollyhocks to appear unexpectedly. The seeds are a favourite of birds like finches, who can easily drop one in a convenient pot. Wind can also carry the seeds a fair distance.
Powdery Mildew: I can see a whitish, powdery coating on some of the lower leaves in your photos. Hollyhocks are famously susceptible to this fungal issue, especially in late summer and fall. It's another strong piece of evidence.

So, how it got there was likely a little gift from a neighbourhood bird.

Now, while some might say you should pull out any plant you didn't put there yourself, I'd have to disagree. I think these "volunteer" plants are great! It's like your balcony garden decided to give you a surprise. If you leave it, it will likely die back over the winter, but the root system will survive. Since you and Jay will be off enjoying Sri Lanka and Dubai, it'll just be dormant, waiting for spring. Next summer, you should be rewarded with a tall stalk of lovely flowers.

You might want to consider moving it to a bigger, deeper pot next spring to give it room to really thrive. For now, you can just snip off the leaves with the most powdery mildew to keep it from spreading.

---

And as you're here in New Westminster, here are the tides for you on the Fraser River for today, Saturday, October 11, 2025:

• Low Tide: 5:58 AM (1.3 m)

• High Tide: 11:34 AM (3.5 m)

• Low Tide: 5:47 PM (1.8 m)

• High Tide: 11:20 PM (3.8 m)

A Relaxing Thursday

 

The weather was pleasant. Sometimes toward the end of the summer and the start of the PNE, we start to lose August's high pressure weather systems. As we had a half week of clouds and rain already, maybe it can hang around until we're into September. 

Jay and I drove up to the Langley Farm Market to buy fruits and vegetables. The local peaches and nectarines are still available but cherries and blueberries are pretty much history now. 

We didn't do a lot this afternoon. Yet, this is the kind of day where it's all right to do a lot of something or a bit of nothing. We sort of defaulted toward the latter.

 

Summer Growth

This image was taken a few minutes ago. I walked onto the balcony and aimed my phone at the top of the sunflower stalk.  Eventually a sunflower will open in this spot.

   

In one of the eight plant pots, nestled in with onions, Jay planted a sunflower seed. We were gone for most of June, so he put it in the pot after we got back. The plant is already a couple of feet high. I swear I can practically see it grow if I sit looking at it long enough.

Rinsing Off the Car Cover ... Finally!

During our winters away, the car stays parked downstairs in our building. It always rests for four or five months of the year. When we bought the car, we bought a cover too.  The parking areas in the building get tons of airborne dust and grime.

   

In 2025, we arrived back in town from South Africa on March 16th. So, we took off the somewhat filthy car cover on March 17th. We loosely bundled it up and stuck it in a garbage bag. That bag had been riding around in the back seat for the last three and a half months. 

Yet, the sun was so lovely today, we chose to move it and spray it down at our buildings' outside garden hose. There's a chain-link fence that is long enough for us to hang it over.  Streams of dirty water ran off as water cascaded over it.

   

As long as the car was nearby, Jay hosed off Kimchi, our EV, too. 

Now, the gray cover is drying on our balcony.  Obviously, there's no need to get to certain chores right away.  Although months late, today was perfect for this task.

 

30 Seconds of Traffic on Fourth Street

It's nice to be home today. This morning we had a bit of rain. It is 4:00 pm and has cleared up. Here's a video clip of traffic on 4th Street.  I was on the balcony looking to the east. The next block has another residential building.  The SkyTrain bridge crosses the Fraser River behind it as does the original Pattullo Bridge,  The new Pattullo Bridge replacement remains uncompleted.

 

Pictures Taken 20 Years Apart

I gave up on Twitter back when you-know-who turned it into a cesspool of misinformation. During our recent winter away, I signed up on a replacement site called Bluesky. I don't spend much time there but occasionally post something from here or other local photos I've uploaded to Flickr.  Just like on my Facebook profile, I keep data from a limited amount of time on the social-media platform.

Yesterday, I got a direct message in Bluesky from someone I don't know. They live in the other tower of our complex. They'd noticed an image taken from our balcony and sent a message saying hi. I answered and mentioned we've now lived in Carnarvon Place for a long time. In order to drive home the point, I messaged back the following image shot from our balcony and uploaded in 2005.  

 

It was taken with my first digital camera.  It is the first example of the down-river view I found at my Flickr account. Rather than try to reproduce the shot, I'll simply add my most recent photo taken in the same direction.  I used it as the sole entry here in my journal at the beginning of the month.

Things have surely changed in our little city!  It's also important to note that the top image was taken seven years after we bought our apartment here.  This is why 'old people' talk about time flying, I guess.  

Another Day Without Sun

We're still getting up earlier than needed because we're adjusting to jet lag and the difference in our home time zone. It's black outside when we get up but it really hasn't gotten very bright for a few days.  The high temperature is around 8°C.  I guess this gives us a chance to experience a little local winter even though we spent most of the last four months in the southern hemisphere.

 

Jay and I dropped off my passport application and photos at the passport office in Surrey.  That allowed us to stop at the T&T Supermarket in the same mall.  It's a big chain store that carries mostly Asian products.  We picked up some things such as a bit of kimchi, pandan and curry leaves, and dried fish.  Because we turned off the refrigerator during our recent four months away, we are having to catch up on a great deal of food from scratch.

Turned Everything on @2:15 PM

(Message Seen on Facebook) 

We're back in the apartment after four months away. Everything is working well except us.

 

October Weather a Few Days Early

The weather feels as though it has turned the corner. Right now rather than just a little rain, we are getting a storm. It signals the end of summer and the beginning of the more volatile part of the weather year.

 

A Dinner Guest

This morning was pretty ordinary for a Saturday. We went grocery shopping at the Coquitlam Superstore. 

Later though, we were lucky to have Jiwan come for dinner. We have only seen him once since we've been here this summer. He came out to New Westminster and chatted with us for a few hours. We used the building's hot tub too. 

Here is a photo of Jiwan and Jay on the balcony.

 

Rain in the Morning / Plans for the Start of 2025

 

This morning surely started off like a January day in New Westminster!  However, as I'm typing these words in the evening, it's beautiful with sun, blue sky, and pleasant clouds.

It was a normal Saturday morning with a trip to buy groceries at the Coquitlam superstore.  Before we left, Jay cut back the onion tops in the balcony pots.

 

Seeing, what looked like winter this morning, did prompt us to finalize some aspects of our upcoming one.  We have already booked a second month of our winter in another Airbnb.

First, we go to the tiny Island of Mauritius via Dubai, Tanzania, and Madagascar.  We will stay in Mauritius for a month and over Christmas and New Year.  Next, we get on a ship that ends up in Cape Town, South Africa in mid-January.  Following a one-month stay, we have decided to go to Durban, South Africa for a little less than a month.  As it's more than 1600 kilometers, we've decided to fly between the cities.  We haven't chosen an Airbnb there yet.  This afternoon, I watched a few YouTube videos to ensure that taking a bus to Johannesburg will be easy and interesting from the Indian Ocean city.  We will need a hotel in the capital for four nights before we fly home on March 15th.

It's all coming together.

Improved and More Cheerful Weather

In contrast to the photograph from yesterday's blog post, this one does not appear dark and dreary.  Yesterday was so much of a washout, in fact, I didn't notice there was an eclipse. In this part of British Columbia the sun would've only been about 20% blocked at best. So, we didn't miss much due to the rainy day.

Things seem to have perked up today.  I was able to put out a load of laundry to dry in the sun and breeze.  Earlier on a trip uptown, we first stepped foot into our new bank.  We were switched over to RBC when HSBC sold off its Canadian holdings effective this month.  It was a fairly painless process even though it sounded absurdly complicated.  We stopped in in order to use ATMs to change our card PINs to our former choices.  Jay also bought some some grains and whatnot at our health food store.  We bought a few things at the Walmart too as we were so close to the mall.

Rain on the Window Pane

I didn't even want to step out on the balcony to take a picture this afternoon.  I was more comfortable standing inside the balcony door even though I risked catching a few reflections on the glass.  

The weather looks and rather feels like winter again. We left from November through mid-March, so I suppose we can suck it up for a few more days of this. After all, it is preferable to witnessing early forest fires!

I haven't moved very much today.  Of course, I managed to hit the hot tub.  I also checked for postal mail.  (There wasn't any.)  Is this enough of an accomplishment for a Monday?

Early Birds

When we return from a winter away, we sometimes have to re-adjust to Canada's Pacific time zone. This morning we both woke up at around 5:15 am. We were incredibly tired last night, so we did get quite a few hours of deep sleep. 

   

It was interesting looking from the balcony at a scene we'd not seen since the end of last October. This was a bit before sunrise. In New Westminster, BC that means I took this image before 7:15 today. 

Snippets of the Fraser River Morning Fog Show