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Fog

It’s been one of those lovely Vancouver winter days where the whole morning harbour is shrouded in fog.

I know it’s advection fog (a left-over term from a geography course) and I love to watch it move in and settle on the water. There’s very little to be seen so I close my eyes and listen. Fog horns are sounding, the gulls are shrieking, metal rigs are clanking against boat masts. Somewhere in the harbour a sea plane’s engine starts to rumble and my breath swirls the white haze around me.

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Then, as the sun begins to rise and warm I can see the shore birds backlit by the weak sun.

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A few more minutes and more of the harbour comes into view.

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But the sun is determined and soon the magic begins to evaporate.

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Mornings like today I think on my favorite little poem, a Carl Sandburg poem; the first one my children learned to recite.

The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbour and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

Comments: 19

  • February 3, 2013
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    where i live, we see fog from above. it builds in the inlet, rising and falling softly like a breath then dissipates. sometimes there is no ground visible, just a few tall buildings out in New Westminster peeking above the cloud. looks v surreal.

  • February 3, 2013
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    It reminds me of good days while in San Francisco… I love morning fog, its like a magic…

  • February 3, 2013
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    I love the word advection, and I’m off to the dictionary to find its meaning; great photos; Vancouver is lovely; hugs for the day

  • February 3, 2013
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    I also love the word “advection”- I feel a blog post coming on… Your pictures are lovely and your words poetry- thanks for giving me an idea to use with my kids.

  • February 3, 2013
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    We live in the mountains and I love seeing the mountaintops bathed in fog.

  • February 3, 2013
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    Lovely pictures !!!

  • February 4, 2013
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    Hi Veronica–I love fog and your photos are fantastic!! Plus, that poem is one of my favorites as well as another by Rosalie Moore, titled “Catalog” and has the line “cats sleep fat and walk thin.”

  • February 5, 2013
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    Lovely photos and that poem is one of my favorites.
    ~Clara

  • February 6, 2013
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    I would love to be in Vancouver right now !

  • February 6, 2013
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    I LOVE the photographs in this post Veronica!
    Especially the first one.
    I have been catching up!
    xx

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