December 8

Office day

Aaron picked me up from work and we went for a walk along the Fraser Foreshore Trail. We walked alongside the Fraser River and saw a few tugboats go by. Here’s the sound of the waves created by the tug passing by. 

December 4

Another sunny day! Couldn't ask for a better week weather wise to have vacation in December. 

Today Aaron and I hiked the Lawson Creek Heritage Trail in West Vancouver. We carried on to the Brother's Creek Trail and got high enough to run into patches of snow. It was quiet out there, we saw only a handful of people until the 25 high school students on the last 500 m. 

We were looking for old growth and this trail is home to the Hollyburn Fir, a 1,100 year old Douglas Fir giant. It's magnificent!

Here's the sound of Lawson Creek near the start of the trail.

December 3

I took my binaural microphones on my run today to compare the sound to the run recording from last week. It seemed like the perfect day to record with them since it wasn't raining and I could leave my noisy jacket at home. I also thought it would be quieter on the seawall because it was late morning but it was still active out there.

The mics kept falling out and required constant adjustment (edited) and they pick up the wind, but they're still super cool. My footsteps are quieter in this clip, either because the binaural mics aren't as sensitive as the built-in mic, or I had the built-in mic pointed out or down towards my feet. Another explanation is that the brand new shoes I'm wearing are quieter!

 

December 1 

Many Noisevember recordings were housebound sounds and since we were on a full day outing today I had to take my recorder. The plan was to snowshoe to Garibaldi Lake but we didn't run into any snow until about 2km into the trail and didn't need snowshoes for another 2km. I really enjoyed those first few k's on the forested path as it felt like a familiar fall hike. However, snow covered trees in the sunshine are marvelous. Up at the top we cleared a path into fresh snow to find a sunny spot for lunch at the lake. 

It was a gorgeous day and we stayed up there for an hour. The snow was beautiful.

Noisevember 30

I did it! Thirty days recording a sound.

Today we started going through the boxes in our small pantry storage area. Going through boxes and finding things to get rid of, like 2003 taxes and old phone bills, means you also find the things you intend to keep. Some of them you'll keep forever. 

One of those keeper boxes is all my old radio work. It includes my first traffic reports, demo tapes, raw interviews for features, and the finished features themselves. The formats include cassette, CD and minidisc, and there's even a DAT tape and a Zip disc. 

I hooked my minidisc player up to our radio and Aaron and I laughed listening to a "West Coast Watch" on Stanley Park, another on the BC Ferries, and this one on Coast Wolves. 

I recorded part of this feature out of the radio onto my recorder. Love love love. 

Noisevember 29 

This was a lazy sound for a lazy day. We went for a slow 12 km run through Shaughnessey and then spent the afternoon on the couch. We tried out the game Hive Nicole sent us for our birthdays (surely not last Christmas?).

Here's the sound of the tactile game's pieces. 

Katie won the game!

Noisevember 28 

Aaron and I went on a 5 1/2 hour walk on Saturday! The sun was out and it was a good way to spend as much time as we could outside. We took a snack this time so we could last the afternoon. Mid afternoon along the Seawall at Second Beach was very busy. In the recording you'll hear the sound of the waves and many languages. 

The walk got off to the best start when we ran into Mel & Jawad & Ayla coming off the Burrard Bridge on their bikes. It was so good to see friends and chat to them in person! It finished pretty well too - we stopped for fish & chips for dinner.

Noisevember 27

I'm on AV! There is no better way to start a week of holidays than by going for a run after clocking out at 4 pm. Aa and I pounded the pavement to the seawall and headed towards Science World for our familiar 8km route. 

Aa encouraged me to burn off some extra work energy and take off ahead of him so he's not in my clip. 

Next time I'm going to record a run with my binaurals and I will not wear my rain jacket!

Noisevember 26

It's not a cop-out! It's a true representation of life during pandemic policies and cold November rain. Zoom, Webex, Microsoft Teams—there are many platforms where we can gather for lectures and webinars. Last night it was Jesse Wente giving a presentation for Ideas on CBC, and tonight it's a panel on Site C.

Here are clips of West Moberly First Nations Chief Roland Wilson reminding us of a few of the warning signs that Site C should not have gone ahead.

Noisevember 25

It's much easier to get an interesting sound when you leave the house and especially fun to record sound at an elementary school! It's okay for adults to be there because it's also a public park.

There's so much activity at Taylor Park on a clear day when gym class is outside, community members are playing basketball, and a train pulls into the Skytrain yard.