Noisevember 24

On a day where the rain fell and the wind blew we got lucky with a break in the weather and Aaron and I went for a run after work. Even though it stopped raining, the ground was not dry. I took a shortcut between two cedar bushes on my way to the front door and felt my running shoe slip in mud. Unaware of the magnitude of the mud, I wiped my feet hard on the mat in the apartment lobby. I looked down to see clumps of mud. 

I felt bad for leaving mud there (and I'm obviously afraid of Carrol), so I grabbed our Dyson vaccum and tried to clean it up. It's mud and doesn't clean up well with a house vaccuum. No reflection on our awesome, life changing vacuum.

This recording isn't of the action in the lobby, but me cleaning a few corners in the kitchen. Both regular and max suction are featured.

Noisevember 23

It's Aaron's special recipe - raspberry lemon kombucha. He started making kombucha in January and went through a few experiments, spreadsheets and scobys before creating this mix. 

Here's the sound of Aaron pouring the-ready-to-be-bottled kombucha from the 2 gal jar into the 1 L measuring cup and then into the 750 ml bottle. That bottle will sit for six days to develop carbonation and then it'll go in the fridge. Once it's ready for the fridge, it's ready to drink. It's tasty!

Noisevember 22

My parents 💖

Here's a clip from today's FaceTime call with my parents. We don't chat enough this way and I really like it when we do. Today my dad said we should do this regularly and so we set a time to talk again next Sunday at 4:00 pm.

I recorded only two minutes of our conversation twice. Unfortunately I didn't have the recorder rolling for any of my dad's gems, like "that's a pink job" when referring to my mom cleaning the microwave. 

In this clip you can hear all four of us, and the dryer.

 

Noisevember 20

More COVID-19 restrictions have been put in place this week - socialize only with members of your household, non-essential travel is not permitted and among others, masks are mandatory in all public indoor spaces. For work this means we're back to working only from home and there are no more office days. So much time is spent in the apartment.

Today's sound is common in the apartment and isn't going away. It's boring, but captures what's happening daily in the apartment. It's a recording taken at my work desk while a CBC radio show plays in the background, the host and guest discussing the pandemic. Saving grace here is that Rosemary Barton is the best radio host!

Noisevember 21

This is how we start our day. Every-single-day. The sound of the water pouring over the ground beans is soothing to me every morning.

I love this coffee making ritual, and even though I've recently reduced my caffeine intake and drink half-caf in the morning (chased by a couple cups of black tea not long after), this ritual isn't going anywhere.

Noisevember 19 

Here are the beautiful morning birds outside our bedroom window. They're in the trees beside the apartment and maybe even coming to the feeder. I also caught the sounds of lunchtime birds! The kids from the school nearby are playing in the background. If you really listen you'll hear the vibrating wings of a hummingbird.

 

Noisevember 18 

 

Trust me, this sound was recorded on November 18 despite what the internet date stamp says. It was an office day and I spent most of the last hour of work scanning historical photographs. They were photos from 1935 of the Great Fraser Valley Ice Storm. The amount of snow in Chilliwack forced electrical lines to fall to the ground causing wide-spread power outages. The photos also capture ice frozen to electrical wires. 

 

Just this week 130,000 customers lost power on Vancouver Island and the South Coast due to a wind storm. Eighty-five years later and still, we'll never be stronger than nature.

 

This recording of the scanning machine hard at work was taken at 3:57 pm, I'm off at 4:00!

 

(Edited for time. Your time, I had to sit through the three minutes of scanning).

 

Noisevember 17

Here's the recycling truck emptying the bins at the apartment next door. I had to run outside to grab the sound as I missed recording the truck outside our apartment. My arm was outside the window with the recorder in hand and the truck close by, but I forgot to press record!

These sounds bring back memories of Cowichan.

 

Noisevember 16 

When you spend all day working from inside your apartment and are barely brave enough to battle the elements, rain and 5pm darkness for fresh air, it's good to remember that people are still out there and that the world continues to go on outside your walls and windows. Somedays I need to witness that activity. People are still coming home from work, doing errands, walking with friends. I captured a little of this at the corner of 12th and Granville around 6pm. 

It was actually kind of quiet, considering the location.

Noisevember 15 

All of my time is spent either in the apartment or in local nature. I didn't think you'd want to hear the wind again, so how about lasagne? Aaron had the idea I could capture the cheese bubbling, only it didn't bubble, but you can imagine the melted, slightly browned cheese on top. 

Mmmm!