Spring Rain

Spring in Cambridge certainly lives up to the adage "April showers bring May flowers". Today was a lovely April day and in between thunder storms I captured some cloudscapes.

Well, mostly between showers. That black cloud at the top of the "Spring Rain" shot got me :-)

Regatta, Rugby, Red Sox

While Peter was in soggy Vancouver I had a very sunny weekend of sport in Cambridge.

• The 43rd Head of the Charles regatta was held on October 20th and 21st (photos).
• The Springboks won the Rugby World Cup... I had to text score updates to Peter who was turned away from apparently the only pub in Vancouver showing the match. I am very impressed that he turned into a rugby fan after only watching a couple of matches - goes to show he really is an african at heart.
  
• The Red Sox came from behind to win 4 games in a row and turn a 1 - 3 deficit into victory in the ALCS.

The Red Sox are playing again tonight - Game One of the World Series.

(even as a baseball fan, I still think it's daft to call it the World Series when only [north] American teams compete)

August update

We haven't been travelling much recently, though April brought a wedding in South Carolina, and July a short jaunt to Montreal for the Jazz Festival.

Peter went to Kentucky overnight for work, and I made a trip to New York for visa purposes - both were all work and no photos. Otherwise I've been puttering around taking photos close to home, often of the earth in bloom. Yesterday we went to a local farm for a glorious if windy day outside. We returned with loads of fruit, and lots of photos of bumblebees busily pollinating sunflowers - quite a feat (for bees and photographer) considering that the sunflowers were waving wildly in the wind. Good to have a fast lens!

As noted before, I've been very pleased with the images from the 18 - 70 AF-S DX Nikkor lens. The Quantaray zoom left a lot to be desired and quite frankly wasn't worth carting around China. So I am very excited (though until it arrives a little apprehensive) that I've just ordered the reputedly wonderful 18 - 200 mm AF-S DX VR Nikkor lens. Apparently Ritz Camera has them in stock right now, though they sell above list and sell out really quickly from all reputable vendors. For Nikon enthusiasts interested in more on the lens and where to buy it, see Ken Rockwell's site.

Back in Boston

We arrived home yesterday after a 27+ hour travelling day. Fortunately things went smoothly, with no detours to Hohhot, Newark, or other delightful spots.

The photo blog is now complete from March 7th (Dali) to March 14th (Yangshuo). Photos from earlier and later remain to be uploaded.

Time Zones

China is in the GMT +8:00 time zone.

This is equivalent to a thirteen hour time change between China and the US east coast, eleven and a half hours between Newfoundland and China, an eight hour time change from Britain to China, seven hours from continental Europe, six hours between Africa and China, and a whopping sixteen hours from the north american west coast to China.
For China time, unless you're in Japan or somewhere else to the east of China and west of the international date line, just think "later today (or perhaps tomorrow)". If in doubt the sun clock will give you a sense of where it's day or night.