A Vincent Mounier Photography Blog
Lobster Run
February 3, 2013
A long time ago, the sailing ship I worked on in the Caribbean would stop bi-weekly in the Tobago Cays, St Vincent and the Grenadines.
We avoided Union Island, the largest of nearby inhabited islands, stopped for a day in Mayreau, also inhabited albeit barely, and then sailed next door to the Tobago Cays, isolated and deserted. Our ship would drop anchor in shallow water and we would transfer our daily lunch buffet for a few hundred passengers to the beach, the kitchen ...
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Groundhog Day-jà Vu
Punxsutawney Phil did not see its shadow and an early spring is upon us.
In a comical twist, other animals are being thrown into the prediction business and Staten Island's groundhog Chuck is now claiming the 49ers will win the Superbowl. Whatever.
Today's online New York Times City Room section features an article on NYC groundhogs with a picture of a Greenwood Cemetery groundhog taken by Marie last year, and one of mine from Staten Island, initially posted. Who kne...
A Whole New Look - Beta Version
January 30, 2013
UPDATE: The beta version is now looking very good, the main slideshow links are working. Still issues with the mobile version of the site, working on it!
Needless to say, this blog has undergone a face-lift. Or rather, it went backstage, changed costumes, touched up its make-up and is now back out for a new act.
As I mentioned recently, I get bored easily with web design and need freshness to keep me interested. This applies to my own blog, too, and I hope you reader...
The Oystercatcher's Haven, Paternoster
January 28, 2013
Still in the Paternoster series, here are images of the delightful Oystercatcher's Haven B&B.
Taking it easy with an Atlantic Ocean view
The neighbours
Taking it even easier, in style
The front of the room
View from the back of the room
Common area downstairs
Same room
Dolphin Swims up Gowanus Canal, Dies as Crowds Watch and Authorities Wait
January 25, 2013
Warning, this is a sad post.
It's all over the news, so I will try to be brief. The Gowanus Canal, for the un-initiated, is one of the worst scars on the Borough of Brooklyn.
Roughly a mile-and-a-half long, the canal is contaminated by sewage and leakage of toxic substances, a legacy of the past. Its waters are almost solid and completely opaque, rather disgusting at all times.
How a dolphin could manage to even wander in there puzzles me as much as the beaching o...
Five Wild Years
A little over five years ago, I happened to be up there, one of the loveliest places I know, with the loveliest person I know.
She said yes.
Need I say any more?
The top of Grouse Mountain, Vancouver BC
View of foggy Vancouver from the summit
Vancouver Island across the sound
Cape Dutch Style, Paternoster
January 22, 2013
My dream house will be such.
I think Marie agrees. Whitewashed, bright, in and out. Soft corners but complex lines. Multilevel. Rustic yet comfortable. Thick walls. Flowers outside, and inside too. Old place, multiple generations having lived there. A long history, many stories to whisper to us when we rest, through the whining of the wind under a door, a floor creaking, the ringing of a bell, the clear drip of a tap, songs of the birds nesting under our roof* and a mil...
Paternoster, South Africa - The Sequel
January 19, 2013
Almost four years ago, on our way back from an epic road trip to Namibia, Marie and I stopped for the night in the small seaside village of Paternoster, camping just out of sight in the Cape Columbine Nature Reserve.
We had bought lobster from fishermen on the beach and cooked them as a few rain drops fell and evening fog blanketed the coast. We had previously camped in the relative solitude of the Namib, oldest desert on earth and later in the Kgalagadi National Park w...
Luckily for us, President Obama "Does not support blowing up planets"
We live in a strange world, an intricate web of corruption, evil, waste, paranoia, merciless wars and... sheer simplicity.
To emphasize that last characteristic, the White House has created a section on its website called "We the People" which it labels "Your Voice in Our Government". The purpose of said section is to give Americans a tool to engage their government in a way that matters to them through - no, please, don't laugh yet - online petitions.
Some use the p...
New Skin - Update
January 10, 2013
These have been a busy few days and the new skin is about ready but needs fine-tuning.
There are also a few more South Africa picture posts in the making, including a smooth night in Paternoster that more than made up for the white night of a few years ago, and a beautiful stone house perched above the Langebaan lagoon, about which Marie has already written and posted beautiful images. Stay Tuned.
New Skin
January 5, 2013
It's chronic, this blog undergoes plastic surgery every once in a while.
As the surgeon - yours truly - uses his mighty scalpel, you will probably notice visual discrepancies on the blog layout. The operation should not affect the post themselves, so content will remain. But everything visual could be a bit off, the sidebar might fluctuate, etc.
Bear with me, this won't take long and I hope the new look - if it matures - will be worth the glitches.
Biltong
January 3, 2013
One of my very favorite foods worldwide, South African biltong comes in many shapes and textures.
It is sometimes almost as dry as North American beef jerky, but can also be moist, tender and perversely fatty in away that could only be matched by the supremely delicious duck prosciutto of Vancouver's Oyama Sausage Company at the Granville Island Public Market.
Homemade biltong
The biltong pictured here was homemade by one of Marie's brothers, meat unknown but probab...