A weekend away

This past weekend some friends from Toronto came out to the Wet Coast to see the sights, so we very generously invited them (and ourselves) to my brother's house on Salt Spring Island! Aren't we nice?

For the ferry ride over to Victoria the weather was perfect and I was pretty chuffed that our friends would see our best side.

We stopped off at Stephen's sister's house for one night as our friends were flying in at 11 pm. I love these white-edged African violets. I've never had much luck with them, but in my dream home with big windows, one day I might try again.

We all met for breakfast and our birder friends and our birder relatives bonded over Eurasian skylarks. The best place to see a skylark here is apparently the edges of the Victoria airport, and we did see some, but our Dave was trying to get a sound recording and the flying school's little planes were taking off at just the wrong time. So we did see the birds, but didn't get any proof because they fly by really fast and we couldn't really hear them over all the other noise.

We took the little ferry to Salt Spring Island. Since it was just early afternoon, we took a wee trip to Ruckle Park, best place ever. The sun was disappearing, but we saw tons of birds, an otter, so much pretty moss... no orcas happened to be passing by, though. Dave got a good picture of the otter, but he also had a way better camera than anyone else!

I prefer things that don't zip out of the frame... Got these great logs the next day!

We went to the Fernwood Cafe, at the north end of the island and wandered along the beach near there.

Pretty shells, great wood, nice trees... Who cares if the light is a bit gloomy?

After lunch in town, we went to Burgoyne Bay, where Dave hoped to find a sapsucker. Another disappointment, I'm afraid. I was delighted to see a bald eagle in a tree, but that is old hat for some.

And, look, some great lichen!

It was a chilly day, so when we got back to the house, I had a warm shower and put on this gorgeous sweater I found in the closet. It's the one I made for John's 50th birthday some 12 years ago! Photobomb by Katie!

Tuesday morning was clear and for some crazy reason I was up early enough to see the sunrise.

Katie and Dave went off on a noon ferry back to Vancouver Island and we stuck around for a few hours till our ferry back to the city. We saw the daffodils as we were investigating some dandy real estate.

A rather gloomier ferry ride back to civilization this time. One day I would love to make a sea/sky blanket with all these pictures. I do love a horizon!

Now we are back in the big city, on another perfect spring day!

Let this be a lesson

I like a good thrift shop find. In my year of living not in my own house, I do tend to only look at the housewares, the mugs, the pyrex bowls. But a wee bit of yarn can't hurt, right? Easy to carry if I don't knit it up now, not breakable...

This wool/cashmere blend was only $1.99. It was only one ball, but it's easily mixed with something else or used in a giant Westknits melange.

Only one problem:

Chewed to heck by some vermin. Argh!

Queen Elizabeth Park

Yesterday we went to a tried and true Vancouver destination: Queen Elizabeth Park. It is on Little Mountain, so the view is spectacular, and it was a wonderful sunny day.

It has extensive gardens, which are just about to burst forth in spring colours.

On this huge rhododendron bush, one flower was almost out. I had to wait till the person ahead of me had taken her pictures before I could stand in the optimal spot!

We went towards the Small Quarry and saw this sculpture that I hadn't seen before. (...constantly being confused by changes made in the past 40 years...) Apparently it was installed in 1984, which would explain the clothes and the Instamatic camera the photographer is holding.

He is taking pictures of these three people, and whoever else is nearby.

One of the subjects is wearing an aran vest ...

and the photographer also has a cabled sweater on under his corduroy jacket.

Tourists like to mingle with them!

Before we left the park, we went in to the conservatory, a glass dome filled with exotic plants and birds.

There was a display of a dozen of these air plants dangling from sea shells. I am making notes for when I have a space with lots of light! 

They say the weather will get grey again next week, but we have certainly enjoyed the sunshine while we had it. 

Three things on Thursday

I have a variety of cards in my wallet that I didn't have before. Three, as a matter of fact.

1. A Compass card. This is the payment system for the buses. It's easy, you just tap and go, and occasionally remember to look at your account online and add more money. Mine also holds info about the share bikes here. I love the BikeShare in Toronto and use it a lot. These bikes here are suited to the area: more gears, a bit lighter than the Toronto bikes. Two flaws: the seats are made of some foam stuff that stays wet for ages after a rain, and I have come home with a big wet splodge on my backside, not very flattering! And the system doesn't spread over the whole city. I once found myself wanting to drop a bike at 41st Avenue, but the last dock is at 16th! That's quite a nuisance. 
2. A card for the Aquatic Centre. At home I sometimes walk to the end of the block and swim at the Boys' and Girls' Club. They have, I now realize, a kid-sized pool. The Aquatic Centre has a 50-meter pool, which takes some getting used to! I have also discovered that you can go to the diving pool and tread water, or get some floats and do your ab exercises in the water. One day I will walk across the hall to get to the whirlpool, but since I can't see a dang thing without my glasses, these things aren't as easy as they might seem!
3. A Vancouver Art Gallery card. I am heading off right this minute (or when the dryer finishes its work) to explore the art gallery. Just as I was leaving Vancouver in the 80s, a new gallery was built and it is quite the show-piece, as I understand it. (Okay, so it's almost 40 years old now.) I got the out-of-town membership which will get us in while we are here but also covers a reciprocal membership with other museums like, oh, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto! Good deal, I thought. 

Be careful crossing the street. (One thing I love about Vancouver is that the drivers actually stop when there is someone wanting to cross at a crosswalk, instead of barrelling through and cursing you, like they do in Toronto.)

February, finally

I have a few things to do in February. Let's make a list.

1. Kids are coming to visit in the middle of the month, so I have to think about that, find bedding, think of things to do. We will make a quick trip to Victoria, somehow, to celebrate about five spring birthdays. 
2. Before that, my brother is coming later this week, so I guess I have to find him bedding! And have another friend over for dinner with him, so will have to explore the "entertaining" facilities of this kitchen.
3. I have to get to a knitting shop to get some markers so I can continue with my sweater. I got messed up twice on the first sleeve, so I'm pausing till I can get things right! Might even have to buy another needle or two for this collar. 
4. I only brought enough stuff for three knitting projects, and while the sweater is on hold I will doodle away on a garter-stitch wrap I started on the plane out here. 
5. We have tickets for a movie tonight! This is a level of planning kind of unheard of. We are going to see Knives Out, which won an award for costumes, including The Sweater. I actually know nothing else about the movie. 
6. Today was lovely and sunny, but when I was out my phone was low on battery so I didn't take many pictures. Soon, though, I will become unbearable with all my cherry blossom and daffodil pictures!
7. We are, foolishly, looking at real estate. We think that one day we would like to move here, but we are not at all prepared to sell our Toronto house at this point. So we can't really buy anything, but we want to "get a feel for things" by going to open houses for properties we can't afford right now. Today we saw five! Just overwhelming and confusing now, but we shall persevere.  

That should keep me busy for a while. 

Three things on Thursday

Here are three things that I can show you without too much trouble on my part, as they are all right here in my flat.

A hyacinth! I am a sucker for these bulb-in-a-pot things you can get in the grocery store. They are cheap and cheerful, and a hyacinth will also make your home smell like a spring garden!

This one drooped over and this is actually an aerial view, looking down onto the carpet.

Part of the list of instructions from the landlords included how to water the plants. This baby gets a small bit of water every other Sunday. (I felt kind of bad watering it on the Tuesday one week. Will the orchid mind?)

So excited to see that flower opening! Usually I kill an orchid pretty quickly. Lots more buds there so this is going to be long-term entertainment.

Actual knitting content: I have finished the front of my sweater! Two sleeves, with bobbles but no travelling cables, coming right up. Then I get to do a big wide ribbed turtleneck, so hold on to your hats.

In other news, I went out this morning for a swim: picked up a share bike, rode over the Burrard Street bridge (which seems flat to walk over, but indeed it is not flat), had a bit of trouble parking the share bike; went in to the Aquatic Centre, swam 400 meters which is a dawdle for an Olympian but for me it is quite enough; took the bus back home! Now I have had a bite of lunch and think I should run the dishwasher, throw a load in the washer, knit a sleeve, finish a jigsaw puzzle... Some of that will get done, I am sure.

I miss the little free museums

In Cambridge, there were probably a dozen free museums or more, from the giant Fitzwilliam to the wee Classical museum filled with plaster casts (which I am appalled to say I never blogged about!). Here in Vancouver, we don't go in for that sort of thing apparently, and a day out in a museum can cost quite a bit.

Yesterday Stephen and I were out at the university to have lunch with an old friend, and afterwards we went to explore the Museum of Anthropology, with its amazing collection of Coast Salish and other artefacts. We took the free tour, which was excellent, but of course selective, and then didn't really have time to go back and look at everything. I think we will have to go again, maybe when someone comes to visit.

There was not a lot of textile work on display, but this was in the main hall: a modern piece by some local Musqueam artists.

"I could knit that," she says.

The museum had a huge donation from the family of Walter Koerner, including a rather marvellous collection of European ceramics. Of course, a pot shaped like a cabbage, with a companion parrot pitcher, is right up my alley.

The main claim to fame of the museum is its collection of West Coast First Nations art. These are a few potlatch bowls.

They would be filled with food for the great gatherings, to show off one's wealth, and also just to feed a hundred people at once.

I'd say this was more than life-sized. 

A house-pole, I believe. Look at that lovely snake!

Bill Reid was a modern Haida carver, with a rather interesting life-story. He became very well known in the 1980s, making a large war canoe for the opening ceremonies of Expo 86 and making this magnificent sculpture of the Raven and the First Men.

Somewhere in someone's house is a copy of this that my dad made in his carving days!

Today it is pouring with rain, yet again. "January rain brings February flowers," we must remember.

Sweater progress

I brought three projects with me, and am plugging along with my Kureyon pullover. The back is done, and the front well under way.

I had a wee crisis when I thought I would not have enough yarn for the whole sweater. I had 13 balls of yarn when I started, but noticed after a while that some of them were, at most, half-balls. This problem was easily overcome by going to a yarn shop and buying five more! So now I am confident that I can do the full big neck, proper long sleeves, whatever is needed.

I just need to ease into a brighter ball for the front, because the back is so lively and the front, so far, pretty dull!

A week in Vancouver

We have been here almost a week. We have taken a gazillion pictures of the view out our front window.

Fresh snow on the mountains when they peek out from the clouds

We have walked up to Fourth Ave, the groovy main drag near here. When we lived near here in the early 80s, Fourth Ave still had a bit of a hippie cachet about it, left over from when it was the centre of the action in the 60s. There is a bead store, and the record store we bought our New Wave records at is still there, but there are a lot of sushi restaurants and chic clothing stores. And so many new buildings! A lot can happen in 35 years, even more in 50 or 60!

I have also discovered two of the places we used to live. The Aquarius apartment building, still with the gold writing on the door:

This was our first apartment, a basement place "under the Greeks." I think we lived there for 2 years! And the house is still the same, though there used to be a grapevine above our door, from which the landlord made wine that tasted like Welch's grape juice.

Phew, I think that might be enough exploring down Memory Lane! We had lived in Cambridge before, but then we had been adults, with kids. We left Vancouver in our mid-20s, and along with these things we remember from those days, there are also streets I know from when my mom drove me to swimming lessons when I was 12. Different!

Today we went somewhere I think I have been once before in my life, White Rock. I remembered nothing at all about it.

We were visiting a friend who has moved here from Toronto. She has a house with a view, close to the water, and we went for fish & chips for lunch and then walked along the waterfront and out on the pier.

If you click the picture to embiggen, you can see sea lions on the right-hand side, amongst all the birds. There were a dozen of them, as well as some harbour seals. Apparently a bunch of small fish came in to White Rock, lots died, and the birds and seals are enjoying a bit of a feast.

Tomorrow we hope to go for a walk, but it might be cold or wet or snowy, so we might not. We are very delicate now that we live in Vancouver, it seems!

Another term, another city

We are in Vancouver! We had Christmas at home with the kids, sent them off back to university, and came to BC to avoid the Ontario winter; to see if we want to move here when Stephen retires; and so Stephen can do stuff at UBC.

We found another great flat -- owned by a retired professor who flees the rain of Vancouver for Santa Barbara, California every winter.

And indeed it was pretty grim for the first day or two! We know there are mountains over there, but the cloud was so low we could see nothing.

This morning, though, the clouds lifted, and the view was marvellous. We are on the top floor of a low-rise building, and on a hill so we peer over top of the buildings across the street.

The flat is very nice, quite huge. The landlords are both artists so the place is full of their paintings. I'll show you some highlights over the next little while.

The gloomy weather, however, provides warm moisture for the plants. Buds! Green things! We are a bit excited about the fact that spring is just around the corner.

I even saw this today, on a south-facing slope by the beach: 

Believe it or not....

Tomorrow's explorations will involve finding a yarn shop, because my thrift store supply of yarn will not be quite enough for this sweater. This is almost 3 of my 13 balls, maybe half of the back. 

More is more! All the colours! Bobbles and cables!

Here we are in the 20s

It's 2020. That is crazy! We are apparently well into the 21st century.

I have a plan or two for this year, mainly driven by the fact that Stephen is still on sabbatical and we will be living in Vancouver, BC for the first few months of the year.

When we were in England we travelled around quite a bit. In Vancouver, we will probably go visit Stephen's mom in Victoria, and maybe go see my family later in the spring when there is less likelihood of weather-related problems at the airport. There might be a bit of travel for Stephen's work, but we're not anticipating much of that. I think I'll be happy walking down to the beach and looking at the mountains!

I am planning another walk in England this May, so I have to walk around Vancouver to practise. Maybe even in the rain!

Knitting-wise, I have started a sweater from a 1986 Vogue Knitting magazine, with some Kureyon I was lucky enough to find in a charity shop! I have thirteen balls, so I might have to buy one or two more to finish this, but since I have several colourways already it won't matter if I have to throw another in.

That should keep me busy for a month or two. I will also take with me a mitten I was working on in 2016. The yarn is similar to that I used in the Starflake this fall, so I might take the leftovers from that, too, and when I am done the mittens I can make a giant wrap!

That all seems a bit ambitious. Nah, a sweater and one and a half mittens, and a fun and colourful rectangle, how can that be too ambitious for three or four months?

I did finish my Geology shawl, with its dang counting and remembering and so on:

So, I have a sort of plan till April or May. September should bring us back to "normal," but with two kids with minds of their own, who knows what might be normal. Playing it by ear in 2020!