A Day on Grouse Mountain

For years now I've been looking from bus and train windows up at the mountains and picking out the lights of the ski resorts and vowing to be up there some time soon. Yesterday Sarah and I finally went.

After busing downtown, we took the SeaBus over to North Vancouver. Here's Grouse Mountain from the water. The cleft in the trees is where the gondolas go. The white clearing above that is one of the bigger ski runs.


The day was much busier than we expected. We queued for about half an hour just to get into the gondola. Here's us clearing the parking lot.


We raced the neighbouring gondola. It won.


This is that ski run I mentioned earlier. Sorry about the view in the background; I know it's not much to look at.


We also queued another half hour to rent ski equipment. As we neared the head of the queue we were informed that they'd run out of ski poles. We're both beginners so a day without poles seemed unwise, and I have no experience with snowboards, so we bailed. It was really disappointing but we did walk around and play in the snow.

This is another run above us. The wind generator is new; there's an observation deck on it also.


Hi, Sarah. What are those? Gifts? For me? Oh, how nice! Thank you so - hey!

Some Birthday and Christmas Photos

Sarah at her Christmas Concert

 Dining on pancakes at her slumber party

 Opening Birthday Presents (here, her new Harry Potter Lego set from Poppy)

The Birthday Cake

 Making a Wish

 Margo, all dressed up for a night out at a Christmas Party

 Sarah was VERY excited at the size of her Christmas stocking

 Mike, making some essential coffee for the parents.

 Sarah enjoying some hot cocoa before opening presents

 Mike's contribution to Sarah's stocking

 

 Checking out her book of optical illusions from Granny and Grandpa

 Mike got a bottle of wine

 Dad watches Sarah tear open her gifts

 Mike opening a set of cufflinks from Margo

 Mom got to wear all of the ribbons as the presents were unwrapped

 Sarah has been begging for these particular candies EVERY time we go to the store, for the past year

 Happy child on Christmas morning

Dad had a nice Christmas too!

Cinematic Moment

This afternoon I saw Tron: Legacy downtown at the Scotiabank Theatre. I loved the movie, but that's not what I'm writing about. Right after, I stopped and looked out the nearest window. The sun was out, for the first time in over a week - it wasn't when the movie started - and right there was the Shangri-La tower, which served as Encom's headquarters in the movie. I could even see the crane at the top that Sam Flynn was standing on minutes before.

Walking around downtown, seeing the sun glinting off all the glass, the snowy mountains in the background, it was intoxicating. Yes, we whine and moan about the insane real estate prices, the lack of community, the weather, but my god, this place can be beautiful.

A few more photos from the Christmas Market

Christmas Market

Last night we visited the Vancouver Christmas Market, a new event inspired by the open air Christmas markets of Germany. However, since Vancouver doesn't have a town square, it was held in a fenced-off pavilion in front of a theatre.

Being a weekend, and not raining, the lines were quite long, and we had to wait about half an hour just to get in. Inside, there were still lines for most anything of interest.



Bavarian sausages, pretzels, and other Continental foods were available. For drink, there was hot Gluwhein (spiced red wine), hot spiced apple cider, and taps of Paulaner beer - Weissbier, Dunkel, and the famous Salvator Doppelbock. Goods such as Christmas ornaments could also be had.

A packed performance roster of musicians kept things lively also.



A collection of kids' activities was available. Sarah chose one where she got to decorate her own chocolate lollipop.



But we didn't linger. After long waits for overpriced food, we were eager to go home. On the way back through downtown we did stop and check out the Christmas tree in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery.



Back home, Margo heated some Merlot with brandy, sugar, spices and fresh orange to make a hot mulled wine way tastier than the $8 half-cup we'd had earlier. I put on Christmas tunes while Sarah and Margo decorated our tree.

Glitter Is Evil

Millennia frrom now, archaeologists digging through our remains will puzzle at the mysterious golden dust, and when they find they can't get it out of their clothes and carpets either they will curse it as I do.

Island Holiday part two

The morning after my pub night in Victoria began with a train ride north to Nanaimo. The station, a one-roomed shack I've walked past plenty of times without even recognising, couldn't have been much closer to my hotel - right across the street. The train itself had just a single car, and seemed well aged, but was cosy inside.

The ride to Nanaimo is two and a half hours, an hour longer than a car's journey, but what a ride. You can't be in a hurry for something like this. The snowy scenery made it even more special. As we left town and our train rose in altitude, the experience grew positively Alpine, and when we eventually saw the inlet, it was way far below. We crossed two brides over ravines of frightening depth. With no railings or fencing, it seemed that if we all went to the windows at once, we might tip over! I was grinning like a kid. And at every stop and crossing, it seemed someone was waving at us.

Arriving in Nanimo, I had a walk of about three blocks uphill to Kennedy House, a charming character bed and breakfast. My upstairs room had a nice view of the harbour and inlet between the tree branches. I didn't linger long though, heading out to downtown and starting with a visit to one of my favourite music shops in all of BC, Fascinating Rhythm. Their selection always seems to have something I want, and I often marvel in seeing a recording there that's hard to find. I also love that much of their stock is used and thereby quite inexpensive. My perusal turned up two titles, one a treasure - a classic sampler from a favourite label, 4AD, that I'd not known about.

A visit to Serious Coffee reunited me with a pot of Market Spice Tea, an old friend from Seattle. By then it was about time for an early dinner. I ended up at the Modern Cafe, which had been reliable on a previous visit.

Wow. My dinner was way above expectation. I settled on a chicken club sandwich, which doesn't sound like much. I started with the salad, and soon I didn't want to finish. Greens in a viniagrette were topped by surprises like salted almonds, a spiced peach slice, and two slices of supremely tasty bleu-brie cheese. The sandwich also impressed with a spicy (but not too spicy) chipotle sauce, nicely cured bacon, and a herb-infused baguette. The weakest link was the wine, a Merlot from one of the bigger BC wineries serving as the house red. I love it when a meal makes me smile.

Back to my room and its super cosy bed. In the morning breakfast included eggs and bacon with toast from homemade bread and with homemade marmalade. After some pleasant chat and a chance to meet their dogs, I bade farewell to my hosts and made my way into fresh snowfall to linger some more downtown and eventually make my way to the ferry.

I ultimately decided to take the 25 minute waterfront walk to the ferry terminal. Bad idea. Most of the scenery was obscured by a thick snowfall that I had to keep shaking off my clothes. As impatient as I am, waiting for the bus would have been a better outcome. A cup of tea at the terminal was enjoyed. The ride to Departure Bay in West Vancouver was enlivened by high winds and choppy waters. After a skilful docking, two bus rides had me back home quickly to get warm and reunite with family.

Holiday on the Island

I'm enjoying a few days off in Vancouver Island. Just me. My only agenda is to relax, read a lot, and eat and drink well.

My trip started with a surprise snowfall. Fortunately the roads were clear. I was also fortunate to get a ride to the Tsawassen ferry terminal with Margo, who needed to pick up mail over the border in Point Roberts, saving me about an hour in transit time.

I'm travelling light: just a shoulder bag. No camera, no books, no magazines, few clothes. It's just simpler when travelling alone. If I want to get up and explore the ferry or train, it's easier with one bag than with two.

I do have the iPad. I'm still delighted with it. It's an Anything Box: it can be just about anything a flat rectangle can contain. It's a deck of cards, or any board game I want. It's a library of books, especially free books from public domain authors - I have Shakespeare, Mark Twain, H.P. Lovecraft and many others loaded. It's a magazine; this week's Macleans and the current Uncut from England are loaded via Zinio. It's a video game arcade. It's a video player. It's a browser, letting me type this blog. It is endless distraction whenever I want it.

Boarding the ferry, I had the unfortunate realisation I'd forgotten to pack the charger though. I resolved to shop for one and eat the cost as a Dumb Person Tax.

The Vancouver to Victoria ferry is probably the busiest in BC but my ride was still pleasant. I initially sat on one side at a window, but when Aerosmith started cranking from a Guitar Hero video game in the adjacent arcade, I decided to relocate to the front centre to get a more panoramic view. It was my first exposure to the Gulf Islands as we passed between them, often rather closely. Snow dusted the fir trees.

Two younger guys a few seats away started pulling out instruments. An acoustic guitar. Aww man, I thought. Next came a tambourine, then a shaker. Now I was really getting worried; surely I would be subjected to some awful music shortly. Sure enough they promptly stood up at the front, introduced themselves, and launched into just two songs. I shouldn't have worried. They played very well, a cheerful Latin-tinged sound and a unique vocal delivery, roaming the aisles. After their two songs, they brought out CDs to sell, and as the trickle became a flood, it was clear they'd won over quite a few new fans. Some even asked for autographs. I just kept grinning and basking in the glow of the impromptu community.

A pod of killer whales was spotted. We also saw the unusual sight of a crew member shoveling snow from the deck.

Listening to randomly ordered songs, I realised I was listening through some songs I would otherwise skip over, making time for things I usually don't. Slowing down, and adjusting to "island time".

At the Schwartz Bay ferry terminal, I chose the slower of the two waiting double buses because the faster express had an immense line of waiting riders, and I was in no hurry. It was nice to be reacquainted with the motions of riding the top of a double bus, and the journey through Saanich and Sidney was scenic, with lots of coastal and countryside views.

In town, I spent the better part of an hour shopping for a charger (always more expensive than you expect) and then wandered a bit before crossing the Johnson Street bridge and walking along the north shore of the Inner Harbour to an early dinner at the legendary pub Spinnakers.

I was hoping for a seat at the upstairs bar and the chance to connect with a few other beer geeks. This was not to be. The entire upstairs was reserved for a ticket-only Firkin Festival of cask ales from around the region. Getting a table at the downstairs restaurant, I was further chagrined to find that my first two choices of cask ale, the Jameson's Scotch Ale and the Abbott Ale, were both unavailable. I made do with their fine Spinnakers Ale, and later washed down my fish and chips with a pint of their cask ESB, which Macleans reportedly called one of Canada's top beers.

I walked back, admiring the harbour at night and the now-lit strings of Christmasy lights adorning Parliament. I checked into my room at the Swan's Hotel, right above another of my favourite pubs. Soon I was downstairs to partake of my two must-haves from their brewery: the Extra IPA and the sublime Rileys Scotch Ale, happiness in a glass. A fine ending to a fine day out.

Halloween

Here is a photo of our headless skeleton. Yes, Sarah seems to enjoy being a pile of bones for Halloween; this is the third time I have painted a skeleton costume. I vote for something different next year!

Bloedel Conservatory

Sarah and I visited the Bloedel Conservatory today. It's a domed tropical environment containing lots of exotic plants and birds.



"Look, Dad!" Sarah spots a bird.



Most of my closeups were pretty rubbish but here are some of the better ones.









Afterward we watched the fountain. Here Sarah is playing the sorcerer and willing the water jets to rise higher.



The conservatory, inside the large Queen Elizabeth Park, is one of the highest points in Vancouver, giving us a nice vista as well.

Road Trip: Mission and Harrison Hot Springs

We decided to have our Thanksgiving meal yesterday instead of today. With Margo baking all day, and Sarah wanting to stay home (she never wants to go out), I came up with an outing for myself. I'm rarely in our car, so the idea of the open road and some nice tunes sounded good.

After consulting maps, I decided to explore what is effectively a single road. If you start at the Western edge of Vancouver in the University of British Columbia and head east on Broadway, it will be renamed as Lougheed Highway at the Vancouver-Burnaby border (Boundary Road). Lougheed then proceeds about 125 km along the northern shore of the Fraser River, ending just about at the resort community of Harrison Hot Springs and passing through the tri-cities of Port Moody, Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam as well as Mission and Dewdney.

I stopped in Mission to briefly look around. I knew there was something like a monastery on a hilltop there, but after a few minutes of driving around the city centre, even going uphill a bit, I didn't see any references to it, so continued East.

Harrison Hot Springs is a small resort town at the bottom of Harrison Lake. I didn't stay more than a few minutes but did see a public pool that appeared to be fed by natural hot springs. But the natural beauty is a draw and many hotels and resorts are there to accommodate visitors.

Natually the focus of the city planning is the waterfront. At the end of the road there's a nice gathering place.


Here's the lake. It extends for hundreds of kilometers. In the centre is one of its larger islands. The southern end is more broad and shallow; the northern end is more fjordlike, narrow and deep.


A large pool has been built at the waterfront, ringed by sand.


On the way back, traffic slowed to a crawl. For a while all I could see was a moving van going very slowly along the side of the road, holding up traffic behind it. Turns out it was a support van for what looks like a skateboard-related fundraising activity.


Approaching Mission from the East, it was easy to see the spire of Westminster Abbey, which wasn't visible from the West. I worked out which road to take up toward it and was soon parked. Much of the grounds are closed to visitors but a path has been provided to a lookout point, giving a fabulous view of the Fraser river and valley.


Here's the main building of the Abbey and its tower.


At the bottom of the Abbey's drive, instead of turning right and rejoining Lougheed, I turned left onto Dewdney Trunk Road, which I knew rejoined Lougheed just before the Pitt River bridge. I'm glad I did. Traffic was much lower and the drive more exciting. I saw lots of motorcycles, a sign of a good road to drive. Soon enough the road hit suburbia, widening to two or more lanes, and I could see distant condo towers, so the rest of the ride back was a slog. But it was a nice afternoon drive overall.

The Spanking Head

Hello Reporter Sarah here with the latest Spanking Head news ,we have seen a spanking head sighting near Alberta, they claim he has light brown hair looks about in his 40's and gives people "melvins" a type of wegie. One of the victims Mrs.Nelson will tell us how it felt: Oh I'm on? Ooh um well it's hard to explain really but when he does your underpants tighten and it's really painful.: Thank you Mrs. Nelson now our leading report says that this mans name is Michael Patrick Nelson thats all for tonight so have a good night see you next time on the SPANK channel bye!

Heartwarming Conversation

Sarah: Do you think I should have a plum, or a nectarine?

Mom: Have whichever sounds better to you.

Sarah: But, I really want to know your opinion.  Which would YOU have?

Mom: I don't know, a nectarine I suppose.

Sarah: I will have a plum.

One More Pod

Yesterday I was able to fulfill a gift for Margo of a 4th generation iPod Touch. (They've been out of stock here for weeks.) This brings our total number of Internet-capable devices - phones, game consoles, computers, and pods - to eleven.

Now we're having an iPod rotation. Margo gets a high resolution touch screen, the ability to collect Apps, and the portable organizer she's been jonesing for, with a comfortable 32 gigs for her dozen albums of women playing folk music.

I inherit the last iPod I gifted Margo, a 120 gig Classic. So I get twice the storage I had previously (which was straining) and our family's biggest portable music collection has room to grow.

And Sarah inherits our old one - a 60 gig "iPod Video" that was the top of the line four years ago but has since drawn snickers from my workmates and was described by my VP of Product Development as "old school". She's excited. I've offered to help her start her own library, and with her gift certificate she has a few new songs in mind to add to it, but for today she's content to explore my library. Of our music, her current tastes run to Queen, Hooverphonic, Madness, The Monkees, and Run-DMC.

But I know what's coming next. Being a kid, her tastes will be the most awful imaginable. She's already pronounced a fondness for the Jonas Brothers and Black Eyed Peas. And inevitably she will want to run these toxic bits through my stereo.

Something is Wrong with Sarah

Because today she asked me to show her how to use the vacuum as she wanted to clean her room.

So I showed her the Ways of the Dyson. A father-daughter bonding moment.

Bodies

We saw the Gunther Von Hagen BodyWorlds exhibit at Science World today. It was neat to see the plastinated, posed bodies that you've probably seen pictures of. Though I found myself involuntarily touching my face while viewing some as certain parts - male reproductive organs, intestines - got me a bit queasy.

Some of the poses were quite artistic, not just in the posing, but in the way the inner parts were exposed. As they say, there are many ways to skin a cat. One man had rectangular sections cut out and slightly displaced, like a chest of drawers. Another's limbs and torso had alternating rings of skin and pared-back flesh.

But even more valuable to me were smaller displays. Some were things I'd never seen before, like one's diaphragm, and another's nasal cavity, things I could only imagine previously. There were also healthy and diseased organs and cross-sections, showing the effects of smoking and obesity among others.

I was really impressed viewing the circular systems of a lamb, a rooster, and a human head. I wondered at how you'd get just the blood vessels to keep their position, but realised that if you can plastinate an entire body, doing it for just blood vessels wouldn't be much different. I was also impressed with the colouring of the tissues overall - normally when one sees real tissues in a museum, it's just greyish.

After the exhibit, at lunchtime: "So, who'd like to get some ribs?"

Fringe Festival

This year I finally attended the Vancouver Fringe Festival, partly as atonement for missing Edinburgh's while we had the chance. My gateway was yesterday's showing of Kunst Rock (Art Rock) by Die Roten Punkt. I couldn't resist a show that takes the piss out of Brian Eno, Kraftwerk, rock operas, and more, and featured a clever Pixies parody. Plus a keytar, paired with a cowbell! My friend and I laughed ourselves hoarse.

I'll be making more time for next year's festival. I need to see more theater in general. I so enjoy the spirit of live performance, especially comedy.

Anniversary

Margo and I celebrated ten years together with a night out on Friday. We got a corner suite at the Sylvia Hotel in the West End, overlooking English Bay. I'd never been before but Margo had years ago. It's very charming, and the building is a historic landmark. I enjoyed the view of the bay and the people watching from the ground floor bar, and next morning at breakfast.

We had dinner at the nearby Boathouse restaurant. I steeled myself ordering wine, knowing we were paying about three times the shop price. The highlight was the sunset, which I wasn't expecting as the day had become completely overcast by dinnertime. But bands of clouds slowly acquired deepening colours and, as we talked, each time we noticed it, it got brighter and bolder, nicely framed in the restaurant's wall of windows. For twenty minutes fellow diners were standing and taking photos.

New Job!

This week I was contacted by the department head of the Social Service Worker program at Langara College in Vancouver. She wanted to know if I was available to teach a course this fall. It seems a colleague of mine from UBC now teaches in that program and recommended me for the position. I met with the team on Thursday and was so pleased to be offered the (part-time and temporary) position. The college is very nice - small, but it seems to have a full complement of facilities and support for faculty and students. The morning I interviewed, we made the rounds of the various offices and I was provided keys, a phone number, an office, my paperwork was pushed through, slaray point established, arrangements were made for a mail box etc - all in the course of less than 3 hours. All that was outstanding by the time I left campus was my computer account and login and my parking pass.

The program is a one-year entry level program, designed to prepare students for either direct work in the field, or for further education. All of the students move through the program as a cohort and it appears that a real emphasis is placed on teaching and on supporting student achievement and success. I am excited to see what it is like to work at a teaching-focused institution and, especially, to try out my teaching skills. This really seems like a terrific opportunity - I'll start on Tuesday participating in the student orientation with the other faculty, and then my first class will be on Friday. The course is a community practice course - not my focus area when I went to school, so I expect, as was often the case when I was a TA for a new course, that there will be a lot of learning involved for me, as well as for my students.

I will also continue to work as a Teaching Assistant and as  Research Assistant at UBC, as well as work on my own research, so I anticipate a busy autumn, and probably a very busy year. I don't mind really - I am just feeling relieved at this sign that there may actually be a career out there somewhere when I finish up with all of this education!

Camping

We've lived in British Columbia for almost exactly two years and haven't gone camping until this weekend. In fact, this was our first camping trip as a family.

On Friday afternoon the girls picked me up at my office and we drove about three hours east to Manning Provincial Park, a huge forest reserve. There we met up with our friends Elliot, Heidi and Nathan, with whom we'd planned the trip and were sharing the campsite reservation.

This was our home for the weekend.



The facilities were great. We had a picnic table, a fire pit (unfortunately, due to summer forest fires, a ban was on and we couldn't use it), a gravel patch to pitch our tents on, and a nearby washroom/shower facility with outside sinks and warm water for washing dishes. Daily and nightly events - family-friendly activities - were held in a small ampitheater.

The local fauna weren't shy about approaching us for food scraps. They must be pretty used to having us hairless monkeys around.


Heidi and Margo had planned our meals. That first evening's menu included salmon and pork kebabs, burgers, and garden fresh veggies with an Okanagan Merlot and some BC brews. There was a bit of light rain but it was easy to ignore, and we ate in camp chairs under a tarp.


Overnight it got quite cold. There was ice on the picnic table. Elliot checked his car's thermometer and it was reading 1° when we got up. Fortunately the skies were mostly clear so the sun helped warm us up, along with fresh-ground coffee. When we could stop shivering, we broke out the food and started cooking breakfast: eggs, bacon, toast, oatmeal, and melon.



After cleaning up, we headed out to a trail to walk around nearby Lightning Lake.




After that hike, we took time to relax in the chairs and do some reading. Then we were off for a shorter hike up one bank and down another of the Similkameen River.





Dinner was flank steak, corn on the cob, baked beans, a nice bottled blend of Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Lemberger, and BC beers.

In the morning it was not quite as cold - we heard 2° this time - but instead of having our planned pancakes before packing out, it was suggested and unanimously accepted that instead we pack up and get breakfast in Hope on the way back. The cloudy skies and potential for rain had the makings of a less than fun morning, so we had omelettes and pancakes in a much warmer room instead.