Thanksgiving Their Way

Before we get into how some Canadians, in Vancouver at least, celebrate Thanksgiving, let's do some fall color, shall we?

Looking down from the balcony the trees are in various stages of change.

Speaking of the balcony, how about this for a sunrise?

Whew...can you stand all this color? There is a wonderful stretch on Hornby that I am in love with.

I was on my way to order new eyeglasses for the two of us at Clearly on Robson Street. Unlike the clerks at the place in Yaletown where Bruce had his eyes examined, Jen seemed delightful to work with us, even if we are old.

The good news is we were able to purchase our glasses at Clearly for about half of what we would have paid at Costco.  The longer we are here, the wiser we are becoming about shopping. From there I went over to Hudson's Bay on Georgia, a department store that is totally working for me.  Carrying all price ranges for goods makes for some excellent choices. Leaving the store, I got a kick out of this Little Pony shirt as high fashion. I think the lady who wandered into my photo thought as much.

I'm not sure how I have missed this awesome alleyway, adjacent to the Orpheum Theater, in my previous walks but ooh la la...what great color, especially on a dreary day such as this morning.

Next door to the dry cleaners is a little florist shop that oftentimes has some cute outdoor displays.

On the home front, the buttons are all sewn on, the pjs washed, and I am wearing them as I type.

Little bird eggs for the win! Today's high will be 52 degrees with a low of 43.

Saturday afternoon I walked, once again, to DressSew, this time for a zipper as I wanted to make some zipper pouches as hostess gifts. Along the way I couldn't help but notice how the leaves almost perfectly matched the building color. So pretty in person!

Wendy, the head of design at Earls invited us, along with Claudia from the office (I've forgotten what she does), to dinner at their lovely home in North Vancouver. It was decided that the three of us would share a cab so no one would have to drive home after a few drinks. Isn't Claudia lovely?

Wendy and Marty are both Vancouver natives, Wendy having grown up close to where they live now with their 13 year old son. The meal was just wonderful. During our conversation I learned that they were skipping Thanksgiving, aside from brunch with their family on Sunday. Seriously?

Honestly, we had such a good time, and of course, I was loving the fact that they are real Canadians as I've actually met so few. A 20 year Vancouverite, Claudia emigrated from South Africa. Interesting to note that not all cab rides are equal...the first leg of our trip cost $10 more as the driver went a different route. Also of note...Uber is banned here, or at least for now. On the other hand, marijuana is pretty prevalent.

So, thinking about Wendy and Marty Sunday morning, I should not have been surprised when Bruce said we were going to Zarita's in the afternoon for Thanksgiving dinner. Although the actual date is Monday, it seems as if people are prone to do what works for them. So, the pouch I was going to make had to get done ASAP before church. In spite of making some stupid mistakes, I managed to recover.

Walking to church, the trees look as if they are on fire along Burrard Street.

In Florida we may not have red trees, but the brilliant yellows and pinks of our Tabebuia trees are pretty great too.

The church was decorated with loving care.

Have you ever seen anyone use an empty pumpkin as a vase before?

We drove to Burnaby to join Zarita, Gregg, and some of their family for dinner. Burnaby is pretty darn big, according to this, the third largest city in British Columbia. It really is just an extension of Vancouver.

Gregg is from a large farm in Manitoba and Zarita is from Calgary. This is one of Gregg's brothers with their darling little boy who looks so much like my Bruce when he was this age.

Wasn't it wonderful of them to invite us to share in their Thanksgiving feast?

Following dinner we made our way back into downtown to attend to Baxter, although he, more than likely, slept during our absence. Mr. Baxter is showing his age more and more, not just with the potty training business, but I believe he's losing both his eyesight and his hearing. I can call him from across the room and he barely turns around. Further, sometimes he wanders around like he doesn't know where to go. It is pretty sad to witness. On the other hand, his new wrap is working well, so that is a positive.

The sun rose on the actual Thanksgiving day, and we took off for an adventure, seeing a run, perhaps a Turkey Trot like they hold in Orlando, along our way.

As this post has gone on for a while, I'll save the adventure for next time. I will say it was pretty darn beautiful.

yours truly,

Gail

The Great Wide Open

Tom Petty's passing is on my mind, and I bet he is on yours as well. Immediately after learning the sad news, it reminded me of another Tom I knew who died in much the same manner. That would be our dad, Tom Price. He was also 67 and I wonder now if I thought he was as young as what I'm thinking about Tom Petty. Of course, being just three years younger than Tom Petty, my idea of young and old surely differs from when I was 28, and had my whole life ahead of me.

And then there is the news from Las Vegas....there are no words for that. A madman at work. :(

I wrote recently that I think I'm loving the sky show so much because there are no trees to hinder my view. The corner balcony, indeed, affords a great wide open look at my immediate surroundings and I am taking every advantage of it while I am here.

Did anyone see the full moon last night? While it was tremendous in the dark, if you were up quite early this morning, it was even better. The  Harvest Moon turned a lovely shade of, well, it's hard to describe the color, but my point is that it was tremendous. I watched as it dropped into the Pacific Ocean.

My photograph does it no justice that's for sure. Last night, while trying to capture the moon as it rose over the buildings, unsuccessfully, I might add, I watched as one of the large boats made its way out to sea. Before living here I had not a clue about how many types of watercraft are in use. There are several large boats such as the one below, mostly party boats that take folks out in the evening, presumably a sunset dinner cruise. This one, however was way too late for that, so why they would head out at night is beyond me.

In the daylight hours I have been definitely putting some miles on this old body! And I've been sewing. Monday, my steps took me across the city, once again, to DressSew on Hastings and Homer. When first I visited the store, I was overwhelmed with the merchandise, however, on this occasion I began looking through much of what they have in stock and it is a lot, and I do mean a lot. Somewhat messy too.

What I discovered was every type of fabric I've ever heard of, and some I've not. Seersuckers in multiple colors....check. Vast variety of knits....check. What may be even more astonishing to me is their vast array of notions. Unreal how many zippers they have in every length and color. This shows only a fraction of their stock.

My mission that day was to find just the right buttons, a familiar theme now, for the blouse I just completed. I'd purchased the fabric at DressSew during one of my first visits, however, I waited until I bought the sewing pattern at Fabricana before using it.

So that's all done now, as are a pair of cotton pajamas I made. I know, they sell them in stores, but what's the fun in that? Another day, another trip there for, you guessed it, the perfect buttons for the pjs.

Tuesday I finally got up the guts to call Apple about my photo library, but first I moved the computer out into the living room so I could use the "landline" to make the call. So much easier for me when I know I'll be on the phone for longer than I would like.

First I talked to a woman in Oregon who was sure she could help, but then she couldn't. Next it was Travis in Austin. We talked, we screen shared, and then he had me do something that was going to take several hours. Rather than keep my eye on the screen, I took a walk on Davie Street towards the West End. You cannot escape America here as there are signs of it everywhere.

Leaving the commercial part of the WE, I walked on one of the residential streets, loving the changing colors.

When I returned, Travis and I had another session and finally we are back in business after I imported nearly 4,000 photographs that had gone to the wrong place. Whew...all of our cross country trip photos and nearly two months of our stay here.

When I told Irene I was nervous about the winter weather she told me it comes on gradually so you have time to become acclimated. Well, as it turns out, the leaves changing comes on gradually as well.  As this is my first Fall experience, I'm not quite sure how I thought it would work, but I'm learning.

Homer Street runs alongside David Lam Park and we take it frequently as it runs into Beach Crescent. I've no idea why the field is closed off, and what all those barriers mean, but I can say the grass sure looks better than it did about a month ago. Plus, all the yellow trees!!

It is not often that I see any police presence here. While I'm on that topic, I bet I forgot to mention that on our entire cross country journey we probably saw only about four police or highway patrol folks which seemed somewhat remarkable to us.

Our health insurance brochure claimed that a doctor's office on Hastings did direct billing, except when I visited them, they do not. I did see a neat piece of artwork in the lobby though.

Unlike, in say New York City, there are no guards in lobbies of the big buildings I've been in. I do so remember the joy of popping your head into some of those grand buildings in NYC before 9-11 that are now off limits.  How about you?

More walking, more sights.

More fall color...

After walking past it on any number of occasions, I finally went into a home decorating store on, yep, Homer Street. My friend Sue would go crazy in here, especially if her wallet was full.

Your friend Gail was digging this display.

Walking along Hastings Street I came across a cooking store so I popped in to see about buying a rolling pin and I was in luck. On sale too as they were having a promotion for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday which is Monday, October 9. That date makes a lot of sense to me....instead of having two major holidays, sometimes within a month of one another. Zarita and Gregg have invited us for dinner!

One of the items I purchased on our recent Wal Mart run was a mixer, and although it was crazy inexpensive it works surprisingly well.

Because I have to rely on Google for recipes, it is really interesting how one of the first websites to come up is from Ricardo cuisine, apparently a Canadian celebrity chef. I can certainly vouch for his recipes, having made this oatmeal cookie one, as well as a delicious apple crisp. Now I have a mixer, a pastry blender, as well as a rolling pin. A pie plate too, however, I cooled the cookies on the broiler pan after baking them on a nontraditional cookie sheet. Baby steps my friends.

Finally, you don't see a whole lot of graffiti here, well, hardly any, so it surprised me to come across this seemingly very West Coast ideology.

And that's all for now folks....off to order new eyeglasses for both of us. Of course, that will involve walking...

yours truly,

Gail

Everyday Stuff

While talking to my sister Maureen Sunday afternoon, she was asking me questions about our life here and I explained that we are doing everyday stuff a good amount of our time. Some of it feels as if we are newlyweds again, what with me making his lunch many days, few kitchen supplies and a lot of time, doing things together. As the days pass there are often just ordinary things that need our attention, like new eyeglasses, teeth cleaning, a haircut for me, that sort of thing. None of those things are all that easy to accomplish when you are new to a city. Anywhere, I suspect.

Tackling the eye situation first, I took a walk to Costco the other day and, of course, along the way my camera emerged from my backpack.

Obviously a bright sunny day making the fall colors really pop. A crazy familiar sight all around downtown are these blue signs designating proposed changes.

Not pictured was a tent to the right of this sign. Most days there is mention in the local media about the lack of affordable housing in the metro Vancouver area with viable solutions hard to come by.

Along Beatty Street, a block-long colorful mural, painted on the embankment adjacent to a parking lot that also will see redevelopment as a new art gallery space.

Previously I'd gotten cash from the ATM at Costco, thinking it would be a good deal.  This time I carefully followed the instructions, and when I saw the exchange rate was 88 cents to the dollar, I realized perhaps it wasn't such a good deal at all because the loonie is currently 80 cents to the USD. That sounds great and all until you find out from this super great lady that your glasses cost, you guessed it, twice as much as in Florida.

I'd been lucky because when I asked about an appt. the fellow told me if I waited half an hour I could get right in. Sold! Just as I suspected, my eyes have changed pretty dramatically, thus if I post photos that just aren't quite right, we'll blame it on my eyes until I get new glasses. She'd talked me into the round glasses in front of her hand, however, I wasn't quite ready to pull the trigger, instead opting to wait until Bruce had his exam. While talking to some of the ladies at work, Bruce got  a few ideas about other places to check out. Hard to beat Costco but we'll see.

I don't know how many folks walk down Robson Street each day, a bunch, that for sure, and yet, I've never seen anyone stopping to read these cool little squares placed around the trees near the library.

One of the reasons I wanted to make this temporary move was to witness real seasonal change, having never done so in my life. You can bet I am loving watching the leaves change, as well as the temperature drop. (Talk to me in two months time!)

Just as the heat feels different in Florida, the cooler temperatures do as well. The highs this week are in the low 60's, with nighttime lows in the middle 40's. As I type it is 46 degrees, according to my phone, yet it feels nothing like Florida in the 40's. In fact, we still have several windows open! When the sun is abundant, as it was for most of last week, a light sweater is sufficient.

It probably won't be long before a scene such as this won't be around as they are now considering a ban on balloons in public places. I've read a nickname for Vancouver--Bancouver.

Not nearly as abundant as a month ago, some of the flowers remain.

I'm not even sure what these streetside utility boxes do, but some of them are cleverly painted, including this one near the West End.

I was walking to one of the alternate eyeglass places as recommended, enthralled with the seasonal changes.

Steps strewn with fallen leaves--what's not to like about that?

You've got to wonder who dropped such a tiny lock. :)

Back on the home front for a moment where Bruce is applying dark shoe polish to his new "steel-toed" boots, a requirement here for anyone on a construction site.

By this time Friday evening, the earlier rain had passed.

I spent the rainy day cutting out a pair of pajamas and another blouse. For anyone who sews that comes across this blog, I want to point out how great the Kwik Sew paper is--white, and does not tear easily. I'd never used one before, but if the blouse pattern is any indication, they fit quite well.

You may be wondering why I would make pajamas, and the truth is, not only that I can, but finding affordable, simple stuff like that is not nearly as easy as making my own. Plus I found a cute baby blue fabric with bird eggs on it!

Oh gosh...another super sunset,

taken just before we began walking to a new restaurant that I'd seen, thinking it was a pub, only to discover they serve Italian food.

At the corner of Smithe and Homer, we now know it is fantastic! My pizza was delicious, even if I did have to cut it myself. Clever.

Our mission on Saturday was to visit an upcoming location for Earls in Burnaby, a suburb of Vancouver. Because it was comfy in the condo, neither of us were all that prepared for how chilly it was when we arrived. Rainy and cold, a harbinger of things to come. Anyway, wearing his new boots that he made look worn with the shoe polish, he talked his way onto the job site, while I roamed around in a few of the stores. The development is called Station Square, adjacent to Metropolis at Metrotown, the largest mall in Western Canada. After Bruce did his business, we jumped back in the car, driving back towards something so cute I'd seen along the way.

Oh my gosh...can you stand it??

Bruce held the umbrella while I took these because I'm not sure when I'll be back out that way. I, of course, was dying!!

Bruce thought they were pretty cute as well, including the nearby bees.

Remember when I took the train to go to a fabric store called Fabricland on Marine Drive, turning back when I discovered it was just too far to walk? Thank God I did because I would have been very disappointed had I walked five miles for what turned out to be, in Bruce's words, an assault to your senses. The outside pretty much sums it up.

I laughed so hard when I uploaded the photos to my computer because neither of us even noticed the subtitle to the place as we walked in the door. Nightmare on Fabric Street pretty much sums it up. In fact it was so ugly that Bruce felt compelled to leave a Google review! Crazy ugly fabrics, albeit wildly expensive,  and sold out of the one pattern I wanted, yikes!! Unfriendly staff....check! We did, however, manage to purchase the supplies needed to make another "elder wrap" for Baxter, as we can't seem to find a good one. Although there is a PetSmart here, they do not carry the one that works the best, and the US stores won't ship to Canada. Thus, I gave it a go, lining it with what I hope is waterproof fabric.

I put the velcro on the wrong side, made it too short, but after modifying and correcting all of my mistakes, now all seems to be good as he wore it last night, and didn't even try to rub it off.

Following the hideous fabric store experience we washed that all away at a place called Craft that Bruce had seen in one of the tourism books. Imagine our surprise when one of the junior designers from Earls was our server!

When he'd seen the photographs in the book he thought it looked a little like the South Beach Yardhouse restaurant, the last one he built as a Darden employee. A little bit inside was similiar (overhead beer lines), not so much on the outside, as this building was a salt warehouse for about fifty years before having a new life as the Canada House during the Olympics. The place where the athletes partied. And now it is a really yummy restaurant, or at least the stuff we got was.

So, you see, really we are just doing somewhat the same stuff as at home...sewing, cooking, medical stuff, Bruce working, and taking little excursions together. Only in a brand new environment.

Finally, my friend Renee from the quilt guild asked if I would agree to be the featured bio in the monthly newsletter. Sure. Except, when I went to find photos of my work, I discovered that my photo library has gone absolutely haywire! Oh, how I don't fancy hours and hours on the phone with Apple Care. Of course, there it is....everyday stuff, just in the Pacific Northwest. :)

yours truly,

Gail