Everybody into the Van..

Vancouver, that is.

Just about eight months ago friends of mine brought into the world a long awaited bundle of joy.  This gorgeous girl has been growing steadily larger, more beautiful and increasingly interesting and interactive over the intervening time. Last week was the kids' school break and seemed the perfect opportunity to introduce ourselves to this captivating little girl.

Since their place was a little crowded , we stayed here:

It was a lovely Bed and Breakfast.  We had a basement suite with separate entrance and the place was in the perfect location - exactly 397 steps from our door to the front door of our friends' apartment.

Vancouver boasts things that you just don't find elsewhere in Canada.  Here's a vehicle that I haven't seen anywhere else.  I want one:

I will call it the Beynon Battle Van.

And here's a sign that, in Vancouver, could mean just about anything:

But cool vans and unusual signs can only go so far.  We had kids to entertain, so a trip to Science World was in order.  The current themed display was Lego, so the kids were thrilled before we walked through the door.  But there was more than Lego for the curious young mind:

This spiny vortexy water tank thingie demonstrated the power of hydrodynamics by drawing the floating ball from the surface to the very bottom of the tank eventually.

And this wind vortex generator took a foggy mist (at least I hope it was some sort of foggy mist - that's my daughter stepping into the thing, after all) and created a mini-cyclone that someone could step right into.









The Vancouver Art Gallery was a joy and we feasted on their numerous Emily Carr paintings.  No photos from the art gallery  - they have a "no camera" policy.

A trip to the Vancouver Aquarium was in order.  Located in Stanley Park, the Aquarium was highlighting "babies" while we were there.  Mosquito-sized baby seahorse and jelly fish the size of pencil-erasers fascinated us.  Speaking of jellies - there were these beauties:

 
And just down the hall was the magnificent and graceful Roxy:

She was absolute poetry in motion.

We had a brief trip to the beach in Stanley Park before rain chased us away:

During a break in the rains, we visited Lynn Valley.  There were big trees:

And yes, that is actually the sun making an appearance in Vancouver in March.  Lynn Valley also boasts this:

Apparently there has been a suspension bridge at this location since the beginning of the 20th century.  This one looks a little sturdier than the one pictured in black and white on the interpretive plaque on the other side of the gorge.

A visit to the Museum of Anthropology at UBC was on the agenda.  The kids were enthralled by Bill Reid's carving, Raven and the First Men.  

I mean, really, how often do you get to be up close and personal with artwork that has found its way onto your country's currency?  (It's on the 20)

UBC's Rose Garden offers a spectacular view:

I don't think this photo does it justice.  All Universities have book stores and the Beynon family finds it damn near impossible to walk past a book store.  I was please to see this on the shelves of the UBC bookstore's SF section:

The spine was facing out when I got there, but when I left I had performed the simple act that authors everywhere ought to do for books their work appears in:

Always, always give the cover a chance to sell the book.


Next time I'll talk about the two X-Files / Fringe sort of moments that happened while in Vancouver and I'll probably mention the Aurora Awards, too.

Sushi time

I live in a little township that has five communities with a total population somewhere in the neighbourhood of 20,000 people.  In this township we have almost everything you could ever want or need. We have a small movie theatre, and art deco live theatre, a horse racing track complete with slot machine, a lake, a gorge, rivers galore and, i think, 129 bridges.

We have a Centre for the Arts, three libraries, the County Museum and Archives, a Truck Show, Writers Festival, Singing Festival and a Scottish Festival.

We have more pubs than you can shake a stick at.  We have family restaurants, each with a hint of ethnic flair.  We have an excellent Chinese Restaurant and our Indian Restaurant, according to my friend, is as good as anything he's found in Vancouver.

With a laundry list like that it might be hard to add anything that a jaded fella like me could get excited about.

Well, a month or two ago a restaurant on Fergus' main street closed its doors.  It had been struggling since the death of the previous owner a few years back.  Paper covered the windows and speculation began.  Early on I heard a rumour, but I shook my head in disbelief.

Not a chance, I thought.  A town this size in white-bread rural Ontario couldn't possible support that kind of restaurant.

That's right - Sushi in downtown Fergus.  We went for lunch and it was excellent.  I know that their opening night was busy.  I certainly hope there's enough patronage to keep them busy.

Now all we need is a really good Italian restaurant...and maybe Greek...Thai?

The Extra Day...and it's a SNOWDAY

Every four years this big old clock needs correcting.  On each rotation we gain a little time and every so often at the end of February we need to balance the books.  Today is the extra day that shakes everything out and keeps us regular.

It's an extra day for the kids, too, but they're calling it by a different name:

SNOWDAY!

One of the benefits for children in Canada is the SNOWDAY.  I capitalize it because you only ever hear it yelled by children.  Today was a SNOWDAY for the kids.

Excuse me for a moment while I shift into curmudgeon mode.  Ahhh, there we are - all I need now is my walkin' stick...

What we have today wasn't really a true and for real SNOWDAY.  No sir!  What we have today is an anticipatory SNOWDAY.  With nary a flake on the ground they cancelled the buses (when I'm in curmudgeon mode "they" takes on that non-specific universal quality.  I'm speaking of the transportation provider right now but when you're a curmudgeon it is always "they" or "them").  And they did it with only the promise of snow.  Something as flighty as a forecast did away with the buses today.  Why, I remember when I was boy in rural Ontario that there'd need to be a good solid six inches of fresh snow on the ground before they'd think of cancelling the buses and invoke a SNOWDAY.  A SNOWDAY used to mean something back then.  They were rare things and meant to be savoured  and were, by their very nature, magical.

Anticipatory SNOWDAYS hardly deserve capitalization.  When something as simple as a forecast can spawn a SNOWDAY they become common things, devoid of the magic they once had.

But my kids enjoy a good SNOWDAY none the less.  Once the snow, which I'm promised will be formidable, finally arrives we will head out to build castles and persons of snow and to engage in the bloodsport of the season - the snowball fight.

Ah, to hell with being a curmudgeon.

I guess even anticipatory SNOWDAYS are pretty damn magical, especially on the 29th of February.