This
weekend, we hosted our first official visitors!
My parents flew in to Seattle
for Memorial Day and, along with my brother, braved the holiday lines at the
border to drive up and see us. It was
the first time my dad has been to Vancouver
and, therefore, the first time we’ve ever been in the city as a complete family
<cue Full House music>.
Despite
a nasty head cold (that knocked me on my ass Thursday-Monday), I enjoyed spending
time with everyone. On Friday, we hit up
the Lookout tower (the Vancouver
equivalent of the Seattle Space Needle) and saw the newest Indiana Jones movie
at a downtown theatre. On Saturday, we
toured Stanley Park, drove both North Shore bridges, walked the Lynn Canyon
suspension bridge and stopped by Queen Elizabeth Park (joining dozens of neon-clad
high schoolers dressed up for prom). The
weather was perfectly sunny and breezy; we really couldn’t have asked for a
better three days.
And,
for those of you wondering, we were able to find places to feed my dad. Not that he needs to be...fed in the literal
sense, just that he’s a meat-and-potatoes guy, and this is not so much a
meat-and-potatoes town. But we hooked
him up with hamburgers, hot dogs, beef ravioli and prime rib. So you meat-lovers needn’t worry: you will be
welcome here!
Excerpt from my conversation with Grandpa this weekend (who chatted with Shane while I was in the bathroom).
Grandpa: So, I understand you were just in the toilet.
Me: <laughing> That’s correct.
Grandpa: Ah, good for you.
Me: <still laughing> Thanks.
Grandpa: It’s important, you know. Bowel movements keep you healthy.
Me: Absolutely.
On
Thursday night last week, Shane and I headed out to Commercial Drive – the “artsy” part of
town – for a series of concerts. The
Libra Room along the Drive was hosting four artists as part of the larger New
Music West event. I was particularly
interested in seeing Kensington Prairie, an off-shoot of local indie band Maplewood Lane
(whose music I know and love).
The
Libra Room presents live music every night, so the set-up is perfect for
performance. There is a small, foot-high
stage along the front window of the restaurant, creating an intimate feel for
the attendees and providing an intriguing peek inside for people passing by. We sat down at a table not 20 feet away from
the stage and ordered a few drinks and dessert (mmm, chocolate fondue).
Each
group went on for about 45 minutes. The
first two bands were from Australia
– one, a solo female act with a very funky, jazz sound and the other a male and
female duo that combined catchy keyboard hooks with a violin to create “gypsy
folk.” (Shane and I both preferred
the latter.) Kensington Prairie played
third, and I liked their soothing, country sound (very Hem-like) enough to buy
their debut CD after.
But
the most entertaining part of the night was the final band, an Icelandic group called Sprengjuhöllin. With five guys crammed on stage, they rocked
the joint with poppy, upbeat tunes, like a foreign meld of Belle &
Sebastian with Jimmy Eat World. They
were also hilarious; since most of the songs are in Icelandic,
they would makeup names for each piece to amuse the audience. Examples included Maple Syrup, Hockey Game (Vancouver Wins Over Montreal)
and Undress Me With Your Lazy Eye. Oh, and a song about “how the Canadian border
guards are all really nice and the American border guards are really mean and
evil.” Awesome (and also: true).
All in all, our virgin concert experience in Vancouver garners two thumbs up. And that doesn’t even factor in getting home at 12 a.m. and NOT HAVING TO WORK THE NEXT DAY. (Ah, the sometimes perks of unemployment.)
So we’re 20 degrees warmer than St. Paul right now (64 vs. 84). And here I thought Vancouver didn't "do" hot.
The
biggest lesson I’ve learned with Photoshop so far is how to add depth back to
my photos. Often, I’ll take a picture of
something I think looks really cool, only to have it appear flat and boring
when I see the end result. But with a
handful of layers in post-processing, I can make the picture "pop" a lot more.
For
example, here are a couple of shots I took in the park the other day.
These
photos are certainly acceptable, but neither captures the subject (tree stump,
Shane) with the amount of drama I intended it to have.
So I started in Photoshop by adjusting the levels, unsharpening the masks and cropping each picture. Then I made multiple copies of the background layers and manipulated each for a specific purpose (e.g. adding colours with an overlay, creating shadows with burning, etc.). In total, each photo ended up with around five or six layers, which I then flattened to create the final
image.
I think the finished photos look much more interesting and vibrant than the "undeveloped" photos. (Or at least that’s what I tell myself to make the time I spend on this seem worthwhile!) And I LOVE that this is just the tip of the enormous Photoshop iceberg.
We’re
finally starting to settle into something of a routine around here. Our
new schedule involves more time reading/learning, job-hunting and “publicly loafing”
(Shane’s term, aka “exploring outside”) and less time napping, blog-reading and
watching daytime TLC. (But have you guys
seen that show with all the kids? MY
GOD.)
While
financial worries are always lingering in the back of our my
mind, I’m finally noticing just how much our quality of life has improved. Here are a few of my favourite things about
living here so far:
- Waking up to the soothing sounds of rain.
- Accessing running routes in the woods, along the oceanfront or through the city, all from our front door.
- Keeping just one light on during the day, rain or shine.
- Buying our fruits and veggies from the corner stand (and getting helpful produce-picking advice from the folks working there).
- Grocery-shopping as members at Choices (and purchasing weekly fresh bread from Uprising Breads bakery there).
- Finding out Nature’s Path is a B.C.-based company (and benefiting from their local sales).
- Walking to the bank, the library, the post office, the drug store and Cupcakes (at their new and bigger location!).
-
Eating amazing sushi for less than $5.
- Driving the car only once or twice a week (and regularly parking a block or less from home).
- Having almost everything a bus, bike or boat ride away.
- Watching all the wildlife in our neighbourhood, especially the puppies, puppies and more puppies.
- Living so close to my brother.
- Spending this time off with my best friend.
One of the reasons Shane and I wanted to live in Vancouver was to
participate in the kinds of things we couldn’t do on short trips here. We want to learn running trail routes in Stanley Park, ride our own bikes around town,
attend random events and festivals, etc.
As you may have surmised from our busy weekends, we’ve definitely been
taking advantage so far. And this past
weekend was our best experience yet.
The naval reserve on Deadman’s Island
hosted an open house on Saturday. This sounded
fun for a couple of reasons: 1) the small island is normally closed off to the
public, and 2) rumor has it the second X-Files movie filmed a few scenes there
(nerd alert!). We went into the
day with pretty low expectations, figuring that just walking around the place
would make our trip worthwhile.
We were pleasantly surprised by how much fun we
had! We started by going into the main
brick building, which is actually considered a naval ship (or “stone frigate”)
called the H.M.C.S. Discovery. Inside,
we looked at displays from the naval museum (including cards for the naval officers'
daily rum rations - sweet), saw some semi-automatic weapons, and heard both a
brass choir and full band perform. We also listened to presentations on the radar
systems of naval ships and the different types of vessels found in Vancouver’s ports. Outside, we watched some drill exhibitions
and heard the drum and bagpipe group play.
For lunch, we stopped in at the mess hall and ate
a meal consisting of hot dogs and Tang-like juice. Awesomely, it only cost us a loon a
piece. Then we were off to hear about
the navy divers and see some heavy-ass diving equipment. (The divers’ most frequent task? Checking the underside of ships that stop
here for signs of wear and tear. Sounds like a
great job, even though it's not a full-time gig.)
But what absolutely made our day was getting on one of the afternoon boat rides leaving from the island's pier. And when I say “boat,” I mean one that looks like a speedboat but has an inflated rim like a raft (see picture at right). Translation: this thing was tiny, rode low on the water and had some seriously strong engine power (180 hp).
About a dozen people were on board with us – two naval reserve officers and 10 or so passengers, most of whom were sitting along the inflated outer edge of the boat with us. We started out real slow and leisurely, but once we hit the open bay, we were literally hanging on for our dear lives. We whipped from one end of Coal Harbour to the other, darting in and out of sailboats, yachts and unbelievably enormous cargo ships cruising the area. We got SPECTACULAR views of downtown, Stanley Park, Lionsgate Bridge, North Vancouver and the shipping docks (with their distinct, bright orange cranes).
The boat we were in also had an extremely tight turning radius. When the driver would change direction, it would rise to a 60-70 degree angle with the water! Luckily, we had been assured before heading out that – due to their design - it is physically impossible to tip or sink these boats. So we were able to enjoy the feelings of skidding along the surf or flying in the air (depending on which side of the boat we were on) without fear of death by drowning. Yay.
I can’t fully express how Incredibly Fucking Cool it was to be out there. On the ocean. For half an hour. Speeding around all the other sea traffic we normally see from so far away. But I can tell you: the memories of that ride will last us quite some time. (Or at least until we go back to do it again next year!)
This week, Shane
and I made plans to head down to Washington
and take care of a few errands. Since we
were going through the trouble of crossing the border, I contacted my brother
to see if he wanted to meet us somewhere between Bothell (where he works now) and
Bellingham (where
we were headed). We made plans for
dinner together at a local Thai restaurant in Everett.
Friday rolled
around, and Shane and I decided to do a bunch of grocery-shopping before getting out of town. By the time we left around 3, traffic along
the main thoroughfare was barely moving (FAIL).
We didn’t reach the border until 4:30, where we waited for another 45
minutes to cross (FAIL). While we were idling
in line, Ian called to say he had gotten off work early. I confessed that our dumb asses hadn’t left Vancouver in time to
avoid rush hour, so he offered to find a place farther north to meet us. He said he would call with new directions, and
I agreed without a second thought (ALSO FAIL).
Little did I know
that our Canadian cell phone plan (with Rogers Wireless) would cease to exist south of the border. Apparently, we can only make emergency calls
when abroad (though we suspect/hope this is only during our 3-month ”probationary
period”). News to me! So there we were: driving through the
mountain passes of northern Washington
with absolutely no means of communicating our situation to anyone.
Thankfully, Ian decided to just head to the restaurant we’d originally planned on (three cheers
for smart brothers!). When I finally was
able to call him – after convincing a cashier to let us dial a non-local area
code on a store's courtesy phone* - he was nearly there. We arrived about ten minutes later. And the
rest, as they say, is a great story about the calming power of alcohol paired
with amazing curry (and good company).
*Hey everyone, go shop at Sports Authority! They have things...and stuff that you need...at great deals! Or so I would imagine!
