Snowblower Heaven

After the amount of snow we've had this year and last, we broke down and bought a snow blower. Here's the proud operator, bunny suit and all.

Oh Tannenbaum

The transformative power of the decorative arts is best expressed in the Christmas tree. Before;

After;

Merry Christmas

Jack the cat had a Christmas hang-over early;

Then we moved on to the main event - with brined turkey and punch. The brined turkey turned out very well, I'd use this Canadian Living low sodium recipe again.

The punch was awesome, a recipe I was inspired to use because we had Aperol and the photos were amazing: Easy Does It Baby.

Sunrise: shortest day

As a non-morning person I do get a thrill out of saying to morning people that I've been up since long before dawn...i don't mention that dawn is at 10 am or later.

The Ladies Who Lunch

We were intrepid hunters, gathers, and lunchers. After acquiring the largest luggage available for all my acquisitions on this trip and a few more objects to put in the luggage, we headed to Joe Fortes for lunch. It was a lovely lunch of multiple courses with wine, oysters and dessert.

Fat Duck Mobile

A family friend/relative has his own mobile food truck; the Fat Duck. After Dim Sum yesterday we all trooped up to see him. The dirty rice was delicious even cold.

 The last time Robyn saw this truck it wasn't all tricked out as a food truck. He thinks it looks nice now...

Vancouver Family Dim Sum

We were happy to be able to see some of Christopher's family for Dim Sum in Vancouver's Chinatown Floata Golden Seafood.

Syd's dad Robyn was running the food mill non-stop and Syd was eating everything in sight.

After dim sum Vern took us to MEC and we stopped for a fortifying coffee afterwards

Saturday in Vancouver

There was lunch at a little back street Sushi spot. Their unique rolls were 50-50 flavour wise. We then headed to the Christmas Market to meet Aunt Helen. It was cold, but lovely.

The 29th Floor Incident

We were eating a fabulous surf and turf and wine pairings in our condo when the fire alarm went off. There were looks, discussion, gophers popping out of doors; "are you going?" We eventually took off after much discussion about what to grab - Karen grabbed the Beaujolais Nuveau and not the gamay - and we headed down to the lobby. Happily we are only on the 6th floor and not the 20th floor. We arrived downstairs just in time to witness the 17 or so police officers come in with what appeared to be assault rifles. One officer flashed her badge and asked if anyone was from the 29th floor. We all looked at each other; 'no', 'no', 'no'. Then the officers talked among themselves about getting everyone out of the lobby. We took that as our cue to leave. We wandered a few meters away and started chatting with a passer by who made an excellent drinks suggestion; the Keefer Hotel. That's where the photos were taken. If you get a chance, try their drinks. Bring your gold card though because they are expensive.

Vancouver Sea Wall and Granville Island

We had lovely weather here in Vancouver this morning. We walked to Granville Island along the seawall and enjoyed all it has to offer. 

Public Art Mobile

 

We're Here!

That's our view from the balcony - Science World, sky scrapers, cranes. Very urban.

Multi-cultrual Thanksgiving

It all started with a discussion about American Thanksgiving. We decided it would be nice to see friends who we hadn't seen in a while and celebrate. We'll be hosting lots of friends for a sit down diner - my first attempt at more than 8 guests.

Free Store Score!

I just about had kittens when I saw this on the shelf at the freestore:

I emitted a 'squee' as I ran towards it, almost shoving a tall slender elder out of my way. He was no match for my swift snatch from the shelf. A brief wash and dry and my mouflon rests in happy spendor in my craft room.

some of you will be asking, 'what is the free store, and where do I find it?' There's a few of them around the Yukon, associated with recycling and garbage dumps. Rather than putting used items into the dump directly, freestore gives these things the opportunity for a new life. This freestore score came from the Raven Recycling collection. there's also the Whitehorse Dump freestore - good for larger items; the Marsh Lake freestore - no know associations and the Tagish freestore - good for clothes.

50th Wedding Anniversary Family Event

We were down in Vancouver for Helen and Doug's 50th wedding anniversary and were happy to see family we'd not seen in a long time, or ever. Here's Christopher holding our nephew Syd George with Aunt Susan admiring them both. In the background is our nephew Murdoc in the handsome suit with his mom's smile just above. Sadly, we were enjoying chatting to people so much we didn't take any more photos!

Dim Sum Downtown Vancouver's Chinatown

 I just love Dim Sum. I revel in the moment when the little cart comes by and some unintelligible phrase is pronounced and I get to decide (in consultation with other diners) whether we'll add it to our table. Frankly, you just never know exactly what will be inside the wrapper, but that is part of the fun. I am often pleasantly surprised, although occasionally it does turn out badly. We dined at Floata Seafood on Keefer St. Then we wandered around a bit to take in the atmosphere....

I love this building, the Keefer Street Rooms

 She is picking live fish out out of a tank with great focus.

Vancouver Gallery Kimsooja Unfolding

 I happened on this wonderful textile involved exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery when we were down for the weekend recently. I discovered after I'd taken these photos that photography was not allowed. Sadly, there were no post cards or other images available of the show. It was a really interesting amalgam of textiles, video and installations; including an ancient truck stuffed with fabric bundles like those in the photo below.

Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden

 One of my favourite places to visit in Vancouver is this lovely walled garden. It was created as part of Expo '86. A cadre of Chinese garden builders with all their tools, rocks wood and broken pots put it together as an homage to this style of garden from a particular era of Chinese garden design. Climate wise Vancouver is a bit cold for some of the traditional plants and styles of indoor/outdoor life this garden is designed for. But on a beautiful day it is one of the most peaceful, entrancing part of the world.

Rememberance Day Past

It was a very beautiful day here in Whitehorse. Temperatures of plus 2 Celsius. We walked into town on the river trail to enjoy some of that sunshine and a cup of coffee at Baked. Positively urbane...

Dan's Flip-top Mittens

A friend of ours is a brilliant designer marketer maven type. In exchange for some designs for my new wooly business I've made him some custom mitts from hand spun Suffolk lamb's fleece I got at the Olds Fibre Fair.

Jack the Lounger

I do enjoy having a cat like Jack around. He's got a great life and helps me enjoy mine even more.We were over at the neighbour's house yesterday and he sat on their deck meowing at us for the whole 2 hours we were there. He really enjoys being part of whatever is going on. At Haloween he broke out to check out some small children who were at the door. He milled around getting pets and love until Chris could collar him and get him back in the house.

 For Thanks-giving we were harvesting vegetables from the garden to serve with our turkey. Jack had the idea that some of that might be food...