Holiday Showreel

We're back and slowly shifting back to our regular schedule, which seems a whole lot faster after a deliciously slow time in Ontario.  The sun spotted we'd skipped across country and right on schedule decided to get summer underway in Vancouver.

Here's a pictorial taste of our time in Ontario.

Lion Safari, Hamilton

Lion Safari, Hamilton

Lion Safari, Hamilton

dog days of summer

Who ate all the pies?  (Well the blueberry was jolly good).  St Jacobs food market

anyone for pickles?  St Jacobs food market

Boo n bubble gum flavour

Wings of Paradise butterfly conservatory, Cambridge

Wings of Paradise butterfly conservatory, Cambridge

Anndale park, Waterloo

snake play

Anndale park, Waterloo

Childrens Museum, Kitchener/Waterloo

Canada Day fireworks, Columbia Park, Waterloo

Canada Day

Ahem, this is what happens when we find ourselves in Tim Hortons.  Not wise.  Note the diddy red maple leaf sprinkles.

Guelph Arboretum

 

Bear in the woods, Guelph Arboretum

Japanese Garden, Guelph Arboretum 

Happy Summer!
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
  
 
 

We're off to sunny On-tar-i-o!

Boo and I are heading off to chase Summer.  I hear its already happening in Ontario, so we're following the sun and going seeking aunties, uncle and canine to share it with.

We'll be back on the west coast on July 3rd.  Hopefully the sun will follow our example.

Happy Campers

At the weekend, we chugged out of town to Cultus Lake, 1.5 hours from Vancouver along the Fraser Valley.  Dadda Boo was carrying an injured foot so our trail-walking was somewhat curtailed. Whilst we did get to the sample the short Seven Sisters Trail, which runs between Entrance Bay and Clear Creek Campgrounds, he wasn't upto Teapot Hill.  We'll be back for that one, and for the other trails in the vicinity.  Thankfully the weather was most conducive to sitting around in.  We stayed at Clear Creek campground which had fantastic private forested sites, and the largest slug population you can imagine.  Not for the first time, I was reminded how tricky it is to get slug slime off a small one's hands, especially when the water in the bathroom runs cold!

 
  
 
 
 
 
 

Sally forth to Steveston

Happy Victoria Day!  We headed out to Steveston, a fishing village in Richmond, for a spot of cycling along the South Dyke trail, some fish-shopping (straight off the boats) and of course, some play.

 
 
  
  

There is a fair amount of history (for Canada!) along the South Dyke trail, with a heritage farm and shipyard you can visit, though we didn't on this occasion.  The most interesting heritage find was, however, Finn Slough, a tiny fishing settlement along a backwater, so called because its original settlers were Finnish.  Now 30 people live in little houses raised above the water on stilts, reached by a weathered looking wooden bridge.

Funny how real life can make you think of art.  These little houses reminded me of some art that can currently be seen in downtown Vancouver by Ken Lum, an offsite project by the Vancouver Art Gallery.  

Here's what the art gallery has to say about the work:

For his sculptural installation from shangri-la to shangri-la at Vancouver Art Gallery Offsite, artist Ken Lum constructs scale replicas of three squatter’s shacks from North Vancouver’s Maplewood Mudflats settlement. Lum recreates the cabins of renowned writer Malcolm Lowry, artist Tom Burrows and Greenpeace leader Dr. Paul Spong. Propped up on stilts over the surface of the Offsite reflecting pool, the huts strike a sharp contrast with the surrounding downtown architecture. Located at the foot of the Shangri-La Hotel, Vancouver’s tallest building, these structures evoke the character of the mudflat community and draw attention to the advance of urban development in the Lower Mainland.

 
  

About Town, Vancouver 2010

So here we are, the Olympic games is going on in my city, I've seen no events, either live or on tv (apart from the opening ceremony), and I may now have heard of Wayne Gretsky but I still don't know anything about him (think he played hockey).  But there is a decided buzz about town, and we headed Downtown to sample a flavour.  Long queues put us off the pavilions, but wandering around was fun.

Here's the controversial cauldron with its ugly high fence (well actually they left a wee gap in the fence so you could stick your camera through).  You can glimpse the Olympic rings on the seafront, and its a great view of the (mostly snow-less!) north shore mountains.  I love to look across the inlet and know that I live in those trees somewhere.

We popped into the Pendulum Gallery and came across an exhibition by a pair of artists called 'T&T', some rather whimsical creations based on cars/boats and cycles, apparently the creations of some world post-environmental disaster.

There was a very welcome childrens drawing station, with big repros of one of the artists' drawings.

It said on the poster that it was produced in partnership with a place called Collage Collage so I looked them up and it looks like a funky kids art workshop/gallery/art materials shop all rolled into one.  Boo and I will be making a visit soon (might take my resume!).

We passed by Vancouver Art Gallery which is currently resplendent in glorious textile colour:

The mural is by Michael Lin, an artist who uses the images of traditional Taiwanese textiles, hand-painted by a team.

Up Grouse Mountain, some of the little snow that there was had been used to construct a traditional Inukshuck figure.

Ok, so my Olympic tour has a decided arty rather than sporty flavour.  What can I say?

 

We Heart Clothkits

I'm so relieved.  After a week of thinking my camera was kaput, I finally figured out how to restore the settings and its all fine.  No more yellow, overexposed pics.  Note to self: read the manual and get to know my camera better. 

 Today I am loving these new dungarees, or 'overalls' as they say in these parts, which I made for Beth from a kit from Clothkits, complete with VW camper van and London taxi!  I've made a few things from Clothkits but these are my fave so far.  In the pipeline is a padded 'farm jacket' which is reprinted from the original 70's pattern, which I'm going to try to get finished for Boo's birthday. 

 

 

 

 

This morning we headed downtown to Dressew, a crazy sewing shop which is just so exciting to look around.  I'd have been in there hours if I hadn't have had Boo with me, though to give the girl credit, she is a haberdashery-lover after my own heart.

Boo always loves the jaunt across the sea on the Seabus.  

 

 

All a bit grey today but still beautiful.