sunrise, YVR

Pretty, colourful sunrises aside, coming home from vacation is altogether bittersweet. By last Sunday morning when we were passing through Vancouver Airport, I was yearning for sleep in my own bed at home in Chicago but otherwise not even remotely keen for vacation to end.





My life sucks, he says melodramatically.

A few Vancouver shots

Let's finish off the recent vacation with a few blog entries!

By the time our trip was ending, the Vancouver weather was fairly ideal. Warm without being hot, sunny. Truly, it is a shame to have to leave when the weather is so fine.

On the Friday we spent some time downtown. Lunch with Chris was the focus of the day (and a tasty lunch it was, at Cafe Medici, a place new to Conrad and me).


Chris, in case I haven't said it enough on this blog, is a super guy through and through. Plus, he had us over to his handsome West End apartment and made us dinner. So few people cook for us, it almost makes us weep with delight when it happens. Good to have such friends in Vancouver.

Before and after lunch, though, we strolled, poked in shops (not buying much, though I did buy a CD by Dan Mangan, an artist Giuseppe had recommended), and enjoyed the day. Much of the city had the same idea, it seems, and a good many people were on the sidewalks or in plazas and parks. Who can blame them? Good weather can be fleeting on the west coast, so best to grab it while you can!

Shots of the city - MK, if you read this, note the countdown clock!

YVR art

Waaaaay back when I was young, in the age of the dinosaurs, Vancouver airport was, well, it just was. Far better shops/dining than O'Hare (and on the non-secure side of security, to boot), but just kind of meh when it came to its look.

Don't ask me to pinpoint when, but at a certain point, the airport authority took on the idea of building, renovating, redesigning, and redecorating seriously and enthusiastically. Nowadays, the arrival at YVR from the US is a small thrill, a stroll amongst museum-quality First Nations artwork. Many is the time I've seen fellow passengers stop to take photos.

Last Saturday Conrad and I drove out to the International Terminal to pick up Beloved Sister, arriving home from a vacation in Ireland. Given a bit of a wait, I slipped upstairs to the departures level to take photos of a magnificent piece, Bill Reid's Jade Canoe.



The Canoe, the companion piece to the Black Canoe the sits in the Canadian Embassy in DC, is there, out in the open, touchable. No, really. You can go up to it and touch it, really get a close look. Remarkable. And it IS remarkable work. I keep an image of a Bill Reid work on my laptop desktop and have done so for quite some time now. The Haida art stirs me greatly.

Conrad and I have a funny little in-joke about the canoe. On our first trip to Vancouver, we flew separately - I was staying in BC longer, and I was on a tighter budget back then. I told him we'd meet up, post-flight, at the canoe. He had a heck of a time figuring out where it was we were supposed to meet. Such a large sculpture that I evidently took a little for granted. I assure you, he knows where it is now!

breakfast of lazy vacationers

With this post, I officially give everyone permission to run wild and eat cake for breakfast. After all, it's not like we'll see Michael Phelps (the Ryan Cochrane of the US, for my Canadian readers) on the packaging of this "breakfast".



Having a slice of Battenburg cake just makes me realize how much I miss Marks & Spencer in Western Canada.

casual dinner on the balcony

Even as I type, it's a sunny evening, albeit dimming slowly. Conrad is reading out on the balcony. I'm not in a reading mood tonight (even if I happily browsed used book stores today), and so I'm post-dinner blogging. We'll put a movie in a little later. We have a bottle of a 2006 Quail's Gate Merlot, and we're relaxed.

So, of course I'm blogging!

Just another short note from our Vancouver vacation. We dined simply on the balcony tonight. Our farmers' market expedition yesterday plus a bit of shopping today (not much, I promise - well, other than the books and the wine) yielded the makings of an easy meal that required no cooking. Tossing together. Plating. C'est tout.

So then: jamon serrano, cashews, olives and cornichons, little stacks of heirloom tomato slices with feta from Qualicum and some basil, a simple salad. Conrad made us martinis (in highball glasses - we need to gift Marie with proper martini glasses for her birthday next month).

You know, the more I think about it, the more I realize that we're kind of living the same life here as we do in Chicago. Not at all a bad thing, but interesting to observe in ourselves. Well, without the going to work thing, of course!

close to perfect Vancouver day

Yesterday was just wonderful. A handful of days into my week of vacation, and at long last I really felt like we were on vacation. Relaxing. Seeing some friends. Eating well. A very good time.

It was pouring all morning here in Vancouver, but that's hardly a surprise, so it does nothing to detract from the day itself. Conrad and I spent time over at Safari Cafe, sipping Adam's terrific coffee, munching an omelette each. We also took care of some basic chores around the house, not least of which was trying to get rid of more of Marie's hair and dust bunnies. And then off to meet Giuseppe for lunch.

Giuseppe is so darn adorable (and so is Brian, I truthfully have to add). I was thrilled that he moved out here and I hope Brian can follow soon. Giuseppe is up to eyeballs in work these days, but at least we could grab a good lunch. We ended up at Nuba Cafe, which was new to me and Conrad and a nice revelation. Inexpensive wine list. An appealing Lebanese menu. I quite liked (and was more than filled by) my cauliflower dish, and the guys both liked their chicken.
Our waitress was super to chat with, and a glass of wine washed it all down happily.

We walked Giuseppe back to his office, then decided to catch the Sky Train home and relax a while. I was a little tired - I love to get in naps while on vacation - and the afternoon was still kind of grey anyway. We had sort-of plans, but an hour or so of dozing kind of killed them. Ah well. Instead, post-nap we wandered over to the Main Street Farmers Market and picked up some local products. Great time of year to be here: we picked out a variety of tomatoes

as well as cheese, basil, blackberries, radishes, and chocolates. Back home with our bounty, we got the place ready for Sherri to come for dinner.

We'd originally thought to head up Main to The Whip for a meal, then that morphed into a cocktail out but dinner at home. By the time Sherri arrived, it was a nice evening and we decided to just open wine we had and dine in. I set out some snacks for us to have on the balcony along with the birthday bottle of Joie Noble Blend.




We took our time, and eventually I moved us in to sit down to a green salad and a plate of lamb sausage in a tomato-saffron sauce along with some roasted and sauteed pumpkin.
We sipped a Cotes du Rhone, then moved on to more cheese, grapes and blackberries, and an Oak Bay Pinot Meunier. The night ended with Conrad doing dishes (LOVE HIM!) and Sherri showing me photos from her class reunion last month.

What could have been better? I forgot to make Sherri coffee at the end of the night. A small failure as a host, I blush to admit. Otherwise, though, what a terrific vacation day all around.

fool

See? I'm perfectly willing to make an idiot of myself for camera time, even if it's walking north on Granville Street in Vancouver.

scenes from Victoria

Not much commentary to offer here, just some (cloudy) shots of a city I love. It was 1988 when I started my undergrad at UVic, and I've loved the city of Victoria immensely ever since. My not-so-secret dream? Sell the Vancouver condo and buy in Victoria instead.

Bean Around the World Cafe, Chinatown.


Fan Tan Alley, Chinatown.


Market Square (I miss my favourite old comic shop there).


Johnson Street.

Yates Street.

St. Andrews Roman Catholic cathedral.

Victoria Public Library.


View of the Empress Hotel.