No ocean swimming so far...

A combination of Jim having a cold and the weather being rainy and coolish but I see the ocean temp is 62 F and when the tide comes in over the warm sand it will definitely be toasty!

Vancouver Sea Temperature

(Today) 11th Jul 2019

16.8°C / 62.3°F

Original fruit box labels by Susan

Susan is always doing cool art stuff. I've been enjoying her fruit box labels and especially this one...well, I'm a sucker for sunflowers.

Baseball

We have a lot of fun watching the Blue Jays. We were big fans of the Expos in Montreal but they haven't been around for a while. Richard kept up his French lintening to the Expos on radio. The games weren't televixed then. So, tonight, we are watching the Home Run Derby.   Vlady is leading...who knows?

Well, he lost in the finals but lots of fun to watch.

A super birthday for me (goodness...am I really 72 years old) with old friends and Minerva's for dinner

Roger and Kerry came in from Edmonton today and Linda and Cec joined us all at Donna's for drinks  then dinner at Minerva's and then wonderful cake and fruit afterward.  We all had so much fun and we have lunch tomorrow from my doggie bag. Jim, of course, managed to finish his dinner...not a surprise:)

Our hostess extraordinaire...

And this memory just came up on FB...more old friends.  Susan and Alan in our villa in the south of France in 2005.

A "You Grew up in Vancouver" post

Don't we all remember this? I don't think anybody could have predicted our current transit system.

The earth shaking again in southern California

It sounds like everything is ok in PS. From Ken today:

"Hi Janice....we're all okay here in PS...just been some rolling motion when it happens.  The 1st one I was sitting at my desk and felt like floor under me was rolling.  Last night was on couch with Gunther when the 2nd one hit.  It was stronger but I think I felt the 1st one more.

Hope your having a nice summer.  It hasn't been super hot here so far so not too bad."

I hear San Bernadino town has no power or water. Jim has a Huxley colleague there. I hope she's ok.  I hope there won't be another big one in the area. I see the Governor of California has declared a state of emergency for San Bernadino county.

A 1976 promotion video about Vancouver

Very interesting for old Vancouverites...

https://www.facebook.com/oldvancouver/videos/2672433216120019/UzpfSTUwMTY5NjM4ODoyMjE1MzU2NTIxODgzMDYy/?comment_id=2227371560681558&reply_comment_id=2224702260948488&notif_id=1559513626790857&notif_t=group_comment_follow

Bookclubs

One of the things I like about bookclubs is that I end up reading books I probably wouldn't have read for various reasons. Fever is my Brock House bookclub choice for July and I probably wouldn't have read it. It's very long at 550 pages or so and about a world after most people have died because of a fever. It takes place in Africa and is about a community that forms that tries to be good. I read about 100 pages before I realized the day of the bookclub coincides with the day Katey and David are visiting from London and Liz, Richard and Grace will all come for lunch. A summer tradition and hard to change the date since they see a lot of people in a short time. While I was thinking that it was good for me to read something different I couldn't quite believe how quickly I decided to stop!

Well, it could have had something to do with Whishaw's latest novel coming up on hold and available.  I can't wait to start this.

Happy 4th of July to our American friends!

Fireworks in Palm Springs are very regulated  and individuals are not allowed to let off personal fireworks. They do have some great public displays for Independence Day. Halloween is dead quiet and we usually tried to escape our noisy Halloween here. We won't be able to do that this year. It's not quite so bad at UBC. Everyone wanted to light fireworks over the water so English Bay wasn't a great place to be for that. Perhaps one of these days Greater Vancouver will ban fireworks like Greater Victoria did many years ago.

Gardens...

Well, we didn''t get to sit and chat in John and Carol's lovely garden yesterday. They had a big drain problem that required Roto-Router and Jim still has this miserable cold.  For another day...
Glad to see Carol blogging again and hope to see lots more photos of the wonderful gardens in her neighbourhood.

From Carol's blog:

John took this photo of my friend Linda and me in the delphinium patch of my Dunbar garden on Sunday. I have always loved these flowers for their height and colour; recently I discovered that somebody at VanDusen Garden must feel the same way....

This is a photo Susan and Alan posted recently on FB of their wonderful garden in Yorkshire. We spent many happy times there raising a glass.

And Fern and John's wonderful rose garden in Victoria.

Ittty Bitty Book Review: "The Very Marrow of our Bones"

"The Very Marrow of our Bones" by Christine Higdon

 

Quite an amazing novel and really loved the local setting of the West Coast for much of it and mention of things like salmonberries and huckleberry pie. Then part of it in Newfoundland. That was wonderful too.  Although quite sad and heart wrenching, there is redemption at the end. A first novel...amazing.

Museum of Anthropology

Donna and I went to the puppet exhibit today and wow!  It was amazing.  I'll definitely be back with Jim before it ends.  And then to the University Golf Club for dinner. Jim had the prime rib and I had a few bites...excellent but I love my soup and half shrimp sandwich on toasted sourdough. The soup was potato and leek.

Great to see Donna and we really enjoyed the afternoon and dinner.

Donna and I doing the hand shadow puppet thing.

Good old Punch and Judy.

Letter from France #1....pre-blog

I didn't know what to post today so went back to some of my first  blog posts only I didn't have a blog then but I did write these "letters" and did post them on my blog when I got that going after we got home. Richard got me into it...of course. He waa working in San Francisco at the time.

Carqueiranne, France 

Lettre de Provence - #1 

Feb. 12/02 

Chers amis, 

I am siting writing this in the sun with the balcony door open on my new tablecloth typiquement Provençale with sunflowers and olive branches. I never tire of the blues, reds, and yellows of le sud. I thought I would spend most of the trip looking for that special santon de Provence to keep my fisherman (from another trip) company. Would you believe I found the perfect one the first day in this little village! It is a painter with a smock (almost as messy as I manage to get my T-shirts...) with palette and brush in hand. There is also an easel with a typical provençale scene in the painting- a terracotta tile roofed house and cypress trees. In Hyeres I saw another wonderful santon scene - 4 men playing cards at a table with a Pastis bottle and glasses. The store was closed for annual holidays with no specified return date - very “midi” like. We’re reaccustoming ourselves for everything closing down for 2-4 hours in the afternoon - except restaurants, of course. 

We had a very smooth flight, everything on time, baggage all arrived, and got the car very quickly. Nice airport is quite small and manageable and rather laid back. The customs people were nowhere to be seen so we didn’t even have to clear customs and our baggage was there in minutes. The flight from Frankfurt to Nice (about 1 hr. 10 min.) was great as we followed the Swiss Alps, the French Alps, then the Maritime Alps on the Mediterranean. We hadn’t travelled that route in winter so it was amazing to see the snow coverage. The Nice airport is located right on the Mediterranean so it’s a wonderful way to enter France...although nothing can quite beat stumbling bleary-eyed from your couchette compartment after tossing and turning all night on the overnight train from Paris to see the bluest of skies and the Mediterranean in all its glory and the familiar paysage du midi. 

We couldn’t believe the weather on the 25th of January....sunny, blue blue skies and around 20 degrees. We sat on our hotel balcony overlooking the Promenade des Anglais and seriously thought of trying to find the shorts we had packed for April in Italy. Instead we cracked open a bottle of rosé de Provence from the mini-bar. 

Everyone at the university where Jim is teaching is very nice and the university is quite pleasant. However, it is located in an area of industrial parks and big box stores - a bit of a shock after the charm of Nice. We have found a wonderfully charming village on the ocean called Carqueiranne which is only about a 15 minute drive to the university. We have fallen in love with this village, the people, and the way of life. 

We began in the ground floor of a villa with the owners upstairs. We had a beautiful garden all to ourselves. They’ve been terrific - so friendly, inviting us up for drinks and appies. I mentioned I liked flowers so she ordered some special flowers for me from a friend who is a grower. She also gave us gifts of her home made lemon wine and orange marmelade made from the oranges and lemons in her garden. This is the season for oranges and lemons and it’s really neat to see all the trees laden with fruit. All the little villages have their flower festivals. Right now all the Mimosa (Acacia) trees are in bloom - beautiful yellow flowers a little like our broom. 

We did find the lower level a little cool and we were hoping for a sea view so we did find a great modern apartment (we control the heat!) right in the port. The village is still very close and there are lots of interesting little shops and restaurants here as well. 

We’ve had some wonderful meals - fish soup with rouille, mussels, fabulously fresh shrimp and prawns, various local fish and of course the usual wonderful free range chicken, eggs, wonderful lamb and pork - all the veg and fruits taste so fresh and “of the earth”. The markets have been really fun and we’ve some great cheeses from farms and saucage to die for. 

We’ve also had a great time at flea markets. We really scored in adding five more water bottles for pastis to our collection and some neat French popular music from the 60’s. Jim tends to ferrat out smelly old books.... 
(to be cont'd)

Quora Digest

I'm not quite sure how I ended up on this list but there are interesting questions people ask from time to time. I actually didn't know the following information about Vancouver. I guess this was passed when we were living in Victoria.

The question was "Why doesn't Vancouver have any really tall buildings?"
Answer:
Vancouver zoning bylaws prohibit any building that spoils the view of the North Shore Mountains as viewed from Queen E Park. They must remain below the line formed by the lower slopes of the nearest mountains.

We'll definitely have to get to the Polygon Gallery to see John's photos.

John has three photos in the exhibit and also his photo is featured in the information page on the website...way to go, John!

JUNE 25, 2019 — SEPTEMBER 1, 2019

DOG DAYS

The Polygon Gallery presents Dog Days, an exhibition that focuses on the relationship between canines and humans through photography, and video works.

Dog Days is a survey of the camera’s interactions with our canine companions. Today, dogs figure prominently in visual culture through Instagram feeds, viral videos, memes  and other media, yet our photographic obsession with dogs is as old as the camera itself. Dog Days features contemporary works, classic images, and vintage photographs from several local archives and collections, considering how dogs have shaped, and are shaped by, human society. Together, these pictures reveal how dogs have remained an enduring metaphor and a potent symbol in human history, an integral part of everyday life, and a favourite subject of the camera.

Dogs on leashes are welcome in the exhibition.

Image: John Denniston Cary chases through the fields of Duck Creek Park, Salt Spring Island, 2006

November 7th, 1973 — This “Who took my dog” picture taken in 1973 on West Broadway is one three pictures by me in The Polygon Gallery’s “Dog Days” exhibition that opened today and runs until September.

Abstract painting

Well, now that the dust has somewhat settled with our sale of Palm Springs and sorting things out not least of which was finding appropriate places for the paintings I brought back that I did in PS.

Interesting that I placed these two Alexander Calder "channelling" with this sailboat painting I did in 

Carqueiranne many years ago. The "Calders" almost seem like an abstract of the sailboats....perhaps why I did it like that...the Calders that is although I didn't think of it at the time.

I do love my San Jacinto mountains abstract and also the cacti beside it. The mountains on the right are the Alpes-Maritimes (mountains in the south of France) and these are a bit abstract too although I wasn't trying to do that at the time. The paintings on the right are ones I did after visiting Kerry and Roger in Edmonton...sort of abstract too in a way although perhaps more my naive style.

So, what to do now? Perhaps a combination of abstract and naive.

Stay tuned...

Alaska King Crab

Well, I was planning on having this crab at the Boathouse but Jim not being well we cancelled. I did get a lot of pleasure out of seeing Linda's post on their Alaska cruise...would have just loved it!

This was their shared seafood platter...wow!

Bard on the Beach yesterday

It was a rollicking very fun Taming of the Shrew. They set it in the old West and it worked very well. Very enjoyable and the rain held off and this time we had it all figured out in terms of parking so no delays. We were going to go to The Boathouse for dinner but Jim has come down with a cold so we took a pass on it.  Bad timing as he begins his week of lectures on Shakespeare's Comedy today.

Dick and Susan come for dinner last night

It was great fun and lots of laughs and we even managed to discuss politics a bit. A crazy world all round. I put out my new phone in what I thought was a place I wouldn't forget to take photos but I did forget. Ah well, I took a couple before they arrived.

The smoked salmon on the right was delicious...got it from IGA.

I also got this great product from IGA and it made making the Caesar dressing easier.  My IGA has lots of interesting stuff and never kids screaming and running about like I often encounter in Save-on.

The White Lunch

This is a painting (I think!) but this is how I remember it. As kids, we just loved the teacup with the black silhouettes moving around. It was pretty plain food even by 50's standards.

Trying to find the menu I brought up this bit of history. I had no idea this was the history of the name.
White Lunch | restaurant, racism, history | A local chain of restaurants launched in 1913 by two Scandinavian bakers, Neil and Thos Sorenson, at 124 West Hastings (across from Woodwards). With the name, the Sorensons were advertising the fact that their establishments only served white guests and hired white workers. This was at a time when white Vancouver’s nativism and racist antipathy towards the city’s ethnic Chinese and Japanese inhabitants was still very much out in the open, just six years after the so-called “Anti-Oriental Riots” of 1907. The concept proved to be very popular at the time, with “White Lunch” expanding to included prime locations on Granville and Pender, plus another on Hastings Street just one block east of the original (next door to the Lux). The company’s abhorrent policies were eventually phased out, but the racist stigma associated with it persisted until the last location closed in the early 1980s.

Usage: “When Vancouverites find out that White Lunch used to be a thing, I think they’re more embarrassed than they are surprised…”

This photo of the inside looks a lot fancier than I remember it.

Itty Bitty Book Review: "The Bookshop"

"The Bookshop" by Penelope Fitzgerald

This is our Brock House bookclub choice for this month and I will look forward to discussing it. I realise I haven't really read Penelope Fitzgerald. I think I was getting her mixed up with Penelope Lively. She's really very good and I enjoyed the novel other than I felt the ending didn't have to be quite so dismal. I knew things would turn out badly but I think there could have been the odd glimmer of something positive. I see there is quite a recent movie version which is available on iTunes. A review I read said the children in the movie are quite tiresome. They were interesting in the novel but I can see the movie makers making a sentimental mess of it. Perhaps give it a pass.

Well, the Blue Jays won finally and I'm composing this post while I view a magnificent sunset.

And just as I was posting this, Richard sent me a great sunset photo from their place!