From "I grew up in Vancouver FB group"

It was fun to read this.  I share most of these experiences.

My girl grew up on the island ...
She says "Boy, you know every street in Vancouver !"
Il tell you what it's like to grow up in Vancouver...
I was born in St. Paul's hospital
My friends dad had a cabin on My Seymour
I went to the Easter Bions at Stanley park on the 70s
I went to the wax museum
I went to wreck beach
I roller skated at stardust
I had friends from British properties to little mountain
I rode my bike everywhere
I saw at least 10 sea festivals
I know stanley park like the back of my hand
I saw the hockey riots
I was at expo
I saw lady Diana visit
I rode the old China creek track
I've sailboarded in English bay
I rode the top of the gondola at grouse mountain
I dove the waterfalls at cliff park in maple ridge
We used to go to sasamat lake in the 70s before it was a park
I've been to the Planetarium laser show
At 12 I used to ride my bike from south van to UBC
I played on the shores of he Fraser river
I saw the U boat at new west quay
I saw Simon and Garfunkel at bc place
I love whytecliff park
I've cruised Kingsway in a hot rod
I walked the Dyke at the airport
I shot trap in Richmond
The go cart track
I've swam in deep cove
I ate at the old frescos on David st
I saw the hookers in mink coats the the Hotel Vancouver
I saw the 1967 expo train here
I was in carnegy hall at main and Hastings when it was a mueseum
I ate it the On on in china town when you could bring your own bottle
I ate at The Only
I rode every bus
I remember the hippies in gas town
The hair krishnas on Granville
Drank beer at the Ritz and the Dev
The cannery Resturant
I bought my first 45 @ A&B sound for 40 cents
Parties at Jericho hostel
I ate Pauls Subs
I remember Okalla prison in bby
Swam every beach
Skied every mountain
Went to Queen Elizabeth park for my whole life
Ate at Wallys burgers
Been on the top of the Sheraton on Robson
Skated on lost lagoon , trout lake, Central Park
Was at summer Sunday empire stadium
Saw kiss at the coliseum
And every other concert available
I've had dinner at Hys Mansion
Lined up at A&B sound to buy Peter Frampton album
I've danced at Severins Diegos Coconuts
I drove the old track at Westwood 

Had friends in every high school
Friends on every street

That's what it's like to grow up in Vancouver!!!!!!
Wouldn't trade it for anything!

Sunbeam Alpine

S

Susan K. did this really cool sketch of our 1964 Sunbean Alpine...our first convertible. I just love the sketch!...thanks, Susan! We bought this when Richard was 5 years old (he's now 42) We drove it for quite a while and since then we had convertibles for our second car. Well, in Vancouver, we hardly need one car so no more convertibles. The Chrysler Le Baron was the best. We didn't care that much for the Mustang which was our last one. It was really hard keeping the Alpine running but we had a lot of fun with it. We've rented a convertible for our time in Palm Springs in March just for old times sake.

Susan likes to give credit for the photo she draws from so I had to find a photo of it. Not an easy task since my photos are in a rather random order. I found this one and also one of the dashboard. It's parked in the driveway on Dewdney and looks like it's Spring because of the cherry blossoms. While I was going through the photos I picked out some and have framed them. It's fun to have them around.

Burn's Supper...what fun for everyone!

I set the table with my mother-in-law's tablecloth which has a tartan theme, my family's china, and my grandmother Phoebe's sterling silver. I made napkins rings and place names for all the guests with their respective tartans. My napkin ring is my grandmother Phoebe's. Her intials are on top and my mother had "Janice" inscribed on the side. There were four napkin rings so" Richard" and "Jim "on incribed on two others. 

I made "favours" for each family like a bagpipe with the tartans of McGregor and Penman. The contents are an envelope with trivia and Scottish jokes. a coaster, a Christmas ornament with highland dancers and some Macintosh toffees. 

I thought of many people last night who  would have loved to join us....my grandmothers, Jim's grandparents, Jim's mom, Don and Elaine, Bill Thomas (the supplier of the kilt), and my Uncle Doug Denniston, who got some bagpipes from somewhere and learned to play them with a paperback that cost 50 cents. It would have been great to have him piping in the haggis! But we managed with YouTube.

Dave and Cec made a wonderful toast to the "lassies" and Donna, Linda, & Carol gave as good as they got with the "reply to the laddies".  Donna also made a great toast to Scotland. 

It was all such fun and Dave came in with a sword that Carol's father used when he was doing highland dancing. i didn't know about that!

And we toasted Maureen and her "neeps" ...everyone loved them!

And we toasted the memory of our friends and family who would have loved to share in this evening.

The bagpipe favours.

Donna with her Scottish regalia....from Scotland.

 The "Laddies"....

Jim wore one of Don's ties with a south of France  theme.

Dave guarding the haggis with his sword.

 Dave and Cec doing the "toast to the lassies"

Carol, Donna, and Linda doing the "reply to the laddies"

My dear friends, you made it all perfect. What a wonderful evening...thank you so much!

My Grandmother Phoebe's house

She lived at 4309 W. 13th Avenue, very close to where we live now. She was close to the West Point Grey Lawn Bowling Club and was an avid bowler. They even have a tournament named after her, the "The Fleming Tournament". She usually was on the winning team and the prize was a pound of tea. I remembr she was rather annoyed when expenses dictated that the winners only got a half pound of tea. I got the address from her Death Certificate from the B.C. Royal Museum genealogy services. My grandfather is listed as having died in 1942 at the age of 64. I can't seem to bring up his death certificate so don't know the address of what was probably the family home. My father went to King Edward High School and that isn't in the West Point Grey neighbourhood and the family couldn't have lived in such a small house.

The current house that is there now was probably built in the early 60's before mega-mansions became popular. The original house was very small and only had one bedroom that my aunt and grandmother shared. I remember seeing the two twin beds. I  usually had to lie down after having too much of my grandmother's excellent cooking. The house on the left is original. Most have been replaced by larger houses.

I imagine this house will be torn down at some point. A larger and higher house would get fabulous views of the mountains and ocean. I remember my father mentioning this when he came back from fixing the roof one day. I took this from the top of the next side street so you get an idea but the actual views would be even better because it would be above the trees. You can't really see the ocean in this photo. The views aren't that much different from 3019 Point Grey Road where Harry and Meghan may buy a house.

 My aunt sold the house soon after my grandmother died in 1959 and rented an apartment near Oakridge. She worked at Woodward's in the hat department and was very proud to be able to tell the story that Mrs. Woodward always asked for her to help pick out her hats. My grandmother and aunt had bought a place on Gabriola Island very close to where my parents had a place and my aunt soon retired there. She was having back problems. Employees in the hat department had to stand the whole time they were working even when not serving customers. My mother often remarked that it didn't seem fair especially for my aunt who was getting older and having difficulties standing for long periods.

My aunt actually got married the year we got married (1968) but didn't live very long after that. She died in 1972. I recently remembered her saying there was lots of room for all the family in the family plot in Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver so I decided to look into it. I received the information that my grandfather and grandmother are buried there and my aunt's cremated remains are there. There are two additional places for caskets and 7 places for cremated remains. Jim and I have decided we'll have our cremated remains there and Richard has the option to do the same for himself and his family. I found it interesting that I did not have to prove that I was the grand daughter in any official way. I just needed to state my relationship and to know that she was buried there. We are all now registered as "next-of-kin".

Then it was a day for Las Margaritas....Wine Wednesday!

Finally got out yesterday

Donna and I started our course at Brock House called "Strong Women in Literature" given by Graham Forst (husband of Judith Forst, the opera singer). We have both taken courses from him before and he is an excellent teacher. We had lunch at Brock House afterward...just beautiful looking over the snow in the sunshine and seeing my mountains and my freighters.

Taken from the dining room at Brock House.

The outline for the course:

P105 Strong Women in Literature NEW

Throughout the western literary tradition, women have at times been presented as strong, self- reliant iconoclasts. This course will examine how narrative artists have utilized the strong woman protagonist to critique, and to assess the consequences of the disenfranchisement of women in western society. We will begin with a look at strong wom- en in the works of Emily Bronte, Kate Chopin, and George Eliot and then turn to the Bible, Greek drama, Shakespeare, opera and modern drama.

Jan. 17

Introduction. The traditional concept of gender, and the role of literature in perpetuating gender stereotypes. Discussion of the work of Kate Chopin, especially “The Story of an Hour,” and the heroines of George Eliot.

Jan. 24

Strong Women in the Bible. Traditional depictions of women in Hebrew patriarchy (Eve, Delilah, Potiphar’s wife, Jezebel, Salome) are contrasted with sympathetic and heroic images of women in the bible. We will be looking at drama and opera videos.

Jan. 31

Strong Women in Greek Drama. The role of women in “democratic” Greece. Background of Greek tragedy, with fo- cus on women as tragic heroines (Medea, Phaedra, Antigone).

Feb. 7

Strong Women in Chaucer and Shake- speare. Chaucer’s “Wife of Bath.” Wom- en’s roles at the time of the English Re- naissance. Focus on Kate (Taming of the Shrew), Viola (Twelfth Night) and Portia (Merchant of Venice).

Feb. 14

No class - Room Unavailable

Feb. 21

Strong Women in Opera. The genre of opera requires strong women heroes. Focus on Strauss’ Salome, Bizet’s Car- men and Puccini’s Tosca.

Feb. 28

Strong Women in Modern Drama.

Background of the emerging role of women in late 19th century. The focus will be on Ibsen’s Nora Helmer and Hedda Gabler, and Bernard Shaw’s Eliza Doolittle.

And on a lightet note about all the snow

This was posted Wednesday.  Classes at UBC weren't cancelled Thursday so I guess this will go ahead.

Irony alert: UBC’s annual snowball fight cancelled today because of snow

Vancouver winter battle rescheduled to Thursday

People struggle to push bus up snowy Metro Vancouver hill. Photo: @callmezanne / Twitter

Jada Basi shared an image of someone skiing in Vancouver on Twitter, noting how a bike lane transfromed into a, "cross-country ski course."

Oh....and apparently the bike lanes got plowed first. 

Only in Canada, eh? Translink employers use hockey sticks to clear snow on Skytrain. A very Canadian solution :)

Fresh snow became a blank canvas for Rachel Kirkpatrick at Vancouver’s Beaumont Studios. Screen grab Beaumont Studios/Facebook


And we had a bit of a sunset last night....

I guess we're in a little bubble here...but we haven't been out.

After what Linda posted on her blog today, I feel a bit guilty sitting enjoying the snow falling yesterday and watching the gas fireplaces in the townhouses next to us.

From Linda's blog:

Today was brutal.  At Skytrain stations that were able to open, the announcements told everyone to go home!  I was born here and I've never seen anything like this.  It was forecast but somehow every city and road clearing company neglected to act fast enough.  Ice on Highway One in Burnaby has not been lifted since Sunday.  With all the traffic on that road, it's unbelievable!  All bridges in and around Vancouver have been terrible.  The freezing bridge decks and ice bombs falling from the guide wires have been causing havoc.  The Lions Gate Bridge was closed for the first time in memory because it was impassable.

All ferries between Vancouver and the Island were suspended earlier today due to hurricane force winds.

Environment Canada just released this:

More snow and wind in the forecast has TransLink and the B.C. government advising travellers to stay home unless absolutely necessary.

Environment Canada has reissued new wind and snow warnings for the Lower Mainland and the Fraser Valley, with up to 10 more centimetres in the forecast along with winds between 70 km/h and 90 km/h Wednesday night.

Port Mann and Alex Fraser bridges could be closed tonight due to snow and wind per Ministry of Highways.

Forecasters say the winds will ease off after midnight, but rain could also be added to the mix, creating sloppy and slippery conditions on the region’s roads.

Snowfall warnings have been lifted for Vancouver Island, but wind warnings remain in place. Other coastal areas like Howe Sound could also see hurricane-force winds surpassing 100 km/h.

We are inside and nice and cozy.  Cec shovelled snow this morning but everything is covered over yet again.  On Monday, organic collection was suspended and today all garbage collection was also suspended.

Let's see what tomorrow brings!

Newspapers just aren't about news

And I guess this is why we love them.  I enjoy certain columnists like Douglas Todd. This column was particularly thought provoking, "NON-DOCTRINAIRE VOICES THAT NEED TO BE HEARD"

https://www.pressreader.com/canada/vancouver-sun/20200111/283261689783466

I've put a hold on this one:

Itty Bitty Book Review: "The Magician's Wife"

"The Magician's Wife"  by Brian Moore

This is the selection for January for my Brock House bookclub. I haven't really been attracted to historical fiction and I did find the first half of the novel called "Paris, 1856" rather tedious. Yeah, I know, how couldn't I not be enchanted by anything about Paris. Well, I did like mention of the wonderful Haussman buildings and grand boulevards. Now, the second part "Algeria, 1856" was totally engaging and interesting to me. It's almost like he made the first part dull to make the second part really interesting. Even though I have liked what I've read of Moore, I would have stopped reading this if it wasn't a bookclub choice.

One particularly good thing that came out of it is I learned that there is a film of Moore's "The Lonely Passion of Judth Hearne" ( a novel I read and quite liked) starring Maggie Smith.  I'm pretty sure I haven't seen this and it's on YouTube. We saw Maggie Smith in Edinburgh performing in Edward Albee's "A Delicate Balance"in 1997.  She was wonderful as she is in everything.

Humour always makes things better...

Prince Charles on Twitter:

https://charles-hrh.com/2020/01/13/megxit-means-megxit/

He also commented that in five years the current situation will make a "cracking good episode" on The Crown.

House sitters for those with dogs in Victoria and Vancouver Island

Jody Paterson wrote for the Times-Colonist for many years...always very interesting. She and her husband are retired and since they never got around to buying a home do house sitting. Usually people have pets. She writes a daily haiku which can be accessed here along with occasionally posting articles about things that are important to her:
http://closer-look.blogspot.com

They are doing two house sits at this time....one with no pets and another with three. Aren't they the sweetest wee things!

Snow again last night and snowing now

Guess I better look at the forecast. Jim has an eye exam in the late afternoon so we will have to drive. We do have snow tires and Wesbrook Mall isn't far.

I was looking through some old photos and came across a programme from one of our Burns Suppers at the Union Club. I see that year we had Scottish Country Dancers. Mostly they had the Highland Dancers. Jock Dunbar entertained for many years and was wonderful. I see he died in 2007.

The ever interesting Seth Godin

Yes, with out love of newspapers we are definitely turned into their product.  Are the kids right after all :)

The dominant media narrative of the day

The thing the media is talking about, in heavy rotation.

The breaking news, the one you’re required to give an opinion on.

The thing is, if it’s not for you, about you, or something you need to engage in, then who put it on your agenda?

The media benefits from turning you into their product, once you give them your attention.

Feel free, but do it because you’ve chosen to.

Here’s something to consider: the world doesn’t get better when you spend more time engaging with mass media. That’s pretty clear.

But it does get better when you spend more time doing things that matter. Actions matter.

JANUARY 12, 2020

I tried to put a hold on this but VPL doesn't have it yet.

Stop Reading the News : A Manifesto for a Happier, Calmer and Wiser Life

• Hardback
 
• English

By (author)  Rolf Dobelli

• Share
 
 
 
 

News is to the mind what sugar is to the body.

In 2013 Rolf Dobelli stood in front of a roomful of journalists and proclaimed that he did not read the news. It caused a riot. Now he finally sets down his philosophy in detail. And he practises what he preaches: he hasn't read the news for a decade.

Stop Reading the News is Dobelli's manifesto about the dangers of the most toxic form of information - news. He shows the damage it does to our concentration and well-being, and how a misplaced sense of duty can misdirect our behaviour.

From the author of the bestselling The Art of Thinking Clearly, Rolf Dobelli's book offers the reader guidance about how to live without news, and the many potential gains to be had: less disruption, more time, less anxiety, more insights. In a world of increasing disruption and division, Stop Reading the News is a welcome voice of calm and wisdom.

Ah....very cosy

The wind is blowing and it's getting cool but we're very cosy here with our electric fireplace, candle, and I think you can even see a bit of Frosty.  A fireplace with a click of a switch. We have enjoyed all our real fireplaces that needed wood and kindlng but a lot of hassle and work. We still always did it...but this is "luxury" :)

Mimosa time in the south of France

I guess I probably always make a post like this around this time but I will never forget driving from Nice to Toulon in January 2002 and seeing all these wonderful yellow trees and wondering what they were. And then all the mimosa branches you could buy in the markets.

https://www.thegoodlifefrance.com/the-magical-mimosa-festivals-of-the-south-of-france/

The dogs of the downtown eastside

I thought this was a really interesting article and loved the photos of the dogs.

These pictures were taken for a calendar to raise funds to support the many therapy dogs in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. The dogs have a great effect on the community members who have taken on responsibility for them. As a result, the dogs have changed people’s lives. As the opioid crisis continues and the death toll rises, the animals have brought a sense of calm and hope. Having a dog to care for has given owners the routine they were lacking in order to make positive changes in their lives. Some have taken steps to reduce their drug intake and seek help for their addiction. The dogs are a regular sight in the neighbourhood, not only bringing cheer but saving people’s lives. Zelda, who has spent much of her life at the Overdose Prevention Society’s supervised-consumption site, has learned to identify when a person is overdosing and to alert staff members. The dogs and their people spend most days together and are inseparable, which has created unbreakable bonds.

Rest of the article here:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/gallery-the-dogs-of-the-downtown-east-side/

Snow!

We woke up to just a dusting of snow but coming down quite hard now. I was going to go food shopping today but maybe not now. We do have lots of food in already.