My oldest friends, Linda and Carol (and husbands) came for a visit today. We grew up together and have known each other since we were four years old. Linda is into all things British and we figured she would enjoy "The Diner" and Stella. Well, that was an understatement! Linda, and everyone, just absolutely loved the experienc! It's pretty special and we all ended up singing and having a wonderful time.
Linda mentioned something about some song about Ilkley and Tom (Stella's husband) knew all the lyrics and they sang it together...wow...such laughs we had. I hope the little videos I took will upload.
All this British stuff...
Linda and Carol
The "boys" ...Stella made a special point of putting the Union Jacks on our table...so sweet.
Tom and Stella...great folks and really know how to make people feel like you're in "Old Blighty".
Sunday roast beef dinner with super Yorkshire pudding.
Linda having a laugh with Tom.
Linda, Carol, Jim, Dave
Stella and Tom who make it all happen.
Cec and Linda renewing their wedding vows with a candy ring from Stella.
Dave and Carol renewing their wedding vows with a candy ring from Stella.
Linda and Tom singing the Ilkley song...hope this works. Well, doesn't seem to. Well, one more try.
I think I managed it this time!
Stella and Tom singing "Glasgow belongs to me"...well, I think that's the name of it.
Looks like Tiffany's if trying to get the young crowd and it seems to be working with the opening last year of the Blue Box Cafe so you literally can have "Breakfast at Tiffany's". Quite a price as you would expect. I think you would have to pay me $29 US to eat this version of avocado toast...
BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY Served with a choice of coffee or tea $29 CROISSANT Nutella®, honey butter, winter fruit preserves
SEASONAL FRUIT & BERRIES
Choice of:
SMOKED SALMON & BAGEL STACK Cream cheese smear, beefsteak tomato, red onion, capers TRUFFLE EGGS Soft eggs, shaved tru es, kunik cheese, smoked bacon
AVOCADO TOAST (VEGAN) Radish, nasturtium, sorrel, sunflower seeds & sprouts BUTTERMILK WAFFLE Poached fruit of the season, Catskills maple syrup
From Vogue:
The new café also got attention for its striking blue decor. To be more specific, it’s Tiffany Blue, a color so synonymous with the jeweler that it’s trademarked. There are Tiffany Blue leather banquettes, Tiffany Blue chairs, Tiffany Blue plates (from their Color Block collection) Tiffany Blue trim, and walls with amazonite, “the nature version of Tiffany Blue.” It’s a lot of blue, and that’s the point. It’s “immersion in Tiffany—not only the feeling of being inside a Blue Box—but surrounded by Tiffany hospitality,” Moore says.
The café is open regular store hours, which means customers can stop by after browsing for engagement rings (’tis the season) or just to live out their Audrey Hepburn fantasies. But, with reports of lines out the door, it seems there’s already much ado about Tiffany Blue.
I noticed there was an "Online Museum" and one of the categories were ads that appeared in the magazine. These were from the 1930's.
These steamship fares might seem low but compared to what a room at the Hotel Vancouver cost I expect they were actually pretty high for the times. I found "Special Class" rather interesting as I thought Steamships had First, Second, and Third Class.
Reel-to-reel films were a part of teaching until pretty late in my career and in my early teaching days before they had a fairly simple semi automatic film projector, you booked a student to thread and operate the film. Even with the newer projectors, teachers could still have a "student projectionist" do it for them.
It't always wonderful to see very old friends. We hadn't had a pizza night in a while with Derek so it was just so great to see him. Lots of laughs and talk of old times along with the new.
And of course he came bearing great gifts...Mouton Cadet wine which is a bit of a tradition and Roger's Chocolates from Victoria for dessert.
This was lots of fun and we had a good time chatting to all sorts of people. Everyone we meet at Brock House seems pretty interesting. What a deal...$15 each for appies brought round with endless champagne and a super food buffet and lots of wine on offer.
And it was great to see Janet Austin who is an Honorary Patron of Brock House. She gave a vey nice speech.
Everyone standing for the arrival of the LG.
Janet Austin made the comment that so many people think the guy in the uniform is the AG and want a photo with him.
We needed to get our car serviced and a recall done so headed over to the North Van Hyundai dealership and took advantage of being on that side to go to the Cheshire Cheese for lunch at Lonsdale Quay and go to the Polygon Gallery.
It was a day for bangers and mash. We've have had it before and were very impressed with the sausages which are sourced locally....yum!
The last time we were in the area they hadn't finished the building yet. It is quite wonderful.
It looks like it's going to be a pretty interesting water feature.
The rocks are in place...now they just need the water.
They did some testing recently. From the North Shore News:
"Fans of splashing got a taste of the new water feature in the City of North Vancouver’s Foot of Lonsdale Plaza last weekend and are eagerly looking for more.
Visitors flocked to the new fountain beside Polygon Gallery on the North Vancouver Waterfront during recent test runs in the hot early summer. The new water feature includes a few large boulders spaced out on a spongy surface over which a thin stream of recycled water flows."
Looks like it's going to be fun for kids and there will be lounge chairs as well.
Some interesting things in the gift shop but rather pricey.
I loved my Polaroid camera...instant photos...wow! But the photos did fade quickly. I think it was a pretty amazing technology at the time.
These exercises are from The Photographer's Playbook.
Jim looking at the exhibition.
This was one of the exhibitions. I found the photos and the commentary quite interesting.
CHESTER FIELDS 2018: BRING TO LIGHT
Chester Fields is The Polygon Gallery's youth photography program, engaging high school students from around the Lower Mainland. Inspired by The Polygon Gallery's inaugural exhibition N. Vancouver, this year's theme challenged emerging artists to uncover a fascinating transformation that had taken place in their communities, and to visually represent their discovery in a creative way.
A jury consisting of Associate Director of Artspeak Gallery Erik Hood, Fotofilmic co-founder and director Virginie Lamarche, and VIVA Award-winning artist Kelly Lycan met to review over 100 submissions. The 28 finalists of the 2018 Chester Fields Program are featured in an exhibition at The Polygon Gallery from May 8 until June 10.
View from inside the gallery. You can see the outdoor terasse of the Cheshire Cheese on the right. We've had some wonderful meals in the sunshine there but not today.
According to the key founder and mayoral nominee of ProVancouver, developments in transit locations should be for affordable rental housing only.
David Chen noted that real-estate speculation is high in market-housing developments around transit.
“The problem is when you have speculation…people that buy, they actually don’t use transit,” Chen told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview.
Chen and ProVancouver are advancing a policy option that's been raised before.
In 2016, Metro Vancouver planners Raymond Kan and Margaret Eberle prepared a report in connection with the regional government’s transit-oriented rental housing study.
“Accommodating renter households, in particular those making less than $50,000 per year, in transit‐oriented locations is not only key to developing diverse, vibrant, and complete communities, but it is also to key to maximizing transit ridership and the value for money of transit and housing affordability investments,” the report stated.
Kan and Eberle noted that “transit usage rates for renters consistently exceed that for owners, even after controlling for density, household income, and location”.
I made the topping a bit like a Greek salad with feta, tomato, and kalamata olives. I toasted some Terra cheese bread I had left over from Sunday. It was quite yummy!
Great to see them and we had so much fun...forgot to take photos, of course.
Well, great news that they are moving to a new place right around where The Cannery Restaurant was...one of our very favourite places to dine when we came into Vancouver when living in Victoria. A friend of Richard's put him onto it and they will be next door neighbours. It is a top floor, two bedroom, two bathroom, in-suite laundry and views of what The Cannery had. We are so happy for them and can't wait to see their new place!
A couple of shots from The Cannery...sadly no more because it's in the area of the Vancouver shipyards and docks and security is a problem. It's been demolished. We had many great meals there and I know Chris and Susan loved it too.
"In a couple of weeks, this will be the scene in the lavendar areas of Provence
Here we’ve had every sort of weather except snow.
Thunderstorms, hail stones, blazing sunshine and torrential rain – almost every day it’s been like this. The whole of France seems to have had this strange weather, with apparently three times the normal number of storms for May. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it might lead to a dry summer as my renovation work has had to come to a halt. Wall and shutter painting and concrete mixing don’t go well with rain."
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Vancouver has had the driest and warmest May on record.
Early morning swimmers at Kits Pool.
Meanwhile in Palm Springs there is an extreme heat warning....getting up to 113 F today. I hope things cool down for them soon.
I found this to be a pretty brilliant idea especially given all the one use wooden chopsticks that are used in Vancouver. Good on them!
This "Kitsilano Credenza" was featured in the West Coast Home and Design magazine that came in our newspaper last Saturday. The price tag is $4,645.00.
And I had to laugh when I did an image search and also brought up photos of meat chops...a little more affordable.
When Terry posted this photo I figured they were in their backyard in Victoria.
From Patty: PB; yes, they are! We saw her Monday with one, today, with both of them. The little one curled up out front, in the shrubbery! So cute!
Jim played golf Wednesday evening...great twilight rate of $20 and he could have got more than 9 holes. He didn't see any wildlife. He saw lots of deer on Uplands in Victoria and coyotes on Langara in Vancouver.
