And the newer Vancouver from David N. Phipps

Nothing much to post. Cloudy, cool and clouds of mosquitoes if you try and do anything. So a walk from 2019 with

Toni Williams Morrison

from Olympic Village to Davie and Pacific.

Paella in Palm Spings

We've had their paella and it's pretty good.

Guess they wouldn't deliver here :)

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1 person $30

2 people $55

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Shrimp, fish, clams, mussels, calamari, chicken, merguez sausage with saffron rice

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760-325-9464

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Had a nice walk on Jericho Beach yesterday afternoon

We parked in the Brock House parking spots in the Jericho lot. You can only park until 3:30 weekdays but free and lots of spaces available.

The benches of Palm Springs

This is a great idea to paint these benches in PS. They are very welcome places to take a bit of a rest while waiting for a table at Las Casuelas and lots of other places. Supporting artists is always a good thing. I hope I will be able to see the finished product one of these days.

"Main Street Palm Springs, the city of Palm Springs’ Downtown and Uptown Business Association has received a grant from the Palm Springs Public Arts Commission to fund a new program that will call upon local artists to paint selected public benches on Palm Canyon Drive.

The artists will be compensated for their work by Public Arts Commission funds which come from contributions by local developers and are restricted to be used only for public arts projects.

A trial program for beautifying the benches was recently conducted where 10 benches were painted by local artist Tysen Knight. It was so well received that the program has been expanded and Knight will now oversee the transformation of the next 10 benches by nine local artists (one artist will paint two benches).

Palm Springs Public Arts Commission worked closely with Main Street Palm Springs on this civic improvement campaign. They issued a call for designs earlier this year and nine artists were selected. The benches are located at various locations on Palm Canyon Drive, and artists will paint the benches in the next few weeks."

Rest of the article here:
https://www.palmspringslife.com/palm-springs-public-arts-commission/?fbclid=IwAR3zj0wyAztNVUXQkP3d_fuxQKDBoqAnE_FRJgeTotKUlRL_2ZhdcX3M8xY

Some humour

Accordion shops reopen with restrictions to prevent panic-buying and hoarding.

Photography by David N. Phipps

This fellow goes on walks around Vancouver and posts cool photos he takes along the way. He always takes lots of photos and posts lots. These are from around Main Street. This is a big street mural area. There is a summer mural festival with a big street party. I guess the mural painting part of it will go ahead this year minus the street party. Here's a link for a downloadable map.

He posts on the FB group "I grew up in Vancouver".

https://www.vanmuralfest.ca/map-and-tours

Warning: Nudists on Wreck Beach

I'm pretty sure these nudists were stoned....

Note: Wreck Beach is a nudist beach in Vancouver.

A rather coolish beginning to summer.  Perhaps we'll get swimming at Spanish Banks fairly soon.

From Benjamin's post in Palm Springs...

As he says, "It can't get any prettier than this."

Update: Perhaps not quite so much a paradise for some people at the moment. Palm Springs broke records with 121 F and Palm Desert has a continuing power outage. I really feel for people without AC.

The Munich Beer Festival, Octoberfest, is cancelled.

“The risks are simply too high“: Oktoberfest 2020 had to be cancelled

"It hurts, it's such a pity," said Minister President Söder in the Bavarian State Chancellery – together with Munich's Lord Mayor Reiter. However: "We have agreed that the risk is simply too high."

The Oktoberfest 2020 should actually take place from September 19 to October 4. About six million visitors from all over the world were expected. In times of Covid-19, however, the danger of infection in the mostly crowded beer tents and the many people in the streets and alleys on the Theresienwiese would be too high.

"We have experienced that the après-ski in Ischgl, various beer festivals for example, or even carnival events were unfortunately virus hubs," said Söder. This is why the greatest sensitivity applies to public festivals. "As long as there is no vaccine, as long as there is no medicine, special care must be taken."

I knew this was a big event but 6 million people...wow. Another large bad economic impact. I contacted Octoberfest with a link to the Georgia Strait article about the At-Home Beer Festival Kit and suggesting they might think of doing something similar. It will be interesting if I get a response.

Itty Bitty Book Review: "O' Artful Death"

"O' Artful Death" by Sarah Stewart Taylor

This is the first in her Sweeny McGeorge series...her first series of mysteries. I really enjoyed the first one in her new series that Lousie Penny highlighted..."The Mountains Wild".

She's a pretty accomplished writer right off the bat given this was her first foray into writing a murder msytery. They certainly aren't exactly typical "who dun its" and I guess that's why I like her style. She does write in a very lyrical manner.

Beer festivals

We're not really beer festival types but it is one of those events that bring large groups of people together having fun and that's a good thing and unfortunately one of the many things cancelled this year but our local craft breweries have created a "At-Home Beer Festival Kit".

We became fans of beer after our first trip to England in 1972 where we got introduced to tasty beer in wonderful pubs where you could also get pretty decent food.  A whole different experience from our "beer parlours" with lousy beer, lousy atmosphere, and  food was potato chips and maybe a pickled egg. Drinking beer was made as unpleasant an experience as possible.

I feel pretty proud of our craft beer scene. I even came back from a trip to England thinking our beer was better here now. This was also the time when all the young people were drinking American lager in the British pubs. I guess that's more about pints of bitter being their parents' drink.

From the Georgia Strait:

"The  spirit of community is strong in what’s being dubbed the At-Home Beer Festival Kit. Spearheaded by Stanley Park, and arriving just in time for Canada Day, the package spotlights nine beer offerings from four different Vancouver breweries: Russell, East Van, Red Truck and, of course, Stanley Park.

Intended to replicate celebrations that would normally take place in the summer (including the wildly popular Craft Beer Week Festival), the kit includes, in no particular order: 4 oz tasting cups, tent cards to mark your DIY tasting stations, beer passports, beer-tasting table mats, and coasters.

Should all of that lead you scratching your head, that’s a red flag you’ve never been to a beer festival. If that’s the case, the At-Home Beer Festival Kit serves as a primer for when the world returns to a sense of normality. Newbies can start with the included At-Home Beer Festival how-to guide.

In a press release, Stanley Park Brewmaster Thom Riley said, “We figured that since the beer festival season is cancelled, why not bring the fun home? Beer festivals are a great way to discover beers you may not have tried before, we’ve created an experience where you can not only explore brands and styles, but also support and celebrate local breweries."

Rest of the story here:
https://www.straight.com/food/just-in-time-for-canada-day-at-home-beer-festival-kit-give-you-chance-to-prepare-for-a-return

Good on UBC for creating this course.: The Pandemic's Impact on Society

This is certainly a timely topic and not surprised the course was full very quickly and has a long waiting list.

According to UBC, it's the first course of its kind in Canada that focuses solely on the sociological aspects of the pandemic. It has been put together by UBC's department of sociology and has been popular with students across various faculties and year levels as it doesn't require students to have any prerequisites.

UBC says it's unique because it acknowledges that all students are affected by COVID differently and therefore, it doesn't require students to attend the class at a specific time. Instead, the course content takes place within 48-hour windows, to allow for more flexible learning.

Students will have to complete a final project where they work with community partners to develop a strategy to inform the public about COVID-19. 

"What makes this course so special is the student projects at the end of the course where they will partner with a regional or international organization to develop materials intended to be useful in supporting the organization's mandate," said Wan Yee Lok, media relations specialist at UBC. 

"For example, students could create an infographic for employers with research about how to support employees working from home under lockdown."

Rest of the article here:

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/new-covid-19-course-at-ubc-to-cover-pandemic-s-impact-on-society-1.5004645

Yep....no problem

Yaletown staircase murals...love these!

Over the course of the summer, Yaletown will transform its many staircases into vibrant, eye-catching murals, the first few having already seen completion.

The staircase murals are part of a large-scale art project launched by the Yaletown Business Improvement Association (YBIA), with intentions of brightening up the community and supporting local artists.

The first completed piece is a giant dog mural painted by Lukas Lundberg. In addition to this recent Yaletown creation, Lundberg took part in the Vancouver Mural Festival’s #MakeArtWhileApart initiative. He also has an indoor mural at Tequila Cocina, a recently-opened Mexican restaurant in North Vancouver.

There are 20 staircases in Yaletown which used to be part of railway loading docks.

“The brick patios were actually the backs of warehouses,” she says. “Trains went down Hamilton and Mainland Street and offloaded onto the raised loading docks.”

And while there are plenty of staircases to be transformed, each poses a challenge for artists in terms of creating mural art.

“We have little staircases which are super challenging for mural art,” says O’Shea. “They’re 3D and not on a single surface. But you can play with them and because they’re short, they’re a little secret.”

The weekend...

What was going on in Soho Saturday night....crazy. I don't think the pubs re-opening is a very good idea.

We went down to Spanish Banks Sunday. There were quite a few people enjoying the sunshine but we didn't have a problem getting a parking place.

All good things come to an end...

We tried to order our lamb dinner from Stepho's on Doordash the other day. We got a message..."too far away".  We were amazed they delivered here at all. It was certainly one of our cheapest meals at $17.95 and enough for two big dinners and a bit left over for lunch.

Happy 4th of July

On Canada Day, Linda posted this bingo card and I thought it was quite fun to see how many things I had done in Canada so we made up the next one togeether for July 4.

Humour

Itty Bitty Book Review: "The Mountains Wild"

 "The Mountains Wild" by Sarah Stewart Taylor

This is a new release featured by Louise Penny. She's  trying to help authors with new releases. It really appealed to me since it was a mystery and set in Ireland for the most part. I enjoyed reading it and especially the Irish atmosphere.  I'm going to try her first series.

Happy Canada Day!