LEGO

 I often buy Richard a small bit of LEGO for Christmas just for fun and this year I saw this Advent Calendar LEGO so thought that would be perfect since our advent calendar has these little pockets for goodies. My idea was to give it to Richard last month when they were coming over for dinner. Well, that didn't happen and won't be happening anytime soon I guess. So, I opened it up and thought I would try to do this. The package does say 6 + for age.

Well, it doesn't look very obvious to me how you put these pieces together but I'll see what I can do. I don't have much else to do :)

And now I think that the finished pieces will go back into the foam tray and the lid (purplish photo) sit above it and you open the little doors. I don't think I've completely ruined it.

I did manage to get one piece sort of together but there is still a little black piece leftover. 

Jim had a great time yesterday lecturing and talking to students in Spain

 Things went really well and there were some very intelligent questions from the  students. Their English is excellent. They are graduate students in English Literature.  Jim would like to improve his Spanish so Jesuius and he and one of his best students are going to talk once a week in Spanish and English about English Literature via Zoom or perhaps on the platform they used yesterday.

It looks like the Huxley Symposium in Toulon will be postponed again or perhaps they'll do it virtually. I don't think things will be normal by October but you never know.  We have an invitation from Jesuius to stay in his new villa. These Spaniards seem to have lots of places  He also has an apartment in Almeria where he teaches and shares another villa with his sister in the mountains. 

We did a lot of stuff in the couple of weeks we were in mainly Spain in November 2010. Here's my blog from that time. It begins with Mary's 60th birthday and we saw their brand new grandson, Eliot!

https://janicesextonart.blogspot.com/2010/11/

If you click on "Older Posts" at the end you will see the time we spent in London and all the Chrsitmas lights and our London and Oxford friends and also Susan from Yorkshire came down to visit ut. We had our one bedroom apartment in Vancouver then so it was great to leave and arrive from there and not have to do the Van-Victoria flight which was alway very tiring after the trans-Atlantic ordeal.

This is a nice invitaion but I think our days of going to Europe are over. 

If you are coming to Europe the following year, it depends on the pandemic, obviously, you are invited to Granada and to my house with your wife. I will be happy to host you and show you around.

 

I got a new villa, nearby Granada, only 5 kilometres away, surrounded by the Sierra Nevada mountains with beautiful views and good natural landscapes. 

 

Well, let's talk a little bit this afternoon.

We'll be talking to folks in Almeria, Spain this morning

 Jim is lecturing to students of his colleague in Spain this morning and there will be a discussion afterwards. Jesuias wants to have a chat first with us. It will be great to talk to him. 

We had a great time with him when Jim was at a Huxley conference many years ago.

Almería is a city in southeast Spain. The Alcazaba is an imposing Moorish fortress overlooking the city. The fortified, 16th-century Almería Cathedral has a Gothic ribbed ceiling. The Museum of Almería displays archaeological finds from across the region. Underground lies a network of tunnels, the Civil War Shelters of Almería. The English Cable is a huge iron pier and symbol of the city’s former mining industry.

Update: Great to talk to him today. His students are arriving online and Jim will begin shortly.

Christmas displays from Vancouver's "The Daily Hive"

 We'll definitely have to get out to see Christmas lights this year. Good on all the people who bring this joy to others!

Lots of Reindeer buses this year...good on them!

 TransLink announced today that it is ramping up its annual Reindeer tradition, and passengers will find nine of the beloved Reindeer Buses on the streets. 

Starting Dec. 1, the transportation agency aims to spread much-needed holiday cheer all over Metro Vancouver with its festive fleet. Reindeer Buses Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolph will roll into service and brighten a street near you.

“We can all agree that it’s been a pretty tough year,” says TransLink CEO Kevin Desmond.

“If there was ever a time to boost our Reindeer Bus fleet, it’s certainly now. We want to spread smiles and holiday cheer to street corners all over the region, and this is a fun way to do it.”

Rich Conaty

 We really enjoyed listening to him Sunday nights. We would often listen for an hour or two. Old programs are available to stream and we listened to some of one the other night. If you're looking for things to do you might give this a try.

Streaming info here:

https://news.fordham.edu/fordham-magazine/rich-conatys-big-broadcast-lives-on-in-new-digital-archive/

This photo was taken not long before he died.

Letters to Santa in Canada and elsewhere

 

Linda has been involved in this program for years. Her husband, Cec, worked for Canada Post.

https://lindaandcec.blogspot.com/2020/11/letters-to-santa.html

I was curious what other countries did. It looks like the US requires a stamp on the letter and also a stamped return address envelope.  This year they seem to have an online system too. And some kids actually get gifts they ask for.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/11/25/santa-letters-usps-coronavirus/

And this is what they do in the UK. They also require a stamp.

https://www.royalmail.com/christmas/letters-to-santa

I brought this up when I googled "letters to Santa around the world". Some of the links didn't work but New Zealand and Ireland did. Ireland is also kind of cool as they provide colourful templates to download. I didn't try all of them. You can email Santa in New Zealand and get a postcard from Santa from the North Pole. 

https://www.postcrossing.com/blog/2015/11/25/santa-s-address-around-the-world

It's one way to travel!

 Posted on Rick Steeves FB group.

Since we cannot go anywhere, I decided to travel through wine. Went to Trader Joe’s the other night and got these. From left to right: Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Hungary, South Africa, Chile, Argentina. And some German gingerbread cookies too. I’m hoping to finish traveling by the end of the year but probably much sooner Happy Thanksgiving to all in the US.

Thanksgiving in Paris...from "My Part-Time Paris Life"

 Well, I could certainly substitute this wonderful shellfish for turkey any old day!

‘Til the season! Not Thanksgiving—this is bounty of the shellfish kind. Seen at Clamato on Rue de Charonne on my Thanksgiving Day walk in Paris. ©Lisa Anselmo

This Thanksgiving is not a usual one for many people. There were those who found themselves on their own, due to Covid restrictions—possibly for the first time ever. 

I was also on my own this year, but it wasn’t the first time. In the years immediately following my mother’s death, I would take advantage of the long Thanksgiving weekends to fly to Paris to see friends. At that time, none of my Paris friends were American, so I didn’t celebrate the day. And it didn’t bother me. In fact, it helped me to forget that I wasn’t celebrating with Ma.

Rest of the post here:

https://myparttimeparislife.com/2020/11/27/paris-lockdown-2-0-week-4/

Macleod's Books

 Another place we haven't been down to recently since we're not taking buses these days but this story appeared in The Georgia Straight and it seems they are doing pretty well except the Vancouver Fire Department has a big issue with their many, many books and they will have to do something about that.

Don Macleod in his very packed full of books everywhere bookstore.

https://www.straight.com/arts/macleods-books-faces-day-of-reckoning-with-vancouver-fire-department

Ian Forsyth takes wonderful photos of Vancouver Heritage Homes

 I’ve been wanting to photograph the area close to City Hall for months. It really has some of the most beautiful restored homes all in one place outside of Mole Hill. One big difference is that this street and the others around it are all private residences, these restorations are because of the owner’s initiative, and I can’t even begin to think what a restoration and renovation of homes the size of these would be, but I’m thinking the size of them must make it worthwhile financially, and the beauty and heritage value of the finished product is priceless.

Next up will be the 100 block of West 10th, which has several homes that are amongst the city’s oldest, built in the 1890s, most beautifully restored, many by the Davis family starting back in the 1980s, that will be a treat to visit.

A day for messing about in the kitchen

 I made peanut butter cookies first and froze most of them. We just finished off the chocolate oatmeal walnut cookies I made. I don't put too many in the cookie jar.

Then I made meatloaf which we will have for dinner. I can't remember when I last made meatloaf...many years ago but I had some ground beef I needed to use up.  This recipe looked pretty good. It says "Feeds 10".  It only calls for pound of ground beef.

Ready for the oven, sauce and all.

Update:  It was excellent and we'll have the rest tonight for dinner!

A very typical November day in Vancouver...down at Jericho Beach for a walk

 The rain held off pretty much until we had our walk then the sun came out just after we got home....very West Coast weather.

Minerva's delivered!

We have had many wonderful meals at Minerva's with Donna and Neil (also with Derek when he's been in town) and more recently getting it delivered at Donna's. She lives very close and is a very long time customer. So, how great that we are in a postal code where they deliver...no Doordash so they get all the money. We had our favourites and have enough for tomorow's dinner. 

Wow...what a deal!

 

A special 2020 vintage wine

Fern sent me this...got a laugh out of it.

 

Especially for my travelling friends who aren't travelling at the moment

 Knowledge Network streams all sorts of wonderful travel and other types of programs. You can sign up for free. One program we enjoyed a lot but since we didn't have a PVR we usually missed epsodes was "Waterfront Cities of the World". They have about 65 you can view online and we've only seen a handful.

Check it out.