E-rad

Elaine (E-rad) and I stop for salmonberry snacks while we walk Szikra in the Endowment Lands.  How awesome??!

International Food Court

The best place to eat on a lunch hour downtown - especially if you go before or after the rush.  Cheap and delicious :)

New Digs

Szikra is thrilled to have her own little corner of the kitchen to call her own.  She likes to be included :)

The Rearview

This baby has been a fixture not just on the Saturn's rearview, but the Topaz before it.  Much more faded and threadbare than its inaugural drive, it's seen a lot of miles.  During a roadtrip Joel and I took out to Bella Coola and the Queen Charlottes we had to implement a petting restriction of 3 times per day max (each).  All in the name of longevity!

Greek Days!

Kitsilano is abustle with patrons strolling Broadway between MacDonald and Blenheim.  It's the first time I've been able to go to Greek Days, which has been happening every summer since forever...  Good food to eat, people to watch and music/entertainment to be heard.  Luc and I stroll the scene and have the full experience by eating some street food :)

Luc N' Luke

Luc N' Luke N' me go out for some wings and drinks in the evening when we're all done our chores.  The Wolf and Hound is now 2 blocks away from my new house - perfect!

Moving Day

80% complete!

Fondue

Julia makes dinner complete with fondue dessert for Luc and I because she's nice like that :)  And it was delicious!

Puppy K

Lori shows off Rodin, Szikra's brother, at the end of our first puppy kindergarten class.  Out of 8 puppies, 3 are the vizslas from the same litter, which makes it quite chaotic!

Mutant Maple

Julia finds this maple leaf today that has something weird going on.  A type of rust?  Some sort of parasite?  The pattern is so streamlined.  It's bizarre.

Phasar.Itasca

Out on the daily dog walk we scope out this beauty of a camper van.  The Phasar!! Complete with compu-robo-tronic decals and a bodyline that would make the car from back to the future jealous.  Noice!

Beer Gut (No) Contest

Who has the biggest beer gut?  Clearly Michelle has been working on hers with much more diligence than Luc... Alright, maybe not - but they do the official measurements at the 3rd Annual Block Party for 1st Avenue between MacDonald and Stephens.  Fun!

It seems a third of the people that come are actually not from the street but live very close.  Technically I am not a resident of the street anymore either - but I still say I am when it comes to the block party ;)  Name tags denote the number of years you've lived on the street.  For Luc that's 24 years (minus some away time for school and travel) and for Michelle and her bump it's 4 months.

Goodbye House Potluck

The roommates are disbanding their peaceful co-existence at the end of the month.  We decide a last minute get together is in order.  The weather isn't fab, so we eat indoors and put the BBQ on the front lawn for easy access.  Cheers to a year of great roomies!

The Hangover

Vancouver nurses its collective hangover after giving away the Stanley Cup in Game 7 to Boston.  Riots downtown leave the city with a depressed vibe.  At least people got up the next morning to clean up the aftermath.  Nigel and I go for a walk on Spanish Banks where the tide is quite possibly the farthest out I've ever seen it - probably 2 km.

The Might-As-Wells

Luc is in charge of renovating my parents' upstairs bathroom from an olde-style toilet room and bath room into one merged super mega bathroom.  Maybe not giant per se, but it'll be bigger anyways.

My dad always says with renos you have to watch out for the "might-as-wells".  Well, if we're going to do this, we might as well go with the heated floors (you get the idea...).  If it gets to crazy, you just might as well get a second job to pay for it!

Mama Night Out!

Baby mama and puppy mama make a night of it and go and see Bridesmaids in the theatre, which was hilarious.  Later on we munch on an indoor picnic consisting of deli meat, rice cakes and wine while looking at YouTube videos.  Mama date night success!

The Crate

Tara's 'crate', or portable bedroom.  I asked Camille if she had ever called it a crate by accident (we were discussing the similarities of puppies and babies) and she tells me she has slipped up on occasion.  C'mon, give her a break, she's been sleep deprived for almost a year!

We decide puppies and babies are indeed very similar except you can't shut a baby in a crate if she's annoying (unless it looks like this!).

Replacement Sting

I forgot to take a photo today (how could I?!), so here's one from yesterday.  Camille requested that I describe to her what stinging nettle looks like so she can be on the awares.  I one up her and insert imaging in the Manifesto.

Backroads Exploration

Texada has much more gravel road to roam around than I expected.... It's very different from any other gulf island I've been to (and I have managed to scope out most).  The resident population is employed in forestry or mining in one of the multiple quarry pits on the island.  This ain't to artsy fartsy cutsey wootsey island hideout - it's much more like the mainland.  We do the full tour today.

El Camping Wino

Nigel does his best to open a nice bottle of Spanish tempranillo with a broken cork screw at our camping residence on Texada Island.  The cork screw doesn't make it after this sitting and neither does the wine... Because we drank it all (it was so tasty)!

Ocean Swim Lesson #2

Nose to the heavens, swim like the dickens!

Szikra doesn't fancy staying in the deep end long enough to hone her remedial swimming skills.  At least she doesn't totally run to shore once she can touch the bottom - that's pretty good considering how cold it was at Whaling Station Bay on Hornby Island.  I carry her shivering self out a few times and we practice some lengths :)

Oyster Fest 101

Nigel and I show Nat and Dave how to enjoy oysters picked right off the beach.  Nat confirms for me in this photo that she's SUPER into it :)

Fresh oysters. BBQ. Gloves. Shucker. Frank's Red Hot. Grated cheddar cheese.  Lemon slices to squeeze. Vodka sipper.  Happiness for your mouth and belly!

Daylight Devil

Devil Open Mouth shows his ugly face in daylight!  Intense delight and disgust ensue as I am able to investigate closer and without the spookiness of night time.  His antennae are almost the length of the hemlock needle in the photo.

How fascinating!

Devil Open Mouth - Double Snake Wing

Hey guys!  Look!  There's a bat flying around outside!  Nope, it's the most roided-out moth I've ever seen in my life or heard of!!  For scale, there is a regular moth in the photo also (the white bug above) and he's on a cedar house shingle.

Watch out or he'll flap at your face and make you worry about having moth nightmares!

Elaine and I inspect the specimen closer and in our wine-loving state I proclaim that this beast is "Devil Open Mouth" due to the 'devil barfing pattern' on it's back.  It also looks to have a garter snake on each wing; therefore "Double Snake Wing".  No doubt a clever trick to scare away predators and fascinators.  It's working...

Much fascination and disgust ensued until the bugger flew off after about 20 minutes.

Pemby Ladies V.4

The original Pemberton Music Festival Ladies four years out!  Myself, Elaine, Camille and Vanessa manned the festival in 2008 and had a whiz-bang time - so much so that we've tried to do something every summer since.  In 2009 it didn't happen (we were waiting for the revival of the music festival which didn't).  In 2010 we went to Lilith Fair and up to Whistler after.  Nat was also at Lilith and we all love her so much that she is a newer addition to the crew!

This year: the first half of the Bowser trip is bitches only.  Somebody pass the sparkling rose!  Aw, yeah ;)

Cin Cin

Camille and I express our satisfaction at sharing a great meal of dry-rub bbq'd pork, asparagus, zucchini and rice with Vanessa.  Cin cin ladies!  Commence summer sunday dinners :)

Welcome to Bowser, BC

Vanessa and I arrive at the cottage today and test out the sea view from the porch.  I think I can handle a week of this!  Bowser is located just north of Qualicum Bay on Vancouver Island.

Which One Isn't Like the Other One?

Which one of these 4-leggers isn't like the other one?!  Szikra tries to blend in nonchalantly with Russ and Ellen's german shorthaired puppies. Mwuhahaha!

No More Steak Mama

Mike looks sad as Vanessa has cooked him a lovely (giant) steak dinner.  He had a philly cheese steak for lunch that has sabotaged his enjoyment of this meal... Luckily there is lots of tupperware in the house for transporting leftovers to school for lunch!

Home Game

Szikra is oblivious that the Canucks claimed victory in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final...  She is more concerned with finding a good lap to nap on during the home game.