A heartfelt thanks to those few of you who have commented on my blog, either by putting a comment on the blog itself or by sending me an email after reading it. Sometimes it feels as though I am blogging into the void as I’m only aware that one or two people are out there. Any acknowledgement I receive is so appreciated. My most regular commenter is Susie Haddon so THANK YOU Susie! But also, to anyone else who has let me know that they’ve actually read it, a big thank you!
I am not a superstitious person, not in the least! However, I am haunted by the memory of the 2016 election. Then, as now, we were in Vancouver at an election night “party” at John’s friend Rick’s home, where we were staying. I will never forget the sick feeling I got when I realized that Clinton was going to lose. I excused myself, went back to our room and crawled into bed where I stayed feeling sick until the next morning, when I felt even sicker.
Therefore, in addition to donating money, sending 100 postcards to Philadelphia to encourage mail-in voting, registering six classes of seniors at Castlemont, and phone banking for California’s Prop 15 property tax overhaul, we are going to leave Vancouver in order not to be in the same city as we were during the last presidential election. We are heading to Whistler on Monday for two nights and will experience the election from that mountain town. We’re staying in the lovely Nita Lake Lodge. I know it is pure superstition that I need to be in a different location but, despite my having left the country, I want any readers to know that I am doing absolutely everything I can think of to make sure the outcome is different this time around including not repeating our geography. For all our sakes, I hope I will be celebrating from Whistler on Tuesday evening, instead of mourning from Vancouver. We’re holding our breath…
Funnily, our condo in Vancouver is right around the corner from what used to be the Trump International Hotel. Happily, it went out of business about two months ago. I am hoping that this photo of the boarded-up front-door is a preview of his ejection from the White House. What a great image!
Despite election dread, we continue to enjoy Vancouver. Fraser of the wild hair left on Monday. While he was here, we tried to give him a feel for the city, which he ended up liking a lot. He particularly enjoyed the charismatic Gastown neighborhood as the brick streets and buildings reminded him of his beloved Philadelphia, where he attended university. He also appreciated the many breweries and Asian restaurants and we even managed to force him to walk around Stanley Park, with a strategic stop at the Tearoom for brunch. Here’s a photo of him enjoying a beer flight in Gastown and one at the end of our walk around the park with Rick.
While he was here, John and I spent a rainy day visiting the Museum of Anthropology at UBC. It’s a wonderful museum and has so many artifacts that one could spend hours there. Here are a few photos of carvings I loved as well as a picture of the plastic buckets that are catching the water leaking through the roof of the Great Room. They are removing all the huge totem poles and other artifacts so they can earthquake retrofit it. Clearly this is rather overdue.
John and I have also ventured out on our bikes. My fractured elbow is now strong enough (it’s been 4 weeks) that I can ride on easy terrain, so we went through Stanley Park and then over the Lions Gate Bridge to West Vancouver and then back and finished rounding the park. It was gorgeous, though I do still feel a bit timid. I hope I get my confidence back.
Fraser is a big fan of all sorts of Asian food. He requested we have Hot Pot.
Another outing John and I have gone on is to West Vancouver. We love the walk along the water there. There are Asian Canadians fishing for crab on the piers, stand up paddle boarders out among the seals, and lots and lots of walkers and joggers on the seawall with us. I love the children’s play area made completely of driftwood. Notice the seagulls at the top? Only one is real, the other three are fakes. Haha! Also, someone created this beautiful heart of fall leaves on the grass which I had to photograph. Really nice.
We also headed over to the small town of Deep Cove which is gorgeous and charming. It had rained the night before and the snow level was low enough to dust the tops of all the North Shore mountains. You can see the sugar coating on the mountains behind me in this photo.
One evening, Fraser was having drinks with a couple of colleagues (Cala’s Chief Security Officer is here in Vancouver) so John and I went to Pan Pacific hotel on the water and had a drink (or two) overlooking the harbor. On the way back to the condo, I saw a number of wonderful photo opportunities. When I showed them to Fraser, he said we were “geeks” but I think they are rather fab! 🙂 Here they are. Silly, I know.
Fraser left on Monday so we’ve been back on our own since then. This evening, we went to a bar down by the water and watched the almost full moon rise up from behind the mountains. Gorgeous evening, drink by the water with sailboats, fall colors, and moon. On the way back, the view of the high rises in Coal Harbor was also nice.
Last night, we went to LIVE THEATER!!! It was excellent, a one woman show called No Child at the Newmont Stage at the BMO Theater on False Creek. Celia Aloma played so many characters and was incredible. If you are in Vancouver before November 8th, make sure to get a ticket, wear a mask, and watch this show.
The weekend is predicted to be sunny and then we are in for a week of rain for the election. But that’s ok because we’ll be in Whistler at a cozy resort NOT repeating the 2016 election experience in Vancouver. And maybe, once we’re back in Van on Wednesday, we’ll celebrate the outcome of the election by John cooking up one of his delicious, healthy meals. Below is a photo of his most recent creation, wild salmon on chard with zucchini fritters and a yogurt sauce, served with a glass of Gruner Vetliner and lit by tea lights – unfortunately served on a not so gorgeous Corelle plate. Haha, that’s renting for you.
