Small Things Make You Happy

We are always looking for the “big” things in life; the big moments that will make an impact, but this morning when the book that I ordered through AbeBooks.com arrived from The Book Brothers in Chatham, ON, in the mail, I realized that it is the small things that can make you the most happy. I am excited. I can’t wait to read it. This is my treat to myself after my exam is over. The book is called “The Gypsies”, by Jan Yoors. http://www.janyoors.com/life.html and for the front cover of the book http://www.amazon.com/Gypsies-Jan-Yoors/dp/0881333050#reader_0881333050

It is the story of the author who, at the age of 12, ran away from his privileged home in Belgium to live with the Gypsies. I have chosen the book as one of our book-club reads. This is the reason I gave my fellow book-club members: “Maybe those of you have ties with Europe will know more than others about the Gypsies. Coming from Britain, we saw the “Tinkers” and “Gypsies” regularly, but they were always described negatively…..naturally, as a child, to me they were “mysterious” and “fascinating” and although we would try to get close to see who they were, we didn’t want to get too close because there was that “fear” about them spread by the “adults” in our life. I am looking forward to reading the book and to learning a little more of the true facts about the Gypsies.” I think we have a choice about the way we live our lives. We can live in isolation of the realities around us, or we can embrace life and the many diversities that make up our “community”. Neither way is right or wrong, but  I choose to do the latter. It gives me deeper “perspective”, and “compassion”, and “tolerance” which gives my life more meaning.….I think!

Pole Dancing in Vancouver (Dec 30 - Jan 16, 2011)

Our Run this Morning around the Sea Wall at False Creek

Our life in Vancouver is not dull! Yesterday afternoon I went to a shower for a young friend of mine who is getting married in March. Apart from seeing the beautiful gifts she received, eating the delicious food her mother provided, and envying the pink, green, and white martini’s that the tall, dark and handsome young man made (he was the only man present), we also pole danced…and had a lesson in lap dancing! It was so much fun!! I managed the pole dancing reasonably well (so I’m told)but I am not sure I managed the sultry, sexy attitude that the PT demonstrated; and when it came to lap dancing, I knew I was beat. My body just didn’t seem to arch as arrogantly, or bend as flexibly, or look as enticing as the younger guests!! I couldn’t quite manage to undo my bra while executing a backward bend over my silently-absent, seated partner! But, nonetheless, it was a terrific afternoon and Nicola received a lot of tips for a romantic evening with her new husband!!! Ladies, if you want to “rekindle” the eroticism of your marriage I strongly recommend trying it…..along with the martini’s!! The young barman was a great sport and did try the pole dancing, but was nowhere to be seen when the lap dancing started!! And....the reason I was "envying" the martinis...well first of all I was driving, but secondly and more importantly, we are all on an alcohol-free month - Jan 2 to Jan 26. It's actually doable, and quite nice....restaurant bills are cheaper, general cost of "stuff" is less, and you feel great....don't miss it one little bit. But, no doubt we will all go back to our pre-2011 habits once Alanna's birthday hits on the 26th.
On a more serious note, I joined the half-marathon clinic at the Running Room on West Broadway. First class was January 4. We have started out with a slow 7 km on Sunday mornings and today just completed an 8 km run. The only hook is the hills. There are hills everywhere. So our “easy” runs are usually done half up hill and half down hill. Still managed a respectable 6.4 mins/km; but I don’t think I can keep that up for 21.1 km and certainly not over a hilly course. It’s a fun group of people, “Kitsilano” people, I’m told, as if that gives them some immediate identity….which of course is totally lost on me! Ray is joining me at the run club on Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings. Then we try and fit in a fourth morning on Fridays. So that is certainly giving us some “schedule” to our life. Otherwise there is not much!

I am trying to do my reading and REMEMBER IT for my course. I thought someone said that running was good for the memory. I remember to go running….but not much else!! I have done a first draft of my essay and am now waiting to do a telephone interview with a charity that I am going to use as a cases study. Can’t wait for Jan 31 when it will all be over, and I shall be a free women again!!

Alanna joins us on Wednesdays and stays till Sunday when we drive her back to the West End (about 15minutes). The kilometre scale here is liberating. Instead of having to drive for half an hour to get anywhere, in 15 minutes we are practically at the other side of town….well, that is if the traffic is co-operating! We’ve had a few journeys over the Lion’s Gate Bridge that have taken a little longer than one would like. And we study (that's Alanna and I)………. Last night one of her class mates came for dinner and that was nice. I have also spent a couple of days with Alanna studying in the library at the Simon Fraser campus downtown. The atmosphere there is very congenial to studying for blocks of time without interruption. Bliss!

When Ray and I are on our own, I study (are you getting the picture???); Ray busies himself with listing our Collingwood Condo and the house for sale. We like to walk; so in between our runs, we try to fit in a walk, and of course we can walk to the “high street” in Kerrisdale to do our produce shopping. We walked "up" (note, yet another hill) there last Friday evening and had dinner in a neat little family owned restaurant called Suvai which was recommended to us by the owners’ of the house we are staying in. During the week, Ray had an outing to visit some business associates in Burnaby. Last Tuesday night it snowed, quite a bit actually, so Ray had to clear the front steps and the pavement in front of the house, and did the same for our neighbour. But by late afternoon the snow had turned to slush in the warm temperatures. We didn’t run that night because none of the side streets Otherwise, temperatures have been up and down - low was -4 or -5C at the beginning of the month; today it was 12C; and it has been up to 13/14C. By the end of Thursday, you would hardly have known there was snow. On Friday, I took the bus downtown to go “lingerie” shopping and spent a fun hour or so in Scarlet’s choosing some sexy lingerie for a shower gift.

Ray has also been checking out the real-estate in Vancouver. Most of it is totally out of anything that makes sense. I haven’t a clue how young people will ever buy a house here and since travel into the city is so restricted, I can’t imagine what the future for Vancouver looks like. The price of houses is just not in line with salaries. If your mortgage is $100,000 per annum, that means $200,000 earnings before tax; and if that is 50% of your salary, that means a salary of around $400,000. Unrealistic for the many. Of course figures for “affordability” are much higher and the average in Vancouver is more like 65% of salary.

We had a quiet hogmanay, and then on New Year’s Day our friends Cindy and Murray came for drinks. For those of you who don’t know Cindy, we lived together in a house on Davisville Avenue in Toronto “pre-marriage” together with Suzie, who lives in Sydney in Australia. These were my two cohorts on my August visit to Vancouver.

We made a trip today over the Second Narrow’s Bridge to Deep Cove on the north shore of the Indian Arm of the Burrard Inlet. It was a spectacular setting. The forested mountain slopes came right down to the shore line and there was a beautiful little hamlet right in the cove with a yacht club and piers for kayaking and other water sports. We had a tasty lunch in the Arms Reach Bistro looking over the water to the mountains on the other side of the Arm. It wasn’t raining but the skies were very gray and a white mist hung sulkily in between the mountain peaks so that the whole effect was very dramatic and very stunning. We ran out of road just past the houses in Deep Cove and so turned around and headed back to Vancouver over the Lion’s Gate Bridge. A really beautiful afternoon’s drive.

These have been our “highlights” to date, and sorry for not having more pictures…will try and remember to take my camera with me... stay tuned for more….

Mi Casa Su Casa - Musings on Living in Vancouver - Dec 26 - Dec 30

We are slowly becoming accustomed to our temporary home. Some things we have had to get over include the feeling of “guilt” when we open drawers and cupboards in the kitchen to find various kitchen utensils, etc.; getting used to sleeping in a strange house (you would think we are used to that with all the different beds we have slept in over the past 4 years); and just generally being on high alert not to damage anything. But, the house is perfect, the location is central, and the view over to the mountains beautiful. I have attached a couple of pictures taken from the front garden.

Although we have had a couple of rainy days, and some cloudy days, the past two days have been sunny with blue skies. The temperature has generally been between 7 and 10 although it dropped down last night and tonight I believe there is threat of frost. But, we feel lucky to be out of the extreme cold and snow. After all, we can still “see” the snow, but we just don’t have to suffer it’s negative consequences.


While on the road, I talked about coming through areas with “avalanche” warning signs. Last night on the news, we heard about an avalanche just outside Hope which sadly killed a snowmobiler. It wasn’t a “high alert” area, but most areas in that vicinity are subject to avalanches.

Another new sensation, is the feeling of size. The greater Vancouver area is about 2.1 million in population I believe compared to the greater Toronto area of 5.6 million (2006 figures). You notice it! It doesn’t take as long to get from one place to the next, you can actually conceptualize the city and surrounding area fairly quickly, and you don’t get so much of the feeling of “urban sprawl”. I like it. I think it creates more of a feeling of community – although, I doubt that my friends living in North Vancouver would feel that way. Not sure if this feeling is caused by treks through larger world cities such as Mumbai (14 million), Buenos Aires (13 million) Delhi (12.25 million) and New York (8.4 million), but in any event you probably have to “visit” here to consider the macro view.

Ray got a new Garmin for Christmas, and so yesterday, after taking a day or two to learn how to work it, we went for a 50 minute run to test it out. Actually, we did an hour's run the day before but he couldn't get it to start. Running from the house will soon get us fit. There are hills in every direction, and even if we start out downhill, we soon have to go up hill!! There is a nice shopping area about 10 mins walk from the house which I can’t wait to investigate. Looks like some nice Chinese greengrocers, a few interesting looking restaurants, and some dress and furniture stores worth visiting. The houses around here are beautiful; some very small; some quite large; all very expensive. The feeling is very much of Edinburgh, or parts of England and the UK, and given that some of the names of the roads that we ran on or by included MacKenzie, Balaclava, Dunbar, and Blenheim, that is where the original influence came from. Try $3.8 million for a corner lot and a renovated house. We read an article in the Globe that Australia is the country with the most expensive real estate but Vancouver as a city tops the rest of the world. Now, I know it’s a great city, but I think something is out of whack. You have to wonder how long the real estate market will sustain itself here. How do young people here afford a home? Someone was telling us about a house he is renovating which should really be pulled down because the construction is so poor. The couple paid over $800,000 for it. Haven’t discovered yet what all the people do who own these homes. Wages are said to be much lower than Toronto, for example. Is it really all the Chinese affect resulting from the influx from Hong Kong in the 1980s?

Yesterday we drove down to Richmond (about 6 – 7 km south) and went to Costco. It was bedlam….massive…..tons and tons of shoppers, but efficient. Everyone was working very hard and curiously enough there was no line up to exit. We also went into a Great Canadian Superstore, and once again, another huge premises. Richmond is just south west of Vancouver, is located on tons of little islands and has a population of around 200,000.

The rest of my time has been spent working on my course material. Alanna is coming over tomorrow and we are going to have a really riotous time……studying!! Poor Ray, not sure what he will find to find to do to occupy himself, but he is pretty industrious and I am sure will come up with something useful....

If I don't get the opportunity to post another blog before the new year, a "very guid new year to one and a'."

December 23 2010 - Christmas Eve in Vancouver

Merry Christmas!

It’s funny spending Christmas without any snow and at 10C! But it feels wonderful to be here and to be close to Alanna. We haven’t done much since we got here: walked Robson Street a few times looking at the shops; ran in Stanley Park and on the Sea Wall; went grocery shopping for Christmas; and generally lazed around Alanna’s flat in the West End. Everyone is walking around with “purpose” and many are smiling and saying “Merry Christmas”. I think the shop attendants will be very glad when they close the doors at 6:00 p.m. but generally the atmosphere is very friendly. I won’t say that there is a lot of Christmas decoration around, or even Christmas music, but just more of the Christmas spirit.

 Last night we went to dinner with Lee and Tom whose house we are baby-sitting. The house is lovely and it is in a really nice neighbourhood. We are looking forward to investigating the park, shops, library, community centre with swimming pool and gym, and of course the local restaurants which are within walking distance of the house. This is all a wonderful new experience for us….to be able to walk to shops, restaurants, etc.! Tomorrow we are spending Christmas day with Alanna, and she has invited another couple who are here from South Africa and their 6-month old daughter to join us for Christmas dinner in the evening. Alanna is already cooking; she has made the turkey stuffing with bulgar and hazelnuts, and is busy making an apple crumble for desert. Mom is sitting back looking up recipe information on the WWW, when requested!! It is a very pleasant difference. So……here is wishing everyone a very Happy Christmas wherever you are.

Monday December 20 - Safely in Vancouver

Neither Ray nor I slept much last night and we were both awake, lying in bed, and listening to our IPods early morning. When we left the motel for breakfast we realized that Hope is nestled at the base of the mountains. Everywhere you look there are mountains all around you....as you can see from the two pictures of Hope. It was -2.5C and the owner of the motel was complaining about the "frost". Yesterday morning when we left Golden it was about -20C! We weren't complaining. We had about an hour and a half's drive down through the mountains, along the banks of the Fraser River into Vancouver. There was a slight drizzle when we arrived and the temperature on the car read "10C" .....(note, that is PLUS!). We arrived at 12:30. We were all very excited to be together again.

We went out for lunch and it all felt so familiar to be here again. Nice and warm, not a drop of snow! So, now we begin our stay in Vancouver. I won't promise to write something every day, but I will certainly update you on the blog as to what we are doing. Thanks for following along and hope you enjoyed the journey.

Sunday, December 19 – On the Road Again – Golden to Hope, BC

True to his word, Ryan called us this morning just after 10:00. Ray, still concerned that the car wouldn’t start, set out on his 1 km journey to the garage. About an hour later, he arrived back with the Audi in good working order. We loaded up and set off on our way just after midday. If you haven’t travelled east to west in Canada, or vice versa, I don’t think you can say you are Canadian!!! The journey we have made over the past few days has been through the typical scenery that we learned about Canada in geography lessons in the 1960s. Canada is a beautiful country. The scenery in the Rocky Mountains and other mountain ranges in the west of Alberta and the east of BC is absolutely stunning and a match to the Andes, the Himalayas, and the Alps. We are still in it. We are spending the night in Hope, before driving the last 150 km into Vancouver tomorrow. Alanna is so excited…..so are we!!

The last part of the journey although beautiful, was snowy and once again through the mountains. Up over mountain passes in the gentle snow, and down through the valleys, then up again and finally down to Hope. The journey from Kamloops was made in dusk. It is taking a little to get used to the diminishing daylight hours. Darkness descends around 4 p.m. and daylight does not really start until after 8:00 a.m. We saw several accidents, which made us really cautious. Also Ryan, and another couple we met in Golden warned us about certain parts of the road so we were double cautious.

You know you are in the wilderness when there are Avalanche Warnings posted along the highway….and Avalanche Courses offered in Golden. In fact this morning, we heard them “blasting” to unsettle the snow this morning in Golden. So, I have a new addition to my bucket list. Spending a month in the Rocky’s either in winter or summer or both! It is so beautiful and walking, hiking, biking, etc. would be wonderful…..except for the bears. Mmmmm, we would have to learn how to cope with them. We didn’t see any on the journey this time, and no mountain goats, or sheep…and no moose! Actually, we really didn’t see any wild life except the deer. They are so gracious and elegant.

So our journey is almost over…not quite…and we will complete the final stage tomorrow….stay tuned…

Saturday December 18 - Grounded in Golden, BC

We were up early this morning and Ray was in touch with Ryan at Selkirk Service. He was all set to deal with the problem. Fortunately, the Audi started and Ray was able to drive it the kilometre to the garage. Ryan discovered that although the serpentine belt had become detached, it was actually the belt tensioner that had blown apart. Between the time of Ray's phone call and getting to the garage, Ryan sourced a replacement belt. But it looks like it won't be needed. Once discovering that it was the "tensioner" Ryan set about connecting with his contacts to see if he could source a replacement.  So....the part will be arriving by bus from Calgary this afternoon around 3:00 p.m. It shouldn't be a difficult job to replace it and we hope it will be fixed this afternoon. Then we will leave tomorrow morning for Vancouver.

Ryan has been extremely helpful. He took the initiative to book us into the Super 8 Hotel when he found out we were paying $116 at the Best Western....and now I think it is about $76 a night instead!! We thanked him profusely for taking the initiative and made the move!  The room, although not as large as at the Best Western, is quite comfortable, clean and warm. The couple who own it are very welcoming. In fact everyone in town is friendly and chatty. It's a nice place.

So, what can I say about Golden. It is situated in the south eastern part of BC at the junction of the Columbia River and the Kicking Horse River and lies between the Rocky Mountains and the Purcell Mountains; so that all you see are mountains all the way around you.  The current population seems to be about 4000 with another 3000+ in the surrounding area. I get the feeling it is one of these unique places somewhat like El Chalten in Argentina - a very natural hub for hiking and all kinds of sports activities. There are lots of young people around, the energy is high, and it is totally unpretentious. Very much our sort of town! It is about an hour from Banff, two and a half hours from Jasper, and one and a half hours from Revelstoke.

The town was founded around 1807 when the explorer David Thompson, an explorer and fur trader crossed the Rocky's. Then in 1885 when the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed, Golden became an important railway stop. It's economy is probably connected to the forest industry.

After we had sorted out the car, had breakfast, and moved, we took a walk into town. Probably close to a 3 or 4 km walk one way to get there. The weather is absolutely gorgeous with bright sun, blue skies, but freezing cold - I think it was around -15C when we started warming up to around -12C - but we wrapped up well and thoroughly enjoyed the walk. The town is not huge, and we didn't get to do too much investigation; stopped and had a coffee and then made our way back. You can see some of the pictures I took on the walk.



We have often been asked about how we pass our time in the car on our various journeys. It is easy really, and we never seem to get bored. I mentioned earlier that we discussed various issues. One of the issues we discussed to some degree along the way was the pros and cons of wind power. This was after passing a small wind farm in Manitoba. I was checking out a web site for my not-for-profit governance course and somehow or other ended up on a site discussing this very same issue. Interesting to note that the research that has been conducted on wind turbine syndrome is flawed and there is no argument strong enough to cause us to stop production. Even the argument that bird migrations are interrupted is being dealt with by the production of systems such as radar to counteract this.  In summary, wind power remains one of the most environmentally friendly methods of producing energy we have; it has been around for over 5000 years, and !no matter how much we use, it will never run out! Some of the other hot topics we have discussed include whether or not Julian Assange should have leaked the material on covert operations or not. It seems he has a lot of supporters. We realized we really didn't know exactly what he had leaked but were aware only that it jeopardized troops in Afghanistan and maybe Iraq.....and who knows whether he is a sex criminal or not. Anyway, he has certainly created some interesting discussions if nothing else......and I will not dare to give my opinion one way or other in a blog....I've already had some interesting comments over the years and don't wish to encourage any more!! 

I spent the rest of the day working on the material for my course. Ray read through the 166 emails he had, mainly regarding his position on the board of Mountain Springs. He has only been gone a week! We had a lovely dinner this evening and are now back in our hotel unit and set to get an early night.

Incidentally, the part didn't arrive at 3:30 but came in from Vernon BC on the 6:30 bus. Ryan is all set to work on it tomorrow morning around 10 a.m. He thinks it will take around half and hour. So, we are hopeful to be on our way around mid-day.We will aim for Kamloops, stay the night there and drive into Vancouver on Monday - arriving probably in the mid afternoon. Can't wait!!!