Vancouver imagery

View at Burnaby Mountain Park

Simon Fraser University, some climb into the Trans-Canada Trail.
My aunt teaches here but I'd never visited the campus before.


Mintage on Commercial Drive. I got my (old) new favourite shirt here.

Lunch at Belgian Fries... it was probably the best poutine I've ever had.

SO MUCH OLYMPICS STUFF. Quatchi is definitely my favourite.

Gastown, of course. Nood is so awesome!

An uncle brought us a whole tuna, so we had to drop it off at a sushi restaurant to have it sashimi-fied for us. Soooooo good.

This one's from White Rock.

(Most of the pictures were taken by my sister Adelaide, who used to write a great blog (now retired), 's Stad, since my camera has a mind of its own.)

Short words

O Frailty.

Nu year

Happy 2010, friends! Hope your last days of 2009 was lovely, warm, full of good food and company. I went to the Tranzac for a phenomenal showcase of Canadian music, with Gentleman Reg, Laura Barrett, The Magic, all that for NYE--until the last minute I was set to watch the fireworks from my patio over a reflectory glass of wine, but it was a good choice to go out.

Well, it was -15 degress in Toronto, and 9 degrees in the coastal town that I've left behind. Vancouver was much kinder this time around--I did a 7-hour climb up the snowy Mount Fromme at Lynn Valley (whoo!), saw the views from Burnaby Mountain park, and I scored a Rene Magritte-inspired pipe shirt at Mintage.

Also, I read a story of a man, who had acquired a branch of orchids, and the love he put into this plant. He watered it according to schedule, moved its place daily to where the half-shade was the most ideal for his flowers, gently tied up its stem as it grew taller. And when he went on lengthy vacation some time later, meaning to find rest and purpose, he put his close friend to care for this plant. He called the friend weekly to make sure the plant was thriving, and thought about these orchid flowers whenever he saw beautiful flora in the wilderness. He found that he was obsessing over this plant, and when he came home, he promptly passed it on to someone that he knew shared more love with silent things than with people. Then he set on to part with one thing a day, to not let his rest and work be overshadowed by possession. So I've made that my new year's resolution--going on Day 3 of the year it's been pretty easy, but I'll see that as I go on in the year I'll know what I really need and what's weighing me down.

Sounds like a solid plan, yeah? Yep.

Pictures of the trip coming soon! It only rained 3 out of the 12 days I was in Vancouver, and it was warm warm warm.