Music, snow, rain, museum, swim...

A bumper post today! River woke up bright and cheery yesterday at 6am. I actually got my act together and had the kids dressed and out for a morning walk. We bought hot chocolate and croissants and took a walk to Jericho Park. We are back to mild temperatures and rain after a spell of freezing cold weather, unusual even for Vancouver.

Dear -10C, 
Let me start by saying that you do not belong here. It would appear that you bought into the Vancouver hype. But, really, the Olympics are long-gone, the real estate is over-valued, the wages are low, and things are really expensive. Including heat. We like the rain and people here cry themselves to sleep if they can't wear their North Face jackets and Hunter boots...it's that type of place. Of course, it is beautiful too, but your heart is out East or farther north and you should go back there where you are accepted, and perhaps even wanted. Do not come back. We hate you.
Yours truly, Vancouver.

By Thursday the temperature started to rise and we got a huge snowfall. Of course, in true Vancouver style, it quickly turned to rain and was basically gone by the afternoon, but it was fun to go out in. I hauled River around Jericho park in the sled/toboggan...or "boat" as he calls it. Jericho park was beautiful, completely transformed and blanketed in white. It is so unusual to see the park covered in snow. I thought there would be more people out and about, but we almost had the place to ourselves. Not that I am complaining.


Jericho Park in the snow



River at Hastings Mill...in his "boat"

Friday was my birthday. Mark and I went out on Tuesday night to celebrate. I'd asked for tickets to one of the Music on Main concerts, Vern Griffiths, percussionist for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (and guests) performing at the Jazz Cellar, a local jazz bar/restuarant. The music was excellent and it was a wonderfully intimate venue. The pieces were very contemporary; first rate musicians playing what they like to play. I'm sure I enjoyed it a lot more than Mark did (I don't think he'd do it again...ever), but it's good to get out of your comfort zone now and then.

On Friday, Bronwyn had the day off school and so we went to the Museum of Anthropology. We couldn't stay too long but it was fun. Such a wonderful museum with so much to look at; open storage and tons of drawers to open. I have mentioned it before, but it is even better now that all the renovations are complete. The main bulk of the collection seems to focus on First Nation communities; celebration and art, but other cultures from around the globe are represented in the collections. One of the most fascinating aspects of the museum is the visible storage, you could literally spend days checking out all the items. Here are a couple of pis of the storage displays:

Masks

Many of the sculptures are made from bone or horn...

Bronwyn had fun making "mask faces"...

There are a lot of amazing masks from many different cultures. Some of the masks are quite funny and childlike; bright colours and crazy expressions. We liked the dog and this shark from the....errr...oops...I forget.

In the afternoon we went around to Nicole and Gala's for some tea and yummy cakes. Yesterday we intended to go ice-skating, but Bronwyn continues to have a chesty cough and seemed tired and not really herself. Instead we went to the Brock House Christmas fair. It was a quaint little Christmas fair. Lots of elderly people milling around and standing behind tables selling an odd assortment of (obviously) donated items. But it felt very cosy and reminded me of the Christmas fairs that I went to back in England as a kid, the smell was even familiar...probably soup and mince pies. Among other things, there was the obligatory table full of odd knitted items in even stranger colours (no thongs), the table of dubious Christmas decorations and a jewellery table with more clip-on earrings than I have seen in a long time. A group of 4 or 5 musicians played traditional carols. Bronwyn enjoyed herself and bought some nik-naks and a silk scarf (her "super-dog" scarf). I enjoyed watching and listening to the elderly people bustling about, chattering, and sharing a joke together. I wish there were more older/elderly people in our lives that we could visit now and then; hear their stories. I suppose I could try and work on that somehow. I bought too many books. I had a major clear-out of books over the past few years, but have found myself beginning to accumulate more. Hard to resist when there is a decent selection for $2 a bag-full.

Bronwyn in her "super dog" scarf.

The pond, almost thawed 3 days after the snow!

And yesterday afternoon we took the kids swimming (with Gala, Nicole, and Troy) to the newly opened Hillcrest Swimming pool. It was so much fun. The kid's pool is warm, shallow, big, and tons of fun. River and Bronwyn had a great time. So did the adults.

Busy week or so coming up...meetings about River; team meeting, goal-setting meeting, meeting and observation at pre-school, back to speech therapy after a few months break. All the other usual stuff including insane amounts of things going on at their educational establishments. Then....arggghhh!!!...planning for Christmas. But that's a long way away, right?