There and Here

We left behind this beautiful city where the haze had cleared and we could see the mountains.

As we were descending to Regina I commented to Bob about how there was much less haze here too.  Wrong!  By the time we got to Weyburn, the haze was thick and the smell of smoke was awful.

We're home now and our dog thinks we should stay home for awhile.  Okay, we will.  Fall in Saskatchewan is beautiful.

Final Vancouver Day

Yesterday we enjoyed beautiful blue skies as we got as much done as possible.

Liz went off to work and we caught the train downtown.

There we saw signs of autumn ...

... while seeing this sunbather insisting it is still summer.

As we walked to where we would take a Zodiac ride, we enjoyed water views and I found a houseboat or two I could live in happily.

Or perhaps I should choose a yacht.

Our Zodiac ride was fun and it only got chilly when we were going 30 mph.

We saw sea planes take off and land.

There were three cruise ships in, but this one will interest Nathan and Riley the most as some day Grandma and Grandpa want to cruise to Alaska with them on this ship.

Other views were beautiful including seeing Bard on the Beach from the water.

 

After the tour we caught a water taxi to Granville Island.

I had time to look at the food market.  I looked while resisting all sorts of goodies.

The chocolatiers were  making the most of Canada's 150th.

The flower market had hydrangias in all shades of pink, purple, and blue.

There were also these multi-colored roses.  I prefer more natural roses.

And here is today's food that I've never seen or tasted before.

The Fringe show we saw Saor was the first dud for us.  Three people in a crowd of about fifty had some laughs.  We weren't any of those three

I did laugh at the washroom signs though.  Couldn't it just say "all men"?  At least I learned a new word.  I did not know cisgender and I am happy to know I am one.

 

After the show we met Liz for supper at Mahony & Sons.  We were a little cool on the deck, but the views made up for it.

We celebrated Bob's birthday on the actual day and we jumped the gun on Elizabeth's October 5th birthday as we won't be with her then.

The evening ended with Scrabble.  During our time together Liz and I played seven games.  She won three and I won four - the last one by one point - so I can say we are evenly matched.

Vancouver is a great city where we had a great time.

Meeting a Star

We saw a couple of shows yesterday, one of them being 

 

It was incredibly funny and I learned it may be the first play Shakespeare wrote which is still in existence.  The ending was changed, perhaps to more reflect on modern times, and I don't think Shakespeare would disapprove.

One reason it seems like an early play is because it is the only play of his which definitely has an animal in it. You may think "that's not true" as you are thinking of the line from A Winter's Tale "exit pursued by a bear" but I can't imagine Shakespeare actually intended to have a real bear for that.

Two Gentlemen of Verona definitely calls for a dog and I got to meet this fine actor before the show.

It wasn't long before a crowd gathered for who can resist meeting a Shakespearean actor.

Here's Gertie's bio.  She had to go through quite a process to get the job.  People could fill in applications about their dogs.  Then twelve dogs were short-listed and the director met the dogs.  Gertie was the successful dog and deservedly so.  She was great and upstaged the other actors in her three scenes.

Before this we were on Granville Island.  There are so many Fringe shows to pick from.

The lady in the middle is promoting the Fringe in general.  Elizabeth's friend on the left is promoting his show in particular.

We went to this fascinating one man biographical show which will have us reading about the actual man when we have time.

There was a woman in the row in front of us who didn't seem to be paying much attention.  She didn't have her eyes focused on the actor for some of it.  It wasn't until the show was over and she reached for her white cane that I realized she was blind.  Then I realized this was a show that you could get everything from by just hearing it.  You didn't need to see it.  Cool.

Liz and I had time for Scrabble at Starbucks.

I had time to browse through Turnabout which is an upscale consignment shop.  Most of what's there I couldn't afford even at consignment prices.  Tami, here are some shoes for you - although they probably aren't first-day-of-school shoes.

We all had time for supper with a view.  You do see the water a block away, don't you?

A Lot of A Lot

I have a small world story.  When we flew in on WestJet, we sat next to a man from Regina.  We find out that Bob taught him forty years ago.  Then he says his last name is Eisbrenner.  I say, "is your wife Sharon?"  She is his wife.  Some of you know his brother Reinhart.  I love double ... and triple ... connections with seat mates.

Our accommodation in Vancouver is perfect.  We are staying with Liz who is subletting in East Van.  The shopping street of Little Italy is just two blocks away.  Her street is very green and her apartment on the second floor is surrounded by trees.  Looking out I feel like I am living in a tree house.  The  apartment is done up in mid century modern which is so trendy nowadays.  It may be trendy now, but for me it has the nostalgia of how my mother decorated our home when I was a kid.  It was mid century modern the first time around.

The food I found in Little Italy that is new to me is yellow dates.  I've never heard of them, seen them, or found them called for in a recipe.

I had to stop at an Italian bakery, didn't I?

What Italian delicacy did I buy there?  A Nanaimo bar!

We spent the afternoon on Granville Island as that is the major venue for the Fringe Festival.

We saw A Soldier's War.  Hopefully a number or you saw it when it was in Saskatchewan.  It was to play at the Legion in Weyburn when I was in the hospital.  It was canceled there as not enough tickets were sold.  That's a shame as it is so engaging and so well presented.  After

 the show we hung around as Liz knew the stage manager and most of the cast.

Here are my compatriots waiting in the line for the show.  They are enjoying Rogers' chocolates and all of us are enjoying Fringe show actors going up and down the line handing out chits advertising their shows.  We picked up tickets for a few more shows.

l 

Bamboo!

We ate in Kitsilano at Deacon's Corner which has been on You Gotta Eat Here.

We headed to Bard on the Beach early.  Liz and Bob went for a walk and I stayed at the Bard and read as my limpy knee is giving me lots of trouble.  Bob probably put on more than 30,000 steps today as this was a long walk and earlier he walked all the way downtown from Liz's tree house.

The forecourt of the Bard has succulents featured from a florist.  Leah, show your mom these crazy, marvelous plants that look more like modern art than living plants.

Today was a lot of beautiful Vancouver, a lot of tasty food, a lot of theater.  There was also a lot of much needed rain. There wasn't a lot of Scrabble but we can rectify that.

Parts of Vancouver are still so green; other parts remind us that it's September.