The Wet, the Watching, the Whales

Before Liz headed to work, she dropped us at Granville Island so we could attempt another whale-watching trip.  No whales were spotted when we spent five hours on a trip in May.  They give free tickets for another chance and we were able to use those freebies today.

We cannot say enough good about this company and particularly about the guide we had.  She loved to give information and to answer questions.

As we left the harbor, rain poured down but we couldn't be anything but happy as Vancouver has been as dry as Saskatchewan.  They desperately need the rain.  However, it let up later on during our seven hour trip.

We saw seals.

I like how it was difficult to distinguish where water ends and sky starts.

About hour five the guide said, "don't lose hope until I lose hope."  Almost right after that, whales were spotted and all the whale-watching boats converged.  Bob counted 14 boats which didn't seem fair to the four whales.  However, our guide explained there are strict regulations about how close the boats can come to the whales.  Thankfully it's not close at all.

Our boat was mostly full and we had long chats with some New Zealanders who are liking Canada a lot.

Back on Granville, I discovered a hidden fabric shop. 

The workers were so friendly.  They won't have a booth at Quilts Canada, but gave me business cards to hand out to any and all my quilting friends who might be traveling to Vancouver.

These first three are taken from outside through the shop windows.

This caught me eye as the top right fabric (hard to see) is cabbages.  I needed it!  These are Kaffe Fassett fabrics and they are drool-worthy.

Here's the door stop

I love houses!  This pattern was designed in store.

Another house quilt.

And here's a quilt done with Kaffe Fassett prints.

Ten Thousand Villages is on Granville Island; I like their foliage.

Granville Market had some long grapes that I've never seen before.  I wonder if they make jelly as good as the jelly I made from Vanessa's mother's Wawota vines.

The lady behind these carefully stacked cherries is about to crack a smile because I asked her who has to stack with such precision.  She does.  I bought some and she wanted me to pick up the carton ... I insisted she do it.

A bakery kiosk sold Pride Cake.  Isn't it lovely?  It's $5.50 a slice but the pieces are huge and I can't imagine how labor intensive these babies are.

It's good to spot fruits I've never seen before ... or heard of for that matter.  Has anyone tried these?

This fellow and I had quite a chat about pickling ... particularly about getting the pickling process to stop so that the cucumbers stay half pickled.

Liz picked us up and we ate at a Dinner, Drive-in & Dive place which she likes.

We praise the quality of the food, the quantity of the food, and the price.  Guy never steers us wrong.

The restaurant has three grocery stores within a block and two bakeries just a few doors down.

Yesterday we took the sky train from the airport to the Science Center.

Crystal, we watched some paddle boarders who were very wobbly.  You could give lessons.

Liz picked us up near here.  The Fringe Festival has just started and the magazine shows how many shows we will not get to.

We did get tickets for a show at the Firehall Arts Centre.  It's a good venue, but not close to any of the other Fringe venues.

We saw a fun and funny musical.

Tomorrow we see "A Soldier's War."  This makes me happy as I got sick when it was supposed to be in Weyburn so missed it.  Elizabeth is pretty sure the Weyburn performance was canceled.

We ended yesterday just as we are ending today.  Any guesses?