Yolks, Hens, and .... Roosters?

We started our Vancouver day having breakfast at Yolks and we timed it right as they usually have long lineups.

After our delicious meal, I used the washroom and saw they continued the chicken theme by having this on the door:

I was sure the men's would be Roosters as they wouldn't be so crass as to use ... to use ... well, they just wouldn't, would they?  Maybe they would!

From there Bob and Elizabeth went to the aquarium while I spent a couple of hours wandering around Stanley Park. 

We have always had great admiration for New York City's Central Park and the foresight for its creation in 1857 and we are just as impressed by Vancouver's Stanley Park created in 1888.  At times you feel as if you are the only person for miles.

Spot my umbrella in this one as I set it there to show the immensity of the stump.

I figured this hollowed out stump was the perfect place for a hibernating bear.

It was empty and that's when I realized the weather is warm in BC so bears don't have to hibernate.

No trees in Saskatchewan have leaves this big.

I wonder how much the city of Vancouver paid for this seagull perch.

I lent this sculpture my umbrella for awhile as it was a drizzly morning.  You may have noticed my rain boot in an earlier photo.  I was happy to have my boots on all day.

Some of my morning was enjoying the scenes under my umbrella.

I met up with Bob and Elizabeth and together we saw a bit more of the park.

Some deciduous trees still have their colorful leaves.

We ate a Belgian Fries, another You Gotta Eat Here endorsed cafe.

We stopped at a nearby Italian deli.  Barb and Leah, how do you like the box bunting?

We also went to a book store that was piled high.

I liked their stack of Christmas books and think I will stack mine like this when I decorate for Christmas.

We stopped for a little afternoon snack.

Okay, it wasn't little.  My two scoops were blackberry-coriander and oatmeal-brown sugar.

We wandered around Granville Island doing a little shopping and enjoying the festive Christmas lights.

Here are a couple of items we didn't buy.

We ended the day with this play at the Arts Club.

Glenda, did we shop at Purdy's or didn't we?

Seals and Salmon

I know that I'm in a beautiful province when I taken 101 photos before noon.

We started the day at the Community Farm Store in Duncan which sells nothing but organic products.  We love looking in grocery stores when we travel and this one didn't disappoint us.

Most of the produce has signs telling which farm grew the items.

Not only do I not want to eat water buffalo, I particularly do not want to eat any organ parts of said water buffalo.

This Estevan boy loved spotting this tuna.

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There were more rows of saurkraut than this one.

We then went to Cowichan Bay where I loved the clouds reflected in the water.

The seals made us laugh as they were incredibly noisy and then all of them would stop barking for  about a minute before they started up again.  I imagined they were having their Sunday church service with lots of hymns and a few silent prayers.

This was the only boat on the bay that Bob and I could afford.

Cowichan Bay reminded me of you, Jocelyn, since you are the only person I know with a real Cowichan sweater.  Folks, my sister bought one in the sixties when she was a teenager.  She can probably tell you what she paid for it and she still has it ... and it still fits!  Now rather than me having a true Cowichan sweater, my mom had an aunt knit a fake one for me.  This aunt was a terrible knitter and she was even worse at putting a zipper in a knit sweater.  In those days you didn't just throw out a miserable piece of knitted clothing so I wore it and have pictures of me wearing it.  Those pictures will never appear on this blog.

Cowichan Bay has lots of little shops.

At Udder Guys Elizabeth found soft drinks from Victoria.

We lunched at this cafe which has been featured on You Gotta Here.

This building is from 1863 (older than our country) and the windows pretty much look original to the building.

Bob and I then crossed the Malahat to see a salmon spawning area.  Lots of others were there too on this beautiful Sunday afternoon.

This family had along Larry, their sheepadoodle.  They said they made up the name as they haven't come across any other dogs which are a cross  between a sheep dog and a poodle.  Larry was easier to pet than Finn as I didn't have to bend down to get to him.

The salmon come up the river to spawn and then die shortly after so salmon carcasses are everywhere.  That brings in the gulls and bald eagles to feast on the remains.  It's a great place to teach children about the circle of life.

Back in Chemainus I spent some time by the water.

I've been typing this, not in Tofino where we planned to be tonight, but rather from Vancouver.  We nixed our plan for Tofino when we saw snow predicted between there and Chemainus.  We can't have the stage manager stranded on the other side of the island.  She has a few days off so has come along with us.

An Embarrassment of Sea Glass

Today we went down to Sidney to visit at wonderful lady named Joan whom Bob referred to as a distant relative.  She's not a distant relative at all; she's Bob's first cousin once removed and we had a lovely time with her.

Joan lives in Saanich but suggested that we meet for lunch at the Rumrunner Pub in Sidney.  What a good suggestion that was!  We were able to enjoy a water view along with our food.

My lunch was an ahi tuna filet with mango salsa in a tortilla.  The salad came looking like a bouquet  so was not only delicious, but also visually pleasing.

Leah, you were wondering if it is too cold to hunt sea glass.  In a word, "no."  This is my plunder from today!  At first I searched at Tulista Beach where I found a small pocketful.

Then I stepped onto the tiny beach at Sidney Harbor and there was almost as much sea glass as pebbles.  I didn't find any rare colors, but I sure had fun.

I've got to give a shout-out to these two patient people who sat on a sunny bench and chatted while I filled my pockets.

We did some window shopping as Sidney has lots of cute, independent stores.  We popped into this one which has wonderful yarns as well as needlecraft supplies.  

The town and the shops are starting to decorate for Christmas.  I wonder which city worker has to water these!

I heart these trees made of book pages and music sheets.

My goals is to be by the water every day that we are on the island. 

I didn't find any dog who wanted to play fetch today, but I did find this gull who wanted to play see-how-close-you-can-get-to-me-before-I-fly-away.

Don't worry about the snow on the mountain.  That's Mount Baker and it's in Washington.

How to spend the evening?  By seeing a musical, of course.  We drove to Nanaimo to see "Next to Normal."  

I don't know how this gripping, rock musical has flown under our radar.  The amateur performers put on an exceptional, professional show.