Celebrating the First…

Usually we’re in Montana at this time of year. But for the summer of 2012 it has worked out for us to head out a little later. And that has meant we’ve spent the long days of June here at home. For only the second time since we moved here 12 years ago! And we’ve been able to enjoy the peonies this year, and the different light that lingers so late. And – the Canada Day Parade in Sidney. Actually, we enjoyed a bunch of events.

We went to dinner in Sidney on Saturday night – while we dined at Haro’s in the Sidney Pier Hotel (excellent meal!) we had a front row seat to watch the community barbeque that was winding up in the park outside the window. Later a concert began in the bandstand. By the time we joined the fun there was cake being served and the crowds were really building. It has been cool and rainy here forever but the clouds began to lift on Saturday night, meaning that the crowds were really streaming in for the fireworks show.

We, of course, didn’t stick around until 10:00 for the fireworks, but we were up bright and early Sunday morning for the Kiwanis pancake breakfast. Once we had consumed a huge quantity of pancakes, sausage and strawberries we found ourselves a spot on the street to watch the parade.

Y’all probably know that I only consider a parade a parade if it has horses and pipers. Out here on the coast we’re often way short on the horse department – unlike the Stampede parade and the pooper scooper parade that keeps things tidy. But this year – more than one horse!

Big horses:

That’s actually Elizabeth May, our Member of Parliment riding in the wagon, but I was entranced by the beautiful heavy horses, so my apologies, Ms May.

Little horses:

Up here on the peninsula there are several people keeping miniature horses and we see them in town from time to time or being walked on the back roads of North Saanich. Isn’t this little one a cutie!

And – of course – pipers:

Gotta love those men in kilts!

After the parade we went to see the start of the Build a Boat contest. Teams of three have four hours to build a boat – it must float, hold all three team members and be able to travel a course in the bay in front of Sidney. Team members have $100.00 worth of material and must construct their vessel without power tools. We arrived just after things got underway:

One of the prizes awarded is ‘First to Sink’, which gives you an idea of how things tend to go.

I’m glad we got to celebrate the first here in our town!

Another Birthday!

My Dad had another birthday this week. Last year my brother Bill made it to the festivities, this year Mike made it in from Ottawa. Once again, a sumptuous repast at The Chalet in Deep Cove. A good time was had by all, as the following pictures will show!

The birthday boy!

 

Mom

Wilf

Mike and me

No, we’re not seeing things….

Wilf and I had the chance to go to Seattle this week. It was a great little break – the weather was mostly sunny and warm, which is a huge change from the way things have been around here. My mother had her 10 year/ 100,000km check up for her knee replacement. It is hard to believe that it has been 10 years since her surgery. Mom was really diligent about her re-hab and her check up with the doctor shows that her efforts were not wasted. She has great flexion in both knees and there is no deterioration of the the implants or the cement holding them in place. So – happy news!

We were along for moral support and driving assistance  -between the four of us and Melissa, the GPS system we managed to get where we needed to go with only a few mis-turns! When we first arrived Wilf and I walked a few blocks to the Westlake Center. As we approached the plaza in front I thought – what am I seeing? The trees look blue:

And sure enough – the trees were blue! The Blue Trees Project.

There’s always something going on in the square – some Occupy protesters, guys playing hacky sack – and of course – chess players:

Just another Sunday afternoon, downtown Seattle.

Shopping in BA

Like any big city Buenos Aires has a huge range of shopping areas – there are shopping malls and markets, arcades and specialty areas  - you name it. One street – Calle Florida – combines almost everything into one. It is a very long pedestrianized street lined with shops that vary from very fancy to not so much. Of late a point of contention has become the blanket people, who set up their ‘shops’ on blankets in the middle of the street. It goes on like this for blocks and blocks, with everything from souvenirs to underwear available from blankets or tarps on the ground.

In our district there was a street market on Saturdays and Sundays, known locally as the Hippie Faire. It definitely did have a flower children feel to it – lots of incense and handmade jewelry. The granddaddy of street markets, though, was held in the district of San Telmo. The market in the square itself is for vintage and antique goods. But the street leading up to it is everything under the sun. And it, too, goes on for blocks and blocks:

And if you were ever looking for a literal bookmobile – they have that, too:

Argentina is famous for its leather goods, so one day we set off on an expedition to the appropriate district. Our guide book gave sketchy directions, it looked like it was almost off the edge of our tourist map, but we persevered. And, sure enough, an area with block after block of nothing but stores selling leather goods – stores on the main floor, factories above. It was actually rather overwhelming – how to choose one store over another? It was also 35 degrees C, which added another dimension of overwhelm. But, we carried on and the perfect leather jacket was acquired for Wilf. I found a lust worthy leather bag.

And, it so happened that the street with all the yarn stores was between where the leather goods were and our lunch destination (sometimes things just work out!) My on-line research had told me that the stores were not like our North American stores and were rather more like stores I’ve seen in Europe. I visited Yanabey – Wilf took a picture for me:

Not a huge store, but quite a bit of stock. The yarn is their own label and is arranged on the shelves by weight and then colour. The prices are by the kilo. Most of the yarns have been wound off into skeins and there are shelf notes giving approximations of what weight would be required for a sweater. Being the height of summer in a semi-tropical climate there wasn’t much wool, but lots of silk, cotton rayon and blends. I made my selection and took them to the clerk. She weighed the yarns and did the calculation based on the per kilo price for that yarn.

There were probably 5 or 6 yarn stores all along the same block, all using the same system of price per kilo, all carrying different stock. It was way too hot to be investigating deeply so I took my treasures and we headed for lunch. Just serendipity that the very busy street of yarn stores was right next to the tres chic district of Palermo, where lovely lunch spots were easy to find!

Walkin’ the dog, walkin’ the dogs.

When we arrived in Buenos Aires, before we even got to our apartment we saw this:

Turns out this is very much a BA thing – people love dogs and live in apartments. So professional dog walkers take them out everyday for walks in packs. We see them all through our neighbourhood and in the parks:

The dog walkers often have veterinary training and are responsible for grooming and general well-being of their pack. And the dogs are just fine traveling in a pack – no snapping or snarling or darting away. Clearly they are comfortable in a pack.

Various parks have fenced areas where the dogs can play off leash or general just hang out:

The dogs here are looking at the blonde woman in the previous picture who has just arrived with her charges. She putting out water dishes and letting the dogs off their leashes so they can go for a visit.

The only time we’ve seen dogs being snappish on the streets is on the weekends. When they’re with their actual owners – who obviously aren’t the alpha dogs as far as their dogs are concerned.

And you think prescription drugs are cheap in Mexico?

We’ve been trying to get to one particular restaurant in our neighbourhood. We’re quite the experts about when it is not open. Tiny little place, rapturous review online – we had to go. But the grill was always down and no hours posted in the window. One day we walked by when it was closed, but someone was inside – they took pity and opened the door for a chat. After much to-ing and fro-ing we managed to get it sorted – Monday through Saturday for lunch. Friday and Saturday night for dinner. But not this Saturday (New Year’s Eve) or this Monday (in lieu of New Year’s Day). Okay, then. Today.

The people of Buenos Aires eat late.  At lunch time if we arrive at 1:00 or 1:30 we’re always way early – everyone else shows up around 2:00 or later. Same thing for dinner – 8:30, 9:00 is a good time to show up for the locals. Nothing wrong with waiting til 10:00, though.

We arrived at Il Due at 1:00 – the place was packed. Of course it only has about 8 tables, so that happens fast. There was one tiny table left, which we got. We looked around – business people. There are several hospitals and clinics in our area, and it looks like the folks from those businesses eat their lunch at noon. At one table was a group of six men hauling big bags of something.

Lunch was a set price menu with several choices. For 52 pesos we could have a main course, bottled water, dessert and coffee. For another 10 pesos we got a glass of wine. So, for CAD$14.60 apiece we had the most delicious lunch. I had ravioli stuffed with creamy cheese, ham and walnuts with tomato and basil over it. Wilf had fettucine with baby octopi:

Is that a happy face? Delicious hand made pasta lunch, good wine, dessert, espresso. All good. As we were working our way through our lunch the table full of guys next to us got up to go and shouldered their big bags. Turns out they work for a pharmaceutical company. We could see boxes of the cholesterol drug ‘Crestor’ in one bag. Wilf said commented about the boxes as the guy went by – he stopped and asked if Wilf took the drug. What dosage? He then reached into the bag, snapped off half of one of the shrink wrapped  bundles and handed Wilf 15 boxes of Crestor – 2 pills per box. So – lunch for two, $35.00 including a generous tip. And a month supply of Crestor. 

Well, that was a first!

Wilf and I have travelled all around the world and used the transit systems we have encountered without trouble wherever we’ve gone. But today something happened for the first time in 27 years of travel together. We headed out for the subway, headed down the line and switched from one line to another. As we arrived at the platform for line B the train was waiting. I jumped on just as the horn blew. The door slammed shut and I turned around. And there was Wilf.

On the other side of the door.

We looked at each other in astonishment as the train (with me on board) left the station (with him still there). Although we had never discussed such an eventuality he understood my hurried hand signals. I got off at the next station. The next train pulled up and there he was. No harm, no foul.

But someone should have had a camera for the looks on our faces as the train pulled out of the station….