Sunday, April 27, 2014

Dragons in False Creek

This is part of my series of walking around Vancouver to show you sights and sounds of our City.  I am doing my best to walk, or hobble, as my foot is not working as it should


I have shown you scenes from this area before.  We are in False Creek, site of our Olympic Athletes Village.   That is the Science world dome on the right


That is BC Place in the background and during the summer you can watch various types of water craft go back and forth on this quiet waterway.   Here we have two girls kayacking . . .


No, they have not come closer.  I am using a Sigma Super Zoom HSM 18-250mm lens and I am nearly zoomed to 250mm and on a crop factor body like the Canon T2i this approximates 400mm so they are really quite far away from where I am viewing


There are also several Dragon Boat teams practising.   This year during June 20-22, 2014 there is going to be our Dragon Boat Festival  (read here)

As I am not in a physical condition to do much walking until my foot gets back to normal I was just sitting and doing some people watching, until I noticed the Dragon Boats lined up as if to race. I nearly missed the start




I didn't think I did much walking but I guess it was too much.  I should have stayed home and put my leg up  I read that I should raise my foot above heart level to help circulation.  I could barely walk and all night I tossed and turned as my foot was hurting all night . . .


Friday, April 25, 2014

Hwy 99: Sea to Sky Highway North from Vancouver BC

A couple of weeks ago I decided to have a leisurely breakfast at home


It was a plate of ketchup garnished with some eggs and bacon.   I didn't want to head out without having something in my stomach.   I bought a "new to me" camera and today I was looking for photos, so I stopped at Britannia Beach


I have been here before and never have I been here when the Mountain WoMan has been open


This used to be a Company town and was the site of a large copper mine .  It is now home to the BC Mining Museum  (read here)    Behind the General Store there is a small creek and this footbridge


so naturally I walk over to the other side and see if I can find any photos .  Here is what the mine site looks


like now.  It has been restored and they give mine tours


soon I arrive in Squamish and notice another photographer snapping a photo of that mountain,  Black Tusk (I believe),  except that today it looks like White Tusk (info here).   And who do I see walking across the


street walking my direction.  Must be one of the locals.  I am a bit early for lunch so I walk up and down


the main street and look at all the stores.   I even get a chance to relax and watch the world go by.  I can't help myself.  I have to stop at this shoe store and look in the window, such an original name


The main street isn't very long.  I am about half way down the business district and looking south


This is Cleveland Street,   the main street in Squamish.   It was here that I finally found the Chicago Barber


shop.  If you live in Chicago and you can't find the Chicago Barber, then here it is.  I found it for you.  Alive and well here in Squamish BC

While I was walking my sandals didn't feel right so I looked down and found that it was coming apart


The glue had become detached.  I know these sandals are old but they have been all across the USA and back.  They have been to Montana and Hells Canyon, Oregon.  They have been to PEI and they have walked the streets of Kingston.  I try pushing the strap in but it keeps coming off


So what to do except to continue over to the Harbour (Government Pier)


It is a nice day and I notice another snow covered mountain in the background


There are not many people walking about, perhaps it's early.  I notice the stores don't open on Saturdays until around 10am, and most restaurants open at Noon.  I stay here for a while looking for more photos


and a self portrait or two


I notice the time and soon I head back to Cleveland Street where I wait for my friends.  We decide to have lunch at a BBQ place and I was still a bit early so I made friends with one of the local natives.  Of course, just as I was arriving HE took MY SPOT.  It was one of the few benches in the warm sunlight.   I was setting up my camera and he offered to move out of the way, but I told him that I wanted him in my photo.  Meet Donald (Donnie for short)


We were talking about this and that and he asked if I could spare some funds for a coffee.  I asked him how much was a coffee, and he said "$5.00" .   I said coffee's are sure expensive up here but I did help him out


Soon thereafter, my friends arrived.  I am sure you already know ScooterChick and Christos, also known as Scootard.


They had never been to this restaurant before so we gave them a try


Here is their board menu

    Chris (Scootard) & Pat(ScooterChick)

It's been about a couple of years since we had enjoyed a meal together, but last time it was at the Howe Sound Pub


Notice that they're foodies too and often snap photos of their meals.   After our lunch I mentioned that I had to go to the shoemaker down the street to get my sandal repaired.  They decided to tag along as Pat was

 
also looking for a longer handbag strap


The shoemaker takes my sandal and glues down the strap


While she negotiates for a custom made strap


Here they are coming outside.  It looks warm in the sun but it is cool in the shade.   And here's Marchello


My shoemaker.   He only charged me $7.00 ,  either that or I just go barefoot.  I wasn't sure I wanted to put any more money into that old pair of sandals which should be thrown away anyway, except they bring back so many good memories, and they are moulded to my foot and fit like a glove

Chris and Pat really are foodies.  We just had a filling meal and only walked down the street, but now it was time for a coffee break.  (Thank you again Chris)


Often times he can look too serious.


and here's ScooterChick, she's the one holding the camera


The weather here in Vancouver is virtually like Spring.  My bike is insured and ready to ride except that somehow my foot swelled up again.  For the past two days I can barely walk.  I have a manual transmission in my commuter car and I can barely drive to work.  Sometimes my foot throbs just doing nothing.  I have done nothing strenuous.  I am watching my diet and trying to eat all the right foods: apples, bananas, salad, no pop and mainly water.  In fact I have also been losing weight.  I was down to 179.5 for one day, and I was under 180 lbs for two days in a row until I started to have hamburgers again.  I gain a couple of pounds but today I am back down to around 180 lbs.

I tried to self diagnose by doing Google searches.  It's hard to find exactly where you fit in and after a while you think the worst or presume you have something worse than what it may be.  This has happened several times now and the last time I humoured the Doctor and went for all sort of tests, and Xrays and the result was, they don't know.   They prescribed Celebrex and that was that.   The last time I had this swollen attack was just before iMBC2012 when I thought I wouldn't be able to ride.   So for now all I can do is to hobble around and just look at my bike wishing we were riding somewhere, instead of just sitting in the sun with my foot above my heart.  It may have something to do with my lack of circulation or maybe you shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet


Wednesday, April 23, 2014

DTES: Downtown Eastside Carrall Street Sunday Market

Before we continue you have to read THIS


The DTES is the poorest Zip Code in Canada.   Life is challenging in this part of town and it is a way for the residents to make a few dollars to supplement their Welfare money.  Many Vendors are former drug addicts trying to make money, the honest way.   More info  Here     while others turn to vending to make ends meet,  info  here2 .   It is not easy to flash your camera down here as I get stares from some of the people who would rather blend in with the crowd.   There is the smell of drugs in the air and I am sure you could find what you are looking for, if you wanted some.   As I walk about I feel eyes following me as I walk so I try to keep my camera low and snap "from the hip"

It is part of my series of showing you around my Town, where I live on the Wet Coast of Canada.  Many of these people are hard working honest people, some are not necessarily . . .  beyond this I enter no comments






































This is not an area that I would like to find myself after dark