Another Scenic Sunday

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

to all the mothers out there in the blogosphere.

May you have a wonderful day.

Click here for more scenes from around the world. 

The End of an Era, The Beginning of a New One

Tuesday, May 4th at approximately 11: a.m. the BC Place Stadium dome was purposely collapsed. Over the next 3 weeks it will be methodically removed from the roof top and sent to recycling.

Just over a week ago I showed you a photo of the dome on  my walk to Granville Island. (Click the underlined words if you want to read about the walk). Here it is again. It is the white roofed building nestled between the high rises.   BC Place recently had prominence as being the venue for the Winter Olympics 2010 Opening and Closing Ceremonies and over the years it has hosted many spectacular events in the City.

This is what the dome looked like after collapse.

Photo Credit: Nick Procaylo, PNG

I hadn't even realized that the roof was going down today. It was a bittersweet moment. The original dome was built in 1983 at a cost of $126 Million.

The dome will be replaced with an expensive retractable roof. While I am all in favour of making upgrades, it is a rather expensive proposition coming directly on the heels of huge expenditures for the Winter Olympics. The retractable roof alone is expected to cost in the neighbourhood of $475 Million, though I've also read estimates of $458 Million. The new retractable roof is expected to be the world's largest retractable roof for a domed stadium and it's anticipated completion is sometime next year.

After spending $5000. on my portion of my condominium building's roof replacement, I am not feeling up to spending my portion of $475 Million that will need to be paid from taxes.

Is there any large tax funded project where you live that you had to pay for whether you supported it or not?

My First Giveaway

I've been blogging for less than a year now and in the process I've learned a lot. I have a lot more to learn from the knowledge and talents of other bloggers so I'm hoping to blog and read blogs for a long time to come.

One of the things I've learned about, and participate in with glee, are the giveaways that various bloggers sponsor. I think giveaways are fun and I always try to participate to show bloggers that I am paying attention to what they write. I think it also shows gratitude for what they do to develop reader participation.

The winter Olympics will be here in a few short weeks so I thought it would be fun to giveaway one of the Olympic mascots. There are actually three of them and I like Sumi best so Sumi is part of the giveaway.

My regular readers know I live in Canada and that I am a proud Canadian so I thought it would also be great to provide a few souvenirs of my country. These few gifts will go in a reusable tote bag with the word "Canada" embossed on the front. This is in homage to the many people out there who I know are into the simple life and want to keep our planet free from as many plastic bags as possible.

Here are a few photos to show you what will be in the Canada bag.

[Pens, stickers, souvenirs, luggage tags and Olympic mascot]

In order to participate, please leave a comment and let me know what you would like to learn about Canada or Vancouver. I then hope to feature a blog post on the winning subject in a future post.

The winner will selected at random and be announced on Friday January 28, 2010, (changed to Thursday, January 227, 2010 to allow time for wrapping and posting) and contacted for address information so I can mail your parcel before I leave town on the same weekend. In the meantime, happy blogging. If you have children or grandchildren, be sure to enter as they tend to love these sorts of things though I've tried to include things that adults might also use (luggage tags and pens). If you are from another country, it would be lovely for you to have some souvenirs from Canada. If you are not from another country, please enter anyway. Everyone is welcome! Good luck

A Wonderful Walk

Wow! For the first time in a week I went for a walk! Well actually it was an early evening walk. First I caught a bus to the post office and walked home, stopping here and there to poke along the way. It was glorious. The weather was balmy and there was the comforting smell of wood burning fireplaces going. Ummm. It felt so good to be out again when I've been cooped up all week.

I was so pleased to find that my much anticipated package of love arrived from Mechelle Tully of Australia. How divine. I'm going to savour listening to her sweet melodies. After that discovery, I went across the street and delighted my taste buds in some food, the first I've enjoyed all week besides the bannock I made last night. I stopped off at Helen's Grill and had a wonderfully succulent lamb souvlakia with rice pilaf, roast potato, tzatziki sauce, Greek salad and garlic bread. I saved half of the large order for a snack later or for a meal next day.

It was a toss up as to whether to stop and buy some produce and catch the bus home or walk and skip out on the groceries. I opted to walk as the night was divine and it's been awhile since I got any exercise. So out came the camera.

Fall leaves on trees. I love the colours.

I think the street lights give these leaves a wonderfully warm glow.

Fall leaves on sidewalk. Aren't they pretty?

Sun Sui Wah, Chinese restaurant visited by Martha Stewart, Home Queen extraordinaire a few years ago when she produced a television special on the City. I believe she proclaimed Sun Sui Wah, the Nobu of the North.

The next two snaps are of a medical centre with delightful mural art on it's exterior walls.

New movies are being shot in the area. How do I know? I spotted these trailers which are make-shift dressing rooms to the stars but I didn't bump into any celebrities. There were at least 3-5 dressing rooms parked here.

People are out and about having dinner at the wonderful cafes along the street. This one with the yellow awning is an excellent Japanese restaurant. It is great to have wonderful restaurants to choose from in all price ranges for every budget. That is one thing I love about my city. Well I must focus on looking at the sights, enjoying the ambiance and the walk. More pictures will come another day.

The winter 2010 Olympics are just around the corner. Maybe you will get to see some of the city streets yourself.