A Good Week

It's been a busy, fun and tiring week with my niece.  We went to see two movies, "Despicable Me 2" and "Man of Steel".  Both of these movies couldn't be more different from the other but they were both entertaining in their own ways.  We laughed at the little minions in Despicable Me 2 and my niece almost split a gut laughing hysterically when the minions sang "YMCA" by the Village People. My niece and I love superheros of all kinds, including Superman. I thought the movie might be too serious and not entertaining enough for her.  She did get very wrapped up in the movie plot, shaking her fists at the villains who tried to kill Kal-El (the name Superman was given at birth by his parents on the planet Krypton).

In addition to going to movies, we managed to make two trips to the beach front.  One on of our trips, we stopped at a foot reflexology place before going for dinner.  My niece told me the day before that she wanted a foot massage. I didn't take her seriously because I know she doesn't like to be touched and her feet are ticklish.  While I was having my feet done, she surprised me by also having her feet massaged in the next room, lol.  After that we went for fish and chips before heading to the beach to relax and make sure my niece was able to dip her feet in the water.

It was quite an experience for her to walk barefoot in the shifting sands with all kinds of dried, prickly seaweed, small stones and shells. Her balance is not good at the best of times and her foot muscles are not strong or used walking in the outdoors without shoes.  She was very proud of herself after managing to take a walk along the beach to the water and back.  I was proud of her too because she struggled to keep her balance  but she made it.  Afterward, her feet were very dusty from the sand.  To make her laugh I told her she had "ghost feet". She thought that was very funny. 

We stayed home on the weekend as our first few days out were not only very long but very hot.  We were both tired and needed a bit of recovery.  I spent Saturday getting the kitchen cleaned and preparing salads for the the day as well as preparing for a small birthday celebration we were to have on Sunday.

On Monday we went to Granville Island and had fun walking around & eating ice cream.  It was a hot day but under the bridge by the waterfront there always seems to be a nice breeze.

After spending a few hours walking around, we decided we should have a bite to eat because we wouldn't be home for some time.  We still had some sightseeing to do, a ferry boat ride and two buses to take before getting home!

The Inukshuk  is always a lovely sight against the waterfront.

This is the small water bus that we took to downtown. From there we caught a small bus along Beach Avenue and saw a lot of the waterfront from the window.  The little bus eventually connected to the bus we needed to come home on.  The bonus was that we had a great little tour of the beachfront.

Tuesday was our last day together and we went to a local park and had a mini picnic. While at the park, my nephew came by with a football and played catch with his sister. It was nice to watch them have fun together. After that we went for a nice long walk and ended with a small sundae before coming home to get her bags packed.  The week went by quickly but we enjoyed our short time together.

We ended the day with this beautiful sunset.

This is my submission to Our World Tuesday and Skywatch Friday

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?

Sky Over Granville Island

For more beautiful skies from Skywatch Friday, click here.

Skywatch Friday on the Waterfront

Little Linet here is going to have surgery. She needs a lot of prayer and financial support both to help with surgery and with her food and clothing needs. If you can help, please let me know or donate here.

It's a hot day in Vancouver. Decided on a mini-cruise to feel the breeze from the water.

My niece is visiting me for a few weeks. Though it was a very hot day today she really wanted to go out and see the sights.  We decided to go to Granville Island and while there we embarked on a mini cruise of the waterfront.  There were lots of interesting sights along the way. I'll share a few of them in today's post that show the sky. I will share other photos later.  Click on any photo to enlarge.

Yachts in the foreground, the BC Place Stadium in the background.

The "diamond" (globe) is the Science World; a place devoted to science and inspiring future leadership in science and technology.

One of the parks/green spaces along the water at False Creek South.

Someone's unique boat. I think this is called a catamaran.

Someone's houseboat. I didn't even know there were houseboats in this area of the waterfront.  I was surprised to see about 6 houseboats nestled alongside one another just past where we embarked on the Aquabus.

For more skies from around the world, click here and join in the fun. If you are the praying type please see my post here.

Enjoying a Day at Granville Island

Participating this week in

Your Sunday Best
Our World Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday 
Water World Wednesday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was such a lovely day! It's great to be a tourist in your own city ;-)

Please visit again soon.

Note:


Little Linet here is going to have surgery. She needs a lot of prayer and financial support both to help with surgery and with her food and clothing needs. If you can help, please let me know or donate here.

A Productive July Ends

It's been a busy week so far. Nothing terribly exciting happening but all is satisfying.

First up I delivered half of my personal library to a local care home. The recreational advisor saw my advertisement on the local Freecycle and said he would take all the books. So that was a God send since most takers just want a fictional book or two. A great many of the books I donated history books and reference books of all kinds (cooking, gardening, travel, self help and health books, how to books and cookbooks and a great many other topics).  The recreational person I dealt with told me they will sell books to benefit the seniors in their care. I do hope that they will have good success with the sales.

Reading continues with a few good books in my pile each week. My recent reads were The Paris Seamstress, Rebel Queen and The Next Person You Meet in Heaven.  They were all good books and I've listed them in the order of enjoyment in case you are interested.  Right now I'm reading a few books on fashion: Gok Wan's Work Your Wardrobe  and The Way She Wears It  by Dallas Shaw.  I'm relearning a lot of what I once knew and it is good to have a refresher.  Most of my newer reads are borrowed from the library so that I'm not spending the money and adding to my clutter at home.

One of my errands on Monday was to go the beautiful Granville Island. This is a very popular spot with tourists and locals alike but I wasn't there to stroll around and enjoy. I stopped at a store called Ten Thousand Villages to pick up a parcel of small items I ordered on line and asked to be delivered to the store front. It saved about $ 10.00 Canadian on shipping charges which is a lot considering the parcel was very small. If I had heavier things or larger things on order, then paying the shipping charges would be a good idea.  In fact, in my previous order with this company I had the parcel shipped to my local post office.

I'm very pleased with the quality of the products I've purchased from this place so far. I also like that the products are purchased from various countries abroad at fair trade prices. If you'd like to check it out please do because you would be benefiting artisans from developing nations.   If you want to check out the store, please check here.

Some of you might wonder why I am buying things when I am doing major decluttering.  One reason is I like to shop for gift ideas for Christmas and birthdays throughout the year.  This helps spread the cost over many months.

The other reason is that though I have too much stuff, one area where I am lacking is accessories, especially necklaces and earrings which help to stretch one's wardrobe into numerous outfits.

I keep an eye out for things I can purchase at a good price and that will coordinate with my wardrobe, current and planned.  Since I've already donated many clothing items  I will need to supplement my wardrobe in future.  But I don't need anything for awhile and can make do with what I have.  I also have plans to sew some things with the fabric I purchased in Kenya earlier in the year.  I will buy some coordinating fabric here in town to try and extend my wardrobe options that way too. So I can hold off buying new clothing until I know for sure what I really need.  

Last time I wrote about my knees I mentioned that I need to get updated x-rays.  I finally made it early in the week for the x-rays on both knees.  I expect soon to be referred to the center that educates arthritis patients to better manage their symptoms and assess them as to whether they need surgery.

Other than that I've been busy with the usual household things and a bit of shopping for a new wall clock,  yarn and food for the house.

While relaxing in the evening I'm knitting dishcloths for Christmas gifts. It's really the main that I knit and I have built up a little stash.  I enjoy knitting these simple cloths and it helps me feel like I'm doing something constructive while I relax.

I went to the community garden and snipped off some beautiful sunflowers to place at home. I noticed there were some ants in them so I had to get those out before I brought the flowers indoors.

I also snipped some salad greens and brought home. I made a simple green salad tonight with hamburgers on buns for dinner.


The container garden is holding up well. The rest of the garden doesn't look so great and I'm not really sure why. Probably a combination of over watering at times and under watering at other times.

Right now though there are workers out there and so they don't take care how they throw things around. After their work of power washing and painting walls is done I think my garden will be largely finished for this summer. If I have time I may plant some thing from seed just to see if it comes up and blossoms before we get too far into Fall weather.

Geraniums are a favourite in my garden.

I'll continue being busy at home for a few weeks with plans to see a movie or two with a friend and visit with an out of town friend who should be arriving soon.  My house guests won't start arriving until the end the month. Until then I have a lot to keep me busy. That's my update for now. I hope you are all enjoying yourselves wherever you are in the world.

Joining in with Skywatch Friday.