Fantastic Walks in Vancouver - Granville Island Market (Part 2)

Thank you for returning to continue the journey to the Granville Island Market with me. I am making my way through a lovely walk in the False Creek Development area and on to the Granville Island Market. If you missed the first part of the walk, you can join me here.

As I carry on my walk through the waterfront development, I am in bliss. The sea air is strong today and I love it. I can't smell it in the residential area where I live though it isn't so terribly far from this place. Once that salt air hits my olfactory senses as it does today, I always question what took me so long to return to this place.

The view in the photo below is north and slightly east. The high rises across the water are in downtown Vancouver. I can't describe for you what a fantastically beautiful day it is today but with the blue sky and green grass, I think you can see for yourself.

Today there is an abundance of fragrance and colour from all the flowering trees and bushes. Don't you love the stand out red colour of this Rhododendron?

Next up is a photo of some of the condominium developments here on the False Creek Development. It isn't a great photo as the school gates block the view but at least you will have some idea that the people who live in these condominiums (condos) have beautiful northfacing views of the water, high rises and North Shore mountains.

False Creek is a inlet in the heart of the city which separates the downtown area from the rest of the city. Believe it or not, this area was a prime industrial area up until the 1950s. This area fell into ruin as industry started moving to other locations and it is fortuitous that some people of vision had a plan for this area as multi-use community that is vibrant and thriving. If it weren't for them, this area could have been over run with city freeways instead. This area fascinates me because the residential parts are set up so as to have low-income (social housing), co-operative housing, live-aboard marinas and fair market value housing all co-existing in the same small area of land. It appears to be working very well.

This next photo is the local elementary school. I think any child attending school here would be very blessed indeed to have such a wonderful playground with idyllic scenery; in the heart of the city, yet away from all the hustle and bustle.

You can see the backdrop to the playground area. See way over there? You can see a bridge. It is called Granville Bridge and the market where I am going is located directly under the bridge. I still have a ways to go before I get to the market so let us continue.

I've noticed that park rules are more stringent now than the last time I was here. Owners can only have their dogs off leash at certain hours and they must pick up the dog doo. This sign tells you more and also has bags hanging below in case you don't have one.

These pink boards appear to be an art installation. They are the same hexoganal shape as a stop sign except they are pink and they don't say "stop".  They occupy a prime piece of outdoor space.

Here are a couple more photos of the mixed residential properties in the area.

These next few snap shots are facing north east.

This tourist couple (above) seems to be from Germany. At least I heard them talking in German. The walk around the waterways in Vancouver are popular with locals and tourists alike.  The photo below is of boats and yachts moored at one of the marinas in the False Creek area.

This last photo is one taken to the west. You can see the fenced path just along the water front and the path continues in a circular way just beyond those trees. That is where I am heading.

I think I will end today's walk here as I have enough photos left of the final leg of the trip to fill one more blog post. I hope you will join me again soon as I make my way to my destination. It is Sunday in most parts of the world now if you are reading this shortly after it is posted. So put up your feet and have a nice cup of tea and check in with me again soon. Bring your sneakers so we can conclude our walk in comfort.

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Fantastic Walks in Vancouver

On Thursday I finally went for a walk I've long been anticipating. I've just been waiting for the weather to improve so I could enjoy this walk in all it's splendour. Thursday was just such a day. The sky was mostly clear with a few, fluffy (good meteorlogical term, lol) clouds and mostly a lot of sun.

Just so you know at the outset, I am walking to a well known city tourist attraction, Granville Island Market. This market is a very popular with tourists and locals alike and is set on an island located underneath the main city bridge, the Granville Bridge.  But I begin my walk on Broadway and Laurel, right at the corner where Earl's Restaurant is located.

As I commence my walk I can smell a beautiful fragrance coming from these bushes.  I walk further down Laurel Street, I can see many more bushes and smell more beautiful fragrances.  I had to walk down this pathway for a few blocks. It is a rather steep incline.

I am headed to the corner where this maple leaf tree is located. It marks the beginning of my secret path to the promised location.

Here is some signage that gives a tourist directions to the nearby transit and tourist attractions.

This is the secret path I was mentioning. I call it secret because I'm not sure that most people outside of the neighbourhood really know about it. I happened on it one day quite by accident and I've loved the path ever since.

When you are walking over the pathway above, you are actually crossing a very busy street called 6th Avenue.  I took photos from the path to the street level.

Now I continue on my journey taking photos as I go.

A beautiful little pond.

Take a moment to listen to the sound of rippling waters. Click on the arrow in the short video below.

Now let us continue our journey.  This next photo is like looking through a veil of trees. The veil will soon be lifted to show the beauty which waits.........

First up is this stunning water scene. A view of False Creek and the beauty of the boats moored there.

You can even see the lingering cherry blossoms. Those that don't want to say goodbye as most have already done.  The beauty of the cherry blossom is so fleeting and so wonderful. I long to see these blossoms each year.

I love the cherry blossoms so much that I even wrote a Haiku verse about them and made a small video project in honour of the cherry blossom. Here is the Haiku.

Click here to see the video

This ends this part of the journey. Join me again soon as I carry on to the Granville Island Market. I'd love to  know how you are enjoying the walk so far. Until we meet again, happy blogging!

Fantastic Views in Vancouver

This photo represents  just a tiny fraction of the fantastic views I saw on my fantabulous walk today! 

I will be sharing more soon but in the meantime, I invite you to check this link for more wonderful sky scenes from around the globe.

Savings in April

The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof; 
the world, and they that dwell therein.

Psalm 24:1 KJV

Some of you read my post on saving money in March. If you haven't already and you would like to read it, you can do so here.  I wasn't going to do another post about savings this month but I had a couple of really great cost savings and I wanted to share.

Over the weekend I was lamenting the bare freezer and lack of meat in it for my roommate who eats a lot. Also the coffers were quite bare and wouldn't take much of a hit. There was virtually nothing on sale last weekend meat-wise or food wise. Since I've been sick with cold all week I didn't have much time to address my mind to how to solve this problem. Well God is good.

After reviewing last weekend's flyers and finding nothing, I was so blessed this week to find chicken on a great sale. Chicken legs (drumstick and thigh) were on sale for $1.00 a pound. This is a virtually unheard of price so I sent my roommie off to the store to bring home about 33 pounds of chicken.

This has now all been re-packaged into servings for two and there are also 3 larger packages for making larger dinners ahead of time or for inviting someone over.  Altogether I counted 20 packages of chicken.  Tomorrow we may get more to fill up the rest of the freezer.  This protein source will be supplemented with pulses like chick peas, navy beans and kidney beans and a few other meats like minced beef and a bit of pork.

On the top and bottom are the bags of chicken, red items on the right are bags of buckwheat to put on tired muscles, bags of ice and frozen fruit for smoothies on far left.

Normally, I try to make oat porridge and this month I have added Cream of Wheat to the stocks.  But I also like to have cold cereals on hand for those days when I want a change. I was able to purchase these two boxes of cereal (below) for $2.99 each. This is a savings of almost $3.00 per box of cereal.  The box of cheerios is made of whole grain wheat and the bran flakes are full of fibre.  For other wheat type products I hope to buy 5 kg. of flour for $6.99.

Flour as well as many other staples like meat have really soared in price over the last many months. I don't know exactly when it happened but it is certainly noticeable at the food stores.  Sometimes the cost of steak, chicken, and other meats/fowl is more than double to what it was selling for over the summer even.  Flour has also doubled in price so I do not buy it unless it is on sale. I remember when I could purchase 10 kg. of flour for about $10.99 and you now pay that for half the amount of flour. Has this happened where you live too?  I think it is a world wide phenomena. I'd heard that pasta prices were going up long ago due to the cost of wheat and semolina flour much of which comes from Canada but I don't know how the prices have increased in other countries as a result.

I like having fresh fruit on hand but always look for it on sale. Here is a box of clam shell strawberries for $2.98 (I often get them for $2.50 a box) and a bag of red grapes for $2.45. I won't pay more than $1.99 per pound of grapes and they don't come often at this price. I got these ones for $1.50 per pound. Perhaps I should have bought a bit more and freeze some for snacks. They are good cold. Have you ever eaten them that way?

I like avocados in a vegetable sandwich or in a salad and in home made guacamole though I haven't made the latter in a long time. I thought 3 avocados for $2.00 was a fantastic buy as they are often $1.50 per avocado.

 

I also got 5 large lemons for $2.00. I like using lemons in cooking and in adding to tea or coca cola to cut the sweetness. Other good deals this week were two packages of chocolate chips for $2.50 per package.  These will be great for making cookies and/or squares. Another good deal was a small package of dry salt pork for $1.78 for the next time I want to make baked beans.

I was also able to replenish paper towels at 6 rolls (70 sheets per roll) for $4.99.  I prefer at least 80 sheets per roll but you get what you can, when you can. Toilet paper stock was added to by purchasing 12 double rolls of 270 sheets per roll. This paper cost about $5.99 on sale and is made from recycled paper.

In surfing the websites I like to frequent, I was directed to this video and this short, thought-provoking article entitled "Are You an Over-Buyer or an Under-Buyer".  I enjoyed it a lot and thought you might too so you can find it here.  I know I am most certainly an over-buyer which is why I have clutter. I like to be prepared for all things and sometimes take it a little too far. As the woman says, one "type" is not better than the other. We each have our challenges and I am trying not to overbuy where it isn't necessary.

In my earlier post on savings I mentioned that I hadn't yet got around to seeking a reduced interest rate on my credit cards.  Well I did get up the effort this month on one card.  The bank agreed and brought down my interest from 12.99 percent to just under 6%. Can you believe it? That is more than a 50% reduction in interest rate and I could have had it much sooner. I hadn't realized until I made the call that I was on a fixed interest rate, not a variable one. I feel blessed for having found this out. While I know that interest rates are intended to go up, it is not likely to affect this credit card rate anytime soon. At least I will have some breathing room on the interest accruing on the unpaid balance.

I added about $2.80 to the Snowflake Jar Fund. When it reaches $200.00 I hope to help a woman entrepreneur in Kenya to expand her business by giving her a loan. Once she pays back the fund, it will be re-loaned to another woman and so on. The challenge will be to find women who can benefit from a loan this small as Kenya is fast becoming a very expensive country.  This will be my little contribution to helping women in the developing world.  I'd love to have you join me in this if it is something you would be interested in. Write me and I can tell you more.

Wings of Eagles

Have you ever seen a city eagle?  I was fortunate enough that when I worked on the 29th floor of a tower in the city, I would often see about 4 eagles flying and swooping very high in the sky. It was always thrilling to watch them swooping and gliding.

The other day I was in the City of Kamloops and saw my very first City of Kamloops eagle. At first I wasn't sure that it was an eagle.  Under my breath I said, "I wish I could know for sure that it was an eagle". No sooner had I said that and it started flying toward me. It didn't fly so close but just close enough to see it's wing tips and it's white head. I was thrilled and snapped my photo.

Seeing eagles fly always reminds me of the verse in Isaiah 40:31 so I cropped my photo and added the text.  This happens to be one of my favourite bible verses. It is also stitched on my bible cover.

Have you ever seen a city eagle? If so, where? How did it make you feel?

One Neighbourhood on a Scenic Sunday

Scenic Sunday is, for me, a time to share more than one photo. It is a time to give you a flavour of some of the beauty in my country. I've shared several posts already about Kamloops and this is actually where I am spending the Easter long weekend.

So let me share some photos of one neighbourhood in the part of the city known as North Kamloops. There is nothing of note in these photos, no history I want to share. Just photos of a common neighbourhood in an older section of this part of town. I thought it would be especially interesting to my friends abroad to see what some of the older neighbourhoods look like. As you can see, most of our buildings are not made of stone and the buildings are not that old, historically speaking.

I hope you enjoyed the tour. Please visit again soon.

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Vancouver Sky ~ Skywatch Friday, April 2, 2010

Here are some recent photos of the sky over Vancouver. It has been a cloudy and rainy Spring so far.

I captured these snapshots of the sun breaking through the clouds during a break in the rain as I was leaving the Emergency Room earlier this week. I was grateful that my tests showed nothing abnormal. I was very impressed with the hospital I went to. I've never been treated so well by all the staff from admission to discharge. That makes a short hospital stay all the more pleasant, doesn't it?

As I close this post, let me wish each of you and your respective families and loved ones,

a very blessed Easter weekend.

 

They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.

John 20:9 (NIV) 

Easter is a promise
God renews to us in each spring.
May the promise of Easter
fill your heart with peace and joy!
Happy Easter!

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