CELEBRATION

There was a beautiful fireworks display lighting up the Vancouver sky tonight and I simply could not understand why....until I remembered it was our Poppa's birthday. Happy Birthday Red, we love you and apparently all of Vancouver does too.

MY HOOD

R and I are lucky to live on a fantastic street in a truly interesting neighborhood in Montreal. Next door to us live a family whose 93-year-old patriarch was born in the house where his grown children still live. Our own building is cooperatively owned by a group of individuals who bought it 30 years ago after coveting it from their then-apartment across the street. Three of those original owners still live here and Robert, the owner of our apartment, maintains a studio in the old stables out back despite having recently moved to a house further north. This is an area rich with history, family and friendship. There is a unique intermingling of age, language, outlook and interests and many play an active role in this community.

Currently our alley is home to a magical photo exhibition, Laterna Magica, by artist (and neighbor) Loren Williams. Ms. Williams canvassed residents of two Plateau streets for photographs of the neighborhood from their own family archives. Some images are mounted on board and hung throughout the alleyway, others are displayed backlit in windows of current residents, best viewed after 7pm when the sun has gone down. Altogether it makes for a fascinating glimpse into our neighborhood over the course of many decades (and I'm sure a trip down memory lane for many).

For example, then:

and now:

One fence hosts a series of little doors which open to reveal knotholes:

Which on further inspection show former residents of the back gardens held within:

A series of historic postcards mounted on board show idyllic scenes of Parc La Fontaine, just one block away from our house:

An archive map from the turn of the century, can you find where we live?

The carriage house/stables behind our building as they stand today:

And a photograph of former inhabitants:

At night the backlit photos take on a somewhat eerie quality, reminding one of lives lived and ended in these very streets, these homes.

Totally fascinating.

HARVEST

After work yesterday I went down to the last day of the Main Street farmer's market. I tried to avoid buying too much, but as always that was impossible. Everything there was so perfect. The harvest season is such a great time of year. Being on the west coast it's a little different than on the prairies (it last longer here, for one) and there seems to be a greater variety of fresh produce and also a greater appreciation for all the amazing things we can grow right here in the Lower Mainland.

The bounty.

HEAVY THINGS I HAVE CARRIED IN RECENT DAYS

Ok, I had some help.

I bought this Consew industrial machine for a really great price after Genevieve forwarded me the craigslist ad a couple weeks ago. R and I drove down to the south shore to pick it up but it had been sitting in our van ever since - there was just no way the two of us could get it up our 33 front steps alone. Finally this past Wednesday our friend Chris came to the rescue and the three of us hauled the damn heavy monster up these:

And these:

And, worst of all, these narrow little wedges of steps right at the top, ugh:

Second, R and I bought a dresser yesterday, something I've been in dire need of ever since we moved here nearly two months ago. I had precise specifications for the sort of dresser I wanted - a tallboy, narrow and with at least 4 drawers, raised off the floor and with extra storage for all the little jewels and junk I leave lying all over the house. I'd been eyeing up this old beast for awhile and finally brought it home yesterday afternoon.

If refinished it could be a really beautiful, simple piece. Chances are slim I'll get around to that anytime soon, but at least my clothes are off the floor and I have myriad surfaces, nooks and drawers to store my treasures.

Hooray to useful purchases!, even if one must break their back to get them up the stairs.

NORTH VAN

The only good thing about a wedding installation this past weekend was the view on the way back to Vancouver.

STANLEY RACCOON

The bf and I went for a walk downtown and through Stanley Park on Saturday. It was leisurely and the weather was beautiful, plus the park was full of disturbingly domesticated raccoons and geese. Cute! We wouldn't have fed them anyway, but especially not after observing the Swan Tamer -- an elderly woman who clearly invested a substantial amount of her days at the park making sure the birds behaved themselves and ate the proper food. We witnessed her educating a a young boy on why not to feed the birds bread, shortly after she had scolded one of the swans for being a bully. It was remarkable.