This post is a bit all over the place - some random, fun activities, but mainly centered around a visit from our friend Risa! Risa and I worked together back when I first moved to Vancouver, and we have been great friends ever since. Risa and her husband Jeff moved back to Ontario four years ago, which means we have not seen then as much as we would like. Last week was Risa’s birthday and she was in town and we were lucky enough for her to stay with us over the weekend. And it meant we had a chance for some fun adventures.
Risa arrived on Friday morning and we hd a bit of a chance to catch up. Sadly I was working and had a busy day, so it was brief. Risa was meeting a group of friends for dinner, which was great, as Justine and I had our own plans - tickets to see Bruce Cockburn! The show was happening downtown, so we used that as an excuse to out for dinner at one of our favourite spots - Fanny Bay Oyster Bar.
We had just been there a couple of weeks ago for happy hour, but after not being able to get a table at the Homer Street Cafe, it seemed like the perfect fall back plan. We had a bottle of wine and shared the paella and had a lovely meal. So much amazing seafood!
The amazing paella we had for dinner.
After dinner, we headed over to the show.
From our friends at Wikipedia, Bruce Cockburn is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. His song styles range from folk to folk- and jazz-influenced rock to soundscapes accompanying spoken stories. His lyrics reflect interests in spirituality, human rights, environmental issues, and relationships, and describe his experiences in Central America and Africa.
Cockburn has written more than 350 songs on 34 albums over a career spanning five decades, of which 22 have received a Canadian gold or platinum certification as of 2018, and he has sold more than one million albums in Canada alone. Full details here.
Sadly, he’s showing is age. I needed walking sticks to get onstage, and it physically looked like a struggle for him. His voice was still amazing, and he worked through a couple of sets. I was hoping for a few more of his big hits, but we only got one of them. Most of it was music I was not familiar with. Still it was a good show, and I’m glad we went.
Risa met us back at our place after the show, and after she has wrapped up her dinner with her group of friends. We stayed up a bit, catching up and make plans for the next day. Sadly, the weather was not looking great for the weekend. Saturday was the worst of the days, and so we decided (very last minute), to head to the Vancouver Home Show to see what was going on.
The Home Show was in the stadium at BC Place.
Justine and I go to the show pretty much every year. It’s been mostly the same, but we like it. This year ended up being really good - we got a few contacts for some projects we’re considering, and we got three Japanese Maple seedlings to plant. It was a good way to spend a few hours.
After exhausting the show, we took the water taxi back to Granville Island and went for lunch at Tap and Barrel. It’s always a good spot, and we had a nice, late lunch.
A dungeness crab on one of the piers at Granville Island.
Over much of last year, the Granville Island Brewery had been undergoing extensive renovations. We had not been in the new space, and so rather than heading home we thought we’d make a short stop for a quick drink to check it out. Well that was the plan anyway. A “quick drink” turned into a couple as played some fun board games and continued our catching up. Just as we were ready to head out, live music started, and the singer was pretty good! So we stayed for his set, which was a good couple of hours. It ended up being a very fun afternoon/early evening, before we headed home and made a later-than-planned dinner.
Risa is as big, or possibly a bigger birder than Justine and I, so it was easy to convince her to head over to Reifel on Sunday for a bit of a walk about. And we got lucky, as the weather improved and we avoided the rain! I’m going to post a whole pile of bird pics, which you can just scroll past, if that’s not your thing!
Our walk around Reifel.
After the visit to Reifel, we made a stop in Delta at Four Winds new brewery. It’s a beautiful spot, and we had a nice lunch and a drink. My old boss Tom and his wife Tracy live a few minutes walk away, and happened to be home, so they swung by for a visit as well, which was loverly. We had a nice visit and got caught up.
A Few Random Vancouver Things…
We had a great weekend visit with Risa. She and her husband Jeff were kind enough to host us at their place for the eclipse last year - it’s crazy that it’s almost been a year! I thought I’d share a few random pics from around the same time.
