First off, to my readers, apologies for the long gap in postings. I can’t offer much in the way of excuses, except to say that I think I needed a bit of a vacation from writing. I’m apparently not the only one who found this to be the case. Two Vancouver blogs that I follow, and are on the blogroll at the right have also been posted to sporadically in recent days. Maybe it’s something in the weather; It is getting awfully nice these days, and the rainy weeks that forced all of us inside and behind our keyboards are past.
There have been several items in the past weeks that probably would have benefited from a few words about them, which I’ll take note of here:
- The death of my old iPod and my urge to get a new one immediately (heck, the only thing I’ve ever replaced faster has been an umbrella!)
- My spiffy new iPod that does video, and now holds an entire season of Firefly which I purchased from the iTunes Music Store to keep me entertained on bus trips out to SFU on Burnaby Mountain for Gamelan rehearsals until the fall, if I’ve calculated correctly.
- A new, multi-year construction project that Pam and I once again find ourselves in the middle of, which has diverted all of the Vancouver’s bus routes that I regularly take and is in the process of digging up the centre of town. Unlike Boston’s Big Dig, which I always hated, this inconvenience promises a reward in the end. The Big Dig was just another stupid highway in a tunnel dug under the city. I may have been on it half a dozen times before we left. The Canada Line, which is hopefully going to be done before the 2010 Olympics is a mass transit line to Richmond and the Airport this time. Let’s hope it works out as well as I hope it does, and that I’ll actually end up using it!
- Several nice dinners at home and at restaurants. At the public market, we discovered Kiwi berries, which I can best describe as a sort of cross between kiwis and concord grapes (without the tough skin, hair or seeds). I concocted a nice glaze for Salmon out of a combination of Wild Blueberry Jam, soy sauce, sherry (or Marsala) and dash of Canola oil. I have determined that I prefer Pink Salmon to Coho, Chinook, Sockeye or Chum, although I’m still not quite sure. We finally had a light dinner at the charming and gemütlich ‘Café S’il Vout Plaît’ downtown as well as the hip Ragnoli restaurant and market (part of Vij just up the hill from us on Granville Street) where you can get some of the tastiest ‘Indian fusion’ cuisine in the city, either to eat at the café tables or to take home for your fridge or freezer. How great is that?
- A couple upcoming concerts on June 3 by the Gamelan both up at SFU and in a private home in East Vancouver. We’re having rehearsals both on Tuesday nights and Sunday afternoons to get ready. I’m still new with the group, but I’m learning a lot.
- Pam has come back from a 5-day business trip to an STC Convention Las Vegas, which she felt was well worth the trouble, despite the ever-present clouds of cigarette smoke and general culture shock she had to deal with. During that time I held down the fort, but missed her, and I seemed to be constantly late for everything and everywhere during her absence.
- We’re coming up on our nine-month anniversary of our move here in two days. Not all that significant, but it’s great to reflect on what we’ve both done in interim, but enough of that; there’ll be time for a yearly wrap-up in my mid-July entry.
OK, that should bring you somewhat up-to-date. I’ll try to post more frequently from here on out, at least for a while. Blog vacation (Blogcation?) is over.