Our old pal Timbits and Senoir Garcia came up to Vancouver from Seattle this weekend. It's been 8 years since we've had the pleasure of hanging out with Timbits, it only seems like yesterday him and his wife moved to Miami. Actually, M invited me to Timbits wedding all those years ago and we've never been apart since. Noice!
It was great to see them and great to get a break from final>ing. They're a bunch of rock and rollers so you can always count on good times. M made a delicious meal, antics started, music played, the muso conversation came and went, guitars came out.. Timbits is quite the axe-god, so he belted out some killer tunes on the strat & marshal combo. :)
It was a late night, followed by a day off. After a yummy breky we heading over to the farmers market, perused the vendors wares, ate the free cheese samples and sulked at the lack of concord grapes. On the way back we picked up some wine of our elder Portuguese neighbour who has a massive grape-arbor in his garden. Noice.
Next up was a picnic at the beach. Nice food, weather cleared and a few laughs later it was time to sleep in the warming sun. A little while later I awoke to them all talking to a girl. Turns out she was English, and from my neck of the woods with the same twang. Barely awake I'm sat there talking about Blackpool Tower, Pennine Moors. Am I wake? Nice person - she's been here a month and is studying at UBC. Extending my Lancashire good will .. I said we'd invite her over to our next BBQ.
Alright, it was time to head downtown and catch our neighbor playing at the Vancouver's famous blues joint - The Yale. Neighbor happening cat was heading up harmonica in his band. Great performance, great show. He was happy to see our faces supporting the annual "Harmonica>Blast Session" and i shot this picture of him leaving.
Time for dinner and more bands. (yes!) then it was back to ours for a nightcap and the pre-destined Led Zep DVD session on the projector. Epic, epic, epic.
Taking further advantage of the fine weather we're having here in Vancouver I rode into work again. It's about the 4th time now. Catching the seawall near Science World, I rode into the office (IN). Leaving the office I pinged Oz on his crackberry who blazed down on his bike to meet me. He then led the tour way around and through Stanley park (OUT). We stopped in the woods to check out the trees and watch the sea planes fly over the canopy. A glorious ride. I have to say riding through an old growth forest after work is cool. Cyclist friends, next time you come visit we're doing this ride.
This is brilliant. Tat's my mate got a write up in the weekend edition of the Guardian. Get this ... he does a night in London & Manchester (BigSexyLand) and whilst down in London he went to watch Prince then went to the aftershow party where Prince performed... I guess he got a bit carried away and broke his leg dancing to his fave tune. He's actually quite the dancer, so he must really been going for it. Now he's hobbling around a cell-phone game company in Manchester not too happy about things. Oh well ... living the dream.
We like to get out in nature when we can. It's been a few weeks since our last communion and the concrete was starting to get to us. We packed our backpacks and headed up into the mountains for a hike.
We checked out the popular Buntzen Lake. I'd heard it was beautiful, heard it was popular .. and both were true. Seeking refuge from urban folk we caught the trail around the lake. Ahh, know one in sight. A few steps into the trail we see a sign .. "Caution! Black bear and Cougars spotted in this area". Ok, bears don't "scare" me too much, they actually don't set out to hassle or attack you, but cougars man - they'll stalk you - and before you've seen the large wild cat -- it's on your back leaping from a tree .. trying to kill you....now that's a bit scary.
Well, that didn't put us off .. so onward and upward we plodded through the woods. M 's part of this land, she know's it well. My education of local species continued. Todays lesson was how to spot .. Western Hemlock trees. Huckleberry bush, Salal ? and Oregon Grape plants. We hiked for miles, stopping off for views of the lake and enticing swimming holes.
Finally we arrived at the North beach. Finding a nice sandy spot on the beach, we laid out of cloth, unpacked the food and munched away on olives, feta cheese, pita and a nice salad .. all washed down with Blu Sky soda. (ginger)... mmm-mmm-mmm. We hung around for a while basking in the intense sun until I couldn't take it anymore. Fleeing the heat, we sought cooler solice in the shady woods and hiked back to the car.
An *ace* day out. It feels ages since we've done anything like that. Next scheduled day out, on my scheduled day off ... Golden Ears Provincial Park.
Me and M know these dudes from back in Seattle. They used to hang out in the place in our neighbourhood - Vinces - an Italian restaurant on Queen Anne Avenue with a dark bar bolted on the side. Alice In Chains used to hang out there also.
Yeah, so these guys used to hang out there - eventually they bought the place off Vince. When they were in town and not on mega tours of Germany being rock-gods to the masses they ran the business ... working the kitchen making pizza's. (lol) or whatever. The barmaid dated the blond-haired guitarist Jeff. I used to chat with the singer Warrel about the internet. He was one of the first people, I knew, to get online to the t'internet we know now. M being the first.
Stunning. A incredible high energy show of gypsy music fuelled by punk rock. The kids loved it, we loved it. We came away believers.
Gogol Bordello, a eclectic mix of performers, hit the stage and never calmed down until they left. Dancing, jumping, wailing and belting out their unique sounds - a moment of freshness, something new and exciting - wow. It was perfection running on all cylinders - punk, flamenco, gypsy - madness.
It's one of those long weekends where I have to work. The rest of the city is off for adventures in nearby cities, epic nature destinations or just choosing to stick around and hang out with friends.
I needed to 'kick it up a notch', so I decided to sit back consider the days options and see what positivity I could bring. My plan, cycle into work, fix some bugs, eat some of the amazing Italian catering we get on the roof deck, fix a few more bugs, get one of the *free* Shiatsu massages with the Japanese lady who comes into the office - then cycle back home. Woah, that sounds good! So that's what I did.
I took my regular ride along False Creek to Stanley Park, then was amazed the bike path actually went through the park, onto Coal Harbour and down to my office. Thrilling. Here's a travelogue of my 12KM ride...
