garden plotting

in my last post, i forgot to voice my gratitude for one of my favourite places to spend time in downtown vancouver: my garden plot!  i don’t have a huge amount of space in which to grow things (maybe half the size of a parking stall?), but it’s incredible how much it can produce.  we are still eating purple and fingerling potatoes from last year’s harvest – there is something deeply satisfying about eating food that you grew yourself.

beyond the pleasure of getting my hands dirty and watching a garden grow, the sense of community that comes with being a member of a community garden is invaluable.  despite being one of the most densely populated areas in north america, downtown vancouver can feel isolating at times – people don’t tend to strike up conversation with strangers on a regular basis (unless, i’ve recently discovered, you have a dog!).  during my time at the garden, i have gotten to know an eclectic, generous, and gregarious group of neighbours who i never would have spoken to otherwise.

as the days begin to extend and snow drops push their way through the cold, dark vancouver soil, my anticipation of the growing season is building.  as much as i look forward to whatever i end up growing this year, i am equally excited to connect with my garden friends in the months ahead.

so far on my “to grow” list:

• rhubarb.  lots of it.
• potatoes, as i had such success with them last year.
• artichokes, as an experiment.
• sweet peas, because their scent and delicate beauty is second to none.
• tomatoes, on my balcony – i’ve always had good luck with them, and it would kill me to come find them all stolen just as they became perfectly ripe (one of the perils of a community garden is that you have to take a zen-like approach to whatever you are growing, half-expecting that it could disappear at any time…).

my humble balcony garden:

… and the community plot

2012 gratitudes

Happy 2013!

I have all kinds of good feelings about the year ahead.  It’s been a relatively quiet break over the holidays – Chris and I got a new puppy (Charlie!) on December 21st, so we’ve been at home more than usual, getting the pup used to his new home and a new routine.

With a wealth of down time (what luxury!), I’ve had the chance to reflect on how immensely wonderful 2012 was.  So good, it brings a lump to my throat when I think about it.  So good, some of the best parts need to be shared, and recorded here (in no particular order):

The sweet, thoughtful, handsome, brilliant, and ever-endearing Chris McGuire asked me to marry him.  In a poppy field.  In southern France.  I said yes.

I spent lots of time on Reid Island.  My family is *so* incredibly lucky to be able to go there, and I am forever, hugely grateful to my parents for having the courage, determination, and ingenuity to build an incredible cabin in one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been.  The community of friends we have there are closer to family, and the beauty of the island continues to unfold every time I go back.  We also had amazing 60th birthday party for my mom on the island, and gave her the gift of a custom stained glass panel for the door of our new, beautiful little cabin, “the step-away”.

I had a weekend in Tofino with my oldest, dearest friend, the beautiful Mari Kool.  She’s another version of “home” for me, and an absolute hero of mine.

My younger brother, Thomas, married his longtime love, Carla.  These two are one of the most solid couples I’ve ever known, and the wedding was SO gorgeous.  I wrote them a limerick that I read at the wedding and, silly as it was, I barely made it through without crying.  I’m a total softie, it seems.

I rode my bike a whole bunch.  I fell off at one point and broke my arm, but I’ll never regret a good ride.  The freedom that comes with those two wheels is one of life’s greatest and simplest pleasures as far as I’m concerned.  One of my favourite rides was a loop of Central Park with my friend and NYC tour guide, Caty (seen here, leading the way.  It was not a race.).

My grandmother remains in good health at 92 years young, and is still one of my favourite people to spend time with.  Here we are toasting my 30th birthday (yes, that happened, this year, too!).

It was a great year for visiting both new and familiar places – California, NYC, Portland, Halifax, Canada’s North (Yellowknife, Whitehorse), Scotland, France, Spain, Holland, England… an embarrassment of travel riches.

One of the best days of the entire year was spent cycling and boating around Amsterdam with my handsome and gracious friend, Simon.

As I’ve already mentioned, Charlie came into our lives in 2012.  A curious, intelligent Schnoodle (mini Schnauzer/mini Poodle cross) with a penchant for snuggles and ankle biting.  He’s still just 9 weeks at this point, so hopefully the former habit fades with time.  Either way, we’re in love.

Other highlights that aren’t as conducive to photographic evidence:

• I bought a wedding dress!  August 24, 2013… 🙂
• Skinny dipping with Chris in a french river on a hot, gorgeous day.
• Sleeping outside at the edge of Lake Cowichan.
• Challenges and successes at work.  Still trying to find the perfect balance, but 2012 was another interesting, surprising, and full-of-growth year.  I’m regularly humbled by the projects and colleagues that I come into contact with.
• Lots and lots of ocean swims – I managed dips in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Pacific in 2012.  Amazing.

Finally, and foremost, I am most grateful for the health of my family and friends.  May they (and you) continue in good form throughout 2013! xo

two wheel zeal

i love living in vancouver.

one of the first things i did when i moved here was sell my car.  living and working downtown, my once beloved honda civic became more of a nuisance than anything – parking’s expensive and hard to come by, the need for maintenance always seemed to arise at the most inconvenient moments (or, not often enough, which may or may not have been the case when i a friend of mine forgot to check my her oil for 6 whole months…), and insurance costs more than twice what it did in my hometown.  i was paying to live in a dense neighbourhood close to amenities, so why would i fork over more cash in order to drive to them?

it’s been 18  months since i reduced my wheel count by 50%, and here are the reasons why i’m not going back anytime soon:

• biking is cheap.  you can find a road-worthy ride for a few hundred dollars and a good lock for the price of a meal.  that’s about what a month of driving would cost, insurance and gas alone.
• the planet prefers cycling (or walking) to driving, except perhaps if you fuel up exclusively with an all-beef diet…
• need a car sometimes?  there’s probably one waiting for you within a few blocks.  i can’t say enough good things about the vancouver auto co-op: it’s easy to join, your membership fee is actually an investment in co-op shares which you get back  when you decide you don’t want to be a member anymore, they’ve got a range of new cars and trucks at your disposal ALL OVER the city (there are 7 within 400 metres of my apartment), it’s inexpensive to use (a trip across town for a few hours is usually under $20, which is cheaper than a cab), and the service is incredibly well-organized.
• the cycling commute is flexible.  is the road blocked ahead? hop up on the sidewalk to get around.  is traffic not moving? ride between the cars and carry on your way.  catch a whiff of a fine-smelling rose bush on the side of the road? cruise up beside it and smell ’em.  hot day? veer onto a side street and ride through a sprinkler.  want to avoid a busy street? discover the network of bike routes vancouver has in place.  for all these reasons and more, bikes offer the ability to react to and engage with your commute in ways a car will never be able to.  one beef i do have is that bikes aren’t allowed to ride through many drive-thrus, although maybe this domain is best left to the automobile, anyway.
• more horsepower doesn’t always equal a shorter trip.  today i rode across a bridge in about 60 seconds.  thanks to rush hour traffic, the 40-odd cars i passed probably traveled the same distance in 8-10 minutes.
• buns (and other bits) of steel.
• cycling feels good.  especially the downhill stretches.  and (look, mom!) riding with no hands.

the bad news is, summer is officially over, and vancouver will soon resume its usual grey, sponge-like state, soaking up the sex appeal that cycling holds on sunny days.

the good news?  no more tandem bikes on the seawall.

rosy-coloured things on a monocoloured day

a dear friend of mine has inspired me to share some thoughts on this gorgeous, rainy day.

if gorgeous rain sounds like an oxymoron, i’m going to guess you haven’t been living in vancouver for the past month. july was jubilant, and completely saturated with sunshine. the city’s beaches burst at the seams during the day, and at night, the city’s beds full of the kind of sticky, deep sleepers that only the warmest summer nights allow.  i’m amazed i didn’t develop an allergy to cherries (or gin, but that’s another story), given how many of those garnety, stain-filled balls of perfection i put away. my bike racked up at least another 300 kms, my tender bits are the only part of my body that isn’t nutty brown, and the soles of my feet are perfectly calloused thanks to hours of barefoot beach-combing. i had one of those infinitely starry, perfectly clear nights to myself on a tiny island in the pacific, and oh, did i mention swimming sessions alongside families of river otters?  i don’t mean to brag, but in the words of paul simon, these are (were) the days of miracles and wonder.

despite all these weekend warrior indulgences, all that sun had its pitfalls. most importantly, the city had not been rinsed in weeks. riding my bike through the alleys of gastown, i had to hold by breath to stave off the combined smell of layered urine and garbage. all the city’s grass is a crispy brown. forest fires sent a haze over the city and air quality plummeted. by the end of last week, you could hardly see the sun during the day. for all these reasons, i’m pleased to see the clouds hanging over me today.  the final silver lining:  i can shamelessly hold down my couch for the afternoon, and share a few of my favourite bits & pieces from the last month.

oh – one more thing before you go, and a reference to my record-breaking gin consumption. you MUST make yourself several of these before summer comes to a close.    it’s my rainy day gift to you.

food for thought about food, and thought. pecha kucha left a good taste in my mouth.

thanks to pecha kucha vancouver for a fantastic, stimulating, and enlightening evening of sustainability-focused talks tonight. if you don’t know about pecha kucha, it’s a series of talks, each containing 20 slides displayed for 20 seconds each. with speakers ranging from recycling activists to nobel prize winners, artists to politicians, last night’s ‘green your city’ theme had the queen elizabeth theatre bursting at the seams with bright people and big ideas.

some of the highlights for me were:

– vancouver city planner david ramslie promoting a novel concept for green development: shared purposes across multiple buildings. for example, if you have 8 buildings on a city block, kit each of them with a specific capacity and the ability to deliver it beyond its own walls. one building might have a bike storage and repair facility that all 8 buildings’ inhabitants could use. another might have a specialized water collection and filtration system. yet another might be fitted with energy collection capacity through solar and/or geothermal. with this model, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, and each building doesn’t need to ‘specialize’ in all things sustainable. ramslie compared his idea with computers: a single PC doesn’t do us much good, but create a network between multiple computers, and all users see huge benefit. it’s great to see this kind of thinking within the city of vancouver’s planning department.

– “wild card” ifny lachance promoting the simple, yet so often unconsidered idea that buying green isn’t as green as buying nothing at all.

– eesmyal santos-brault’s ‘hive’ concept for work space, where the conventional office is abandoned and replaced by communal, comfortable, flexible work space that can be used how/when you want.

– tegan adams’ focus on food and the need for each of us to think consciously about what our motivations are behind what we choose to eat every day.

i’m feeling good tonight – vancouver’s got some very promising seeds planted. to learn more about the city’s plan to become the world’s greenest city by 2020, and to share your two cents on how to make this happen, go to www.talkgreentous.ca