December 2008

A short walk around Cumberland

Snow in Vancouver

Snow in Vancouver isn't common so when we got a run of cold weather followed by a snow storm, it was a change from the usual.

Helen and I had some time and driving to errands was out of the question (not that we do that much anyways) so we decided to do an extended walk to Granville Island to take in the sights. Vancouver isn't exactly the city of snowplows so road conditions were pretty bad. Sidewalks were also terrible so the walk took longer than it normally would.

The seawall had a number of surprises. I've never seen anyone cross country ski around the sea wall, but we saw two skiiers pass by (in opposite directions). The water was starting to freeze and tiny slush icebergs formed a skin on the ocean. The ducks that normally hang out in the area had a coating of snow on their backs and left trail behind them as they pushed through the ice. Tough day to be a duck.s

The final blow was Alder Bay frozen. This is salt water - pacific ocean - that separates Granville Island from the rest of the sea wall. I was quite surprised to see it locked in ice and snow building up on the surface. It had obviously been cold recently.

Cumberland

I was the Comox Valley for Christmas and had a few hours free. Helen and I decided to drive up and take a walk around.

Cumberland is a small town that hasn't take off like the surrounding towns of Courtney/Comox. The place is almost completely free franchised retail - everything here was created by locals. (The recognizable retail was the liquor store, post office and gas station). Most of these stores have been used for multiple purposes over the years (my favorite was the old movie theater).

Happy New Years!

Happy new years parties have been a tradition for 10+ years for my friends. This years party was a bit smaller than most, but not less fun. Lets go over the essentials:

The game of the night was agricola. This is a new game but many of the elements are familiar from other games (especially another favorite of ours - Puerto Rico). This was our first game to conclusion and we are still mastering the rules - we made a few minor errors, but otherwise executed well. Like most of our favorite games, there are a variety of ways to win and generally following the same strategy as someone else will lead to neither of you winning.

A great new years party has a bar tender. Eric did excellent service making sure everyone was topped up with drink. The most common thing I heard was "bitters" - a number of drinks he made were complex concoctions blending bitters and other booze. Sean graciously provided most of the bar.

What else? Sean did a "everyone bring a snack" which was an excellent idea. We ordered out Pizza which arrived hot an fairly quickly (a big surprise to me - I figured most delivery places would be swamped). Nearing the appointed time, champagne was poured and we found a streaming TV station to show a countdown. (Cable and even TV tuners is starting to be a rarity among the circle of friends).

Party kept going after midnight. The Wii came out and the group games came out. Helen had to work the next morning so this is where I stepped out. Thanks everyone for the great party!