Beautiful British Columbia*

It has been almost a week now in Vancouver, and so far I have nary a complaint. Sure, not having a job or much responsibility helps. Sure, having a fantastic, cute tour guide and slobbery dog-friend helps too. But I think if I look past these obvious attractions, I still find a city and area I am really quite fond of.

Out on the town Friday evening with Bryan's coworkers, his boss offered us his home on a small island located in Howe Sound, not far from Vancouver for the rest of the weekend. Gambier Island has one general store and a lot of natural beauty. After two ferry rides, Bryan, Moose and I arrived in New Brighton in search of an old Suburban with keys in the ignition and rear brakes that “may or may not work, depending on if Eli fixed them” to bring us to our destination. A vintage Airstream. Th King of RV's.


Ours was decked out in kid-friendly colorfulness. Science magazine pages tiled the floor, crayons were a strew, books crowded over shelves, dishes piled in cabinets and children's drawings adorned the walls. The in-doors was great, but the land was the adventure. Their lot is a virtual child paradise, complete with zip line, fire pit, pond, trampoline, tree swing and of course, thousands of bugs and fairies.


We explored for the area and then set to the task of starting the fire. After a few minutes of a damp start we soon had a blazing inferno** that lasted long into the night. We brought food to cook on the Airstream stove but chose instead to keep the company of the wilderness with a bag of potato chips and marshmallows to roast for dinner and dessert. How infrequent and precious these outdoor moments have become in the last few years! I was blissed out reminiscing about New Zealand and my days of campervan living, and realized again how much I long for a closer relationship to nature. After hours of conversation and contemplation we went to bed and I had one of the best nights sleep that I can recall... cuddled in piles of blankets with a gentle forest buzz in my ears and the smell of fire smoke in my hair.


We woke early the next morning (well, Bryan woke very early and saw the sunrise. I, like I said, was sleeping soundly.) We each walked down to the dock, and saw otters playing in the morning mist. These were beautiful alone-moments in a beautiful place.

We left the island rather early on Sunday. Buying out the entire IKEA Vancouver store on Saturday morning, we had unmade furniture waiting for our skilled assembly. We spent the rest of the day on Sunday working on making this beautiful loft space into a beautiful home space. We now have a couch to relax on! And space to chop on! And a table to eat on, and curtains to peak through and chairs to sit on! We are getting to a very homey, lovely space and I feel very privileged to be a contributor to design process.

Today Bryan flew to Toronto for a meeting of the creative computer minds. I toiled the day away wandering, cooking, eating, reading and taking myself to see the movie Vickie Christina Barcelona**. Tomorrow my dear friend Teresa visits for a few days for further Vancouver adventures.

Now I will retire to a book, some good music, a great dog and glass of wine and the pizza that I just made using a new pizza dough recipe and a completely foreign convection oven.


*BC license plate motto
**Slight exaggeration
** I loved this movie! I really appreciated Vickie and Christina's relationship and their non judgmental friendship. And I really appreciated that Javier Borden is pretty damn sexy.