Industrious Sunday

Maybe it's because Vancouver is so flowery, shiny and more and more residential that I like to go look for the more industrial corners of this city. I find stacks of pallets, graffitied dumpsters, and rusting industrial machinery just as beautiful as manicured gardens. Sunday mornings are great because most of these areas are deserted and you can ride freely in between buildings and down interesting lanes. Highlights of today's industrious bike ride were the train and the stack of golden reindeer.

The boy was very excited about this "sleeping" train.

 

I can't think of a clever caption for this, but it really wants one.

Two

A container full of Extreme Luxury Fur?

The Portable Orchard had a few apples left, but way too wormy to eat!

Vertical Gardens

Very cool vintage truck with wooden wheel spokes.

Stack of reindeer waiting for snow

Rusted!

Murals

We topped off our ride by stopping at the party store to buy helium balloons just because. What a perfectly perfect morning with my boy.

Next 'Venture' on the List

A funny thing happened this summer. We decided to go to White Rock for the day and parked the car at Crescent Beach. After a few hours of fooling around in the sand with the kid, my husband asked me if I wanted to go to the other beach. "What other beach?", "You, know, the White Rock beach over there." He responded.  I was confused, because I thought Crescent Beach was White Rock. Ever since I was a kid, when we came to White Rock we only ever played here at Crescent Beach, so I had no idea what was around the bend. I was so surprised when I saw the bay with the beach full of people, the boardwalk, and all the restaurants and shops! All this time and I had no idea!

My husband was making fun of me, because he always thought I knew every place to visit in the Lower Mainland, and yet I had no idea White Rock was much more than that tiny strip of beach with 3 competing ice cream stores! I might be teased about this one for a long time because I do love adventures and I should know better. But hey, I'm not complaining, now, I have a new place to visit!

Like my kid says with enthusiasm: "Let's go on a 'venture!", so here are some of our favorites.  Most of them involve being outside, require some kind of transportation, which is half the fun for a two and half year old and almost all 'ventures include some yummy food which is half the fun for me. They hardly cost anything (except gas) and can be done in any kind of weather.

1. Pie Picnic and Beach Walk in West Vancouver. Drive to the Savory Island Pie Company on Marine Drive, and buy a pie to go. Get coffees too. Walk down to the beach and enjoy the view while eating right out of the box. Continue your stroll going East to Ambleside or West to Dundarave Village.

2. Fish and Chips Picnic at Whytecliff Park. Drive the scenic route to Horseshoe Bay along Marine Drive, get some take out fish and chips in Horseshoe Bay and backtrack to Whytecliff park to enjoy the view and take photos.

3. "You Pick". Make your way to a "You Pick" farm at least once a year. Starting in June, you can pick your own strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and later, apples, pumpkins, squash and zucchinis. Another farm favorite is "The Circle Farm Tours" where you can download a map and visit a variety of farms all over the Fraser Valley. Start salivating now and plan to have a dinner party tonight; bison steaks, fresh goat cheese, lavender honey, wine and fresh produce.

4. Packing a Lunch and Going to a Regional Park. If you live in Vancouver proper, you might go to the beaches often, but like me, you might forget about the Pacific Spirit Park near UBC. There is over 73km of walking trails, including some clothing optional trails along Wreck Beach and a lovely wood-planked trail around Camosun Bog near 21st ave. and Crown. Iona Beach in Richmond is also one of my favorite places to soak up some sun. The beach is less frequented than then those in the city and you get a front row seat for the sunset. Other favorites include Boundary Bay Beach, Lynn Headwaters Park and suspension bridge, Colony Farm (bring your bike), and the Capilano River Park and the fish hatchery. My most favorite is Crippen Park on Bowen Island. Totally doable with a decent stroller, you can walk on the ferry, walk to Killarney Lake, visit the library, eat some sushi and play on the beach! NOTE: Burnaby Lake Park is a very boring park. There is a trail around it, but most of the time you cannot see the lake, and there is a constant hum from the highway. Yuck. Good for joggers with ipods maybe.

5. Perogy Night at the Holy Trinity Ukrainian Orthodox Church on 10th and Main Street. Next time you think of it, ride by the church and note on the wall of the auditorium the date for Perogy Night. I think it's every first Friday of the month. I won't go into details. Don't expect fancy. Expect delicious moist perogies, big tables, a community vibe and white fluffy cake for dessert.

6. Rainy Day Picnics in Stanley Park. Wear all your rain gear, bring some extra socks and gloves and pack a hot lunch like soup in a Thermos, or pre-heated chicken pot pies wrapped in aluminum foil, or hot tea and cookies. There are lots of covered picnic tables throughout the park, but bring a towel just in case to wipe playground equipment or benches. Bring shovels, buckets, bubbles, a ball, anything you want, just as if it was sunny!

7. Bike Riding Vancouver Laneways. This is one of my favorite things to do with the kid. There is a ton of things to see; gardens, vintage cars, chicken coops, blackberry bushes, graffiti, construction (the kid's favorite). Plan your route to end at the Marche St-George (Try the almond croissant-you might fall in love), Matchstick Coffee or The Prophouse Cafe  or The Wilder Snail Cafe for some well-deserved caffeine.

8. Dollar Store/ Urban Source Art Day. Walk or bike to your nearest dollar store. Choose 2 or 3 new inspiring art supplies. Our favorite these days is glitter glue, but we've had a blast with googly eyes, pipe cleaners, stickers and Popsicle sticks. On the way home, look for things in nature that you could add to your art project: leaves, rocks, sticks, feathers, shells, etc... This blog is great for craft ideas if you're not "crafty".

9. Tea Time at London Farm. If you're out in Steveston, make sure you don't fill up on Fish&Chips and stop by the London Farm. All their pastries are homemade and the tea is divine! (Even for me, a coffee person. Go say hi to the chickens out back and take a stroll along the beach by the river.

10. Riding or Looking for Transportation. My boy is obsessed with trains, tractors, boats, planes, buses, and cars. For him a ride on the Skytrain or the Seabus is an 'venture. Good places to experience transportation is anywhere along the Fraser River, at the Quay in North Vancouver, the lesser known mini train at Confederation Park in Burnaby, New Westminster Quay, and at the Vancouver International Airport. If your kid is like mine, just driving over the railroad tracks along Arbutus Street is a treat!

If my ideas are a bit "been there, done that" for you, then take a look at this website for more family fun!  The Playground and Wanderful sections on Vancouver is Awesome are also a good place to look for family friendly activities and events.

The Wilder Snail Cafe in Strathcona

Mini Train in Confederation Park

Salmon at the Capilano River Hatchery

Simple Family Habits

There are some habits I've adopted over the last year that I've still managed to keep. Most of these habits I've stolen from other savy moms I know or from simplicity blogs. Here are some my favorites. I'm always looking for more good ideas, so please share yours!

1. Place 1 spray bottle with a water/vinegar solution and a rag under each sink in your home. I started doing this only about a month ago, and I love it. If I happen to be in the bathroom and notice it could use I wipe, it takes two seconds and presto!
2. Clear and rinse the sink after every meal. I've only started doing this recently, but boy, do I love it! It's like a clear counter, it just makes you want to cook something delicious!
3. Teach everyone to set and clear the table. It's the best way to support the chef in your family.
4. Always pack light. Trust your resourcefulness.
5. When it comes to mind, de-clutter where ever you are for a few minutes at a time.
6. Whether it's your toddler pitching a fit on the sidewalk, or your husband who is clearly not listening or anybody else who is rubbing you the wrong way, look up at the sky, take a deep breath and say to yourself: "This too shall pass." It eases the nerves.
7. Designate Zen Zones in your home: Clutter free surfaces where you can place one single beautiful item to admire like a flower, a stone, a picture frame etc...
8. Go outside every day no matter the weather. Do art, exercise, garden, ride your bike, take out the hose, blow bubbles, dig, read, take pictures, write a letter, eat picnics, fly kites, attend car-free festivals, geo-cache, ride your bike to a city park, or go farther to one of Metro Vancouver's 22 regional parks. (My favorites are Crippen Park on Bowen Island, Iona Beach in Richmond and Barston Island in Surrey.)
9. Give the gift of experience. My friend bought her husband a cooking class at The Dirty Apron, and he's still raving about it. Or if making tortellini from scratch is not what they might like, how about pole dancing or a photography class? (PS. Pole dancing is a great workout and a lot of fun!)
10. Limit your exposure to advertisement as much as you can. Paste a red dot on your mailbox to stop flyers and junkmail. Read books instead of magazines, don't give away your email or your phone number at any store, replace television with a new hobby, and stay our of malls.

Zen Zone Basil

The Not-so-Free-Bed

It's 7:30pm. Sam from Craigslist is outside my house with his 18 year old son and my husband, trying to fit our dismantled queen size bed into his tiny hatchback. There's a lot of trial and error. Sam doesn't seem to have much experience because he's brought various belts and scarves to tie up the headboard to the roof of his rack-less car. While my husband, the engineer, and master-car-stuffer-arranger is politely trying to convince Sam to do it his way, Sam's son is standing on the sidewalk doing his best teenage, embarassed-by-my-dad stance and not lifting a finger. An hour later, Sam and his son finally return home with all the bed pieces stuffed in their car. This is the story of our bed.

Ten years ago, my husband arrived in Vancouver from his studies in England and bought a bed at Ikea; nothing fancy. I don't remember when I started to feel the individual springs poking through, but it's been at least a year that I've noticed my knee caps fit perfectly in them. Aside from the lumpy mattress, the frame itself has been squeaking every time we turn over which is amplified through the mattress. So after months of saying to each other that we should buy a new bed, we finally blocked off a Saturday morning to go check some out.

We zeroed in on one store that carried what we wanted, the kid jumped on all of them and after sleeping on it, (pun intended) we finally settled on a something we could both agree on. The retailer informed us that we would have to pay $50 for the delivery guys to take away our old bed and another $50 for the mattress. Ah! The hidden cost of things! Imagine what it would look like if we went to a store and the cost of removal/recycling was itemized along with the purchase cost? Would we think more about what why buy if we could see what it costs to have it hauled away to the dump or processed in a recycling plant?

So I posted my bed on Craigslist for free and thought I'd save myself $50.  In one day, I had almost 100 interested people. Sam was third on the list. The first lady had a purse stolen on the way to pick up my bed, the second lady never returned my calls and Sam, happy to get this bed for his son, showed up on the first night with his tiny car and no rope.

Our lumpy mattress is now on the floor and we're having a blast. The kid is jumping like crazy, rolling and doing somersaults. We're been running up to the mattress in the middle of the day to read stories and fool around with the blankets. The kid is the Olympic Mattress Jumping Gold Medalist and I'm the commenter. I'll be happy to get rid of this scrap metal lump loosely draped with a cheap mystery fabric when the new mattress and bed frame arrives and I'll pay the $50 to have it hauled away, but I'll miss the fun we've been having with it.

Ikea Fabric Frenzy

Okay, so I went to Ikea. And as you might already know from previous posts, I have a love-hate relationship with Ikea; 'cause I don't need what's there, but every once in a while, I think I do. One way I keep my relationship balanced with this store, is I put what I think I need on a 30 day wish list. If I still think I need that "thing", I'll go. I look online first or at the magazine, and take measurements. (The 2013 issue arrived at my doorstep in early September-very scary. Scary like stores that put out Christmas stuff in October). I usually skip the round-about-make-you-dizzy showroom and head straight to the "market" though the unmarked door hidden behind the staircase.

Knowing that I will be tempted to get something other than what's on my list, I have a final little game I play with myself; once I get to the till, I must take at least one item out of the trolley and leave it behind. I especially stay away from coasters, candles, fake greenery, containers of any sort, wine glasses, and any linen or pillow. I will allow myself fabric, hand-towels, and kid's items. It's just not the right place to go to keep things clutter free and minimalist even if it seems they promise this- if only you had the right container.

Anyways, I digress. I do love Ikea fabric. It's reasonably priced, a good quality cotton and has pretty funky designs. I haven't found any pillows, curtains or bed linen made of their fabric, so if you decide to sew something for your house, there's a good chance that your neighbors won't have the exact same thing too. I found heavy cotton canvas to recover our dining room chairs that used to be white (dumb, I know- the photo doesn't show how stained it is) and had enough to make pillows and little cases. I did occur to me, after I finished these projects, that I didn't really need the pillows and the cases, but anyways, it was fun to make.

Cleaning Up my Own Cleaning Habits

It must be because the season is changing that just like spring cleaning, I feel like there is more to do around the house. The patio garden needs tending, outdoor furniture needs to be put away and little household repairs seem to pop up everywhere, probably because we spent all our time outside during the summer and didn't notice.

I am always grateful that I live in a 1200 square foot townhouse and depending on who you are and where you live, you might think that was tiny or maybe pretty decent. Mostly it's because any bigger and the cleaning and repairs would seem overwhelming. And when that feeling creeps up, I get mad and resentful and my poor husband has to hear about it. A lot.

Serendipity is always at work, because just a day after I complained to my husband that he wasn't pulling his weight around the house, I read Leo's new post on Zen Habits  which hit me like a big rubber mallet on the head. This quote especially:

"Cleaning and decluttering, for me, are mindfulness practices. They are not chores that I dread, nor ways to strive for a perfect living environment, but ways to practice living in the present moment. As such, they are some of my favorite things to do.
I wipe a counter with a rag, but I’m not doing it thinking, “This kitchen is so dirty!” (judgment) or “I wish people would clean up after themselves!” (expecting things to be different) or “I have a lot of work to do today” (future thinking) or “My son really got on my nerves when he said that this morning” (dwelling on the past). Or at least, when I do think these things, I notice them, and return to the wiping."

So for the past few days, I've been noticing what my mind and body are doing when cleaning. I've been trying to slow down and pay more attention to only the act of cleaning. It's amazing what you can notice about a cutting board when you are mindfully washing it. Here are some guidelines which I thought were useful to clean without thinking, "This never ends." or "Why am I the only person cleaning up after themselves?"

1. When you clean, just clean. Don’t plan, don’t have your mind on the next task as you’re doing the current task, don’t listen to a podcast or watch TV as you’re doing the task at hand. Just wipe. Just sweep. Just declutter. Just wash, just rinse.

2. Do your work with gratitude and compassion. Before you start, remember to be grateful for what you have, for being able to clean or declutter. Be grateful for the people you have in your life, and remember why you’re grateful for them. Then remember you’re cleaning out of compassion: for the people in your life, so that their day might be a bit better for having a clean counter or sink, for yourself, so that you might have a nice uncluttered space in which to read a good book. This is your intention, and it will help you remember to be mindful.

3. Pay attention to your thoughts, body, actions. Practice focusing your attention: on the rag, on the broom, on the dust. But also notice your thoughts: are you thinking about other things? Are you judging others? Are you wishing things were different? Are you angry? Don’t banish the thoughts, but notice them. Then return to the cleaning. Notice too as you clean your body, and your breathing. Notice everything about the moment, immerse yourself in the moment.

4. Leave no trace. This, of course, is a philosophy of those who use the outdoors — to have a minimal impact on the land, to leave only footprints and take only pictures. But what about in our homes and workplaces? These aren’t quite as natural as a lake or mountain, perhaps, but they are our habitats. We must live here, often with loved ones, and so we should be mindful of the impact we’re having on this habitat. Leave no trace means that you don’t leave a mess, that you dispose of your waste properly, that you are respectful of other people in your space.

 

How many times will I have to hit myself over the head with my imaginary rubber mallet before it finally sinks in that it's only about me and my thoughts. If I choose to change my thoughts, the "task" takes on an entire different meaning and feels much better. I might have to hit myself a few more times, it's repetitive, but it doesn't hurt.I also liked Leo's  suggestions some of which I've already implemented, but others I hadn't thought about:

1. Wash and put away your bowl. (other dishes too, but I think he means as if it was your favorite bowl or cup and to imagine these "tools" as special and needing special care.)
2. Clean as you go. Don’t pile things on the counters or in the sink. (guilty!)
3. Have a toilet brush near the toilet, and if you notice it even a little dirty after you use it, take the brush and give the bowl a quick swish and flush. (I just came back from the store with a swisher today and the boy was so excited, he ran upstairs to clean the toilet!)
4. Keep flat surfaces clear. Floors should have only furniture and rugs.
5. Take care of your tools as if they were your own eyes.
6. Be gentle with those around you. (Good advice Leo! Sorry, my man!)
7. You are already there. This is not a set of ideals to aspire to, a standard of perfection to achieve. This is a mindfulness practice, and if you are cleaning or decluttering mindfully, you have already arrived.

Don't you love this last suggestion? It is not a set of ideals to aspire to, a standard of perfection to achieve. It is a mindfulness practice! This was the missing piece and if I catch myself feeling resentful or angry while cleaning, I hope I remember to stop, refocus, and be in the present moment.

Slow on the Ball?

School is in again. We hear the bell from the elementary school up the street, and when the kid hears it, he always says: Dinner time! It's funny.  Even if you're not in school or have kids in school, you still notice it; there are parents doing hurried maneuvers in their cars to get their kids in on time, there are more students crowding the buses and spacing out with their phones, suddenly teenagers resurface and loiter casually in the parks, and community centers start their new programming. There's a burst of energy all around.

I missed the "did you sign your kid up for some classes?" frenzy. Oh, well. I was a bit slow on the ball on that one. Didn't get online at exactly 9am when the swimming registration opened, didn't stand in line in June to get in the September gymnastics classes, didn't remember my password to sign in for music classes.... Poor kid. I'm not sure if it was laziness or just sincere denial that fall was upon us. I think it might be partly rebellion...

It reminds me of when I was pregnant and everyone made a point of asking me if I had put the kid's name down on some daycare list and shockingly looking at me when I said I hadn't as if I had already failed at being a good parent. You know, the kind of parent that thinks years ahead and stands in a snow storm to get on the list of the "super-supremo daycare" to win brownie points with the peers. "Oh yes, we got in because we put junior's name down for  "Little Lucky Rainbow Teddy Bear Daycare" the day after conception. I got up at 5am with my positive pee-stick in my pocket to be the first at the door. Thank goodness, because, where else can you find an all-wood toy, child-centered, organic snack, multi-lingual daycare with caregivers who are not only professional musicians and singers, but also sew all the uniforms by hand with organic bamboo grown in the daycare garden.? And all for only $4000 a month?"

Am I missing the point? Am I supposed "fight" for my kid's "education"? Is it just a fact of life these days? Maybe it is. My mom told me that when I was a kid, she would get up early on registration day to get to the community center and sign me up for swimming lessons. So maybe this is not new. I wonder if we, the parents, are in a hurry to see our kids learn new things, partly because it's so much fun, but also because it feels good to be proud of our kid when they accomplish something new. I can't tell you how impressed I was to see my two year old crack eggs without any shell bits falling in the bowl, but does it mean I need to sign him up for cooking classes? If I don't sign him up for any classes, does that make me a bad mom? Am I not maximizing his learning potential? I don't know. I did, however, remember to renew our membership to the Aquarium. So at least there will be snack time with the baby-lugas. (belugas)

a first day of school with my brother

Creative Energy

I hung up my painting up the other day and now it's back to the sewing machine! Yahoo! I had a lot of scraps from making the kid's big boy quilt and made up some bookmarks. I recently bought some fabric paint and wanted to try it out so I added little stencils on them. I was thinking mostly about my husband who has a pile of magazines, books and his "Porsche Bible" on his bedside table, while I have a stack of my neighbor's borrowed novels. So there, you go, 2 bookmarks for my husband and 2 for Marie-Anne.

I also completed a pair of lined wool pants for the kid. I was guesstimating how to attach the lining to the pants and ended up with two pairs of pants attached at the bottoms, oops. A bit of seam-ripping, some head scratching and presto!

 

The No-Nap Painting

There's something about having a coffee in neat neighborhood cafe in a new city that makes you completely content with life; a perfect moment. In fact, that's common with any activity you do while traveling, something as simple as riding a bike or reading the paper on a bench becomes more vivid, more "interesting" than if you were doing the same thing at home. Your friends say "wow" when you tell them about the time you did the crossword overlooking some suspended bridge or water fountain.

I've had a long serie of these moments these last summer days; sucking on homemade popsicles, watching the kid play with the hose, sipping wine with the neighbors, seeing the salmon jump the hatchery ladder, painting a large canvas and many other deliciously simple activities. I've enjoyed these slower days and relish them just as if I were on vacation away.

Sometimes I regret, for a moment or two, especially on long weekends, not having planned something more extravagant: a road trip, a camping adventure, or a romantic getaway with my husband, but I quickly get distracted with daily trips to the park, having snacks with the belugas at the aquarium and having the kid's friends over for old fashioned bed jumping.

My no-nap painting

It's been a week since my son has decided that naps were not part of his daily repertoire of favorite activities, much to my exhausted dismay. "I no close my eyes" he says as I set him down in his bed for "quiet time". As he's spending a good hour talking in bed and inventing scenarios with his stuffed animals, I've been downstairs painting away. Clearly, my frustration with the no-nap situation was transferring itself onto my canvas, because I think I've changed the colors of these darn triangles at least a zillion times all the while hoping I wasn't nearing that "gesso it back to white" moment when you've gone too far and it has become a big puky mess.

So much to my delight, the boy has broken his no-nap pattern today, and I am here finally back to my blog, listening to piano on CBC and feeling the breeze on the patio. Another perfect peaceful summer moment at home.

Blackberry Days

There's a blackberry progression; first too firm to pull off, then dark purple, but not sweet, then suddenly one day, they start to gently roll into your hand, giving itself up for a pie. Then they shrivel up, raisin-like and disappear.

We found a "super patch" by the river, one you don't mention to your neighbors, sneaking away with your Tupperware hidden under your long sleeve shirt on a blistering hot august morning. Once there, strangers are there, having found the super patch too, and much better equipped: sunhats, steel-toed shoes, poles, ladders, yogurt containers tied around their neck for two-handed picking and Ziploc bags for one step freezer action. Their hands are stained like a bad henna party, but their lips intact, not like us, who gorge more than put away in our containers. We start to feel too full and lethargic to keep picking, so we sit in the sun and smell the sweet aroma of dry grass, railroad tar, and river water.

There are smaller patches in the lanes around the neighborhood; we make the rounds after dinner for dessert. We make daddy get the high ones even if he's wearing shorts and getting scratched. It amazes me that crows, which I find regularly inside my bag at the park, pecking away at some old cracker crumbs, haven't figured out how to get our blackberries. I love these fruits, they grow best when completely ignored, and spread like wildfire. No need for neat rows, frequent watering, singing and weeding; it a real urban crop.