The Bostonians.

My cousins from Boston came out visit me this weekend and I was very happy to see them again. To be less-selfish, Gar-Hay and Alhambra visited Vancouver not just because of me, but because our other cousin, Matthew got married and had their wedding banquet here. It’s been close to 15 years I think since the last time I saw them so it was nice to reset the clock. Hopefully we’ll make the effort in seeing each other more often before waiting for another 15 years...

After part-taking in the environmental movement march at the foot of the Cambie Street Bridge on Saturday morning with our uncle James, I called Jay to see what he was up to and ask if he would like to hang out with us on this unusually sunny day (it’s been raining in Vancouver for weeks). We met up with him at Caffè Artigiano across from the VAG and sat down for a light lunch, then walked towards the Burrard Street Bridge to follow the coastline along English Bay. We dropped into a quaint French bakery called Tartine for some pastries to eat along the way.

Jay joined us for a family dinner gathering at Uncle Ben’s and met more of my extended family there including my cousin Matthew and his new wife. Uncle Hing cooked lobsters which was the main course. Capone’s was the pace to be for a late night social after dinner.

I had spent two consecutive nights over at grandmas so that I could spend more quality time with my cousins I hadn’t seen in over a decade. Grandma was happy to see me as well as I hadn’t seen her in about a year. I suppose I should make more of an effort in staying in touch and showing my face to family events.

Time flies when you’re having fun. This adage couldn’t be more true over the past few days hanging out with the Bostonians. But alas, the other adage all good things must come to an end, also rang true. On Sunday morning, I said my goodbyes to my uncle Hing, auntie Christine, and Gar-Hay flying back to Boston, then to Al heading back to Kansas a few hours later at the Greyhound Bus terminal.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jay and I hosted a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner tonight with plenty of food and wine to go around for all of our invited friends. We had one stipulation when we sent out invites to our friends: no ready-made store-bought food allowed!

Tim and Kamilla arrived at Jay’s a few hours before the appointed time to prepare roasted lamb to be served in time for dinner while I was preparing the turkey to follow. Ieda was also part of the prep crew helping me with stuffing the stuffing and also made some home made pumpkin pie and sangrias. We were awesome in the kitchen and had a lot of fun! More of this and I may actually turn into a not-so-bad chef.

Everything turned out wonderfully well and it was very nice to share this feeling with friends. Happy Thanksgiving!

Sunshine Coast.

When Ieda asked me if I would like to join her and her bf Cole on a road trip to the Sunshine Coast, I had initially refused, claiming that I was too busy with other plans. And I did have other plans! This was supposed to be the weekend where I had set aside some time for self development and catch up on personal work. But the better of me told me that I should go and have fun, and so I reversed my decision and went.

And I’m glad I did! We were blessed with another great day with sunshine on our shoulders. We boarded the ferry from Horseshoe Bay in the early morning and made our way to the Langdale Ferry Terminal on the other side. From there, we drove past Gibsons to Sechelt where everything was closed for the day. We found our own adventure further in at a place called Smuggler Cove Provincial Park. Over a century ago, this isolated place was the entry port for many illegal Chinese labourers, hence the name of the park. We took the forested trails to Welcome Pass which offered a spectacular view of Texada Island to the north.

Cole was demonstrating to Ieda and I on how he was able to hop over rocks half submerged in flowing water to get to get on top of a large bolder a short distance across and encouraged us to give it a try. But with my camera equipment on my back, I was hesitant to. As Cole was making his way back across, hopping on the same half-submerged rocks, his foot slipped into the flowing water, getting his shoes, socks, and the lower part of his jeans soaked. Laughter ensued.

We moved on along the Sunshine Coast Highway to Halfmoon Bay, took some scenic pictures of us and the Strait of Georgia behind us, and continued heading west to Egmont - Pender Harbour to look for a place to eat. We didn’t have a lot of choices in terms of where to eat, which is common for small outposts scattered about the island. We hung around Earls Cove Ferry Terminal debating on whether or not we should head onwards to Powell River, but the sporadic and limited ferry runs made it hard for us to see it all in a day trip, so we turned around instead.

It was a good thing we did as we nearly missed the last sailing back home to Horseshoe Bay.