I know this post is a bit late, but a couple weekends ago the BookCrossers went on a daytrip to Granville Island during the Olympics. Our pretense was to deposit books… but I forgot to bring them. Instead, here are some highlights and photos from the trip. If you’d like to see all the photos, visit my Flickr set. Also, Marina got some fantastic photos too… I hope she doesn’t mine if I post a few here!

Marina snapped this shot of us sitting on The Bench art installation. I’m crouching in a swoopy-crevice that was oddly comfortable.

We met at the Olympic Village skytrain station where the city has borrowed a streetcar from Brussels. We rode the lovely, efficient, sleek, sexy Bombardier tram to Granville Island. The Bombardier “Olympic Line” had been running since February 1st and in just 30 days had over 300,000 riders! I wish we could keep it… but we have to return them to Brussels as they are far too expensive for Vancouver to keep.

We arrive at Granville Island and began wandering around. Here is the pond beside the Kids Market.

Wandering around the Public Market… to our left and behind were lines and lines of people waiting to get into Atlantic House.

Marina got interviewed by Slovak TV on who was going to be in the Gold Medal Hockey game.

Oh yea and we left books to roam…

Red and white admiring the Burrard Street Bridge.

Me basking in the Spring (February!!) sun

Marina snapped a shot of me scratching the Swiss mountain goat’s ears… and Dale is grabbing it by the horns.

Then we wandered around Place de la Francophonie (The French Quarter).

All in all it was a lovely day!

Here’s a video I took of the tram leaving Granville Island. Please excuse the shaky camera, I was reaching up a wall and under a fence to film this.

Chan recently lost a dear friend to breast cancer. Sissy and Gretchen, being the supportive furkids they are, initiated the Pink Parade to help raise awareness for breast cancer. Henry and I decided to help out… unfortunately he doesn’t like to dress up as much as Chan’s girls do! You can easily join in too! Visit Sissy and Gretchen’s post to learn about the initiative (you don’t have to use pets).

My first idea was Henry’s hot pink mouse… but he is not a very independent player. It took a few tosses to get this shot, and after the mouse fell he looked at me like “okay, now what?”

My next idea was my hair! I dyed my hair purple several months ago and then lightened it up over the holidays. Henry loves sitting on my shoulder like this and rubbing his head into me. He also likes to chew on my ponytail too. But I still didn’t think this quite conveyed what I wanted to.

So I subjected Henry to his least favourite activity: dress up. Mainly it just confuses him. He has never liked to be “under” or “within” things like blankets or covers or outfits.

Princess Henry

However, if you catch him asleep and unawares… you can do what you like! [This is an old photo] (In real life, his tiara is pink)

It’s hard to describe and/or summarize the chaos going on here. Everyone is wearing Canada gear and I can’t tell who is a tourist unless they’re wearing a different country’s gear. Here are some photos and links I like. For all my photos, view my Vancouver Olympics 2010 collection on Flickr.

Countdown to the Olympics — 8 Days to go (taken February 4, 2010)

Lantern Trees at LunarFest on Granville Street

Vancouver Biennale art installation “Cabeza Vainilla, Cabeza ordoba, Cabeza Chiapas” by Mexican artist Javier Marin

The Olympic Cauldron! ….. wait a minute….. what’s that fence?

Let’s try that again (with some zoom)…. The Olympic Flame!

Inside the Four Host First Nations Aboriginal Pavilion. Photo taken (with permission) during screening of “We Are Here”.

Inside Canada’s Northern Pavilion highlighting the Yukon Territories, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut.

I know I haven’t posted much on the blog lately, but I’ve been quite the traveller with limited internet access. I’ve seen lots of England, which was my original intention: Stratford-Upon-Avon, Bristol, Bath, Salisbury, Stonehenge, Leeds, and tomorrow the destination is York. Here are a few photos as I don’t have time to relate all my travels yet.

That will have to satisfy for now. My flight home is on Wednesday and I’m planning to spend as much time as possible with my boyfriend until then. Cheerio!

Here are some photos Craig and I took of the dogs when it began to snow last week. I really enjoy taking them out and the snow makes it even more fun. Happy Dogs on Thursday!

8 inches of snow on the Racecourse

On the path at Peel Park near the University of Salford

Making a snow angel while the dogs lick my face and jump over me.

Snow snuggles with Oscar

Oscar sporting new Snow Boots

I’ve arrived safely in Manchester, despite severe delays in London Heathrow and last week’s threat of a British Airways strike. Fortunately the strike was averted due to court order and my flight was still scheduled. I left Sunday night and we were late leaving from YVR (Vancouver, BC). I was worried I wasn’t going to make my connecting flight up to Manchester. I was running through the new Terminal 5 in Heathrow, which is owned and operated by British Airways.  There were about three security checkpoints and insane queues, I didn’t think I was going to make my second flight.

Fortunately (for me) it was delayed about an hour so I was able to make it to my gate on time. Then it began to snow and we sat on the plane for hours waiting for a de-icing rig for our plane. All the planes in Heathrow were in the same situation — there were only seven de-icing rigs for the entire airport. Incoming planes had no gates to unload at and were sitting on the sides of the runways. Outgoing planes were stuck until we could be de-iced, and any flights originally scheduled for after 7:00pm takeoff were completely cancelled. Finally, after three hours on the plane, my flight left around 8:45pm. We finally arrived safe and sound in Manchester where Craig had been waiting for me.

Yesterday was spent recouperating, I slept in pretty late and then we went into Manchester city centre to finish our Christmas shopping. The city was pretty busy and it hailed several times while we were there. We took a walk around some of the German Christmas Markets scattered around the city centre.

Last night we took Craig’s dad’s dogs for a walk, and they absolutely adore the snow. This is Harvey jumping up for a snowball as Craig tosses it. And yes, that is the scarf I knit for Craig.

Today we’ve already taken the dogs for a nice long walk around the Racecourse in Salford. Salford is a city within Manchester and where Craig and his family live. The Racecourse was formerly a racetrack for horses and now is a playing field for football (soccer), etc. The Racecourse used to be really huge and also includes a lot of forested areas with walking paths along the River Irwell.

On Halloween night we decided to head over to Mountain View Cemetery for the 5th Annual Night for All Souls. It started on Friday October 30 as a celebration for the deceased with candles, shrines, flowers, and other personal memorials. They also opened the cemetery registry to locate specific graves and there was a world tea ceremony in honour of the First Nations peoples.

On Saturday October 31, the shrines were all lit up and we began by visiting the shrines.

Read the rest of this entry »

I made it out the Fraser Valley Bead & Jewellery Show on Saturday. It took place at the Cascades Casino and Convention Centre in Langley.

I was quite impressed with the show; it wasn’t giant, but it was a decent size with over 40 vendors and classes too. It was a perfect destination for a hobbyist, crafter, or beader because most of the vendors were retailers/wholesalers. A lot of the retail vendors were also local so I picked up a lot of business cards. There were several vendors who were artists themselves but it appeared the jewellery was unique or one-of-a-kind pieces.

Read the rest of this entry »

Formerly a Shell Gas Station located at King Edward and Main Street in Vancouver:

A magnet found in Army & Navy department store:

A recycling box found in the Central Branch of the Vancouver Public Library:

I’ve mentioned Elvis the hound dog before, and he is quite well trained when he wants to be. Here is a great video we got of him taking commands for a piece of salmon skin. Craig is dog-sitting while his aunt (Elvis’ mom) is out of town in Las Vegas!

I’m not quite sure what kind of hound Elvis is, he’s a mix definitely, and I think he might have some coonhound in him. I love his floppy ears!