We're Engaged!

Yesterday was an exciting day because Carmella and I got engaged!  Here are some quick pictures to share while things are still fresh.

We made a nice picnic, and brought it to a nice natural beach.  We found a log, and set out our things.  We had root beer, a thermos of hot chocolate, and some great sandwiches.  We made them brimming with roasted chicken and other toppings.

After I began to eat, I told Carmella I wanted to transfer some of my ingredients to a spare bun I happened to have with me.  Since my hands were full, could she tear open the bun for me?

She began to open up the bun, and was confused why I had an extra bun with me.  Then she noticed that the bun had a big hole in it, and wondered why I'd bought a faulty bun.

Then, she said "There's something in here..." and then pulled out the ring in its jewelery box.  

Here, Carmella re-enacts the moment:

The ring is small, and fits very well on Carmella's small finger.  The diamond is a Canadian one, which was important to us.

We had been pretty open with each other about our plans, but Carmella didn't know when I would ask her, and didn't know when I had bought the ring. Apparently she'd been expecting the question at almost every fun date we've been on for the last eight months! The walk on the Sea Wall, the dinner at Modern Burger, the time we jogged around the block...all were cause for Carmella to wonder if she'd be given a new piece of jewelery. But no! I kept her guessing, and eventually hid it in a bun!

It was a fun afternoon, and we stayed at the beach for a few hours.  Since then, there have been lots of phone calls to make, stories to tell, plans to think about, and congratulations to accept.

I have some more material to post, but I'll do that in the next few days.

And we don't know when or where it will be yet, and we're not even sure what the ceremony will be like.

Thanks for the kind wishes everyone!

The UBC Apple Festival

Today was the UBC Apple Festival, held at the botanical gardens on campus. Carmella has been to this event before, but it was my first time.  It's a family event, and there is an area for children with apple-themed games and face painting, apple presentations and displays, apple tasting, and other apple events.  There's also a place to buy apples and apple products, like pies, juice, and cider.  You can also buy an apple tree.

Even though there are other events, the main draw is the opportunity to purchase apples that you can't find at the grocery store.  These are heritage apples, new apples, rare apples, and apples with names you've never heard of. 

The Apple Festival is an annual event, held over two days.  We tried to attend it yesterday, but got there just as they were closing, and we weren't allowed in.  So, we went back today, early enough to get in.  Carmella knew they'd run out of apples at the end of the day, so we made sure to get there early.

Here's the sign, pointing the way to the apple trees.  You can't really see it, but there's a list of the type of apple trees you can buy.  Most of them are sold out.

Here's a list of the apple varieties you can buy.  There are probably more than seventy there.  If you look closely, you can see names like Kent, Lord Lambour, Marigold Splendour, Jonathan, Sundance, Wolf River, and Carmella's favourite, Ambrosia.  If you look even closer, you'll see there's a Sold Out sign on every variety except one or two.

This scene greeted us as we entered the sales area.  Only a few types of apples left to buy! 

The market area was a sad site.  Everything sold out on Saturday except a few varieties, and the selling area was empty.  I heard people talking about how busy Saturday was at the Festival, because it was sunny and a weekend.  At this end of the country, those two things don't usually happen at the same time in the fall.  All those Saturday people bought up all the apples, leaving a scant few for the Sunday Stragglers.

 I think I heard crickets chirping, and saw a prairie ball roll by. 

Carmella and I rushed to the sales place to get some apples, as we knew they wouldn't last long.  Carmella bought a bag of the green ones, called Bramley's Seedling and a bag of red SPA 493.  The SPA 493 is a new strain of apple that doesn't have real name yet, just this identification code.  It sounds genetically modified, but I'm pretty sure it's natural and good.  They wouldn't sell us genetically modified apples at an earthy apple festival, would they?  

After she bought them, we checked out the rest of the festival.  While the market area is the most popular section, it's not the only part of the Apple Festival.

Here, a friendly volunteer talks apple with an interested onlooker.  On the tables are something like 200 different types of apples.  There was a placard by each with a small blurb about each one, including its various characteristics: taste, size, crispness, harvest time, and how long they'll last in your cupboard.

Before today, I thought there were maybe five different apple types; Granny Smith, Delicious, Empire, McIntosh, and Crab.  Now, I know that list is missing about 195 names.

The UBC Botanical Garden is a big place, and we had to walk through it to get to the next section of the festival.  They had big apples hanging in the trees to mark the way.  Carmella is happy to find a sign representing the bag of green apples she bought earlier.

We noted that the Botanical Gardens usually cost $12 to enter, so we decided to check out the grounds, since we only paid $2.  In the Asian Garden, Carmella found a bamboo plant.  She nuzzles it like a panda.

She then took this picture, which makes it look like a much bigger tree than it really was!

Here's a tree that was actually really big.  You could crawl into it, as Carmella demonstrates.

She's stuck!

Free at last!

After the Festival, we went over to Carmella's and made this pie.  Carmella did all the hard work, like sorting out the crust, filling it, making the apples ready to put inside, and getting the amounts of sugar and cinnamon right.  I did the grunt work of peeling and cutting the apples.

The pie was excellent!  My favourite part, other than its great taste, was the little apple Carmella carved into the top of the crust.

The Apple Festival was a great event.  Next year, I'm going to aim to get there early on Saturday, and I'm going to try and buy a bag of Jonathan apples.  I read they're widely used in breeding programs because of their great taste.

And those SPA 493s?  They are crisp and sweet, and a great eating apple.  I would recommend them!

Douglas Coupland's Massey Lecture

Today, Carmella and I went to the Chan Centre at UBC, for the first stop on the Massey Lecture cross-Canada tour.  Douglas Coupland was reading.

I bought our tickets a few weeks ago, and picked them up today.  I was expecting to have a discussion with the lady at the ticket booth about Carmella's student-priced ticket, as I didn't have her ID with me.  Turns out she didn't even notice, or probably didn't care.  I've come to realize students get a lot of perks, and if one was surly enough to fib student-dom, many discounts could be had.

Carmella was working in Whistler today, and left work there right away to make it back to Vancouver in time for the show.  She got to my house at about 7pm, and we would travel the short distance to UBC for the 8pm show.  I had a homemade pizza almost made, but not quite because I realized I should cook the sausage before putting it on the pizza.

We brought the finished pizza along in the car, and ate on the way there.  We also brought two glasses and a jug of apple juice, so I made sure to drive in a manner that wouldn't cause a massive apple juice clean-up.

We got there in good time, at about 7:45.  The tickets were General Admission, so we just found our own seats.  There were two at the very front, so we took those as I wanted to be right in on the action!  Here's Rick Cluff from Vancouver's CBC morning show, introducing the evening.  It's an interesting experience seeing someone talk, when you're used to only hearing them.  He was older than I imagined.

Douglas Coupland appeared on stage, and began to speak.  It was great.  He decided to write fiction instead of the traditional non-fiction lecture, and read us the first of a five-part novel that deals with what it means to be human.

His reading was punctuated by several "minefields", a word he used to explain the kind of sentence he trips on for no reason; the kind of sentence that requires extra care to navigate.  He asked us who put the comma on the page, when obviously it needed a period.  Then he remembered who wrote what he was reading.  It was funny, and provided a short mental break from the text.  I wonder if he did it on purpose, to keep the crowd engaged.

After his reading, he sat down with CBC's Paul Kennedy, who hosts the radio show called Ideas.  There were a few questions from the audience, and some from Paul Kennedy.  Again, it was interesting to watch someone speak after only hearing his voice in my car.  Like Rick Cluff, Paul Kennedy was a surprise; he had more years and less height than I expected.

Vancouver's literati were in attendance, and people wore business suits and tried to look fancy.  I didn't have time to look around really, but the average age was older than Carmella and I although there were a few teenagers in the seats.

It was a different crowd from the one Kirsten and I were a part of in Victoria, around 2003 when we heard him read from Hey Nostradamus!, my favourite Coupland book.  That crowd was full of art students, hippies, and colourful characters who enjoy his style of writing.

The audience questions at the 2003 reading were very light, and delt with his past books, the characters in his books, future plans, and other random, fun topics.  The questions from the crowd tonight were a bit more wordy and the average syllable count was likely higher than in 2003.  It made me wonder if people put their syllables in their back pockets and take them out when necessary, perhaps when the CBC is recording them for a nationally broadcast show.

There was a good balance though, and not everyone was out to prove themselves a literary pundit.  One girl asked a great question, but prefaced it by saying she recently earned her PhD by writing a thesis on Douglas Coupland.  She was star-struck, and the crowd enjoyed it.  Her question was good, and I figure it won't end up on the editing room floor when the talk gets aired in November.  It was about when she teaches his material, the students feel he's not analogous to the rest of the CanLit authors.

It was a great show, and ended with both Carmella and I wishing we wrote more.  We agreed it was an inspiring event, as it made us want to write in our spare time.  I hope I can do that!

There is a book with the complete set of talks already published, and the CBC will be broadcasting the shows near the beginning of November. Make sure to listen in!  It's very entertaining and enjoyable.

Thanksgiving

For the past few years, Thanksgiving has taken on a different feel for me. When I was in Whistler, I wouldn't often celebrate Thanksgiving, since I usually had to work. Thanksgiving was a holiday in which to earn overtime pay.

In Whistler, Thanksgiving is also identified by the annual Turkey Sale, an over-hyped and under-delivering ski and snowboard equipment sell-off. WhistlerBlackcomb enjoys advertising and promoting it as an event not to be missed. It's a good time to buy ski and snowboard gear, but in my opinion it's nothing spectacular. You can find similar deals elsewhere at different times.

This year, Carmella and I journeyed to Maple Ridge to her mom and brother's place on Sunday. Carmella's mom really looks forward to Thanksgiving, and makes a great meal for us. She made a turkey, yams, some Finnish casseroles, gravy, cranberry sauce, and potatoes. It was excellent! Because most of Carmella's extended family is in Ontario, our meal was small with only four of us there. The meal could have fed ten though, for sure!

Today, Carmella and I attended a gathering of friends without families, and it was fun.  There was excellent food and good conversation. Cindy, whose house it was at, is really social and has tonnes of friends. There were lots of people there, and I only new three of them. It was at the end of the weekend, and I was feeling a bit socially maxed out. I was happy when Carmella wanted to leave earlier than the others, because I was ready to go too.

Before we went to that dinner though, we took a walk along the sea wall around Stanley Park. It was raining, but we went anyway. Here are two pictures from today.

Here, Carmella points to the spot where either an otter or a seal used to be, seconds before.  We saw him swimming, and I got out my camera.  When I looked for him through my viewfinder though, he was gone!  He'd taken a dive, and we didn't see him again.  Oh well, very few people get to see otters or seals on Thanksgiving.

After the otter, I turned the camera around and took a picture of the both of us in the rain.

Observe my yellow umbrella.  I'm trying to find a way to start a coloured-umbrella campaign in Vancouver.  I'm of the opinion that it's dark and grey in Vancouver for the whole winter, so plain black umbrellas should be banned.  It should be a Vancouver mandate to only allow coloured umbrellas within city limits.

This initiative will bring colour to the streets, and cheer up the perpetually sombre citizens.  I need a catchy name though.


Colours Up!

Colour-plui Vancouver!

Parapluie arc-en-ciel (the rainbow umbrella)

I think I just thought of a name for my blog.  La Parapluie Jaune.  The Yellow Umbrella.  I think it fits, because  I have a yellow umbrella and I'll likely be using it often.  Plus, jaune brings a fun cross-language homophone into action, since it sounds a bit like my name.

Or, maybe I'll just use the English words.  I don't know, maybe I'll try both and see which seems to fit better.

Or maybe I'll just call it the aluminum tree, like the background picture.

A single picture.

Here's a picture to look at. I've been trying to spend my time online more productively, so I've been blogging more, and looking at funny pictures and watching videos less.

Here's a picture I took in Whistler, in the summer after a ride. Whistler had a really cold spring, so the snow didn't melt. Then summer came along, and all the snow melted too fast for the lake to handle.

Usually I could ride right out onto the dock, but on this day I had to pedal through some water first.

My dirty laundry is out to dry.

I'm struggling in my new living situation, and I wonder if writing about it will help me think it through.

I'm living in a three bedroom suite, on the top floor of a house.  In addition to me, there is a 30-something woman living here, and a 20-something grad student.

The girl has been living here for five years, and she takes care of the bills.  She's not the owner of the house though, as we all pay rent to the landlady who lives next door.

Joe is the grad student.  He's originally from Calgary, and is very friendly.  He's in microbiology.

The girl is very passionate about turning the lights off in the house, which is an environmentally sound and economically smart hobby to have.  I've had her scold me a few times for leaving the lights on in rooms I wasn't currently in, which I wasn't so happy about. She has done the same to Joe.

Today, we both received the following text:

"I have to say that I'm not used to people being home all the time with gf's included.  Used to be a much quieter place.  Not so much anymore."

and

"Tonight if you don't mind."

Joe's girlfriend was here for five days or so at the beginning of the month.  Carmella has been over for dinner three or four times now.  We're all quiet types; Joe played Ticket to Ride with us last night.  We make dinner, play games, and have conversations.  There is never music involved, never yelling, never any heated disagreements.  Nobody throws plates against the walls. Carmella has also enjoyed the house for studying.

When I was speaking to the girl about moving in, she said she'd be happy to have Carmella over to visit, and seemed to promote a healthy, happy living environment.  I do not feel that way anymore.  I found myself leaving the house today and not wanting to return.  Carmella isn't as interested in coming over anymore.

I'm wondering if I should start looking for a new place, and have a tough discussion with the girl about what her expectations are for her roomates.  Are we supposed to avoid the house because she doesn't like it when people are home?  Or is she just crabby because she's got an exam coming up or something?

It's fairly frustrating.  At least I didn't sign a lease.

Carmella's Dress

Back in July, Carmella and I visited Ontario for Kir's wedding.  While we were there, Carmella and I visited the local shops.  I returned home with a few t-shirts and Carmella came back with an empty coffee cup.  She had considered buying a new dress she saw, but decided against it because it was just too expensive.

Mom and Carol then conspired to purchase this dress for Carmella!  While we were back in BC, they found the dress and bought it.  I was in on the action, receiving pictures from Carol's phone and confirming the dress was the correct one, and helping them decide on a size.

Mom had originally thought the dress would be a Christmas present for Carmella, but since it was a summer dress, and it was nice and summery outside, she decided to send it along early.

Carmella was so surprised!  The package arrived at my work, and I pretended I didn't know what it was.  I opened it, and it said "For Carmella.  Not for you, Jonnie!"

Carmella came to the hotel, and opened the package.  Out flopped the dress that she figured she would never see again!

When she tried it on, the size was as good as it could have been, but she'd need to take in the seems at the top.  Carmella found a seamstress, and she did a great job.

We had one last sunny day a few weeks ago, so Carmella and I walked down to the beach to celebrate a successful move to Vancouver, and a new job for me.  Carmella wore her new dress.  Here are some pictures of the final product!

Let's see if I can blog more!

Alright, I'm going to try and encourage myself to keep up on this blog.  I'll start by introducing my new design!

The background is a picture I took in New York, on the top of the MET.  It is a large aluminum sculpture, and it reminds me of a tree.

This weekend is Thanksgiving, and happily I get the Monday off.  Carmella and I will go to her mom's house in Maple Ridge. Before that though, we're going to visit the Body Worlds exhibit at Science World.  And maybe before that, I'm going to try and by myself a new bed.

I bought a bed, but it's terrible.  Being my thrifty self, I purchased a used one from a used furniture store in Burnaby.  It's creaky, and is so old that the box spring actually has a spring system in it.

Vancouver is struggling with a bedbug epidemic, so you can't give away a used mattress here, but for some reason I decided to pay money for one.  I'll minimize my losses and buy a new bed in a few days.

Today, I woke up feeling sore.  My back hurts, and my sleep wasn't deep because whenever I moved around, the box spring creaked and woke me up.  Very unfortunate!

This weekend, I'll also renew my vehicle insurance.  I may save some money because I won't be using the car to go to work, and will just use it for leisure.  I will likely have to pass an emissions test though, so I'll have some preparations to do for that.

I hope to have many pictures to share in the next few days, as I've got lots of things to document.  Visit often, because I aim to keep this blog humming along again.