14-6-29

14-6-28

14-6-27

Richmond Night Market.

So many lovely, honest things. And plastic things. And all the things in between.

14-6-26

Canting Shire Pony.

14-6-25

14-6-24

East Van Roasters

Make no mistake, I am a coffee snob. I will turn my nose down at any number of the usually praised coffee joints in this town, and there are a lot of them, most of which don't deserve the reverence they receive. But tucked away in a seedy part of town is East Van Roasters, unpretentious, honest, and making some exceptional chocolate and, more importantly, roasting some of the best coffee beans in Vancouver. The staff can make you a good coffee too, served on a silver tray with a side of water as it should be in a civilized establishment. East Van Roasters is a gem.

14-6-23

14-6-22

Lovely night. Lovely.

14-6-21

14-6-20

The only youth mariachi band in Canada.

14-6-19

This $150,000 car would be perfect, if only it had air deflector fins on the nose and a spoiler.

14-6-18

Home is...

14-6-17

An unexpected afternoon together because of the teachers' strike, we spent some of it eating cherries. So good.

14-6-16

14-6-15

They don't come with a manual. And you only have one teacher. I guess mine taught me a thing or two.

14-6-14

Conversations about the weather.

14-6-13

14-6-12

This one makes me happy.

14-6-11

Cherries are ripe. Going to have to dig out the ladder. Poor tree is dying so this is a treat to be savoured.

14-6-10

Dusk sunset. Again.

14-6-9

14-6-8

Motorcycle rides.

14-6-7

It's easy to cop out these days with dusk photos. Too easy. I'm glad it's (almost) summer.

14-6-6

Friday night. There I was trying to rebuild the front step so the post man wouldn't sue us and the water heater sprung a leak. $760 and 2 hours later there was hot water again. I'm glad I know how to install these things and I didn't have to pay a plumber a Friday night overtime call to install it. It would have been a long weekend without hot water.

14-6-5

14-6-4

14-6-3

She reads her own books now. I'm okay with that.

14-6-2

Mountain ranges. And ranges of "mountains."

14-6-1

Context. I'm not sure of the appeal to living in such things. They are there. They could be anywhere. They are barely where they are.

 But this is how you get there. Or leave there, which people are wont to do. It always confuses me how people pick where they live because of how easy it is for them to leave where they live, which happens far too often.

This is the ICBC salvage lot. It's always full of cars that have been destroyed by people escaping from where they live to somewhere they'd rather be. Why else do people drive? Oh, to go to work so they can afford to get away from where they live.

I didn't mean for this post to be so dark. I went for a bike ride today. It was amazing that I could ride 40kms in the city, mostly on bike paths and away from traffic, but you look around as you do so and you see so much. I like cities. I have a hard time understanding how all this stuff around the city can be a part of the city I live in. I don't get it. But it was nice to get out of the city for a bit, even if it was only about 8kms of country road on a flood plane next to the river, even if the only reason that flood plane still exists is because they haven't figured out how to build condos on it yet. I'm sure they will one day. And then I'll have to ride farther. I'm alright with that.

I get the irony in that bit, the end there. Me, talking about getting out of where I live to be somewhere that I don't. It's no like that. I believe the juxtaposition of both can be independent of either. It's the transitions that confuse me.

It was once explained to me that most people see the world as black and white when it is, indeed, grey. I get that, and I'm generally drawn to the the delicate balance, but the grey bits of the city are confounding.