It’s been grey, bleary and cold this past week in Vancouver, so when the sun peeked out for a brief moment today, we took our newly fixed up bikes out for a spin on the Stanley Park Seawall. With over 8.8 km (5.5 miles) of oceanfront trails, it was the perfect place to take them for a mid-afternoon ride.

It was Ryan’s first time riding his bike since getting it back from the shop so it took him a few minutes to get used to the way it handled. The Seawall is a great place to ride these bikes because it’s fairly flat and with the one-speed, any terrain with even a slight incline can be challenging.

I love walking/running the Seawall in the summer.

We are pretty happy with the way the bikes have turned out. There isn’t really much else I want to put on mine except some kind of basket at the back. I’ve been thinking about a twin rear hanging basket (kind of looks like metal saddle bags) to hold things while I’m riding – like groceries, etc.

Ryan had to transfer his Brooks bag from the back to the front of his bike because his tires are too big and the top of the back tire was rubbing against the bottom of the bag. The only way to keep it at the back would be to fasten it tightly to the seat with some zap straps, although I think keeping it at the front still looks great.

I can’t wait for the weather to become warmer so we can start riding our bikes on a weekly basis!

Last month, I blogged about my late grandfather’s photography and how I came across them on my trip last year to Asia. The boxes of slides have been sitting in my apartment, untouched – until now. I’ve finally managed to get my hands on a slide scanner and have spent most of the night picking and scanning a handful of them.

I have no idea if these photos are in any kind of order – any text written on the slides or the boxes are in Chinese (which I can’t read). All I can tell is that they belong to the same series. What I did like about this set is the mystery behind what they are doing.

There are groups of men and women hunched over low tables picking and cutting at what looks like small twigs. What I find interesting is that they all look so dressed up. Who goes to work in a full suit and tie to work manual labour on a farm? I wish I knew what they were doing and what year this was.

I feel really honored to be able to have these slides in my possession. The handful here is only a small portion of one of the slide boxes – of which I have a huge supply. There definitely is no shortage and I’ll be going through and scanning these for some time to come.

I love the hair on the two men below. They look so Dick Tracyesque

Apologies for taking so long to post, but we’ve been busy experiencing all that the city is offering right now for the Olympics. Today is the last day and after a great Canada vs. USA gold medal hockey game (I almost passed out from excitement a few times) and braving the streets of downtown to give hugs and high fives to random strangers, it’s time to finally take a breath.

Here are some shots of Robson street after we won the hockey game.

Wall to wall people – I’ve never seen anything like it.

The police presence was extremely heavy, with multiple cops on every street corner.

Here are some additional favourite photos of mine from the past week or so. All of the photos in this post were taken on my iPhone and tweaked in Photoshop mobile.

World map where people can pin their home country. In a few days, the entire map was so covered with flags you could barely see the countries.

The Yahoo! Sports Centre was the coolest place ever. They basically took over the MiniCooper dealership and turned it into a fan zone for people to take photos, watch Olympic coverage and get connected with basically anything Olympic related – loved it!

This is a bird’s eye view of the intersection of Robson and Granville from earlier this week. The Paralympics will be here in a few weeks and I’m super excited for that as well.

Last year, I had the opportunity to travel to Asia for a few weeks on a multi-city trip. One of the stops was Taiwan, the city where my father’s side of the family is from. While there, I went to visit my grandmother, aunt and uncle for dinner. I recall my father telling me before I left to ask about my late grandfather’s photography and to see if they had held on to any of his work after he passed away.

I was in luck because they had kept boxes and boxes of his old slides and 8mm film and were more than happy to have me take it back home with me, as it was just sitting in the back of a closet collecting dust.

This trip to Asia was supposed to be a vacation, and while it was amazing and a great bonding experience with my girlfriends, this moment defined the trip for me. How cool was it, that I would be taking home with me decades of slides that my grandfather had shot – I would get to see photos of his friends, travels and every day surroundings.

I still had another week left in the trip, but I couldn’t wait to get home and look at what was on the slides.

When I got home, a few weeks passed before I could actually look at the photos because I had to track down a slide projector and buy a replacement for the burnt out bulb from eBay.

When I finally sat down to load up the slides and check out what the stacks and stacks of boxes contained, I was not disappointed. The photos range from travel photography to random snapshots of him hanging out with his friends. My grandfather had a great eye and more than once the photos made me say, “Wow.”

Over the next little while I’m going to be separating out the photos I want to scan and posting them on this blog. There are already a few I’ve set aside that I know I’m going to print and frame.

A few weekends ago, we took a tour of the Fraser River on an old paddle boat departing from the Quay in New Westminster. It was a foggy, drizzly day and there was only two other people on the boat aside from us – a father/son birthday event.

I didn’t really know what to expect when we pulled away from the dock, but I knew that the next 1.5 hours would be pretty cool and the overcast/foggy day helped with setting the mood.

We decided to go on this boat tour because Ryan wanted to do some filming for the Jim Rimmer documentary he’s working on (Jim spent the majority of his life in New Westminster).

If you’re ever in the mood for a fun weekend activity – definitely check out this river tour. The guy who hosts and does the commentary is hilarious and full of knowledge about the area. Great way to see parts of the city that you would never otherwise be able to see.

Paddlewheeler Riverboat Cruises
Phone: 604.525.4465
http://www.vancouverpaddlewheeler.com/index.html

The city has been turned on its head and shaken vigorously. It’s the first day of the Olympics and you can definitely sense the buzz in the air. The opening ceremonies are tonight and everywhere you look, people are dressed in red and white, with the odd sprinkling of other country colors. I feel very fortunate to be living in the host city right now and experiencing the excitement as it’s happening.

It’s a bit surreal to turn on the TV and have shows you watch on a regular basis (ie: The Today Show) be broadcasting right from your backyard (Matt Lauer I love you!).

Yesterday, I also got to see part of the Olympic Torch Relay as it passed by my house. I don’t know who was running it, but it was very exciting cheering with the rest of the crowd.

Today is also Ryan’s birthday, so we’re going to try and get a table somewhere downtown and watch the madness. A lot of the streets have been blocked off and my normal commute to work has gone from 8 minutes to between 45 – 60 minutes.

I also spent a couple hours yesterday Twitter and Facebook stalking some Olympic athletes. It’s cool to get a behind-the-scenes perspective on what’s happening in their minds and what they do to mentally and physically prepare for one of the biggest days of their lives. They’re also doing a coin exchange courtesy of the Royal Canadian Mint and giving out loonies (our version of $1) with the Vancouver 2010 Olympic logo on it.

Go Canada!

There’s a local company called 21c Promotions that puts on antique fairs/flea markets and retro design events once a month at rotating locations. Last month’s event was an antique fair at the Croatian Cultural Centre on Commercial Drive.

With 175 different vendors offering everything from shabby chic to 50’s kitsch, collectibles and memorabilia to vintage kitchenalia, this popular European-style collectors market is a must-see. There are 185 tables jam-packed full of bargains on deluxe 20th Century junk, making this event an absolutely-do-not-miss treasure-hunting adventure.

If you need anything appraised, there is also an appraiser on hand – just like the Antiques Road Show!

The stuff you can get here is pretty overwhelming. I ended up getting a really nice gold leaf Pyrex casserole dish and a gigantic Victorian style magnifying class with a foot-long handle.

There are tons of tables and multiple rooms. This is just one of the tables and one of the large rooms packed wall to wall with sellers and buyers.

Upcoming event dates are as follows:

March 14: 21st Century Flea Market
April 17 & 18: Kerrisdale Antiques Fair
May 16: 21st Century Flea Market
June 13: Retro Design & Antiques Fair
July 18: 21st Century Flea Market
September 4 & 5: Kerrisdale Antiques Fair
September 19: 21st Century Flea Market
October 24: Retro Design & Antiques Fair
November 14: 21st Century Flea Market
December 5: Retro Design & Antiques Fair

Check out the website for times and locations: http://www.21cpromotions.com

Shop Cocoon opened its doors in November of 2005 and since then has generated quite a buzz in the Vancouver fashion community. If you ever find yourself wandering the storefronts along Cambie Street in Vancouver and are looking for a truly unique shopping experience, make sure to stop by Shop Cocoon.

The concept is simple: designers rent floorspace from store owner, Brenda Li, allowing local designers a venue to sell their goods and reach a wide audience of shoppers. Inside, you’ll find everything from jewelry and clothing to paper goods and even wedding gowns.

The store makes the most of its limited space by displaying goods creatively and offering a selection of well picked items that are sure to please a wide range of styles and fashion tastes. Shop Cocoon is also getting a lot of new foot traffic, now that the new Canada Line transit system is done for the upcoming Olympics. Most of the businesses in this area prior to completion were going through hard times due to decreased pedestrian flow. Now that traffic is back to normal, it will be exciting to see Shop Cocoon be discovered by new shoppers looking to score that unique one-of-a-kind piece.

Shop Cocoon
http://www.shopcocoon.com
3345 Cambie Street
Vancouver, BC V5Z 2W6
Tel: 778.232.8532

Monday 12-6,
Tuesday-Sunday 11-6

General Inquiries: info@shopcocoon.com
Media Inquiries: media@shopcocoon.com

I remember my first encounter with stuffed animals when I was a kid – it was in grade 3, when the windowsill of my classroom all of a sudden held a stuffed alligator shortly after Spring break. I remember going up to it and running my finger up and down its back and being fascinated with how realistic it looked.

When I heard that the Museum of Vancouver’s newest exhibit was Ravishing Beasts, an eclectic collection of about 110 species, I had to check it out.

Displaying the Museum of Vancouver’s extensive collection of taxidermy for the first time in decades, Ravishing Beasts investigates the provocative and strangely alluring world of taxidermy.

Whether a hoarding of exotic curiosities, a scientific archive, a hunting trophy, or a stuffed pet, taxidermy always exposes longings to capture animals and tell stories about their significance within human lives.

The exhibition confronts viewers with the visual power of taxidermy. It invites us to examine taxidermy’s cultural aesthetic, scientific history, and revival in art and design, and to question the legacy, current value, and future relevance of the practice.

There was a disclaimer at the front of the exhibit warning that some of the pieces might offend – like this strange creation called a jackalope.

Seeing a lot of these animals up close – it gives great perspective to how large (or small) some of these creatures are. You get to see sides of them that you can’t see on a tv screen or through the bars of a zoo enclosure – it’s amazing really.

I liked all of the exhibits but the tiger rug complete with tiger head was a bit unnerving – seems a bit cruel when displayed that way. The butterflies on the other hand, were gorgeous.

I want a curio cabinet like this! If I had an apartment/house with a large entryway I would put it right at the front and display all the treasures from my travels.

There were also all sorts of creatures in glass jars with various liquids in them – I’m guessing formaldehyde? It was hard to tell what most of them were.

This is like a scene from a horror film.

This big guy was at the end of the exhibit and was he ever huge – I never realized how massive they were until I was standing right next to one.

If you get the chance, definitely check this exhibit out. It’s running until the end of February. From the MOV website: *No animals were harmed for this exhibition. Most of the taxidermy that will be on exhibit is from the Museum’s own collection and was acquired primarily between 1894 and 1950 from Vancouver residents.

Museum of Vancouver
http://www.museumofvancouver.ca
1100 Chestnut Street (Vanier Park)

Tues – Sun: 10 am – 5 pm
Thurs: 10 am – 8 pm
Mon: Closed
(604) 736-4431

What is the Museum of Vancouver? The Museum of Vancouver creates Vancouver-focused exhibitions and programs which encourage dynamic conversations about what was, is and can be Vancouver – basically it’s an awesome walk down memory lane with realistic displays of what life was like during different decades over the past 100 years.

This is one of those great places to visit on a rainy day. It really feels like you’re walking down the streets of old-school Vancouver and a great history/education lesson.

One of my favorite parts of the exhibit was looking at the old swimsuits from way back when. Can you imagine swimming in itchy wool outfits? It’s also really great to see the back story behind certain buildings/areas of the city. Who knew that converted loft I walk by every day used to be a sugar refinery or a shipping depot?

Off topic – the Olympics are coming, the Olympics are coming! The city is currently in countdown mode for the start of the Winter 2010 Vancouver Olympics and the buzz is really getting crazy. People are concerned about what it’s going to be like getting to work downtown (myself included) and just going about their daily activities during those two weeks.

Has anyone been a host city for the Olympic games? What was it like?