June 7, 2009

Randomness from the great North

Jrex fell asleep while I was changing, so I'm not sure how long I'll have for this entry.

We're in Vancouver! Last night we crashed at a skanky Days Inn in "Saigon". The neighborhood came complete with massage parlours and lots of neon lights. However, we're now ensconced in our cozy B&B over on West 10th St. We can walk over to Commercial Drive which is our kind of quirky strip. It really made us wistful for Baltimore as the parade of Characters wandered by our sidewalk table. At brunch this morning, we sat next to a table full of mixed race couples with lots of kids running around in all hues. We've heard accents and languages from all over the world.

Today we went to the Museum of Anthropology on the University of British Columbia campus. The building itself is very modern, yet was created with the totem poles and fragile wood structures in mind. I love juxtapositions of modern and old, and it's one of the better examples I've seen.

The biggest revelation of this trip has been that Jrex has a better eye than I do!!! I'm so mad (and enjoying it). Last night we didn't know what to do with ourselves after an early dinner at the 'no reservation' Indian restaurant Vij's. We wandered over to a beach on the northwest side of the city. After perching on a bench, I proceeded to take a bunch of photos. Then I handed the camera to Jrex. He protested, but I insisted he should get revenge for all the closeup shots I'd just taken of his chin stubble. Did he ever! I'll have to post them after we get home, but he took some very cool shots of my new glasses, of my earrings and a great shot of a kid bouncing by us on the bike path. As we looked through the photos, he kept saying that he'd think, "What will happen if I do this?" Trust a scientist to experiment... Anyway, his crafted photos have shown me how lazy I've become when I take pictures. I'm too used to being able to take them into Photoshop and crop and polish to my heart's content.

Jrex and I have never had a shared artistic endeavor. He's great at music, I enjoy but that's it. I do the art, he enjoyes. We're having a lot of fun discovering his inner photographer. It's making me step up my game and it's really amazing.

Hope you're all doing well.

Love,
Shamed in Vancouver.

5 comments:

Aimee said...

Enjoy your time in the Great North! You've earned this time off!

Inkling said...

If you are into chocolate, Mink is a yummy place to try. And if you get a chance, MEC is like REI on drugs. It's a fun place. For beaches, we especially love Centennial Beach, but that would be a bit of a drive for you guys. Still, if you get there in low tide, it is totally amazing what all you can find. I hope you have a fabulous time.

Rachel said...

Glad you are having fun. I have always wanted to go to Vancouver, so I will live vicariously through you. Look forward to seeing the pics.

OTR sister said...

Have a great time!

Mama Nabi said...

You know, with the same camera, photos can be different depending on the photographer... it'd be really interesting to see the results.