Sunday, July 29, 2012

And what does she do when she's not eating, you might ask?

Well, as of now, I am working again.  Workers Compensation Appeal Tribunal has work for me, for which I am exceeding glad, as I have been spending more money than I am making for several months now, and, contrary to public opinion, I don't like doing that!  It looks like, between the Mental Health Review Board and WCAT, I will be working from now through October, with some breaks for the long-awaited trips in August and September.  Yeah!

So, what else does she do, you ask?  Well, most of you know that I am a news junkie.  John (my bridge buddy) keeps me in The Economist when he is done with it, and I read the New York Times every Sunday, as well as the local rags on most days.  Internet friend Bill (who I have never met, but who, I'll warrant, knows me better than most - he is a friend that Hank has graciously shared with me) and Hank ply me with articles, just in case I might have missed something.  What with all of that, I keep myself reasonably well informed.

Then, there are the books, which I get in three different mediums (?  "media" doesn't sound right...), actual real paper and print books, audiobooks, and, of course, my trusty Kindle.  As for the "real" books recently to hand, I just finished a biography of George Washington, by Ron Chernow.  It was amazingly well written, and I realized that, of all the founding fathers, I knew the least about him.  It also brought in world history, the place of the Brits, the French, the Spanish, the Barbary pirates.  (That's one of the things about getting old, getting more and more pictures of the puzzle...)  Now, I've finally started Crash of the Titans, by Greg Farrell.  The sub title says it all:  "Greed, hubris, the fall of Merrill Lynch, and the near-collapse of Bank of America".  My kind of horror story!  Replacing Clash of the Titans on my night table:  In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson, about Berlin in 1933, and America's first ambassador to Hitler's Germany, and Devil in the White City ("Murder, magic and madness at the [Chicago] fair that changed America) by Erik Larson.  Both come highly recommended.  I will keep you posted. 

The audiobooks I have on my IPod.  Any long walks I have described come with audiobooks, as does the knitting at which I spend a lot of evenings.  Recent offerings:  All Shook Up:  How Rock and Roll Changed America; Atlas Shrugged (which is surprisingly current, and really scary!); The Brothers Karamazov, which I hadn't read in about 30 years, and should, like Dickens, be reread with age); The Confidential Agent by Graham Green (he is the best - I think it is time to re"read" all his books); Drive: the surprising truth about what motivates us, by Daniel Pink;A Most Wanted Man by John LeCarre (even without the Cold War to write about he's great); and Michael Tolliver Lives by Amistead Maupin (I was thrilled to find out he had written two more books - haven't downloaded the most recent one yet).  Up next on the IPod:  Mission to Paris by Alan Furst, and The Inheritance of Loss, by Kiran Sesai.  So, you can see a theme here; non-fiction, real books, IPod, (mostly) fiction.

And Kindle?  A mix of the two.  Okay, I confess, I am reading - or trying to - Fifty Shades of Gray.  It is incredibly badly written.  Yes, I know it is (soft) porn, but months and months on the NYTimes best seller list, you would have thought.....So, on a more uplifting vein, I am in the middle of "Bringing up the Bodies", the second of the Wolf Hall trilogy by Hilary Mantel.  It is about Henry and his wives, all told from the view point of Oliver Cromwell, the most hated man in England (although I must say, not by Hillary Mantel).  Once I got used to her style, I am liking it quite well - mind you historical almost anything has my attention.  Recently read: In One Person, by John Irving (am I the last person living to know that he was bisexual?); Arguably:  Essays by Christopher Hitchens (I had just finished his autobiography - what a vocabulary the man had); ....well, that's enough for now.  Next up on Kindle; Spoiled Rotten: How the Politics of Patronage Corrupted the Once Noble Democratic Party and New Threatens the American Republic (which certainly wins the prize for the longest subtitle!)

So.  I read newspapers and magazines and books.  And I go to movies, too, when I can find an adult movie to watch.  (Speaking about movies and adults, I was appalled to read the number of 4 year olds attending the Batman movie in Colorado.  Who takes 4 year olds to a horrifically violent Batman movie?  And who takes them to a midnight showing of same?  And they say I hate kids!)  To Rome with Love, then.  Okay, it was Woody Allen, but I thought it was charming.  It was like a love song to Rome, the cinematography was lovely, and at least Woody Allen had the brains to play the neurotic old dad, and not the love interest!  And emphasis on the old, folks!

Specifically this week?  Friend Leah came over last Saturday, and we sorted through my overabundance of yarn.  I gave her three bags full (literally!), and still have enough yarn for this and several more lifetimes.  But it was a lot of fun to decide what was going on our needles next, and to fondle all of that lovely yarn.....

On Sunday, colleague and friend Joyce and I had dim sum.  She is from Hong Kong, so we usually go to the Cantonese dim sum places (yes, we can make those kind of choices in Vancouver), but she just got back from a trip to Shainghai, so we went to Shiang's, a Shanghai dim sum place.  Like most modern places, there were no carts going up and down the aisles (which I love), but they did condescend to have pictures on the menu, and even English descriptions (although I was the only "round-eye" in the place!).

Joyce, talking about her trip.....

note the chicken feet....



It was loud and noisy, as all these Chinese places are (Joyce's comment, not mine!) We even had shark's fin soup!  And spare me the lecture, I wouldn't have had it if I would have known what we were ordering.  I must say, though, the broth was delicious, the shark's fin, not so much.  (Joyce is all in favour of banning it, by the way; easy for her to say, she already had it at her wedding!).  It is interesting, though; although Joyce is from Hong Kong, I have seen more of Mainland China than she has.  She has essentially not been to Beijing, Wuhan, Zian, Guilin, or even Shanghai until recently; I, of course, been to all of those, twice.

A side bar on Shanghai.  When my relatives were being harrassed out of Eastern Europe, one branch of the family escaped to Shanghai, where there was already a large colony of Jews.  They later came to America, but I always had a soft spot in my heart for Shanghai, and was thrilled when, in the 80's, I got to see it.
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Only one more event to recount.  The Bridge Boys (as they are fondly known) were dispersed on the week of my birthday, and so we continued the ongoing celebration with dinner last Wednesday at Joe Fortes, an old standby in Vancouver.  It is still as loud and crowded and buzzy as ever, and the oyster bar is still going full swing, as is the piano (could it be the same piano player?  he looks about 90!), but I didn't remember it being that expensive (or else I surely wouldn't have suggested it - I am indeed a princess, but not in that way).

John, with new favorite beverage, beer from the local brewery...

Dennis, who sticks to Pepsi, but is happy anyway....

And Tom, coordinator of conversation and keeper of the peace...

And, of course, the infamous birthday girl...

The dinner was great, as, of course, was the company.  Another recommendation for when you visit Vancouver.

So, the days are warm, and long.  There is still time for me to plug in the IPod and go for a walk.  Till next time.....

Friday, July 20, 2012

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Looking back at this blog, and on the last two weeks, I find it hardly surprising that I am - how shall I put this? - getting more and more zaftig.  (If you don't know what it means, look it up - you should!)

On Monday, July 9, I had brunch with friend Gulshan, originally a Turkish Cypriot..  I have known her now for some four years - she is my hair stylist in Vancouver.  Through sharing travails - her and mine - we have become close, and she wanted to introduce me to her family visiting from -  Palm Springs!  So, on a wonderful sunny summer day, we headed to beautiful down town Steveston, specifically, the No. 1 Diner (yes, another dining recommendation). 

From left, Gulshan, Nora, Bella and Mina

As anyone who knows me has already heard, I love diner food.  This being Canada, of course, it is not cheap diner food, but it really is quite good.

...followed by ice cream for Bella on the wharf

Friend and colleague Bea and I share July birthdays.  It has become a tradition to treat each other to theater (in particular, Bard on the Beach) and dinner for our birthdays, and this year was no different.

We started with a walk on Kits Beach.  Below, the view of English Bay and the Vancouver skyline from Kits Beach...



....after which we end up at our now traditional Japanese restaurant, for upscale, trendy, fusion Japanese food.  (And no, I never remember the name of the restaurant.  In truth, Bea likes it more than I do, and generally speaking, Bea gets what she wants, no matter whose birthday it is!)




And finally, to the theater.  A word about Bard on the Beach.  This is Vancouver's answer to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, started by Christopher Gaze some 20 years ago.  There are two tents, one large and one small, and the plays run in repertoire from May through September.  I didn't go for years and years, feeling sure that Bard would pale in the shadow of Ashland.  I started going some 5 years ago, and was glad I did.  They really do a good job, and some of the actors really do have some chops.  However, like theater companies everywhere, they are "tarting up" everything to get bums in seats, so the humour is too broad and the slapstick too over the top for my liking.  It accomplishes what it is supposed to do, though, it gets bums in seats.




This time, we were seeing Taming of the Shrew.  (Again, Bea's choice - it is probably my least favorite play, possibly beaten only by Merchant of Venice).  I must say, for all the overbroad humour, they did a wonderful job.  Petruchio and Kate were both marvelous, and the result was it didn't seem like a "taming" at all, but, rather, a marriage of equal strengths, quite a feat given the hateful last speech. As you can see, the stage is open to English Bay and the mountains in the background, always a spectacular settin g (sometimes a bit marred by the sound of planes - or rain - and the cold, but not so this night).

In any event, it was a lovely evening.  Bea is a woman with the milk of human kindness running in her veins (as apposed to yours truly, for whom the same could never be said), and it is always a breath of fresh air to be with her! 

Anyway, that was Friday night.  On Saturday morning, I left early for Seattle.  Friend Mariah and I also share a July birthday, and our tradition has recently been to treat each other to a day at the spa and dinner for our respective birthdays.  And now we have a recommendation for something other than food.  The Olympus Spa in Lynnwood, Washing, just north of Seattle (sorry guys, women only) is a Korean spa with the usual array of amenities, but we always do what we call "the Korean Car Wash (officially known as a salt scrub).  You soak in hot tubs for at least an hour, and then get scrubbed and sluiced over every inch of your body (all right, all right, not quite every inch, but pretty damn close!) and sluiced with warm water and scrubbed and sluiced until they just roll you off the table.  It is divine, and the only spa thing that I ever indulge in.  Five stars, ladies.  And no, there are no pictures.  I actually would have tried to sneak a camera in, but we are naked but for pocketless robes, and, well, no, pictures don't bear thinking about much less publishing.

And after all that pampering, Mariah's beau Mar joins us for dinner at the Frontier Room a dive in down town Seattle where they serve - well, basically, meat.  Specifically barbeque - brisket, pulled pork, barbequed chicken, and ribs of every description.  The corn bread, potato salad and cole slaw were all marvelous, but definitely an afterthought. 




And yes, we slept well.  After all, we had to rest up for the next meal!

I don't think brother Bobbie has yet made an appearance on this blog, so time for an introduction.  He is neither Mariah's brother nor mine; rather, he and Mariah have known each other since childhood.  Actually, it is because of Bobbie that I met Mariah at all; I met him on a plane going down to Mexico some 35 years ago now, and fell madly in love with him (my gaydar wasn't working very well, what can I tell you?), and on a visit to Seattle to try to cement my non-existent position, I met Mariah - and found out Bobbie was gay!  We've all been friends ever since, and if ever "alls well that ends well" described a situation, this is it.  Fast forward over 35 years of history; Bobby and partner Gerardo are now living in Puerto Vallarta, but Bobby was up in Seattle, and met us for breakfast at the local cafe on Sunday morning!


(you can see why I might fall for the guy, no?)



The restaurant, called the Baja Cafe, really is just a neighborhood restaurant, but just the kind of thing that flourishes in the neighborhoods of Seattle and we don't find so much (if at all) in Vancouver.  Anyway, we got caught up, and laughed, and then went our separate ways, Bobbie to a rehearsal with Arnaldo, the Drag Chanteusse (Bobbie plays the piano, for which he has a great talent), Mariah and Mar to mess in the dirt of their garden, and me to get on the highway to head home!

And, finally, the actual date of my birthday arrives.  David and I were great at forgetting birthdays, and generally didn't make a fuss.  However, my friends showered me with calls of good wishes, and an actual birthday dinner...

The Three Big Blonds (aka Lesley, Laurie and Nora)

This restaurant really is worth noting.  It is called the Trafalgar Bistro, truly bistro like with the exception of its huge desert menu.  (Luckily, the desert came only with candle, not with singing!)

For those of you who are wondering, I am 66 years old, and fat though I am, feel better than I ever have, so don't be spending your inheritances quite yet!

Next installment:  movie reviews; book reviews; work update; and - dating?  Stay tuned....

Sunday, July 8, 2012

....and happy to be alive!

As good as my word, I am back again in a mere week, having managed not only to keep myself amused but to have something to report.

Last Saturday, I was talked into doing a 10k run for the SOS Children's Village, which, as advertised, is a local children's charity.  Before you get all excited, I didn't actually run, it was a run/walk sort of thing, although I did beat my time from the last 10k event, the Sun Run.  Life all charity events, it began with the speeches....

Richmond's Mayor Brodie makes an appearance....

...as do other local dignitaries...

In spite of the date, it had not turned summer yet; indeed, it was pissing rain.  But even in the rain, walking in Vancouver tends to be a beautiful affair...




I could have sworn I gave someone the camera to get us going across the finish line, but either I dreamed it or she pushed the wrong button.  In any event, there is no such picture to be found.  You will just have to take my word for it: I finished!.  There is, however, a picture of us celebrating at Browns Social House afterwards....


...Kelley (left) and Donna...and my glass...

I had a few Mental Health Review Board hearings this week, and if there is anything likely to make me feel lucky, it is those.  I also reconnected with friend Philip from law school.  It has been 30 years - more! since we graduated law school, and we lost touch for a while.  At one point, he found me on Salt Spring, and we have stayed connected ever since, and a better drinking buddy never walked the earth!

Which brings me to Friday, when we celebrated colleague (and friend) Lorne's 60th birthday.  Unfortunately, not as happy an occasion as one might have hoped.  Lorne has had some hard knocks in recent years, including a rather nasty divorce (after a relatively late marriage) and being wrenched away from a beloved daughter.  Worst, however, he has been attacked by a dreadful disease.  I have been told its name, but don't remember it; suffice it to say that it is described as a combination of Parkinson's, Alzheimers, and ALS.  It is awful awful awful to watch someone deteriorate like that, in such a short period of time.  Luckily, he has two brothers and several close friends, all of whom should be nominated for sainthood, who have undertaken to care for him (although he does now reside in a nursing home).  In any event, the party was arranged.  Workers Compensation Appeal Tribunal (and the Review Board before it) was always a very supportive place.  Not the management, mind you, the colleagues.  If someone's parent died, there was always a contingent at the funeral for support, meals were cooked for the sick, that sort of thing.  This event was no different.  Indeed, we showed up with such force that brothers and saints were totally blown away.

Lorne, seated, standing from left, brothers and saints...


Sheryl, with a heart as big as the outdoors...

Lisa, of the wonderful smile...

...and Donna, our historian and conscience...

...and Heather, who has done more than her share...

Bill, always the clown, but a good friend...


...Elaine, always ready for a good meal...



So, speeches were eschewed in favour of toasts, and the evening drew to a close.  It will be surprising indeed if Lorne makes it to his 61st.  An interesting thing, though, when asked what he was grateful for, there was a very, very long pause, and then Lorne said, with difficulty and through his microphone "being alive". A lesson for us all!                                                                                                                                            

(I should mention that the restaurant, The Poor Italian, was new to me, and a great one to add to my repertoire.  No one reported a bad meal, and the service - for a group of 24 with an otherwise full  restaurant was superb!)                                                                                                                                       


On Saturday night, a happier occasion.  Friend Donna's daughter in law was celebrating her 40th birthday, and Donna did it up in style, steel band and all.  Luckily, summer has finally arrived, and her backyard (where the steel band played and the pig was smoked) was a lovely spot to be on a balmy evening.







friend Peter who joined me for the event...

Hosts Donna and Pellham...

Birthday girl Cassandra and husband Wayne


The food was great - smoked pork sandwiches and all the trimming, Pellhams infamous palau, and, of course, his even more infamous rum punch!





.........as was the music.  That steel band played and played, and it was impossible to keep still....



Topped off, of course, by cake.  No, the real ending was the lovely ride home from Tswassen, top down, hair blowing, reviewing the goings on with friend Peter, and having ended the week on a hugely positive note. 

And, on that note, good night.