I'm a big kid now!

Before I show you my Cool New Toy, a couple more pics of Granville Street from the weekend. First, The Bay put on a big pancake breakfast for all the volunteers who had come downtown to help clean up on Thursday, and afterward. What I wish you could see in this pic from my  bus: they had B-52s just blasting, and everyone on the sidewalk - servers, eaters, bystanders & cops - were all dancing. It was awesome!

The VPD car which has been on the news, with all the sticky notes...what you can't see in this pic is the big sign the VPD put on the windshield, thanking all the other agencies that had helped out on Wednesday.

And a last shot of The Bay: the plywood covered in scrawls was taken down today, and will be preserved at the Vancouver Museum. But on the weekend, people were still adding messages, and had started a line of "prayer flags" that wrapped around the block:

Downtown was packed, but mellow. As if people just wanted to be there & soak up - and add to - the community vibe. (And let me tell you, those few blocks of Granville & area have never been so clean!)


Meanwhile, back at the ranch...life goes on. We're "out with the old, in with the new" today @ Chez Q. We had a great, skinny old toaster that we got at a garage sale for $5 when we first moved in together. It has served us well for many years, and took up very little counter space. I'd say we've definitely got our $5 out of it. But today...today, after I'd toasted my bagel, I unplugged it, and the plug was hot. Now, I'm no electrician, but even I have a pretty good idea that a hot plug is A Bad Thing! 


So after dinner, Mr.Q & I went down to London Drugs, and we bought our very first new toaster ever. It was quite exciting, and I felt, of course, that the momentous occasion needed documenting. So here it is, in all its shiny beauty:

  

It has a separate setting for bagels! And a pull-out crumb tray! Crazy! I feel so grown up now. 


But it's going to have to wait for its maiden toasting. Today was also the first day I've seen local, in-season strawberries at the market. I'm off to gorge myself on their juicy, sweet-tart tastiness. NOM!

Well, that was...interesting!

So, yeah. This hockey thing. Kind of....well, I'm still processing. The last few days have been rather a roller coaster! I've gone from this (celebratory community fun! And donuts!)

To this morning's wake-up (please note, fambly members who are prone to panicking, and you know who you are! I was nowhere near the downtown madness after the game!):

And then after work, I found this, largely due to countless volunteers, including food truck vendors who donated lunch to the clean-up crews....had I known in time, I would have early for work, with some garbage bags and work gloves, and pitched in:

And there were some pithy messages for last night's hooligans:

I think I still like hockey. And I really like what the people in Vancouver did today; best response ever to a really stupid situation.  (Also, knitting at a hockey "fan zone"? Gets the best reactions ever! Will definitely be taking my knitting to the arena next season!)


And now I have to go to bed. Between the let-down of last night's game, the shit-show afterward, the emotional roller-coaster today - and the wicked cat fight outside my window just as I was falling asleep last night! But that's maybe a post for another day - I am a mighty tired Quimby. 

Hello Canada...

...and hockey fans, in the United States and Newfoundland!


Mr.Q got mega-brownie points today for venturing downtown to watch part of the hockey game, with about 12,000 of our new best friends. We got there early - about 3:00, the game started at 5:00 - found a sweet spot to park our chair, and had some very fine fish & chips from the Kaboom Box, one of the new food trucks hanging out around the city. (Very fine fish! A nice, light tempura batter that wasn't too heavy or greasy, and didn't overwhelm the delicate taste of the cod.)


We only stayed for the first period - it got windy and cold when the sun went behind the buildings (and I have to say, it's pretty weird watching hockey and worrying about sunscreen!). But it was So. Much. Fun!  I have never sung the National Anthem with such gusto, nor heard in sung so enthusiastically.  


A few pics of the adventure:

Probably just as well we left early, as getting a bus home would have been...interesting!  And I was both sun- and wind-burned, & my throat is still raw.


But I 'spect I'll be back for one of the games next week. You know, since I'm downtown for work already...