business time

It's been a bit all business, all the time around here (and in my life in general as both my day job and Sadie have ramped up a few notches in the past few weeks). There are still packed boxes in our new apartment and my to-do list just keeps getting longer, no matter how much I accomplish in a given day. I'm sure you know the feeling. It's just a busy time of year.

So today I just wanted to share one small thing. This is the view I have from my lunchtime walk Monday - Friday. From my office on the North Shore we have an amazing view of Burrard Inlet, the Port of Vancouver, downtown Vancouver, and more. Turn around and there are the North Shore Mountains. It's a beautiful place and on days like these, when I'm insanely busy and a bit stressed and the sun is shining (in November in Vancouver?) I have to take a walk to soak some of this in. I thought you might want to take a look, too. That right there is the Pacific Ocean, friends. What did you get up to this weekend?

queen e

I've been away. I just spent a long weekend in Calgary and Banff, having a super awesome stagette weekend with some of my best friends. Perhaps I'll share some photos from that trip soon. Because it's been so long since I really put together a post I don't know where to start to catch things up around here, so let's just start with the here and now and see what happens with the rest.

I took these photos at Queen Elizabeth Park here in Vancouver last night. Jeff and Lola and I went on an awesome walk and then listened to Ideas on the CBC. You could say that we had a senior citizen evening, and I'd be okay with that. It was beautiful and interesting, respectively. And yes, I did go to bed before ten. Click on the photos to maybe find out more on Flickr. Bonus points for anyone who IDs some plants for me...I'm so rusty with the Latin these days! Finally, if you're looking for a good podcast this weekend, might I recommend Dogs Themselves from Ideas? It's kind of awesome. Have a good one!

fresh air: hornby island part two

The second part of our day on Hornby Island involved a hike (really more like a leisurely walk) at Helliwell Provincial Park. I had to share so many photos of the later half of our day because it was amazing. The hike starts with a nice forest approach that leads to insanely beautiful sweeping ocean views. Mountains and islands, green cliffs, and miles of ocean make it impossible to avoid stopping to take a photo every two steps. The trail leads around a point on the island and into an old growth Douglas Fir forest. Look at the size of some of those beauties. Do I recommend visiting Hornby Island? How could I not! We also found a deer skull (which we brought home) and finished with a really delicious meal and pint at the local pub while we waited for the ferry back to Denman. This was such a great day, I hope you don't mind me sharing so many of my photos. By the way, can anyone ID the flower near the top of this post? One more island vacation post to come tomorrow, thanks for taking the time to look, read and comment!