Godawfully large amount of spending

In the words of an old travel game we used to play...
Mrs Brown went to town and bought:
1 Snowboard
1 set of snowboard bindings
1 pair of snowboard boots
1 snowboard bag
1 black helmet
1 set of skis
1 set of ski bindings
1 pair of ski boots (and inners due to stupid feet)
1 ski bag
1 white helmet
1 pair of ski socks
and saved an absolute packet because of handy staff discount.

More knitting

Rainy saturday? Not at work? What can one do with one's time?

I know, teach a fellow to knit!

Knitting

Hat in progress...

Response to our anonymous commenter

In response to the comment left on our previous post, please find information below. I'm not putting pictures of other people on the blog without asking them, nor am I putting names. People can be a bit funny about their online presence, and rightly so. I'm sure this will change when we get skiing, and you won't be able to recognise people under layers and layers of clothing. For now though, you'll just have to enjoy the tree pictures!!
Adam's place of work: Type the following code into googlemaps streetview search bar, and you'll find that the building has been renamed from Coast Mountain Sports to Atmosphere. (The kayaks are always still outside though.) Google needs to send its camera out again and get updated! 49.271429,-123.146433
You can do the same again with Daisy's previous workplaces: Waterfront Employers of BC (no. 349) 49.284623,-123.09655 and Sun Life 49.287979,-123.121937

The following are not our pictures, but will give you the jist.
Raccoon in Stanley Park: http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/mattyc1965/mattyc19650803/mattyc1965080300333/2659501-racoon-stanley-park-vancouver-canada.jpg
Skunk at dusk: http://www.oppelshausen.de/kerstin/07/07-08-26%20pacific%20regional%20park%20ubc%20biking/skunk%20in%20the%20back%20yard%20004.jpg
I couldn't find a picture of water in the canoe at Van Dusen botanical gardens. You'll just have to imagine it. The water was not stinky and black, and there wasn't a hole in it because it's a CANOE. They are meant to be watertight! Honestly!
Here are some wonderful creatures and Canadians for you to pursue. None of which we've seen yet. So there. Grumble grumble grumble.
Mounted mountie http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqCKQ1H51JLvBIh4NT7R7jU8KTfugV1IRxVClFJgF2cD_ULjkXzl-h4jgutw
Moose http://www.mooseworld.com/travel_spots.png
Orca http://www.freewebs.com/globalwarmingkids/ea4.jpg
*EDITED* The Bear pics don't show up unless you copy the address below into your address bar. They're worth it though! :)
Bears http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/graphics/playground3.jpg
 http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/graphics/playground2.jpg

Ok, I can't be grumpy after the Bear pictures. They're just too cute.

Keeping Busy

We have been keeping busy; Adam's been cycling and working like the proverbial trooper (and his bike trip of the previous post). I've been knitting, re-reading the Harry Potter books (Currently on no. 5) and visiting various nearby places. I've been for a wander around Granville Island, and went to the Van Dusen Botanical Garden on Sunday while Adam was working. Yesterday, we went to the Lynn Valley Canyon and suspension bridge, which unlike the Capilano bridge, is free. And it was almost empty of people, so it was a nice way to catch up with our previous host, while enjoying the scenery and good weather. It is getting colder in the evenings now. We went for a stroll last night, and I found myself looking forward to the end product of the knitting project that I'll start tonight - my new hat!
Right, on to the bit you all like, photos!

Aquabuses parked at Granville Island

Dragon boats at Granville Island

Obligatory people posing in piles of leaves (at Botanical Garden)

Sugar Maple Grove at Botanical Garden

Different coloured leaf piles - very pretty (Botanical Garden)

Bill Reid-designed canoe - it was massive, and full of rainwater (at Botanical Garden)

Picturesque lake at Botanical Garden - floaty pontoon bridge

Rainwater harvesting at the new visitor centre at the Botanical Garden

The Botanical Gardens were very busy, as it was the opening day for the new visitor centre. I found out about it by searching for Vancouver today on twitter, and came upon a press release about it, so decided to amble over. I imagine it is amazing mid-summer, as there are big camellia and lily areas, but the tree colours more than made up for it. The maple leaves are stunningly pink!

Huge leaves everywhere - very Jurassic Park

Some bloke standing by a pool of very green water

Upper waterfall

Some lady trying very hard not to fall in the very deep water

Shallows above very big waterfall - excellent little beach to the left, but many sunbathers have been swept away - yikes!

View from bridge over canyon

View from bridge over canyon

View from seabus front seats (we always have to have front seats on this and the skytrain)

Tree in the next door graveyard mid-turn of colour

The Lynn Canyon was ace because it was so uncrowded. Loads of steps though, and the huge leaves falling from the trees were slightly awesome, because they were so huge! We managed not to get photos of us crossing the suspension bridge (in place since 1912), but we crossed it! Local parks here have some pretty astonishing things in. Canyons, skunks, coyotes, all sorts!
Additional news item - I've been asked to work at Big White! Hello 5 months of ski resort! We're very pleased!

Bike trip

I got of my but Wednesday and cycled to Squamish, i was going to stay there over night but instead got back on the bike and cycled home, daily total of 100km, really nice day of cycling and great views. Met some cool people and had a great day.

1st lunch spot

1st lunch spot

Big heron type bird

Clasic squamish rock

Photo of me (well dur)

Huge tasty bargain meal

Converted bus into a cafe

Mining museum (note the track on top)

Wood carvings

More salmon

I tried a few times to get this shot, and still it was naff

Back from Kelowna, ups and downs

• Propeller plane where we had seats 1a and 1c – check (great view, but noisy)
• Hideously long day spent getting from hostel to job fair at hotel  and waiting around until 5.40pm – check (Kelowna highway is one long strip mall)
• Hideously long walk back to hostel  - check (stopped at pizza join on way back, where pizza and pudding was consumed in record time, and was completely delicious)
• Terrible night’s sleep in 6 bunk dorm with at least 2 snorers, and bad throats brought on by day spent walking on long road with exhaust fumes – check (Hostel was nice – shower was hot!)
• Early wake up after bad night’s sleep, with yummy drink that had to be thrown away because of bad tempered, unreasonable bus driver – check (Much easier than walking it)
• Lots of time spent waiting around – check (Drank so much coke and sprite this weekend)
• Mad dash home with housemate in order to make hockey game – check (Beautiful scenery, and really quite exciting game - Kaos won again!)
• Big bowls of icecream consumed when we finally got home – check (Chocolate flavour)

We’ll hear about jobs by the end of the week – fingers crossed!
Pictures are not in order, but they show what we saw out the window on the 4 hour drive back (we did it quicker than this, but got slowed down by the roadworks near a new bridge being built in Surrey).

Looking from West Kelowna back to Kelowna proper

Green, with patches of autumnal bright bright yellow

I have produced!

Finally, the long-awaited knitting class began.

Left to right: first piece, stocking stitch and ribbing. On the needles – knit stitch, then ribbing, and I’ve done a few rows of knit/purl alternating.

Two achievements - I cast on, and I cast off.  (Knitting and purling I’ve done before with a moderate amount of success.)

I now have very wonky examples of stocking stitch, ribbing, and my first trial piece which is a total mishmash, and was started and finished a few times in the course of my lesson.

As homework, I started to try a combination of stocking and ribbing stitches, but I did it wrong and had to pull it all out. So I tried it again, and it is looking much more successful now! Still wonky, but heck, I’m managing!

We were given some handouts, but I think I’m going to find them tricky to follow, so I might produce my own ‘how to’ memory aid! There were a few memory tricks we learned about ribbons, bunny holes and windows, but I couldn’t explain them if I tried!

Today, Adam is working and I have knitted and downloaded several (ok more than 10) kindle samples of 'how to' guides. I am in S'''bucks down the road as the net conked out this morning. Next stop? Grocery shopping! (I spend half my life in the supermarket at the moment...)

A Sunday morning at Planet Ice in Coquitlam

Our team, Kaos won with 6 goals to the Nighthawks 2! Our housemate took us with him to watch his sunday league game - very quick and talented players. We were really impressed. Our housemate has the red helmet, if you can spot it. (Kaos in white/grey shirts.)

Kaos on the offensive.

Kaos still being offensive (tee hee)

Zooming nighthawk

Oi! Ref! Can't see the action behind your bonce!

Final score.

Random audience members. Daft faces held in place by numbness due to icy cold conditions.

A Sunday afternoon in our neighbourhood

A walking tour of our neighbourhood towards QE park:

Xman Adam outside our place - we live upstairs.

Deathly Hallows chalked outside our neighbour's house.

East 32nd Ave. - near us. Squint and you can see the swing!

Trees don't get in the way of electric progress - this sight is quite common.

East 33rd Ave. - every house looks completely different. Bournville it aint.

Main Street at 33rd Ave. Free of cars on Sunday afternoon.

Say "CHEEEEEEESE!"

Revenge of the photographer

"Nothing to do with me, officer, I just happened to be passing by this bikini'd fire hydrant..."