Veronica booked us for a couple of days at Whistler, a mountain resort town near Vancouver. There is skiing in the Winter and Hiking, Golf, and Cycling in the Summer, but we are in between seasons. The weather cooperated this morning and we went on a walk around Alta Lake. This was a nice chance to get away from everything, I really enjoyed the break from the routine. First stretch of the walk was around the golf course.
Sunday, November 10, 2024
Whistler Weekend November 2024
I have a new page for my craft studio work
I have enough craft creations that I am trying to sell some of them, and now have a web page to advertise them: https://sites.google.com/view/3cpp. I am participating in the East Vancouver culture crawl November 14-17, details on the events tab of that new site.
Thursday, October 3, 2024
My father, Anthony Brittain Robinson, died last month
He was 97 years old, and in good mental and physical condition until the last few days he spent in the hospital after collapsing at his retirement home. There is an obituary for him on a web site hosted by the funeral home that handled his cremation:
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/burnaby-bc/anthony-robinson-11985574
My parents separated when I was four years old and later divorced. My mother went back to her maiden name and took me with her, which is why I am now a Wetton although I was born a Robinson. My father stayed a committed parent and took me for every holiday from then on. I got to see the province as I came to visit at the places his career as a professional forester took him. There are a lot of things to admire about my Dad. He had a successful career and really cared about the people that worked for him. He designed and built a cabin on Babine Lake (that is still standing). He was a real gentleman and I have had many kind words about him from his friends and the staff at his retirement home. My wife and I got to know the old man version of him well when he lived with us through COVID. He will be missed.
These are pictures I took of him at his home in Kamloops just before he moved down to Vancouver. They were publicity shots for his books, still available (I think) on Amazon.
Wednesday, July 24, 2024
Bulgaria Trip Summer 2024
My wife emigrated from Bulgaria in the 90's and still has connections and a family home (shared with her sister) there. I visited for the first time two years ago and we had another long trip this Summer. The first stop was Albena, a resort area on the Black Sea. We stayed at an all inclusive hotel, my first time at this type of vacation venue. It was all eating, drinking, sleeping, sitting in the sun, and a bit of sea swimming. The all-inclusive experience was fun to do once, but once is probably enough for me.
Monday, July 1, 2024
Art Studio Space
It had become apparent that my paper mache and other craft hobbies were filling up the apartment, with product but also with supplies and tools. The obvious answer was to get some art studio space, which I moved into today. I have seen a few of these shared spaces through children and friends, so I knew what I was getting into. I have an open square space in the middle of the second floor of an old warehouse in East Vancouver, on Powell Street. It is right by the train tracks.
Saturday, June 29, 2024
YouTube Music Playlists
After vinyl and CDs, I went to iTunes for a digital collection of my music. I converted my CD collection and added it to that platform. There are some albums that stand out as good listening (see my earlier post for examples) but also many excellent songs on albums that are not good as a whole. I spent some time and energy compiling playlists with some attention to the order of the tracks. I have reproduced some of these in YouTube Music. So far, there are
- Undanceable Electronic Music
- Brian's Christmas
- I (not me personally) was on drugs when I wrote this song
- Background Music for All Occasions
- Brian's 2CD choice of Yes
- MSU Summer 2023
Friday, June 28, 2024
May-June 2024 Exciting East Lansing Work Trip
I have stayed in East Lansing many times since 2011 (you can search East Lansing on the blog and see the many pages that come up -- I just did for nostalgia). I visit Professor Keith Promislow at Michigan State University. I met Keith in 1998 when he was working in Vancouver at Simon Fraser University. We worked together for about a decade on a collaboration with Ballard Power Systems (a local fuel cell company). Somewhere near the end of that project, he moved to Michigan State. I like Keith and I like working with him, and at some point when my kids were old enough, I thought we could keep collaboration going if we spent more time together and I started visiting him for a month or so every Summer. The tradition continued this Summer, and I went to work with him on a couple of projects: an analytic and computational technique to model 2D geometric gradient flows (related to materials science) and a computational capturing simulation for sea ice formation. We geeked out at the blackboard.
I did the car rental and drive from Toronto to have a car in Michigan for a change but also it gave me a chance to stop in Toronto and visit my son and his partner there. My son is in a PhD program and UofT in Public Health.
So in East Lansing I had a car and also rented a bike as usual. The car is the same model as the one we own in Vancouver, but a newer model with Car Play that shows google map directions on the screen. This is a feature I really liked, but not quite enough reason to buy a new car.
Thursday, June 27, 2024
The two best British Columbia gins
The province of British Columbia in Canada where I live has restrictions on alcohol sales. There are a few independent liquor stores, but most sales are done from government owned stores. Taxes are high, which seems reasonable to me, but selection is limited, which I find frustrating. Even independent stores can only sell what the BC liquor board decides to bring in. In part a response to this, a number of local breweries and distilleries have started up in the last two decades. There are a couple that make really nice gin. I am a fan of strong botanicals (more is more!) and so my picks for the best two gins are Liberty Distillery Old Tom Endeavour Gin and Seaside Gin from Sheringham Distillery. They are different enough in flavour that I cannot rank them head on.
- No. 209 from San Francisco (my previous favourite but I have not had it in a while).
- Uncle Val's Botanical Gin
- Saffron Gin (mainly for the colour)
- Hendrick's (readily available almost everywhere)
- Red Cedar Spirits Gin (blue label, licorice flavour)
Wednesday, May 8, 2024
Paper Mache Product Advertising
There is a type of paper mache work I have gotten into that feels very similar to pottery. I use molds (some of which I designed and 3D printed) or make them from cardboard like pottery slab work. Decoration is done by paint or tissue paper and I also add beads and wire. I started getting into this on work trips away from UBC staying for longer periods in hotel suites where pottery was not an option. I enjoy this hobby but the apartment is filling up with "product". I am showing off some pieces here to use as a link to send to some potential local vendors.
I had an idea of making sets of three with variations on a design theme like the bowls below.
I was a graduate student in New York (many years ago) and had a chance to see some of the last graffiti subway trains. I admired the artistic vision. Here is my go at a graffiti alphabet and some catchy phrases.