Two short trips with Veronica

I went with Veronica over the labour day long weekend to Osoyoos in the South Okanagan. You know you are living in an obscure corner of the world when the spell checker does not recognize the name of the town in your Province you just visited. Veronica is my girlfriend, although I am old enough and was married long enough that it still seems strange to use that term. We met three months after my separation. We are a good fit, she is wonderful, I am a lucky guy.

She found a bed and breakfast for us to stay at. She sent me pictures asking what I thought, but I didn't get past the view before saying we should definitely go:

I rented a car to drive us up there. I was a victim of agent up-selling and got a more expensive car than I had originally booked. I am at an early enough stage where I am still trying to impress Veronica, but late enough I can tell her and we can laugh about it. The car was a Ford Mustang convertible. I can't recommend it. It does not handle that well, and the convertible top was wasted on me (I like to talk apparently, and I burn easily). 

 

   

The trip up was on the Crowsnest highway (BC #3). This is beautiful country that goes through Manning Park, with varied terrain leading from the Coast to the desert climate in the South Okanagan.

We ate surprisingly well in Osoyoos, went to the Desert Cultural Centre run by the local native band, that seemed well organized and prosperous, and went swimming in the lake. The fancy bed and breakfast and the culinary opportunities are all there because of the array of vineyards and wineries on the road North of town towards Oliver. We did winery tours one day, and went to the Burrowing Owl and Hester Creek. The view below is from the tower at the Burrowing Owl. You can see the smokey haze from the serious fires in nearby Washington State at that time..

I have to say, tasting wines side by side really does give you a sense of the variety of flavours. I recommend going to those kind of tasting events if you are interested in wine and want to spend more money on it than you do now. I did buy one bottle from each of the two places we visited:

Blogging for me is a writing exercise and I do think of how I will phrase things here as I cycle home from work or am on the bus. I had planned to say that I would save these wines and you would know if you were a special friend if I brought them out for you. But, I already drank them. One was with Veronica, which was a mistake since she had one small glass and I had the rest. 

I did have one other trip with Veronica early in our relationship. We went to Seattle together on the train. At the time, my divorce lawyer had said to keep a low profile on my new relationship. I didn't quite understand this but she had given me good advice so I did not blog about that trip at the time. It was a fun trip. Veronica doesn't like the picture below but I do: we look happy! 

There are many stages to romantic love and this blog is too public a place for me to list them all, but I can say that the trip to the Science Fiction Museum and this image moved me along quite a bit. 

We ate well on this trip, too, and I discovered we had some of the same values and sense of humour.

 

Yes Concert

I went to the Yes concert in Vancouver Tuesday night. They are my favourite band and were active from the early 70s for several decades. Their last new work (I think) was in the album, Magnification, that came out in 2001. This tour was of the nostalgia type. I had been to the Yes concert in Vancouver in 1984. Back then, I was an undergraduate at UVIC and came over with some friends specifically for the concert. I think I was with Paul Modos, Dale Starr, and Malcolm Smith -- and we stayed at Dale's grandmother's house, sleeping on the floor. But these details are hazy. At that early concert, Chris Squire (the bassist) was still alive. Steve Howe (lead guitar) was not part of the line-up, instead there was Trevor Rabin. The concert this year had Howe back in the line-up and Billy Sherwood replacing Chris Squire. I have to say that I expected Sherwood to be a disappointment compared to Squire (the greatest progressive rock bassist of all time?) but he was good. Howe was much better than Rabin, especially for the early work they played. I did not even notice that the lead singer was a Jon, but Davison not Andersson, so I can't say there was a drop in quality in the lead vocals! They played one song from each of their first 10 albums. I didn't know the songs from Tales of Topographical Oceans or Tormato, since these were widely regarded as loser albums even by the band members, but the others were all classics. They encored with Starship Trooper and Roundabout (of course). What a great concert!

The tickets were a birthday gift from my girlfriend, Veronica. It was the best gift I have had in years. We were apart for my actual birthday -- I was still in East Lansing and when I got back she was in Europe -- but she had left the tickets in my place for when I got back. You can see my crazed fan smile and her indulgent one below.

There was a long warm-up band, Todd Rundgren. They were OK, but not all their songs appealed to me. I did buy, "This is not a drill", which is quite catchy. 

It was hard not to notice the bad behaviour of other people at the concert, or what my mother would have called bad behaviour anyway. People arrived all through the warm-up band, coming from drinking. Even for Yes, people came and went for drinks and to relieve themselves from the drinking. It was at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. I guess I expect at a venue like that, if you leave the theatre they won't let you back in until there is a natural break (intermission, set change). Apparently, that is not the accepted expectation. 

Divorce Distractions

I separated from my wife, Lealle, last August. The divorce is imminent. There was no hope of reconciliation -- I had been trying to work things out between us for ten years already.

Even though I had support from friends, and a wonderful new romance started unexpectedly, it was still a difficult time and I have sought distraction. I could have buried myself in work, but, well, that is not me. I turned to less productive diversions.

Computer Games 

Three games have dominated the last twelve months for me are listed below. I can recommend all of them. 

• Clash Royale: This is a phone and tablet game, a mix of real time strategy and tower defence. The games are very short (2-5 minutes) and the gameplay is quite engaging. There is some real strategy involved and a metagame. It is a freemium game. You can play quite enjoyably without paying any money, but of course I have spent some on this game and the ones below. 
• Hearthstone: A Blizzard phone app as well as desktop version. I played this a couple of years ago and came back to it this Spring. Turn based play, so more relaxing. It also has some strategy involved in play and in deck construction (you collect cards and put them into a deck that has some synergistic elements). There are a variety of playing modes. Like Clash Royale, you move up and down in rankings to equilibrate to winning about half the time, no matter your skill level. 
• Path of Exile: An older, independent game much like Diablo 2 but with some innovative gaming elements and a huge skill tree that really makes a difference. It is a well put together game with a good community. They just had a major update which I am checking out. 

TV Shows (mostly Netflix)

I'll mark shows I actually recommend with a [*]

I am watching Game of Thrones with buddies, so that's not a distraction but a real social event. I am also watching 3% [*], a Brazilian show, near future societal science fiction, with my girlfriend. We are only halfway through the only season but it is quite good so far. She also got me on to Big Bang Theory, which is good light entertainment. 

• Daredevil: A superhero show, season 2. I thought it suffered compared to the first season. It seemed a bit repetitive. I think he should date that nurse. 
• Luke Cage: Another superhero show in the same universe as Daredevil. Interesting for the African American cultural references but otherwise not worth watching. Apparently they are together now in a team show called "Defenders". Someone I trust said that this was good. 
• Supergirl: The only thing I can say is that it was better than The Arrow. Hey, I was bored in East Lansing. 
• Dark Matter[*]: Season 2 came out this year. Actually, I think this one is pretty good. It is reminiscent of Firefly and Farscape. Everyone on board the ship is quite attractive. 
• Travellers[*]: Science fiction show with time travel to the past to prevent future dystopia. Some disbelief is required on the science, but the mechanism of time travel is interesting and has consequences. First season was well written and acted. 
• Sense8: Wonderful show with great writing and a deep message. I can't bear to watch the second season since I heard it was cancelled. Sigh...
• iZombie: A recommendation from my daughter. It made it to three seasons, not deep but actually pretty interesting. Acting and writing are variable, but some high points. 
• Helsing: I watched to the end of the first season. Not bad for yet another vampire/zombie show.
• Ash versus Evil Undead[*]: You can watch the movie, Army of Darkness, that it follows from, but it can stand alone. Campy, supernatural goodness. Ash voices many things that men feel inside but are too smart to actually say out loud. 
• The Shannara Chronicles: Based off a terrible book series and produced by MTV, I expected to watch the pilot episode and mock. It turned out to be not too bad, however, and I watched to the end of the first season. This was another show I watched in East Lansing, only available on Netflix US.  My main criticism is that all fantasy characters should have British accents. I found the American accents of some of the elvish characters especially jarring. 

Lansing Airport, NYC subway, and Graffiti

So there is no graffiti here at the Lansing airport. But, there is a business centre with free internet and coffee, comfortable chairs and desks. The free internet is allowing me to post this blog and listen to a progressive rock playlist on 8tracks (by Canibal_NoFM, pretty good so far). The airport is really pleasant. There was no line up and six security people just for me at the screening. The only trouble is you can basically only fly to Detroit and Chicago (oh -- I looked it up and DC and Minneapolis are also destinations). I usually fly through Detroit and take the bus to exciting East Lansing, where I visit a colleague at Michigan State University every year for several weeks. The connections were just better to Lansing this year. One of the only other two times I have been here before, my flight (in the tiny propeller plane) was delayed overnight due to thunderstorms. Today looks clear - keep your fingers crossed.

So the graffiti is on MSU campus, in a pedestrian underpass by the river.

I know some people find graffiti like that upsetting and threatening. I find it really creative and beautiful. This example reminded me of the graffiti'd subway cars I saw in NYC when I was a student there 88-91. At that time they were upgrading the subway system and removing graffiti. However much I like graffiti, I get that, since many people regard it as anarchistic, it encourages vandalism and criminal behaviour. I had been there a year and was used to the professional, clean subway cars and then one day one of the last old trains covered with graffiti showed up. I was blown away. I don't have a picture of the one I saw, but below is one I found online from around that time. 

Note the World Trade Centre in the background. That dates the NYC skyline...

Pottery from the UBC club studio

I have a few pottery pictures saved up from the last couple of months. I have really been enjoying having pottery studio access in the Summer. I am still on the tea light holder phase. I guess I will keep going until everyone I know has three of them. The ones below right were given to the Promislow family in East Lansing, Michigan. I work with Keith Promislow at Michigan State and visit him for a month every year (a shorter trip - three weeks - this time). Also below are two of my "little bowl attached to a bigger bowl" for olive pits, or dip for chips or vegetables. They need some work...

I have also been making some spoon heads that I attach to wooden handles. They also need some work... Two salt shakers, the one on the right turned out quite well I think.

     

Britannia Canada Day Celebration

I volunteer at Britannia Community Centre, which is in my old Commercial Drive (Grandview) neighbourhood. They have a different model at Britannia, with the community centre, elementary and high schools, and Library all sharing the same space and some resources. I have heard that it makes for some administrative headaches to organize things across the different partners, but when it works it can really bring together the community in a way that the separate groups cannot.

Because I have a fairly demanding day job, I sign up mainly to help with weekend special events. One of the ones I have done three (maybe four?) years in a row now is to help out at the Canada Day event they organize. I help run the button making booth, with Helen Spaxman, a long time friend that I first met as my pottery instructor at an evening class at Britannia. The button maker is a large sized one (3"). Button making is one of the activities that is provided at the celebration, along with live music, a bouncy castle, face painting, speeches by politicians, and many other things. It is usually held in Victoria Park but because it was a high profile year (Canada's 150th year) it was held this year in the more prominent Grandview Park.

Helen brings pastel crayons, pencils, stencils for maple leaves, and wooden skewers for Sgraffito if you want to add extra layers of design. Adults as well as kids get into it, and I really enjoy it myself. I get to make a few buttons as demos as well as use the button maker to make ones for other people. There were supplies for a few magnets and I got to make a few of those this year. My creations are below, magnets in the top row and pin buttons below. There are people with amazing art talent - I saw some really good ones this year.

Gin Friends: If it is London Dry Gin, does it matter how cheap it is?

I have an e-mail list for people I meet that like gin. I send out messages a few times a year about new gin I have tried and occasionally organize events. Last weekend we got together to answer the question in the title by a blind taste test. By London Dry I meant predominant juniper flavour (so not heavy botanicals like Hendricks) and not sweet. The contestants were:

1. A home brew gin with juniper and other botanicals added to cheap vodka.
2. Boomsma 
3. Boodles
4. New Amsterdam
5. 5 O'Clock Gin (at $7 US the cheapest entry) 
6. Beefeater 

The entries are shown below. Look at those beauties! The women are quite attractive, too. 

    

We did not get a complete consensus of opinion, but the general view was that the cheap 5 O'Clock Gin was the worst. I thought it had a slight chemical taste that was quite unpleasant, but since I poured the blind samples my opinion was not truly impartial. The general favourite was Boomsma, with Boodles and Beefeater close seconds. New Amsterdam was actually quite sweet so not really a dry gin that could be compared to the others and the same with the home brew which was more strongly botanical. Unfortunately we didn't get any higher end gin to compare (Victoria Gin and Phrog are local and in the right class). We will have to revisit this question, although unfortunately we can say that if you buy cheap gin it won't taste as good. However, the difference is not strong when you put it in a G&T. 

We had food and they enjoyed my view.

   

We had a couple of ideas for the next event. We could compare locally made gins. I know that Endeavour Gin from Liberty Distillery on Granville Island is quite good. We could stack it up against Schramms, Wallflower (from Odd Society), Longtable, and Victoria Gin. I am sure we could find another one to get us to six again. The other idea is to address the question, "does cheap gin and fancy tonic make a better G&T than fancy gin and cheap tonic? And is fancy gin and fancy tonic just too much?".