Alien Light Bulb

There was a strange, faceted light bulb that we found in the basement storage room in our house in East Vancouver. The house was built in the early 1950s and we moved in in 2002 (ish). "We" here is old we, me and my ex-wife and the kids. The bulb was there and worked through all the time we owned the place, came with me after the separation, and was in a bedside lamp in our apartment. After all that time, I began to think it was some kind of special, eternal bulb, but it did burn out recently. If you look closely, it says it comes from Phillips in France, so it seems unlikely that it is alien technology after all. 

Birthday Trip

 My wife just had a milestone birthday. I find it difficult to figure out what to get as a present on these occasions and other men my age have said the same. Maybe it is different for women or for other cultures or generations. I was racking my brain and consulting friends for ideas when she said, "all I want is to get out of town for a few days." So she organized a trip to Tofino for us. I also enjoyed having a change of scene. We stayed at a resort right on the beach. We had in mind that we would be watching storms but instead we had some quite nice weather and very little rain. 

Here is the birthday girl on the sunny beach

Some interesting things we found on our beach walking 

Veronica's original birthday plan was to take family and friends to a night of dinner and dancing at Federico's on Commercial Drive. Of course that plan was not possible during COVID and we heard it had closed down permanently. 

Plants and Pottery 2020

I have been back at pottery this year, using the UBC studio run by students (I am a "community member"). It was shut down for a while over the Summer, but then reopened with limited capacity and a booking system. Some pictures below of what I have been doing, mixed in with our gardening efforts on the terrace. For me, a successful garden means beautiful, perennial plants that you can eat. This really limits you to herbs, and we had a good crop of those. We also had some vegetable success. There were a couple of squash plants that really produced for us. 

I got married this Summer

Yes, I know this post is overdue. My desktop is cluttered with pictures ready to post on other blog posts, so I behind on more than just this one. 

I had wondered whether we would actually get married as we are older (on the side closer to 60 of 50s) and have both been married before, both with two adult children (and one grandchild) from our previous marriages. We (and the bank) own an apartment together, and in Vancouver that is a considerable commitment. Sometime in the Spring I began to think that getting married was a good idea, and Veronica accepted me. 

It would have been a small wedding, but ended up even smaller because of COVID. We had it on our large balcony (it is like a patio but on the second floor so we call it a terrace). We had just family and one friend each. My nephew is a pastor in Terrace and he flew down to do the ceremony and that really felt special, and we got a bit of religion. My father is living with us and was the best man. He gave a heartfelt but humorous speech to the bride. Veronica's close friend was her her maid of honour and her daughters gave her away. 

Here comes the bride and then the ceremony. 

Then we were married, good job!

Then an excuse for a family reunion. We had a catered lunch and of course a few gin and tonics. 

All that socializing can get tiring, especially in uncomfortable, formal clothes. 

Best Pizza in BC

What people like in a pizza varies considerably. There are also strong national differences in how it is prepared. I remember in Germany they would ask, "do you want an egg on that?" and if you said yes, they would crack a raw egg on the top for the last 5 minutes of baking. So if you look at the title and say "how does Brian know what I think is the best pizza?" I would agree that I do not. I also have to admit that I have not tried all the pizza places in BC in a fair comparison. 

With those caveats, my vote goes to the Bold Pizzeria in Kamloops. It is a wood oven fired style, but with heavier toppings than is usual for that style. They have an excellent version of "the works" style pizza called The Average Joe. They also have a revolving monthly selection of special recipes which are really innovative. I had the luck of having two of those on visits to my father. He is now living with us in Vancouver which means I do not have an opportunity to go back for more. 

In Vancouver, the two places that come close are Burrata Pizzeria in Kerrisdale, my new neighborhood, and Cotto Enoteca Pizzeria in Burnaby. Both very good. For traditional inexpensive delivery pizza or pizza by the slice, I like Uncle Fatih. 

Tying Sticks Together

I have been working on our terrace garden as the weather permits. It is a real joy. We have one side pretty well set up the way we want, with some herbs, tomatoes, a plant (whose name I am blanking on) that has followed Veronica through several moves but is much happier out of a pot and into the "ground". We also have a bunch of Latinki (English name unknown) grown from seed that are quite happy.

I had taken out a bunch of ugly bushes and trimmed the remaining hedge. I am working now on a wandering path with some cement tiles. I imagine grandchildren frolicking on this path. The project in between was organizing trellises for the various plants on that good side. I built them out of bamboo sticks tied together with twine. My tying was somewhat arbitrary, but if you google "tying sticks together" (which I did) you will find a whole wealth of material! My next round of trellises will be superior with this knowledge.

Cycling for Fun

I have enjoyed cycling since I first learned at age five when I was living in Berkeley. The enjoyment came from the sense of speed from my own effort as well as the extension of the radius I could reach without public transportation or parental involvement. When I was in high school in Victoria, cycling in to school let me avoid the toxic dynamic at the local stop for the school bus. It became both exercise and my main means of transportation. It was a shared passion with my ex-wife and cycling together was part of our courtship. When I was working in Germany between MSc and Phd, cycling became a weekend activity with long trips on rural roads in the Pfalz with a friend, Utz Weber. Coming to work at UBC, cycling has become a main option for commuting to work. There were a few years in there with a break from active cycling: while I was a PhD student in NYC; my year in Toronto at the Fields Institute early in my career; about six years after an accident when my son was a baby. At that last one, I injured my arm and was unable to properly take care of my son at that age. It was a wake up call to my parental responsibilities. When I went back to cycling, it was almost exclusively for commuting and it has been that way for the last twenty years. I should say that its utility did not diminish the joy it brought me. In these "interesting" times, I have been working at home for the last few months. I have taken to cycling as a break and to get some exercise. Even if it is intended to improve my fitness (mental and physical), it is still fun!