Search Results for “vancouver”

Unveiling Vancouver Temperate Rainforests

Kind of embarrassing –after moving to Vancouver over 18 years ago, we finally visited 2 local municipal parks with temperate rainforests, for our first time a few months ago. For many years, I biked right by Pacific Spirit Regional Park near the University of British Columbia. Park edge was sometimes within a metre from the…

Bald Eagle in Wilderness, Our Neighbourhood – Brackendale Eagles Provincial Park and Vancouver

Jack once told me, he saw a bald eagle fly high by the window of our highrise condo building. The soaring bird was at eye level. That’s very high –over 20 stories high. If you are patient, while biking, jogging or walking slowly around the shoreline in Vancouver, a bald eagle might be soaring ahead or perched…

2010 Olympic Birthmarks in Neighbourhoods: Vancouver, BC

For locals, the 2010 Winter Olympics legacy for some Vancouver buildings and artwork becomes paradoxically like a familiar face that we may longer notice its unique birthmarks over time. I haven’t spent any time researching, analyzing nor comparing long lasting transformation of buildings, art and infrastructure in Vancouver and other Olympic cities worldwide. So just take my…

Cherry Blossom Ballet in Vancouver: Nature and New Mural Art

I had been wanting to highlight this new outdoor public mural that featured cherry blossoms against the backdrop of West Coast Japanese-Canadian and aboriginal history. The St. James Community Service Society mural was commissioned in 2011 by the City of Vancouver, as part of their new public art works in celebration of the city’s 125th…

An Idyllic Summer Escape to Vancouver Island for Maidei

After feeling the city vibe of downtown Vancouver, Maidei sailed off the next morning, on a B.C. Ferry across the Georgia Strait to Saanich, Vancouver Island. During this 1.5 hrs. long voyage, she was delighted by ever-changing panoramic views of rock outcroppings and lumpy green Canadian Gulf Islands while they plied the ocean waters. These…

Maidei Touches Down in Vancouver, B.C.

Maidei continued her world-wind adventures during her TeamEstrogen global cycling relay, but now in western Canada. She boarded on an Air Canada flight from Calgary to Vancouver. She wanted to escape the shenanigans of the annual Calgary Stampede in early July which features bronco horses, chuckwagon races, deep fried foods and nightly drunken partying for nearly 10…

Cultural Olympiad Vancouver 2010- Lantern Sculptures Light the Way

A traffic-free zone on Granville Street between Robson and Georgia has been transformed for only one month into a sparkling display of light sculptures and lanterns. The LunarFest 2010 art display and performance is part of several arts cultural events coordinated under the Cultural Olympiad Vancouver 2010, before and during the Olympics. The LunarFest light…

Baby Steps for Adventures Far-Flung and Close

I did not travel outside of my home province, Ontario Canada where I was born, until when I was 25 years old. It was a train trip to Quebec City with a sister. I can’t even remember if we stopped in Montreal on our way into la belle province, Quebec. So, no de rigeur European…

Learning Journey — Where A Career Wanders

If I had known at the beginning where my jobs would have led, I might have scared myself. I never knew my work journey would take me to 3 different Canadian provinces and cities. I can’t claim I’m the person that often dashes out on a journey without a map or a vague idea of…

Christmas Crystal Memories to Hold

With covid restrictions still falling like blanket globally, Christmas holidays become bright lights in a string of long nights and winter days. “Tree of Life” stained glass art windows at Christ Church Cathedral, downtown Vancouver BC 2020. By Musqueam artist, Susan Point from Alert Bay, BC. Imagery of trees supporting salmon, a symbol of northwest…

Before Smoky Skies: Vacation Spirits at Cowichan Bay, British Columbia

Now that some wildfire fire smoke drifted into Calgary this summer across the Rocky Mountains from 300 different wildfires burning in British Columbia, I am grateful for my lovely, earlier vacation interlude with friends at Cowichan Bay, on southern Vancouver Island. It feels I just beat the smoky sky blues by a few days. Cowichan…

Bumping into the Personal: From Museum Exhibits to Identity, Anti-Asian Sentiment and Activism. Part 2.

Just for a flicker moment, I felt like a pseudo-hippie, a relic from the 1960’s, a helping hand for social justice on equity and race relations. But not at all. I was there in the 1980’s in Toronto. A few months ago, I was interviewed by a Canadian history professor, Angie Wong who will have…

Mist and Brightness: Beaver Lake, Stanley Park

On another post-rainy day, we cycled over to Beaver Lake, tucked in Vancouver’s Stanley Park. Once you bike or better yet, saunter down a short, hard packed fine gravel path through the woods, you’ll reach messy mini-wetland of Beaver Lake. It’s not particularily scenic spot since you’re surrounded by old growth trees and rotting logs…

From Museum Exhibits, Personal Stories to Anti-Asian North American Sentiment in 21st Century. Part 1

This year, I biked through a bunch of peaceful activists gathering for anti-racism public rally. I felt quite guilty I didn’t stop for a few minutes to show my support for them. After all, my personal history includes volunteer work for several years in Toronto on social justice, anti-racism and equity matters. Toronto rally by…

Beauty Long for Now

This spring I just won’t be able to immerse in cherry blossom splendour in Vancouver. So these lovely blossom sprays and boughs are memories for me, and maybe for many of you, tissue paper living dreams. Nevertheless, join me with lightness in heart of spring and living. Cherry umbrella arcs Pink flush warms o’er skies…

Bird Miracles in our Neighbourhood

Miraculously we were at the right time and place, to spot a rare and incredible Mandarin duck at Burnaby Lake Park in Metro Vancouver this past winter. I’m pretty sure, this is the same creature that rocked excitement to near local stardom in the news over 3 years ago. The flamboyant duck plumage marked its…

Gathering Cosy and Safe for Christmas

It seems quaint now, to see photos of being caught up in last year’s bustle of holiday crowds in cafes, stores and yes, even the hotel that hosts for the public, gingerbread collection of cookie, candy and sugar dusted winter tableaux and figurines. At the time, we thought the gingerbread cruise liner ship with onboard…

Outdoor Art Adds a Different City Heartbeat

If you need a break from the city’s fast pace and crowds while in the midst of its heartbeat, outdoor art can be a wonderful antidote to slow you down. Or indoor art in public places, such as the stained glass of Mount Rundle below, taken inside St. Paul’s Church, in downtown Banff. Not every…

Social Bonding Over Food

Before covid-19 hit the brakes hard globally on health and our social lives, the last social meal I had with several people was the last day in February. At lunch, I hung out over sizzling stone bowls of bimbap with egg, at a popular Korean restaurant with 3 other employees from another department. In fact,…

Nature as Solace During Uncertain Times

Over the past few decades, I’ve been lucky to live within a 5 min. walk or if further away, a bike ride to very large parks and escape to Nature’s calming presence. Even in urban parks, I can very quickly immerse in the leafy stillness, sunshine, twittering birdsongs, rustling swaths of wild grass and bush,…

Daily Life Lessons During Covid-19 Pandemic

For some folks, a global plague highlights a lot what they took for granted since this past March. Or confirmed what one knew or decided long ago: Mask-Wearing for Hours is Hot I mean kind of sweaty. My double-sided, non-medical cloth mask is hot to wear for several hours at room temperature. When reading a…