Kits Beach November
Yesterday I took a long walk in the autumn sun, a rare but always joyful event in Vancouver. The kids are in school and the adults are being professional, so the parks are quiet, in stunning contrast with the boisterous summer scene wherever there is shoreline. You feel your spirit and mind expand in the extra space and you find yourself paying attention to every seagull and raven, every empty park bench, every section of carpet of yellow leaves.
Black heirloom tomatoes
We live a few minutes’ walk from the Sunday farmers’ market in Kits. All summer we’ve covered almost all our vegetable and fruit needs there. Of course, it isn’t until mid-August that it really explodes with offerings of Chillawack corn, Okanagan stone fruits, local berries, heirloom eggplants and tomatoes.
I buy several pounds of mixed small heirlooms and eat them all week as an appetizer with fresh basil, salt and olive oil, sometimes with fresh mozzarella or Bulgarian feta. I almost don’t want to eat anything else. They are various degrees of sweetness and the juicy pop of flavor in my mouth is what defines end of summer for me.
Assorted heirlooms.
The Peace Arch at the US Canada border
As a US expat living in Vancouver, I travel back and forth between my home and the US quite a bit, mostly to my former home, Portland. The border separating the two has an interesting, complicated history and I enjoy mulling it over when I cross, and enjoying the sensation of officially moving from one country into another.
Sometimes I drive, other times I take the train, which is leisurely aka S-L-O-W, scenic and comfortable. This week I tried out the new BoltBus service, which is less comfortable but has advantages of shaving two hours off the travel and and being half the price of the train. I’ll be taking it again, for sure.
It is too expensive to fly — you can pay to cross the country for about the same.
The only real disadvantage of the bus is that you don’t get customs over with at the outset of the trip, but as you reach the border, at which point passengers unboard, pick up their luggage, wait in line and take their turns getting subjected to the unfriendly treatment of the customs agents.
I find that while the Canadians can be dry and unsocial, the US agents take the prize for outright incivility. (At the Victoria crossing an agent did not ask me to remove my sunglasses, she ordered me with a shout of “Glasses off!”) They have the intimidating dogs and heavy flak vests, and are masters of the game of power and submission. They have the power after all of detaining us without any charges indefinitely.
I ask: what is the point of this unfriendly manner at the threshold of a neighboring country? My response is to feel under unwarranted suspicion, disrespected and plainly unwelcome.
From our patio on the Naramata bench looking upon Lake Okanagan
We’ve had a dry, sunny August and September summer season, which has afforded us plenty of time outdoors. I like to be on the water, and to explore, so we spent a week in August where we’d never been, the Okanagan.
The Okanagan is known for dry, hot summers; loads of wineries and orchards; and a placid lake. We were lucky to have chosen to stay in Naramata, which turned out to be the quietest area on the entire lake, and one with no tourist infrastructure at all unless you count the one general store, the little cafe and the only paddle board/kayak rental place which sit on the road leading to the lake.
Days were spent gazing out at our rental home’s patio views, peering into the brush in hopes of a black bear sighting (we were rewarded, and in fact said bear loped through our yard regularly to help himself to the apricot and plums in the mini orchard), hanging out at the lake, fixing meals at home with local fruit and produce, and, on our last day, visiting a lavender farm, two pottery studios and a few local wineries. I highly recommend the Nichol pinot gris and gewurtraminer.
Naramata lavender farm
Despite the relative solitude, the two teenage boys with us found plenty to do on the lake, supplemented by a ride or two into Penticton for the multiplex and tube float. I think our dog had the best time of all though…twice daily swims. For a water dog, that’s unbeatable.
dog paddling on Lake Okanagan
Ahhhhh.
Naramata sunset
An April morning from Kitsilano Beach
We’ve had a spate of good weather and our moods have lifted. There are suggestions floating on Twitter and Facebook on where to go to enjoy the sun, but my favorite will always be Kits Beach. Plus there is the dog beach just below.
Vanier Beach, Vancouver, April 4, 2012
My favorite leisure advisor for the area is 604Pulse, and this week I took to heart the suggestions for local Japanese gardens by visiting the Nitobe at UBC.
Nitobe Japanese Garden, Vancouver, April 4, 2012
It is small, but lovely. The sun was strong enough to be warm on our backs on the bridge spanning the little lake. In another month the flowers will be blooming and the trees will be lush, and we’ll be back.
Meanwhile, cherry and plum blossoms were in full splendor the past two weeks and are just now shedding their petals.
kmazz 