Out and about in the City

I enjoyed getting dressed up to go downtown. I left Madigan to be a guard dog.  I rode the Vespa Touring. A beautiful young blond in a Mini,  with her white toy poodle on her lap, let me in ahead of her at the construction near Clarke.  I was glad to find parking on Burrard by Robson. Seems everyone had the same idea to enjoy the post Covid Lockdowns by coming into the city.

I love the Vespa Touring box. I could leave my helmet and armoured mesh jacket. I was dressed in a new Papa’s 50’s polka dot black dress. It was sleeveless and  fell  loosely from bozom to a couple of inches above the knees. I think it’s called A frame.   I had a matching black  earrings and necklace and the sandals I bought yesterday.  Very presentable and quite invisible. At my ages men and women tend to coalesce. No one cares as long as we’re clothed.  I actually had women compliment me on my dress. 

My first stop was the Vancouver Art Gallery. With the Covid lockdowns I’ve missed my visits and reflcctions on art and perspective.  It was a bit of a hodge podge  of exhibits from their collection. I enjoyed it.  Murat. Wade.  Modern works.  Some aboriginal and some black. Angry themes and more. I did enjoy the Heath ceramic exhibit. Emily Carr paintings were on the wall about the room.  It was just a lovely presentation.  I forget the main floor Asian artist. Dragans and Buddha. I so enjoyed the ‘space’ of the art gallery. 

After  I walked  to Granville. The street was closed off and there were entertainers spaced among the three blocks.  I was looking for the shoe store which I didn’t find. On a whim seeing Adrenaline and asked for another ear piercing. I’ve had piercings and tattoos done there. I talked about Erin and learned that Bill had left and has his own tattoo place in Maple Ridge.  The piercing went well. Sharp pain and then done.  

I walked all along Granville and turned back to Pacific Centre. There I stopped at B2 Shoes.  The beautiful sales girl dress in blue helped find me some sandals as well as half boots for the scooter. She brought me a whole selection. Two pair worked.  I’m normally not at all a shopper. This day I really enjoyed it. It was just such a change to be so amongst so many people after the last year of isolation. I loved people watching. Vancouver women in summer are a real treat. The men not so much. 

Back at the Vespa I put my shoes in the box, suited up and headed down Georgia.  I took Prior out to Commercial and found a parking place at one of my favourite cafe’s.  I was tired. An expresso perked me up while I wrote a blurb about the Art Gallery and uploaded some pictures to my blog.

Were it not for my eccentricity I might have stayed on the couch today. Playing dress up got me out.  Anonymous mostly with masks and just invisible old I enjoyed participating in the city. Also some time alone without Madigan whose now 11 months. Not such a puppy that he can’t be left alone a little bit.  

He was certainly glad when I got home. I change to tshirt and shorts. Lick would have it Emory and Bella were out being walked.  Madigan did two tours of the park.  The heat and humidity was telling on the fur coated friends when we came in

Now it’s movies and left overs. What a great day!  Thank you Jesus! 

Vancouver Art Gallery and the God Kids

One of the joys of my travel has been going to Art Galleries and Museums around the world. .  Art galleries are a very special space. Truly artistic in themselves,  the architecture and presentation of the art within is itself an art. Curators are to art like the conductor is too symphony.  The cafe’s and art stores there are  also wonderful places. Vancouver Art Gallery is really fine.
I chide myself that when I’m in the city I don’t go to the Vancouver Art Gallery enough.  I loved the Monet exhibit last year. I”ve always loved the Emily Carr.
When I phoned Kevin and Anna about going to church with the God kids (Kendra, Alex and Izak) Kevin answered and told me, “They’ve got coughs so we thought we’d go to art gallery instead. They’re over their colds but we thought their coughs might be disturbing in the church.”
“Count me in,” i said immediately. Art galleries and museums are themselves a kind of secular church.
We met there in the plaza.   The kids were fascinated by the dirt at the base of the trees planted in the cement.  Kendra likes to hold my hand when we walk. It was particularly gritty.
On the first floor of the gallery was the visiting Royal Collection. Lots of sketches and portraits from the Queen’s own home.  Were it not for Kevin’s keen eye I might have missed the only picture of Da Vinci in the collection.  Sir Edwin Landseer who mostly painted animals was my favourite.
Across from this was a ‘clever’ show of a artist and her make believe artist.  It was fine but  didn’t do much for me.  Avante Garde.
By contrast, on the second floor there was this amazing exhibit by the Japanese master, Takashi Murakami called the Octopus Eats its Own Leg. To survive duress the octopus it’s its own leg but the limb regenerates. It was a fitting image for an artist who had survived.   He’d been called the ‘Andy Warhol’ of Japan but from my own perspective I’d see him as their Picasso.  What always amazed me about Picasso was being introduced to his ‘cubism’ and only later seeing the works of his ‘blue period’. He was an amazing artist whose realistic work would have earned him a place in the history of art even if he hadn’t pushed the edges to be a moving force in modern art.. I think less of modern artists who throw paint at the wall but can't draw a stick figure.
Takashi’s nuclear works were amazing.  Tremendous colour and form. His ideas were intriguing too, with the use of the use of little plastic combat toys arranged upon a matt to tell an important story of the militaristic tension between Japan and the US after WWII.  I loved this. But mostly I loved his truly Japanese whimsical almost childlike. I liked that a rapper had come to him to provide him with the rapper bear and other consumer comic art objects  Add to that the exploration of the Buddhist themes and arhats which were truly foreign and exotic. They were both ancient and futuristic.  Here was a truly first rate mind.  I liked that I was there with the children.  They were happy in the spaces that Murakami art created.  Not so much the darker demon realm but definitely in the magic rooms. I loved the friendly pink octopus.
Kevin and I were not impressed with the black art. I couldn’t help but think of black lights and felt art and generic industrial spaces.  It was disheartening that it was a Canadian artist.    Thankfully there was Emily Carr art.  When I think of Justin Trudeau’s shallow comments about there not being anything of Canadian value, he  really suggests a caracature of  ‘global’ consciousness.   I couldn’t help but think of the Group of Seven and Emily Carr.  When I first walked in the woods of the BC Coastal Salish and Haida I felt I’d been here spiritually thanks to the works of Emily Carr. She opened my eyes to the local space.
The Zen art  of Lui Shou Kwan was a marvel.  I loved it thoroughly.
True Nordic, How Scandinavians influence design in Canada was a lovely exhibit.  For me,  this was mostly because so many of the pieces were like chairs and silver sets I’d seen as a young man.  I’d married a Scandinavian goddess when I lived in Manitoba.  The Scandinavians contributed so much to the culture, beauty and genius of that province.
While Kevin and I were going back for a another swing through the Murakami , Anna and the kids  found a do it yourself arts and crafts room.  They all  made hats with ears or horns, I wasn’t sure.  They  sure were delighted with their creations.  Lots of families and kids were there. Given the fun of Murakami a great exhibit to visit with something for all ages.

Vancouver -A Beautiful City

Everyone who visits says Vancouver is a beautiful city.  Situated on the protected English Bay Harbour off the inside passage of Georgia Strait it is a sea port with great tankers in the harbour, marinas, sailboats and beautiful beaches.  Kits Beach is the summer college girl and boy hang out with beach volley ball. I prefer Spanish Banks but Wreck Beach by the main UBC Point Grey site is famous for it’s nudity and historic hippy fests that challenged the city and the police till one day the storm in the tea cup was past. Now even the gay end of the beach with reported lusty hook ups is all but respectable.  Nothing shocks anymore and I say that with some ambivalence.
The UBC Museum of Anthropology on the cliffs above never grows old. Concerts at the near by Chan Centre, especially classical are a treasure.  I so enjoyed the Bach and Handel perfomances I attended in recent years.   Kitsilano is the suburb that’s kind of yuppie. The houses are astronomically priced now but the people are more than approachable. Vancouver’s wealthy sections are old Shaughnassey and West Vancouver.  North Vancouver and Kitsilano have that middle class feel. The lower class was once East Vancouver but there housing prices have sky rocketed as well making poor people rich when they sell their houses. The West End is quintessential Vancouver, downtown with mostly apartments and the highest density.  Robson Street in the main uptown shopping street with Davie the once gay now gay plus or minus part of town depending on perspective.Granville street is the central core.  Bridges cross over False Creek where the dragon boats make a racket and Coal Harbour where the main commercial port is.  Commercial Street in gentrifying East Vancouver  and attracted the lesbians more so along with a younger crowd while Davis street maintained it’s corner on the bears and leather set  The drag  queen shows still take place on Davis where a different night life persists. But there’s really a chic and mixed set that have always been part of the Davis scene. The Avant Garde and the city live and work near here so it’s where they eat and increasingly shop for books and clothes.  St. Paul’s Hospital with the surrounding medical offices is nearby.
Howe is where the Courthouses are. Then there’s Georgia and Burrard where the very very old and very very baautiful Christ Church Cathedral is located.The new Bells contribute to the audioscape of the city.  All around there are magnificent hotels. The Vancouver Art Gallery is central with nearby Pacifc Centre shopping mall, Hudson’s Bay and across the street  the new Nordstroms.
Vancouver’s architecture is dominated with glass giving it a lightness of being look so different from the heaviness of New York and Chicago.  There’s a sense that fairies live here while trolls live in the east.  One really can imagine unicorns flying on rainbows amidst these almost delicate buildings not surprisingly built to withstand earthquakes.  The ground does shake here on occasasion.
I rode my Harley Davidson downtown simply knowing I’d be able to bypass rush hour traffic with a bike whereas with a car I’d be frustrated no end. Also on my motorcycle I see so much more. I really appreciated once again the incredible beauty of the solid circular architecture of our main library.  The Queen Elizabeth Theatre is near by.   I so enjoy performances of Ballet BC.  Rogers Arena, a grand structure, is where we most recently enjoyed the magnificent U2 concert with Mumford and Sons as the opening act.  It’s where I’ve also enjoyed games of the Vancouver Canucks hockey team.
My favourite Apple store is in the Pacific Centre. I’d thought I cracked the glass on my new iPhone 7 but found it was only a scratched protector.  "Kaloo Kalay he chortled in his joy."  Leaving there and admiring the beautiful people uptown with some fine fashion examples, increasingly a phenomena.  Vancouver was once better known for it’s grunge. This is still popular in the DTES where the homeless sleep on the street and fentanyl overdoses and taking their toll.
Here and there perhaps because Nordstrom’s arrived recently there are Vogue models are walking about downtown along side GQ men.  I think of it as an improvement. I do like people watching and wish there we’re more cafe’s on Georgia where the real lookers flock.  The best coffee and people watching for variety though is Granville street. I’ve had tattoos and peircings there as well as attended the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra at the Magnificent Orpheum Theatre.   I like to sit in the outdoor cafes  and write about nothing, Much like I’m doing now. Journalling.  But there I do more  observing.  Lots of visual entertainment.  I don’t like the amplified music.  Non amplified music is a wholly different thing. I like that. More audio sphere art but amplification creates raucous distracting noise. There’s an arrogance to it in a public space. Like ghetto blasters. Like my loud stereo on the Harley which I justify because ‘loud pipes save lives’ . I’m often playing bag pipe music too  Recently i’ve been very partial to U2, Steppenwolf and Led Zeppelin.  Steve Bell is who I really like on the open highway.
The Claude Monet Secret Garden show was on at the Vancouver Art Gallery so I walked over and caught a splendid hour of visual impressionist delightsbefore the gallery closed. Then I rode the motorcycle over to Davis Street. I used to live on Beach Avenue and enj sitting and writing outside the Blenz across the Q Centre and Mary’s Hamburger’s.
I found a parking place across from Bean around the World so sat there and reminisced about living in the west end before moving onto my sailboat in Coal Harbour.
When I got back into motorcylcling after a fifteen year hiatus or so I started with a scooter. Laura and I would ride around Stanley Park on the little 50 cc Aprillia. Next it was the Trev Deeley 600 cc Buell Blast, then the Barnes 1200 CC Harley Roadster and now the Trev Deely 1600 cc Electroglide I have now.  Each bike we’ve enjoyed the pleasant downtown forest ride in Stanley Park. Earlier I’d biked and walked and even roller bladed the seawall. Then when I was involved again with the sailboat it was me seeing others on the sea wall while I motored my sailboat alongside beneath the  Lion’s Gate Bridge.
I loved Lost Lagoon. When I lived on my boat in Coal Harbour I walked my Scotty dog, Stewart,  around the Lagoon almost every day. That’s when Denman Street was my principle dining area.  It’s not that I haven’t loved and appreciated areas of Vancouver, it’s just that since I moved to the North Shore and then later  Burnaby, while I worked in China town and the DTES, I’ve not has as much time to appreciate the city as I once did and do like,  I certainly loved North Vancouver and now love Burnaby especially the  green spaces.
I love Grouse Mountain. It’s been a decade though since I hiked the Grouse Grind and longer since I night down hill skied there or even since I  cross country skied on Cypress Mountain. I just think it’s amazing to have so many play places within the city itself where there’s everything a modern city has to offer plus this extraordinary proximity to natural wonders.  I was relatively immobilized by accidents for some years.
Yet here I am still blessed to be able to walk and ride my motorcycle and enjoy the city. The city’s  beauty in the summer causes me to catch my breath. Riding around Stanly Park then up Georgia I just loved the sky scrapers and the sun mirrored in the beautiful glass. There truly are awesome views.  At the lights I was able to look up and appreciate the workmanship that went into the Fairmont Building, the old facades beside the new glass towers.  Too often i’m in functional mode in the city just working and going from place to place. I saw the city as a tourist this day.  It really is beautiful.  I really must not take it for granted.  It’s so important to be in the moment in the present, in the the place where I am rather than in my work and my head and my business.
 I rode out to the freeway and headed home to Burnaby in the HOV lane.  I’m living and liking the suburbs now for the river walks and fabulous green of the coastal rain forest. You can still smell the sea air and sometimes sea gulls fly over though it’s mostly robin song I hear. In the north I can see the snow capped mountains.  Vancouver really is beautiful, the  city and it’s surroundings.