September 15th

Rocker baby chose her own outfit on Sunday: vest & high-tops, Old Navy; “Princess of Power” tee, hand-me-down from big sis; sunglasses, H&M; jeggings, Carters.













The goose that got away.

I think I must have some sort of special gift for wanting to go places at the most inopportune times. Let’s go down to English Bay! except it’s January first so it’s packed because of the Polar Bear Swim. Let’s go to Sunset Beach! except there’s a run going on and all the streets are blocked. Let’s go to Stanley Park! except it’s Pride Weekend there’s a parade between us and our destination. It’s one thing about living downtown: things happen here, and sometimes we’re trapped because of it, or at least forced to go many blocks out of our way.

This weekend was no exception, and on Sunday I had the brilliant idea of walking down to Second Beach to the toddler playground. It was pretty early in the morning and I figured it wouldn’t be that busy yet. Except. It was the Terry Fox Run, and it started right next to the playground on Ceperley Meadow and the routes for the various distances were on all the trails that lead there. ALL OF THEM. I cleverly avoided all the runners on one trail only to walk straight into another pack of them on a different trail, and this group included children, who are super bad at looking where they are going while running, apparently. Since the runners were heading away from Second Beach and we were heading towards it, there was a real salmon-swimming-upstream vibe happening.

We eventually made it and it was actually a good time to be there, as the playground was effectively deserted. I wonder though, does it make me a bad Canadian, indeed a bad Vancouverite, that I didn’t even KNOW the Terry Fox Run was happening? In my defense I basically live in a hole underground, but maybe that’s not an excuse?

Anyway Gwen tired of the playground quickly so we decided to walk around the Seawall to Third Beach, and then cut back through the park. Of course, there were runners on the Seawall as well (how many different routes are there for this run???) but it’s a lot wider than the trails we were on previously so there were no more near-collisions. At Third Beach we contemplated going down on the sand with Gwen but she wasn’t really dressed for it (see rocker baby, above) so instead we headed straight into the forest. This isn’t a way we normally go into the park so the trails were sort-of new-ish to us; I’m sure we’ve walked them before, but not in a long time.

We chose our path at random and took a totally circuitous route back to Lost Lagoon. It was a gorgeous day to be in the park, sunny and hot out in the open and cool under the trees. I pestered Taylor to take a lot of pictures since I hadn’t brought my camera. He inexplicably started a discussion about the merits of riding out a zombie invasion in the park because apparently you could build a secret shelter and forage for food, which I call bullshit on because Taylor can’t forage for shit (although he can build a mean fire). Basically the end result was he’s going to have to take some wilderness survival courses or something. You know. In case of zombies.

Also this weekend…

On Saturday morning we went out to the leather supply store so I could buy some hides ‘n’ sides to make baby shoes with. I’d originally planned on getting a couple neutrals, a couple brights and a metallic. Apparently someone forgot to tell my brain that because…

THESE ARE ALL NEUTRALS. Okay so there IS a metallic (platinum leather) and that light grey suede on the top looked like pale lavender in the store lighting but yeah. I CAN’T HELP IT OKAY I JUST LIKE NEUTRALS.

I also bought tons of snaps (in four different finishes), proper leather shears, a new mallet & small cutting board. Then I went online and ordered a snap-setting kit (I already have some snap setters but this one has like a little stand and I think it may work better, at least until I break down and spend $250 on a setting press), muslin bags for the finished shoes, and two custom stamps: a metal one for the leather and a rubber one for the bags. So much cool stuff! I need to buy a cupboard just to keep it all in.

After the leather store we met up with Jenn for our LAST EVER BRUNCH before she moves to Berlin; in fact she might be on her way there as I type this. She’s going to be gone for a year so I’m now accepting applications for a new friend to eat brunch and watch terrible movies with.

All the walking and activities this weekend were just like TOO MUCH for my sad old bones and both Saturday and Sunday nights I was DEAD. Actually Friday night as well, since I walked a lot that day too. It’s good though, I could use the exercise. On a related note I’m adjusting my gym-going goal from 3x a week to twice a week, not because I’m tired and lazy (although I am) but because with Taylor’s and my work, parenting and sleep schedules and the gym’s hours there are actually only two times during the week we can go together.