Vacation 2010 - The Historic Moment

Earlier this week the City of Richmond, BC, was voting on whether to ban the sale of dogs in pet stores. My mother wanted to go, just to make sure the room was filled with supporters, so I went with her. Some guy gave us little signs to wear (Adopt, Don't Shop), and the room was super packed. We listened to a couple hours worth of people defending either side. The people on the pro-ban side brought some very interesting and effective stats and proof that pet stores often get animals from puppy mills. The councilors voted unanimously for the ban, the first city in Canada (see the article excerpts below.)

I forgot to bring the boys for this historic moment, so my mum, brother and I staged a Dramatic Recreation in front of City Hall.

Richmond city council voted unanimously on Monday night to draft a bylaw amendment that would ban the sale of dogs in pet stores, in what the B.C. SPCA is calling a "landmark move against puppy mills."
While several U.S. cities already have such a ban in place, it is the first time a decision of the kind has been made in Canada.
"The City of Richmond showed such leadership being the first in Canada," said Lorie Chortyk, general manager of community relations for the B.C. SPCA. "We're really hoping that this is something other municipalities will see as the progressive way to go."
...

Bryson said U.S. taxpayers spend about $2 billion each year to house and euthanize unwanted animals.
American cities with full bans on live animal sales in pet stores include Hermosa Beach, South Lake Tahoe and West Hollywood in California; Fort Lauderdale, Coral Gables, Lauderdale Lakes, Flagler Beach, North Bay Village and Opa-Locka in Florida; and Austin, Texas.
Albuquerque, N.M., imposed a ban on the retail sale of all companion animals in 2006. Since then, animal adoptions have increased by 23 per cent and euthanasia at city shelters has decreased by 35 per cent, said Bryson.   (Vancouver Sun)

Vacation 2010 - Aberdeen Center and other things

The Brother visits my hotel one day. We sit and gossip with the boys.

 Usually each visit I go to one beach-walk with my mum and the Brat Pack, and act as official photographer. Ahh! Papparazzi!

Cool Rock 

Fast Eddie with his aardvark tongue.

 

Sassy, watching over the crew. 

Foster dog: Quinby, Quincy or Q B. 

Foster 2: Baby Cyrus.

They all try to fit on her lap.

 On the last day the boys and I made an outing to Daiso, to get some bentos.

Then we had a bad lunch in the food court. 

 This is the view from the Aberdeen Center's food court.

This store specializes in real looking miniature things.

 And finally, near one entrance to the mall there's a market, with vegetables, meat etc. Keep in mind, this is a fancy looking mall, with a water fountain show that keeps time with bad Muzak. Richmond is largely Asian, which makes it a mysterious and interesting place.

And everyone has a cell phone, so it was hard to find a pay phone to get a cab ride back to my mum's! But I eventually found one, and here we wait for our ride.

And then we took the red-eye home. Here the boys were singing: "Another suitcase in another haaall..." I think they'd had enough of traveling.

Vacation 2010 - sploo loo looo

I don't ever remember feeling this tired on a vacation, except the summer after I finished my BA in English Lit. I remember feeling reaaallly zoned out that time.

Usually after this many days of sitting around watching tv and reading, I'd have recovered some zip. But I have no zip. I can barely converse. Every night I'm exhausted, no matter what time I've been going to bed, or how much sleep I've had.

I still have a few days left when I get home, before returning to work, and I shall need them!

So sorry, no photo etc updates tonight... I'm toooo woooorn out!

Vacation 2010 - zzzz

Hey there. Not much to report, I'm still so tired! I'm never usually this tired this far into my vacation. I just sit on my biiiig bed and watch movies and read. (Last night Wall Street, right now Ferris Bueller.)

It's been cloudy and rainy, so not really balcony weather. But it was still worth the chance paying for it, because all last week it was sunny and 20 degrees. So worth the chance.

I'm very happy with my hotel too. It's got everything I wanted, and things I didn't expect like... big towels! Shocking. What are hotels coming to these days?

Vacation 2010 - like a queen in my king sized bed

Today it was off to Vancouver!

We went for a Lebanese lunch in downtown Nanaimo, which was very good.

Then the boys and I cruised over on the ferry. Not many people, and this one had a covered observation deck, so we were able to sit in the sun but out of the wind, and finish reading Juliet on the kobo.

Portho Shakespeare was quite inspired by the mysterious misty isles.

The Mother is just getting over a big sickitude, so she took me for groceries and then dropped me at my wee hotel. It's so cute and nice! I got one of the redecorated rooms! And look, doesn't the balcony make alll the difference? 

There have been no bed bug reports in Richmond, but we check just in case.

Then climb up and settle in.

Our view is of the park.

The writing paper is Oscar sized.

Why is it the mini shampoos are the best part? Lotion too. Smells nice, like candy.

Vacation 2010 - more relaxin'

Lots more sleeping. Doing crosswords. Chatting with Parental Units. Then the Step-mommy and I went to see Inception, which was very good. And that's it!

Los Step-mommios & Oscar Doll

Vacation 2010: another day another laze

Today was another blue sky 20 degree cool breeze day, so I ventured out in the RV with my dad, to airport to work on his plane. Well, he worked on the plane; I sat in the sun reading Juliet, while the boys sunned themselves.

(Except when they were taking the plane out for a spin.)

We drove through Qualicum Beach on the way home, which is really really lovely (not just the shore, but the little town and nabes). But I didn't really capture much of that in these lazy drive-by photos. You'll just have to take my word for it.

Vacation 2010 - recharging

Let's see now, where are we re. Vacation 2010...

Monday:
Realized the Toronto to Van flights were all cray-zie. Decided to go through Ottawa instead. 11 Pm flight to Ottawa, no problem. 12-something flight to Vancouver fuller, but I got a seat. Yay! Watched Knight and Day, and Sex and the City 2, and next thing I knew we'd touched down. There was a flight leaving for Nanaimo in 5 mins, but didn't know that I could catch it (plus my bags) so I instead went for some Food & Drink and settled in to catch up on blogs and chat with Swiss Girl and took the flight 2 hours later.

There's our plane pulling up.

A little fresh air for the exhausted travelers...

...and then back in the bag.

Ahhh made it to Nanaimo at last.

And the boys finally relax before mountains and the Straight of Georgia.

Let's see... hm... someone's erased the rest of Monday from my memory! I know I went to bed at 11 PM and slept until 10 AM. That's all I thought I needed to get back on my feet, an 11 hour sleep.

But right after eating breakfast I felt like going back to bed. I didn't. It was super sunny beautiful, so I went out shopping with the pater. Then we made a picnic lunch and took the RV out for a spin to the beach.

(Stage right: Step-mommy helping Porthos pose.)

Relaxing as the sun sets.

We got home around 7 PM and I crawwwwled back up to my bed and fell asleep fully dressed. Woke up at 1 AM. Had a snack, read my book. Back to sleep at 2:30 AM, woke around 8 AM. So it turns out I needed a 22.5 hour sleep. My bad.

We spent the day reading Juliet. Oh, and took another nap somewhere in there.

Under a perfect blue sky.

With hummingbirds.

And in the evening watched The Mission. (Not really to Oscar Doll's taste, but the Shakespearian side of Porthos enjoyed it.)

So I'm feeling Myself again.

bla bla bla packing

Alright, the clothes are packed, except I haven't decided on the shoes yet. Now I have to pack the rest of my crap, and decide what combination of purse/briefcase/carry-on I want to use.

Stripes is on tv. Good packing entertainment--one can leave the room and still know what's going on.

My friend Swiss Girl is an expert at hotel & sight seeing globetrotting packing. But I do believe I am an expert at Visiting Close Family packing. For this kind of packing...

* You don't have to worry about too many suitcases and such, cause even if you go running around seeing things, you have a safe home base where you can leave your other crap.

* You don't have to worry about forgetting nail clipper type accessories, cause you can just use your relative's.

* You have to leave extra space because relatives give you prezzies, or you might be running around shopping rather than sight seeing. My method these days is to pack as much as possible into a smaller suitcase; then put it into a bigger suitcase; toss a few things, shoes etc into the gaps around the smaller one. Then when it's time to come home I've got almost a complete extra suitcase I can pack.

My step-mommy is still learning this. She always comes to visit with one perfectly packed suitcase. Then she runs around buying dolls (she collects) and has to play puzzle with her suitcase, and goes home with some big extra plastic bag etc. Tsk tsk. I keep trying to tell her -- pack with lots of room to spare!

"Pahhhck meeee"

I'm not in the mood to pack. I haven't had that First Day of Vacation 12 Hour Sleep yet, so I'm not feeling very energetic. But I don't want to go to bed too late either, because I don't want to fall asleep during Evita, or get a cold or something. Sigh. So I should get off my caboose and PACK. Sigh.

I am Le Sigh.

Maybe if I could pack here in the living room, with some TV. Not very practical, though.

Mowwwz mowwwz mowwwz.

In other news, I got my sick-kitty earrings. I'm going to bring them with me.

Oh, and Haley also finally admitted to poisoning Minion. She wasn't trying to kill her, she just wanted a break from the whole running around, jumping on her back, stealing mother's lap, stealing her food, acting like top cat routine.

I'm gonna get out a heeeaah!

All the plans are finalized, I can now book myself standby on some flights. My daddyio is a retired airline pilot, so I usually go standby except when I can't afford to miss a flight, like when I went to London.

But most times I just plan for one flight, but with a couple more possibilities in case I miss it. And if I get to the airport early, then I can try to move to an earlier flight.

The only key flight will be my first, because Gilby is picking me up at the airport and then we're off to Stratford for an 8 PM musical. But he works close to the airport, so I can call him when I arrive; and there's a flight every hour, so I've got a couple tries to get it right.

As Scottie would say: It's excitin'! Three more days of work, and then Packing Day, and then I'm off. Loo loo loooooo!

more random info about my trip

Here's my upcoming trip!

From Montreal to Toronto...

...to Stratford, to Toronto, to Niagara-on-the-Lake, to Toronto...

...to Victoria (my dad suggested I fly in there if I want a Victoria trip, and he'll fetch me there)...

...from Victoria to Nanaimo, to Richmond!

Ending up at my leetle hotel on the park.

Where there's an Irish pub across the street. (Not that I drink, but fries are good at pubs!)

And zipping over to my mother's. That's my brother in the Google Street View outside my mum's house. He saw the truck coming, grabbed Sassy the dog, and headed back out to pose!

In other news... I found two other stores that sell fancier bentos.


Murata (15 E. Broadway)


Utsuwa-No-Yakata (Aberdeen mall, same as Daiso)