Halloween and My Mom

This is a late post about Halloween. Actually, it's not so much about Halloween, it's more about my mom. Recently (November 10th to be exact), my mother turned 89 years old. Eighty-nine! That's one less than the big 9-0.There's no denying it, she's old.The amazing thing about my mom is that she's still sharp. She stills tells interesting, detailed stories about her childhood and is always quick to crack a joke. She's a funny lady. I remember when I was in grade 2 or 3 and went to a birthday party at my friends house. My mother wrapped a banana and told me that I was giving it to my friend as a birthday gift. I was really upset. I thought that it was a terrible idea. How wrong I was. When my friend opened it later at the party, everyone burst out laughing and my friend was smiling from ear to ear he was so happy. It was definitely the most memorable gift of the party. I learned a lesson that day that I would remember forever. My mom knew comedy, and I had a lot to learn from her.
Banana picture from: http://marenda.biz/2008/07/banana-facts/

Anyway, back to Halloween. As I said, my mom is old. She can't move around, so every Halloween my wife and I go to her house and help her give out candy to the trick or treaters (kids who come the door and ask for candy). If the kids are really cute, we help my mom to the door so she can take a look - sometimes she scares the kids because she's so old. My wife also carves a Jack O' Lantern (Halloween pumpkin) for her. Here's a picture of my wife's spider pumpkin from this year and some kids who came by my mom's house.

My Uneventful Weekend

I love fall. Went out to enjoy the autumn leaves on the weekend. Here's a picture of one of the tree-lined streets in my neighbourhood.








Here's one of my favourite grocery stores. It's very small and only carries a few products, but they have the best stuff. I can get farm fresh eggs and freshly picked garlic - it's the only place I know where I can get both these things - they also have a killer lemon cake.

After walking around in the fallen leaves and shopping we were too tired and hungry to go home and start cooking, so we went for Korean food. I used to have a favourite Korean restaurant in Vancouver, but the owners sold it, so I had to find another good Korean restaurant in Vancouver. We went to Seoul Doogbaegi on Kingsway. 

This place is pretty good and they make a wickedly hot Kimchi Soup - love it!
                                                     

Saturday Night Barbeque

I had a great barbeque on Saturday night. I grilled some mushrooms, carrots, potatoes, red peppers, red onions, and zuchini. I also made a beautiful prime rib steak. It was delicious! We had a bottle of red wine (Merlot) with dinner and for desert we had freshly made fruit salad with pineapple, mango, pear, etc. Very sweet. It was a great meal.

Tool Rocked!

On the weekend I saw a great hard-rock band called "Tool". They were great! They play a very unique type of music. During the show, there is a film running with a lot of original artwork created for the band. The film and the music go together beautifully and it creates a fantastic visual experience. Very cool band!

Picture from: fyrebear.com

Fishing Fawn Lake

Last weekend I went fishing and camping at Fawn Lake, one of my favourite lakes. Fawn Lake is about a 6 hour drive north of Vancouver. The drive is gorgeous. There are hundreds of miles of beautiful scenery and nature. Sometimes when I drive here I see bears, foxes, and moose. This year I saw deer. There are always deer. That's why Fawn Lake has its name - fawn means baby deer.

The fishing was pretty good. I caught a lot of rainbow trout that were 1.5 - 3 lbs (pounds). Here is a picture of two beautiful rainbows I caught. They were delicious!

The camping was very relaxing. Although it was a little cold, we had a big camp fire to keep us warm. We also had a barbeque every night and cooked a lot of great food. The weather was also good and it didn't rain until the last night - thank god it was the last night. Camping in the rain is no fun.

If you ever get a chance to go camping, you have to go. Nothing is more peaceful and relaxing than sleeping in a tent in the fresh air, looking at the stars at night, and listening to the birds in the morning (actually, the bird aren't so peaceful and relaxing - they start at 4:30 in the morning!!! My first thought when I hear the birds is "How beautiful!" my second thought is "Where's my gun?").

Bard on the Beach

Every year in the summer, there is a Shakespeare festival in Vancouver called Bard on the Beach. If you don't know Shakespeare, he was a famous English playwright (a person who writes plays) who wrote many famous plays (Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, etc.) and many beautiful poems about 450 years ago. Shakespeare's plays are often very funny, very romantic, and sometimes very tragic.

Bard on the Beach is performed on stages in a big tents at Kits Beach. The stage is covered with a roof, but behind it there is no wall, so you can see the trees, mountains and sky behind the actors as they perform the play.This year we went to see Antony and Cleopatra. This play is a romantic tragedy about the love between Mark Antony, a famous Roman soldier, and Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt. They have a very passionate love affair, but in the end it's game over.

The actors were very good and the weather was great, so we could watch the play and also watch the sun go down behind the mountains. It was a great night out. This is an excellent event to go to if you have the time. See the link below for more info.

http://www.bardonthebeach.org/

Bento

Recently, my wife and I had a picnic at VanDusen Botanical Gardens. We bought a bento (Japanese boxed lunch) at Tenhachi (my favourite Japanese restaurant in Vancouver) and went to eat it at VanDusen. It was a beautiful day, and many people were interested in our lunch. I think they were jealous. The bento in this picture is the grilled mackerel bento. Mackerel is a very delicious type of fish. Here are the links to VanDusen Botanical Gardens and Tenhachi if you're interested - I recommend both!

http://vancouver.ca/parks/parks/vandusen/website/

http://www.tenhachi.net/

Van_Dusen_Gardens picture from: members.virtualtourist.com