Hoarded topics

I hoard up topics to write about here, gathering them like Easter eggs, and then when I go to write them, I feel like I don’t do them justice; a quick mention to things that I thought I had a lot to say about. (Forgive the atrociousness of that grammar- I’m going a little stream of consciousness, here.) Combine this with the fact that a) the last time I blogged I was on the other side of the country, and totally meant to blog again while I was there, and b) this past weekend I got burned by my cousin for not blogging enough (and here I was thinking no one was reading!), and this all adds up to another of my resolutions to blog more often. Not sure when I’ll find the time to do that- work is stressful and busy and exhausting, I have book club and dinners out with friends, I signed up for a pottery class that starts in a few weeks, and since my return from the coast, I’ve renewed my efforts at the gym, and am there twice a week (at least- yay me).
So, lets work backwards, shall we? This past weekend was the Queen’s West Art Crawl, which featured none other than my cousin Mark (please refer to his comment left on the previous post to this one). I was duly impressed that one of the artist in our family (and there are more than you’d expect) was not only showing but successfully selling their art (to my knowledge, he is the first to have done so, though my cousin Steven may have done that already- but if he did I don’t know about it). But beyond the impressive public quality of showing his pictures, it was great just to see his work- his work is varied, and (being totally honest) I love some of it and appreciate all of it. Some of his pictures are very geometric, almost to the point of being mathematical; very Mark, but it doesn’t wring the emotional pull in me that I get in a piece of art that really gets me (I would never say something as cheesy and clichéed as ‘moves me’). Transfiguration I is without a doubt my favourite. I’d seen it on his web page (I’m adding the link to my blog, if I can wrap my head around the necessary HTML), and liked it then, but at the show (which was outside, in a park, on a gorgeous cold day- autumn is here!) he had a large blow-up of it, which made the impact that the image on the computer screen could not.
After the park, we (myself, the brother, the brother’s roommate, and the Robins, that is), grabbed dinner at the Green Mango (yum), then went to see the Beatles music movie, Across the Universe, which I’ve decided I very much liked- and poo on the critics who said it was bad.
Last weekend was actually the second time I’ve seen the Robs since BC- the brother and I get together with them fairly regularly, now, which is great. I like to think we’re expanding each others' horizons- they introduced me to Dim Sum, my brother is now addicted to the Green Mango, and the weekend before last, when Robin insisted we go to Sugar Mountain (bulk candy palace), I bought Every-Flavour Beans, and everybody tried them. (For you few unfortunates who are yet to be indoctrinated into the Harry Potter universe, this is a candy which is featured in the books; jelly beans in every flavour, and they mean every flavour.) Of the gross ones, the brother ate a dirt flavoured one (and others, though I don’t remember what they were), and I tried booger, ear wax, earthworm, and grass willingly. I also had sardine, but that one was an accident, as I thought it was butter popcorn flavour. Grass I found to be not unpleasant. Aunt Robin disagreed. Steven smirked as he chewed on an earthworm bean, claimed it was good, but when pressed, admitted it was disgusting. Robin was the bravest, having tried one of the vomit flavoured beans, so hats off to him. It was more than I was willing to do!
How was the last of my BC trip, you ask? It was amazing, in all ways. Mom and I took a road trip (with many stops) to Tofino, which also explains the lack of blogging for the rest of the trip. Cathedral grove was amazing, though Mom and I agreed that we wanted all the other tourists to go away, so we could be tourists there alone. It was restful, except the part where Mom almost fell into a wide, shallow stream, and a group of guys (male bonding tourists) made a plethora of jokes at us. Then we got to Tofino, which was a quiet, sleepy little town…with nowhere to sleep. Meh. We made our own way, found respite at an ironically named restaurant (Shelter), slept in the car, and were caught by neither cops nor bears. How very adventurous of us; it was a terribly bohemian thing to do.
The next day we got a hotel room first thing, crashed for a few hours, then went whale watching (orcas, a grey and a humpback whale), nature watching (baby bear, eagles, sea otters), and hit the hot springs (a highlight of the trip- if you’re ever there, stake out the last section, where the hot springs flow out into the ocean, and the ocean waves come in…waves of hot and cold…soooo good!)
By the time we got home we were happy but exhausted, so cancelled Salt Spring Island (something to do next time) in favour of Buchart (gorgeous but busy), and then I flew home. I had a great trip, and it was good to see Her. I really must go out there again, though my next trip isn’t planned until Christmas 2008- urgh. Oh well; I have England to save up for before that!